NAKED RAVER

Arrested for Laughing

WE ARE in a coffee shop/bar sat by the window. Sarah sits with her back to the wall and I with my back to the public. The effects of the Philosophers Truffles are in full swing now, and I am seeing Sarah in a new way.

It is as if she has temporarily lifted a veil from her face - a subtle layer that cannot normally be seen with the naked eye - and underneath this veil is a person I have never known nor have ever seen before.

As I look more intently, I realise that the veil I am seeing is Sarah’s ego, a deliberately fashioned outer layer that she has gotten used to hiding behind, as though there is a real Sarah that shies away just so this ego can masquerade itself in public. I see her ego so vividly that it is like looking at a set of clothes that have developed a personality of their own.

I clearly notice that Sarah’s ego parades itself in a pity-me dress, somewhat dowdy and restrictive; and shoes that are worn down on the heels, heavily trodden along the road of no one understands. It is well-worn attire, tatty and old fashioned in areas, which seems completely ill fittingnow.

Sarah is capable of much more than she has previously shown me. I saw how she virtually ran over the cobbled streets earlier. As she sits before me, I struggle to even believe in her disability anymore, because it appears to be nothing more than a role that she has adopted.

And so I tell her, straight, my words causing a change of expression on her face.

After a pause for thought, during which time I observe Sarah as closely as she had watched me in the hotel room, she tells me that she is shocked by my revelation: first of all for saying that I don’t buy into society’s disadvantaged label, and secondly for telling her that she is beautiful.

“You’re the first person to ever tell me that I am beautiful,” she says. “What makes you say this?”

I reply, “There is a different you inside, as though your skin is just keeping warm a stunning person who is never seen by the world. Sarah, I see it! As I speak to you I don’t even recognise your face. It’s as if I am looking into the very depths of your soul at a totally different woman, and she is genuinely beautiful!

It’s you, but the face is different, perfect even. Her smile is warm, whilst her eyes convey a depth of compassion and sincerity that jumps right out at me, like a 3D effect movie, as though I could physically reach out and touch her face with my hand. Right now she is smiling at me, and she is glowing. I don’t know who she is Sarah, but she is in there, inside you, and she is making her presence known to me.”

As we are talking, I feel the effects of the Philosophers Truffles intensify, sharpening my powers of perception whilst totally relaxing my mind and body. Waves of energy bounce off my skin, giving me a sensation of lightness from head to toe.

I hear a group of rowdy men behind me, and an upbeat song plays on the jukebox. A tingle works its way through my body as though my nerves are being massaged by a gentle electrical shock. It feels so nice that I jump up from my seat and turn around, shouting Yeeaaahh in excitement.

Everyone in the bar looks at me, and so I smile - a knowing, mischievous grin signalling that the party has arrived. The place goes quiet, so I shout Yeeaahhh again, this time putting my hands in the air.

The table of rowdy men break the moment’s silence with a loud cheer of appreciation, so I call out to them, “Who wants a hug?”

The majority of them reply, eagerly, with either a yes or I do. I don’t imagine it is a difficult decision for them to make: I am a curvy size ten with a natural 34E bust. This may be the closest some of them have ever come to such a svelte figure, and no doubt they want to make the most of what I am offering.