The Mirror by J. Morris (read dune txt) 📕

“Ok” he replied. “Mary, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

Mary held up her pad with a coy grin. “I’d be mad not to.”

“Ok then,” wrote Danny with a smile. “See you here at 6.30 tomorrow?”

“Ok. See you then.”

           They took one last look at each other before Mary hung the bedsheet over the mirror.

         Mary lay on her bed, gazing at the ceiling. She could feel a change coming over her, a change in her personality. For the first time in her life she wanted to share herself. She wanted someone to know her, to know the real Mary, the girl no other guy knows…or even wants to know. Her heart fluttered and she felt flushed. She had just been asked to go on her first date. She bet that there was not another girl in the world who had been on a date like this, and she felt special and privileged. She knew she was already in love. She didn’t care about the technicalities or complications of their relationship. She didn’t care about the difficulties or the weirdness of it all. She just knew she was in love, and that love would find a way for them.

Chapter 5

          “So, how’s the new man in your life?” asked Adele at lunch. “Did you see him last night?”

“Yes. And we’re having dinner tonight.”

“Mm, nice. Where are you going?”

“We’re staying in. Chinese takeaway at his place. He’s just started a new job, and he doesn’t have a lot of money yet” Mary lied. She didn’t know what else to say. How could she explain any of this to anyone?

“Sounds cosy,” said Adele. “I can’t wait to meet this Danny guy. He’s really brought out the best in you, Mary. I’ve never seen you so happy and outgoing.”

“I’ve never been so happy, Adele. Danny is just so nice. And I know he likes me.”

“Well, just don’t get too carried away, Mary. Ok?” said Adele in a more serious tone. “Danny’s the first guy you’ve ever gone out with, isn’t he?”

Mary nodded.

Adele continued “I really, really hope it works out for you. I really do. But just be careful. You’ve only just met him and I’d hate to see you get hurt. You’re a really sensitive person, Mary.”

“I’ll be careful,” replied Mary.

“And don’t forget, you can always talk to me” said Adele. “You’re a friend. If you need any advice, or just want to talk, I’m here for you. Ok?”

“Ok.”

           The buzzer sounded for their return to work.

“Good luck for tonight” said Adele as she rose and patted Mary’s back.

“Thanks Adele. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

           Mary spent the rest of the day in a daydream, her imagination running wild. Her workmates prodded her 3 or 4 times to bring her back to the real world, because she kept holding up the line.

           On her way home she stopped at a department store and bought a sky blue halter neck dress, short but not so short that she considered it trashy. She called in at the Chinese takeaway near her home and picked up her favourite, beef in satay sauce with steamed rice, and some spring rolls. A can of diet Coke completed the gourmet meal. Mary was so excited. This was her first date, and the circumstances surrounding it made it extra special, and so did the guy who asked her.

           It was 6.10 when Mary entered her apartment. She quickly showered and dried her hair, brushing it and letting it fall naturally.Mary had also bought some blue lipstick at the department store to match her dress. She had never worn lipstick and soon found that applying it was an art form in itself. She had to remove it 3 times and reapply it until she was happy with the result. She had never worn makeup and so decided against attempting it on such an important occasion.

           She stood back and admired herself in the bathroom mirror. She thought she looked beautiful, and hoped that Danny would think likewise.

Finally she felt ready… ready for her first date. She went to the bedroom mirror and removed the bedsheet. The sight before her made her heart flutter and her legs almost turn to jelly. Danny had pushed his bedside table up against the mirror and he was standing behind it, waiting for her, dressed in black trousers and a denim dress shirt. On the table was a candle burning and a red rose in a vase. Mary felt overwhelmed and her eyes began to moisten causing her vision to blur, and she had to wipe them. Danny stood motionless, wide eyed and speechless, at his dinner companion for the evening. He wrote something and held it up, looking her directly in the eyes. ‘Wow. You’re beautiful.’

Mary blushed and wrote ‘so are you’, and realised too late how silly that was. He had read it. She turned red and wrote ‘I can’t believe I said that.’

Danny just laughed silently from his side of the glass.

He wrote: ‘Pull your bedside table to the mirror, Mary. Butt it up against mine.’

It was actually the same table that had been there for decades, one of the few furniture items that had remained in the apartment over the years.

            Mary dragged it to the mirror and placed it against the glass, in line with the table on his side. It now looked like one long table; their dinner table. Danny moved the candle close to the mirror so it appeared as if it was near the centre of their table. He waited until Mary brought a chair from the kitchen and they both sat down, facing each other.

Danny couldn’t take his eyes off Mary, and Mary felt a little self-conscious, and kept nervously brushing her hair over her cheeks.

 Danny held up a message. ‘Show me’ and he used his hands to simulate brushing hair away from his cheeks.

Mary looked down and blushed in embarrassment. She looked up at Danny and tentatively pushed her hair behind her ears, hoping for a sign of his approval. Danny smiled and nodded. Mary’s frizzy, almost stiff hair fell again over her cheeks. She went to the bathroom and came back wearing a white headband that tightly pulled her hair away from her forehead and cheeks, totally revealing her round face, illuminated by her big clear brown eyes behind her large round glasses.

She looked at Danny. She now wanted him to see her, she wanted to open up and reveal herself to him; her soul, her flaws, her inner self… the self that she had hidden from the world for most of her youth.

            “So. What did you get?” wrote Danny after a short interval where they sat staring at each other.

“What?” she replied.

“Your dinner. What did you get?”

“Oh Gosh! Of course,” she replied. She ran to the kitchen and came back with her bag of food. Danny looked at it and smiled. He turned his own bag around and showed Mary. Both their takeaway bags had the same logo printed on it. ‘Tongs Chinese Restaurant.’

“Wow” he wrote. “It’s still there after all those years.”

Mary took hers out of the bag.

‘Satay Beef,’ she wrote.

Danny did the same. ‘Mongolian Lamb’

“Mmmm,” she replied, licking her lips. ‘Now I wish I’d gotten that instead.’

They removed the lids and shovelled a couple of spoonfuls to their mouths, closing their eyes as they savoured the taste. They were both so hungry, having been unable to eat anything during the day because of their nervousness of their pending dinner date.

Mary washed hers down with Coke, and Danny with water.

            “So tell me about yourself Mary” he wrote, as their eating settled down to a more acceptable speed.

“There’s not much to tell,” she replied. “My life is pretty boring.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“What about at the beginning,” he wrote.

“The end might be better,” she replied. “You might go to sleep otherwise.”

Danny laughed.

The meal had slowed down to a casual nibble as they constantly had to stop to write on their pads, and hold it up for the other to read. It was a bit tedious but they didn’t mind. They were enjoying each other’s company and were getting used to the inconvenience of writing messages.

“I want to hear about you first,” she wrote.

Danny felt a little nervous. Mary picked up on it.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Danny wrote something, then stopped and thought for a few seconds. He screwed up the paper and threw it on the floor.

 After a minute or so he wrote “I told myself I would be honest with you and tell you everything you wanted to know about me.”

Mary waited in anticipation.

He wrote “now I’m afraid you won’t like what you hear.”

“What I read, you mean,” she replied with a grin, but Danny didn’t return the smile.

“Just tell me, Danny. Don’t be afraid. Not of me.”

Danny looked into Mary’s eyes and saw only kindness and trust.

They sat studying one another, neither wanting to be first to break the silence.

           “Maybe it’s me who should start at the end,” he wrote. “Not because it’s more interesting, but because it’s the worst of me. After you hear it, you may not want to hear the rest and we could both save ourselves a lot of time.”

“Tell me, Danny. I’m a big girl you know. I might surprise you.”

Danny thought deeply.

“Not tonight, Mary. Next time. I’ll tell you everything next time. Let’s just have fun tonight. It’s supposed to be a date.”

Mary smiled. “Ok, I’ll tell you about myself then.”

             She felt a little excited about sharing herself with him. Mary had never found it so easy to talk to a guy. It was as though she had known him all her life.

“I’m the youngest of three sisters. We grew up in Derby. Life there is a little slower than London. I think anywhere is a little slower than London. My parents weren’t poor but weren’t exactly rich either.”

 Mary turned the paper around so that Danny could read it.

“I was the baby of the family. I’m 10 years younger than my next sister. They were both very outgoing and popular. They loved to dance, sing karaoke. I was just the opposite. Too embarrassed to dance. I just liked to watch. No one ever asked me for a dance anyway. I’m not really popular with the guys, as you can imagine.”

Danny read it, and then looked up at Mary with a look of disbelief.

He wrote: “Why would I imagine that?”

“Look at me,” she replied. “Shapeless body… hair like dry grass…” and she tugged on her hair to demonstrate the texture.

Danny shook his head. “There is so much more to you than that.”

“Oh yeh? Like what?”

“Like what you are inside. I can see inside you, Mary.”

“Yeh? And what do you see?” she wrote, unconvinced.

Danny studied her as if he was trying to get some kind of reading of her mind.

“I can see a young woman, who thinks she is still a little girl. Still hiding in the shadows of her sisters.”

“I don’t think so,” she replied with a wry smile. “What else do you see?”

“Hmm,” he wrote. He studied her face a bit more. “I see a flower. Still in the seed. Afraid to show itself because it thinks all the other flowers are more colourful, and remains content to just stay in the warmth and safety of the seed pod. Only needing to let the sunshine entice it out.”

              Mary blushed with embarrassment. He saw her giggle.

“Oh stop it. That’s so corny. Did you read that in a romance novel?” she wrote, but she prayed that he would keep going, and Danny knew it. He was, himself, already experiencing the mushy feelings of love and he recognised the same in his dinner date.

Mary knew he was very close to the mark. She knew those things about herself but it took Danny’s observations to bring her to realise them.

           “You ARE beautiful, you know,” he continued. “Inside and out. You