U3A Writers’ Group, Feb 2024, Pauline’s writing 1022 words
Friendship
It sounds like laughing. It is a warm colour: red, yellow, orange,pink, gold. It tastes like a Mediterranean salad on a sunny day. It smells of grass being cut. It feels like swimming in the turquoise waters of an outdoor swimming pool.
Living the Dream
On holiday at last, Chandra rejoiced in the splendour and calm of their Tuscany villa and the company of her best friend, Fran. She gazed out from the balcony, drinking in the sheer greenness of the rolling hills and the stunning old houses in the small town of Arezzo. What bliss it was to be away from IT Inc and the constant demands of her boss, and cousin, Sham, a man she’d always looked up to. It wasn’t long into the three years she’d been working for him that she’d discovered he was a workaholic, driven to make his start-up a success. Now, she realised, she’d become a workaholic too. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t her.
Later, walking through Arezzo’s narrow streets, Chandra sighed with pleasure. ‘These buildings, their colours: so wonderful: brown, beige, yellow, pink. Andthat sunshine. Who knew it could shine so brightly.’ She sniffed the air. ‘I can smell the freshness of the air. It’s totally different from the petrol fumes and noise of London.’
‘I knew you’d love it here, Chan. I kept telling you we had to get away. You’ve got to do that. Permanently! That cousin of yours has you chained to your desk.’
‘That could almost be true,’ Chandra laughed, and, as she did so, she noticed another missed call from Sham. No doubt some mega crisis with coding and algorithms. Threatening IT Inc’s reputation. Undermining confidence in the business. She no longer felt responsible. It was almost as if she didn’t care.
‘That food looks delicious. There’s a fabulous smell too - pizzas cooking, bread baking, Italian coffee. All the good stuff. Let’s have lunch. And now!’
‘You, bet,’ Fran said, leading the way to ‘Luigi’s Trattoria’ outdoor seating. Catching the waiter’s eye, she ordered two freshly squeezed orange juices,
‘This food not only looks wonderful. It is!’ Chandra pointed at her plate of tomatoes, feta cheese and dressing. ‘It’s delicious,’ she added. ‘I love Guiseppe’s, it’s heaven really, but this is just way more authentic’. Guiseppe’s was tucked away off Shoreditch High Street and had its own outdoor seating area and even a small garden. It was their first choice for a snatched lunch together or on one of those rare evenings when Sham didn’t ask Chandra to carry on working ‘just’ till she sorted out another coding problem.
‘Glorious, isn’t it?’ Fran replied. ‘And a million miles from IT Inc and targets and bonuses. And pressure. No wonder you’re always stressed. You’re young, Chan. We’re both young. We need to live our dreams. You’re missing out on so much. You hardly ever get to that tiny box of a flat you’ve bought in Shoreditch. When did you last see daylight there!’
‘Yeah, but Fran, you know how thrilled mum and dad were when I got the job with Sham. They love him like a son. They knew I’d be safe with him ‘in the big city’. Think they even thought we might get together. Well! That’s not gonna happen. I mean, he’s old right? Late 30s. And my cousin. If only he’d come out to the family as gay.’
Fran smiled. ‘I do get it. About your mum and dad. Though Sham’s a lovely guy, I can’t see him ever coming out to your family. He’s afraid of being knocked off that pedestal they put him on. But as for you, us actually, I have a Plan. It’s gonna work because I know you’ve got more courage than Sham.’
‘I’m not sure about that, but go on, what is this brilliant Plan? Should we travel round the world or ‘find ourselves’ in an Indian Ashram?’
‘Don’t be daft. That’s not our thing, but remember at Uni how we loved cooking. All sorts of cuisine. We were brilliant at it, though I say so myself. Then you went into hyper study mode and mega working hours. It’s more or less ground to a halt. But we’ve still got it, Chan. That love of cooking, of being creative.’
‘Yeah, maybe, but so what?’
‘Well,‘what if Guiseppe was selling his Trattoria? Moving back to Italy. What if I happened to know that? Happen to have first refusal. What if we buy the business together? You could sell your poky bedsit for mega bucks. We could live in the flat above Guiseppe’s. You know my Gran left me some money and she’d have loved me to do this. So I’ve got my share.’
Chandra was astonished. Shocked. The Plan was sort of doable. It was tempting. ‘You temptress,’ she laughed. ‘You have been planning this, you schemer, but you know my mum and dad want me to have a steady professional job. Just, as it happens, like the one I have. And anyway, restaurant work. Well, it’s hard. It’s insecure.’
‘Of course, it is,’ Fran interrupted, ‘but you like to work hard. And you like to cook. And you like working with me. And it’ll be satisfying and fun. And, unlike Sham, you’re brave enough to tell your parents about a change that’ll make you happy. And one that’s a solid business plan too. They’ll come round when they get it.’
The phone rang again. It was Sham. She ignored it. She was very fond of her cousin. He was also creative, like her. But unlike her, he enjoyed setting up IT start-ups. Meeting new clients. Taking on new staff. But for her, being a programmer wasn’t satisfying. Not really. And becoming an IT entrepreneur wasn’t calling to her.
‘You know me so well, you devil,’ Chandra smiled at her friend and then paused while Fran just waited.
‘Well,’ Chan said, after a while. ‘We’d need to do due diligence, find out the business plan, look at revenue for the last few years, costs, customer base, suppliers,..’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ Fran smiled. ‘All of that. Now I know you’re hooked. I’ll set up a meeting with Guiseppe for when we get back. But for now let’s have a drive through this beautiful countryside and then a swim in the beautiful turquoise water of our outdoor pool. Later, we’ll develop our plan.’
1022 words