10. Time to leave for home!
In that instant, I’d seen that it was not fully charged. I gently returned it to the floor, slinking off outside. An hour later I returned, this time I removed its plug from the power supply and took it out of the kitchen, far away from the house, down in the gardens, a safe distance from the buildings before I turned it on. Result. Still not fully charged! How long was it…..
9. I blushed, trying to hide my face
Silently he showed me a tiny room with a fridge and two power outlets. I plugged my SatNav in, covered it from harm and left to pass the time with Carol and Vũ. While I had been busy organising the SatNav, they had brought in their food, also offering it towards the meals which the Monastery provides free of charge to the lay public. As it was still officially wintertime…..
8. I had to ask my vital question
This winter, with the extremely cold weather we experienced each time traveling to drop them at their lodgings, must have prompted Carol to nag me to have my car’s heating system repaired. This proved to be a boon from which I still derive much pleasure today.
I booked my Mercedes in at the dealership for the heating system to be repaired and the leaking radiator to be replaced. I was pleased…..
7. She had assignments to complete
Suddenly the alarm sounded! I was shocked. Had time passed so rapidly? It seemed. The instant the alarm sounded, Carol woke, got up, dressed, switched it off. As if in another world, a dream world, a fantasy world, still in a daze over the comforting night we had spent together holding hands, it took me several minutes, to come round, to realise I wasn’t alone at home, to realise I was wearing…..
6. We both drifted off into a sound, relaxing, dreamlike sleep
Soon it would be Christmas 2014. Sometime earlier in the year, I had started to attend the All Saint’s Anglican Church in Derby Road, here in Eastleigh. A new young pastor who had trained at Cambridge University gave the sermon. His oration was eloquent. I left impressed. I returned the next Sunday.
Christmas celebration services were planned. I invited my Asian friends to attend these with me……
5. We were late in reaching her job
I was surprised when one day Carol asked me to help negotiate with a Tattoo Artist. Carol had had a tattoo done above her ankle in China. She asked this Artist in Burgess Road to extend it. The new one had been performed by a young woman, an apprentice. She had not worked under sterile conditions, she hadn’t even washed her hands. The wounds had become infected. I was rather…..
Foreword
In this fictitious story, I have changed the names and dates to protect innocent people, others are characters taken from my book, “Paranoid Schizophrenia, My Label My Life,” to provide continuity.
Innocence Meets Vulnerability
How we started our relationship
I met Carol Xia Tian, meaning Summer, after a free lunchtime concert at the University of Southampton’s Turner Sims Concert Hall. We’d both gone down to the stage to examine the harpsichord that had been used…..
4. The most beautiful eyes I have ever seen
One day while on the bus to the University I started a conversation with a Chinese man, Ken, after noticing an unusual electronic gadget on his iPhone. He asked me if I knew where he could buy flowers for his young lady friend, Frances, the pianist who was going to perform that afternoon. At our destination, the University Highfield Interchange, we alighted from the bus in search of a…..
3. Gradually we drew closer
Soon after meeting Carol, she entered a music competition organised by, and for all, the Chinese students at the University. The initial rounds took place in a very large lecture theatre on campus, however, the final round was scheduled to take place at the large Odeon cinema complex in the city, in a private function room. I think there were over 200 contestants, whittled down to a short list of ten by the…..
2. We only had the opportunity to see one another
On the bus home, Carol used WeChat to link up by video with her parents in their apartment in Shanghai. Later she told me her mother was concerned because, at the age of 23, she still had no boyfriend. All her other friends of similar age back in China were already married and had started their families. I laughed, saying that she was still young. My advice would be that…..
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