Nearer Than You Think

December, 2018

The sun peeked its golden rays through the surrounding gum-trees.

Tom leant back in his chair on the front patio setting his half-emptied glass of Kombucha on the ledge beside him. Sighing contentedly, he reflected on another productive Saturday. With his sister due to visit in a week, bringing with her the much-adored four-month year old infant daughter, he and his folks had made a point of tackling as many chores as they could. Mowing the lawn, doing the washing, cleaning the floors and bathrooms, heaping the yearly Spring mulch on the garden - mundane, true, yet ultimately satisfying.

But there was another, more wistful side to that sigh.  For some months now there had been a pretty blonde nurse regularly floating around the facility at the same time as Tom. Though from the outset he had been attracted to her, he’d at first held back, reasoning that ‘she’s not strictly my type’. In weeks of late this had all changed though, especially after one day he’d seen her quietly jiving about in front of the Nurses’ station. 

Finally he had made a resolution. ‘Next time I see her,’ he decided, ‘I’ll ask her out!’ Sure enough, there she was, the very next day.

‘So Molli,’ he said, catching her as his shift ended. ‘You wanna meet at the Pub tonight for a game of Trivia?’

 Mid-way through feeding someone sitting in a Princess-Chair, she squealed in delight.

‘Oh, I’d love that!’ Then she frowned. ‘Oh sorry- I can’t tonight. Got a new job up in Dungog, and I’ve got to finalise papers with the Real Estate.’

‘Oh,’ Tom said, disappointed. ‘Great career move though- when do you start?’

‘Monday,’ Molli replied, skilfully depositing another mouthful of mashed roast. 

‘Could I have a rain-check then? Tomorrow night instead?’

‘Of course! Find me on Facebook- it’s Molli MacBeth, with a ‘k’.’

Later that afternoon, Tom found his fancy and sent her a message. 'Still up for dinner tomorrow night? 

She replied shortly after.  Not sure, she wrote. Got a friend coming up for a visit over the weekend and I’ve still got plenty of packing left for the move.

 No skin off my back, he’d replied. We’ve plenty of time left yet and at least we’re talking. Good luck with the move!

She had not responded to that last message but it seemed wisest to let sleeping dogs lie.

            

Tom reflected on all this now, sipping on another few mouthfuls of Kombucha under his patio. His was a commanding view from where he sat, the front door being two-levels above the street. The view tapered off to down the street to the right down to where the local boat-ramp entered the Bay. Hammering could be heard from the Resident Carpenter’s workshop across the road; in a clump of weathered Eucalypts to the left, a pair of Kookaburras suddenly broke out into maniacal peals of laughter.

He lifted the dregs of Kombucha to his lips, remembering an old Zen story as he did so. ‘What’s the best way to practice?’ one disciple had asked. ‘Don’t cling; don’t seek,’ said his Master. So Tom closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply, in and out, returning his focus to the constant sound of his breath imagining, as he often did, floating in a sea of thoughts but latching onto none.

Eventually the sounds around him faded into obscurity. You could say they became like background or white noise, the sort you might hear when you are at a party but just contentedly letting the surrounding conversation wash over you. A few moments later he heard a car pull up out the front of his address.

‘Hullo!’ Tom thought, opening his eyes. ‘Who’s this?’ He sat forward as the car’s driver stepped out and it was none other than that same pretty nurse.

 ‘Molli!’ he cried in surprise. ‘Didn’t expect to see you before you’d leave!’

 'Neither did I,’ she said, walking up the driveway. ‘But we did have a rain-check, and I wanted to see you before I left.’

'How did you find where I live?'

‘You spoke once about being out here,’ Molli replied. ‘And I do haf my vays,’ she added, adopting a mock-sinister accent.

Tom laughed. ‘Just think— if I hadn’t asked you out I’d never have known why you were leaving at all. You’d have just disappeared!’

‘I wouldn’t be so dramatic,’ Molli said, rolling her eyes. ‘Surely one of the other nurses would have explained and I’d have come back at some point— I’ve still got family here.’

‘That’s true,’ admitted Tom, feeling slightly abashed. Suddenly he had a flash off inspiration and reached down into the esky by his side. ‘Say, while you’re here— you wanna drink?’

Molli looked at him warily, but relaxed once she recognised the sincerity in his eyes. ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘why not? Let’s drink to the future!