Claudine

Andrew Wright

I felt she was so beautiful that I didn’t have a chance with her! She was slim but not thin and her skin was slightly brown and her smile warm. Sometimes we talked but we were just two members of a gang of young people meeting in the town and spending evenings together.

Cafe life with the gang was an important part of my year spent in Argentan in France in which I worked as an English assistant.  At the end of that year I went round to say, ‘goodbye’ to everybody. I met Claudine in the street near the post office.

“Hi! I’ll say goodbye. I’m leaving on Thursday.”

“Goodbye!” We shook hands and then I leaned forward and we kissed, slowly, on both cheeks. My lips felt her soft skin for the first time.

“I want to tell you something.” I hesitated. “I want to tell you that I have always found you so beautiful. I wish we could have become closer.”

“Me too!” she said.

 My comments

 Nothing venture, nothing gain. If you don’t explore you can never discover.