riverdresses: (stock • misplaced out of time)
[personal profile] riverdresses
The most curious thing happened to me one evening this week.

I'd spent the afternoon in the bookshop (very much illicitly, as I should have been elsewhere) & it had darkened outside, when a woman came by my table & asked if she could share it with me. Of course I said yes, as I always do when someone asks if they might share my table. She sat down & said she was going to get a cup of coffee & asked me if I would like anything. I politely declined, as I don't eat very much during the day & certainly not sweets.

So we sat there in silence, her reading with her coffee, me answering the absolute mad flurry of comments between [livejournal.com profile] nentari & myself & reading the EDA The Blue Angel. A silent pocket of time one evening in November. Nothing remarkable about it.

Then she got up & thanked me for having let her sit at my table & I said it had been no trouble at all & that she was welcome. She wished me a happy Thanksgiving (o my, so close, isn't it? I barely even realised.) & vanished. I continued to sit there, typing, clickclicking & reading. I didn't look up until a fellow came up & asked me if a white-haired woman had been sitting there. I said yes & was worried for a moment that I'd been in the presence of a book booster or someone who skips out on paying their cafe tab, until he presented me with a slice of carrot cake & a cup of coffee with whipped cream on top & said that she'd wanted me to have it as a thankyou.

I was quite honestly stunned, but in the best way possible. A few of the regulars who see me there & know me to be there often have on occasion offered to share a drink or an edible with me, but I'm always very polite & decline, though I'm flattered that they'd be so kind to offer! But I'd never had I had someone secretly buy me something for merely letting them sit with me!

The cake was quite good, & so was my whipped cream coffee. & reading more of The Blue Angel while I had it was just as nice. I was in a very good mood on the way home that night, even in the cold which seems to be worse for me this year - I shake & my teeth chatter & my hands twitch constantly, even in my arm warmers. But then, I was splendidly happy & singing silently in the cold.

That small moment reminded me that people really aren't always so full of hate & cruelty as I try to think most of them are. & that isn't so much in a mean context, but as a way to remind myself not to get so close to people, because they can let you down & they can hurt you so easily once they get so close. So I try to remember that people can just be very cruel & don't seem at all shy to show it when they feel like it. I know it's not a very healthy way to view others, but it's only from experience.

♥ ♥ ♥

The confusing fellow from the my last disastrous date continues to call me & continues to leave me voice messages, though you'd think by now he would have forgot about me. ::sigh:: I have no intention of seeing someone who either leads me about in a fog or can't decide if he's more interested in being my friend or something else. It's incredibly annoying & a waste of my time & energy - I am not interested in being his friend or being anything else! & I do wish he'd pick up on that! Just . . . please, decide your intentions rather quickly & stick to them, thankyouverymuch & not practically beg me to come back to your flat the first time you meet me, then spend all of next time that I see you psychoanalysing me as a woman & in a social context! I don't have the time, nor do I want to deal with having to guess what someone's intentions are every time I see them.

Bugger. He's an interesting fellow, but really, I've better things to do, thankyou, than sit & figure out the motives of a fellow who confuses me right from the get-go. I'd rather wait for someone who's open about how they feel toward me & doesn't go from kiss kiss one moment to studying me sociologically the next, even if it takes a bit longer.



I've been watching them decorate the giant Christmas tree in the centre of downtown this week. They're putting the lights on it now, & it's like watching them frost a rather triangular, pointed cake. I can't wait to see it when it's all done - they usually light it up the day after Thanksgiving, I think, & the barbarian & I will hopefully go off shopping & we'll get to see the lights, which is my favourite thing we do in winter - it's so lovely & it reminds me that winter & Christmas are coming soon.

I hope there are roasted chestnuts on the corners again this year - I never did get to try them last year.

& most of all - I need to gather more books to read for the wintertime ahead. Yes, I have many already, but there is never such a thing as having too many books to read.

Date: 2009-11-22 11:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nentari.livejournal.com
Aw, that was so sweet! (the cake, of course, not the mad dandy)

Date: 2009-11-22 11:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] revolutionaren.livejournal.com
Hee, that's so sweet! And just for sharing a table!
My faith in humanity has been restored a little!

Date: 2009-11-22 01:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
It truly was! & it was very touching, especially since I haven't been the wellest of the well this week.

(& the mad dandy is becoming quite bothersome. ::sighs:: I just hope he goes away soon.)

Date: 2009-11-22 01:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
I know! & it was so unexpected, too. But it put me in a truly splendid mood afterwards.

(& mine too, a little! ::beams::)

Date: 2009-11-22 01:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nentari.livejournal.com
Sadly, some times people only get the message when we have to spell it out to them. *sighs*

Date: 2009-11-22 02:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
Bleh. ::makes a face:: I'd feel so mean if I did that, though - even though I'd rather like to, just to make a point to say that I am not a girl who enjoys her emotions being trifled with, because I am certainly not.

Date: 2009-11-22 02:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nentari.livejournal.com
I don't think it's being mean - but it all depends on the way you say it.

Date: 2009-11-22 05:01 pm (UTC)
mysticalchild_isis: (dr who 8 b&w)
From: [personal profile] mysticalchild_isis
I love moments of unexpected kindness like that. Especially when they involve carrot cake.

Date: 2009-11-22 05:54 pm (UTC)
lilyofshalott: (Charley stars (smkwriter08))
From: [personal profile] lilyofshalott
Your Unexpected Carrot Cake story makes me smile. ^_^ And it's lovely to hear from you--how is your programme going?


(Mmmm, carrot cake . . .)

Date: 2009-11-23 10:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
Well, you know me - I couldn't be mean to anyone outside of Maison de Shelley, even if I wanted to. But I certainly think that if he's going to attempt to contact me, he ought to know that I don't like having my head played with like that. Not only is it confusing for me, but I find it very ungentlemanly on his part as well.

Date: 2009-11-23 10:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
I do too - I wondered if she was there last night, actually, when I was leaving - I really wanted to thank her for that.

Date: 2009-11-23 10:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
It was one of the nicest things that's happened to me in a while. I do hope I see her again - I want to thank her!

(& thankyou for asking! It's going well, but nothing remarkable, actually - it becomes a bit routine after for first month or two! ::giggles:: But I enjoy it still. ♥)

Date: 2009-11-23 11:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nentari.livejournal.com
Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking.

Date: 2009-11-23 11:50 am (UTC)
shanaqui: A 1967 Chevrolet Impala, from Supernatural. ((Impala) Back in black)
From: [personal profile] shanaqui
That's so sweet. I want to do that kind of thing when I have a bit more money.

Date: 2009-11-23 02:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] monkeyman.livejournal.com
That's so lovely that she did that!

Stupid boy. I can't see how anyone could be less than fully interested in you, lovely girl. :)

Date: 2009-11-24 11:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
I do too, actually - & I do hope I see her again, so that I can thank her properly!

Date: 2009-11-24 11:19 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
It was very touching - & even more so, because I was terribly hungry. :)

::sighs:: It's been said by many that if a fellow does that, then it's really quite on him, not on me. So this time, I'm not blaming myself & thinking of what I did or didn't do right or wrong. It's a good feeling, for a change.

Date: 2009-11-25 04:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] westminster-son.livejournal.com
That is so wonderful :D It goes to show how lovely strangers can be.

Still a shame about the boy but you do deserve a lot better. Well, the only good thing (I say good, it's actually quite cruel of me) about it is that he's still interested enough to keep calling . . . you're bouncinb about bautifully in his head, apparently ;)

Date: 2009-11-25 03:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
Agreed - & unexpected kindnesses are so good for the heart. ♥

::pinkens a bit:: Well, I hadn't thought of it until you said it, but hmm . . . that's an interesting point. Even though it's highly unlikely that he's ever seeing me again, no matter how often he calls.

Date: 2009-11-25 08:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] infinitejoys.livejournal.com
That's such a lovely story ♥

Date: 2009-11-26 01:01 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] riverdresses.livejournal.com
I hope I can do the same for someone, sometime. It's such a wonderful thing to have happen.

abandon hope all who enter here

Elizabeth (Betsy). Twenty-two, almost twenty-three, but perpetually seventeen. Whirls back & forth between vulgarity & delicacies like a dervish proper & has been known to disappear for months on end. Worshipper of Carroll, devotee of Lovecraft & BPAL hoarder absolute. Destined for the madhouse.

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