Silver

Chapter 35 - then

The water was choppy. My stomach felt uneasy. I'd never seen such poverty. Our ferry to our next destination passed by slums on stilts, basic one-room wooden housing, no windows, sometimes no doors. The roofs were made of corrugated iron. Children were playing unsupervised on the piers. There were no rails, nothing to protect them from falling into the water and dying. Didn't people care about their children here?

Alistair was wearing a truckie hat. The wide brim and the white word 'Howson' printed on the black fabric made him look like a blockhead. He wore a blue t-shirt with a skater brand. He was a walking advertisement. I despised his t-shirt, his black and white checkered shorts, his red trainers, his hat, that freckle on his shin, his fingernails, his half-baked nose, his sunglasses, that god damn truckie hat.

He was fidgety. He looked out at the depressing view, cleared his throat as if he wanted to say something, adjusted his sunglasses, and then remained silent. He was clearly terrified of me.

Suddenly, I felt a bit sorry for him. Perhaps he wasn't able to deal with this real-world situation of having to face the first night of his honeymoon with real flesh and blood. So he'd escaped to his safe world of a female voice from a distant country (probably the Ukraine) and her sexy avatar figure.

So what if he didn't find me as attractive as the blonde? I didn't have killer calves and anti-gravity breasts. Perhaps I didn't come across as the type that would like to be pounded against a tree. Why this offended feeling? It's not like I was dying to jump him. I sure hadn't spent the day fantasising about getting my hands into his pants. No way. Perhaps our disastrous first night was actually a blessing. His embarrassing rendezvous provided the perfect excuse for me to sleep with my back to him. I couldn't have planned anything more perfect.

I breathed in the polluted air and slouched back in my seat. I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head, pulling my hair back. I felt relieved. Tension cleared like a fog and a faint glow leaked back into me. I almost felt happy.