Fancy A Quickie?

Clover

MY parents were huge fans of the book Watership Down and, being the massive new-age hippies they were, named me Clover after one of the rabbits.

I mean, come on. I'm a leaf, a bit of foliage, a bit of flora that spreads unbidden across fields.

Being as we are a working class family on a council estate fancy floral names tend to stand out against the Ryan's, Kelly's, Gemma's and Callum's.

But it worked in my favour one day.

I'd been doing some shopping in the city when I went for a coffee in a busy Starbucks and naturally had to wait a while for my order to be ready. Over the noise of the chattering and clinking cups a voice sounds loudly: "Clover? Clover? Grande latte? Clover?"

A few people turn to look and eventually I signalled the increasingly irritated barista.

After a few minutes a man in a suit appeared by my table and coughed.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?"

My head snapped up to see a tall man, maybe early thirties in a rich navy suit hovering.

With a discreet glance around the room to make sure he's not an obvious murderer I nod and return to my ebook.

"I do apologise for interrupting," he said after he sat, "but I couldn't help but overhear your name. Clover, is it?"

I frowned at the man.

"It is," I said slowly, suspiciously, through narrowed eyes.

"It's a very unusual name, very memorable," he began, maintaining eye contact all the while, "and that's sort of my business."

I put my coffee down and folded my arms.

"Are you a weirdo?" I asked bluntly.

He laughed softly and shook his head.

"No, but I see why you might think that. Let me start again: I'm a talent agent, and often I find it's not the talent that people remember, it's something unusual or special about the person. Your name is uncommon and I think people would remember it."

My eyes narrowed until they were almost shut.

"So what, you go round looking for people with odd names? Do you even know if I have any talent?"

He smiles and sips his coffee.

"I have a feeling you'll have something up your sleeve. People with unusual names like to have something equally as unusual to match it."

His eyes twinkled with promise and intrigue, and I won't lie it piqued my curiosity.

"Here's my card. Think about it and give me a call. I'll remember your name."

He handed me a glossy silver card with deep purple lettering displaying contact information before promptly leaving the cafe.

My heart pounded against my chest.

Was that real? Did that actually happen? And why am I so keen to call him?

Maybe he's right and I can use this opportunity to get myself out there. I never thought I'd get this sort of chance but I'd always dreamed about making my mark on this world.

He's not wrong, though; I do have something worth noticing.

And his timing couldn't be more perfect.