the slap

She takes walks down to the university park each day and stands by the river to watch how it flows. Each day she goes there with the brim of her hat that hides her face and her slim and narrow silhouette often framed in a trench coat and her eyes lowered before her. 

He watches her. 

And finally it is this one day he decides to approach her.

“Hello, I’m Madds—I am a professor over here at the university here…. I’ve noticed you often come here.”

His accent….was Norwegian 

But she was not glad of his interruption. It upset her tranquility and the peace she believed she could depend on here. 

She stood up from where where had been kneeling—looking closely into the water …. so closely 

She stared up at him but she was impaired by the sun as it hung over him. Only this gave Madds the advantage to see her without her ability to see him. He was momentary stuck by something in her face that stopped his brain from functioning for a moment. Then the light shifted. She moved her head. She turned away from his view. She diminished before him with all force of intention, like some practiced charm she had perfected. 

Only, he reached for her 

as he said,

“no!”

An impulsive move.

 And one that might done a great deal of harm 

     had it not been for the sudden shocking appearance of an enormous terrier thst would have—at thst very moment—knocked her right into the river

and you may wonder

was that her original intention to be there? ….just so….and the peaceful interruption 

          Tug!— at just the right moment —as though a reflex by the gods! he caught her ….when all it was had been the impertinent move to touch this perfect stranger….and will her from the place of oblivion; blurry; invisible ….behind the intentional visual din of attire….

the hat flew off!!!

“Oh!” she hid her face behind her hands as she watched him retrieve it. He wore a gray suit. He was neatly groomed. He wore clothes like a model but dark haired with interesting hazel eyes 

“I was wondering if I could ask you to join me for coffee? Or a drink? You see—I have a proposition.”

It was not a choice that her hand swept up and hit his face. It did it on its own accord. And afterward—her hand smarted badly. But she wasn’t sorry.

She stood there staring at him. Too stunned to move away. 

They both looked at each other.

Then suddenly— he laughed