'I love Thornton's chocolates!' Delta crooned. Oscar regretted what
he'd said, hoped upon hope she wouldn't ask him about his work. But
he was in luck: she asked no questions and began to talk at length
about her love of chocolate, how she likes to be bought chocolate as
a gift, how she buys personalised chocolate gifts for friends. Oscar
wasn't listening to all of it. He was enraptured by the way her face
lit up, her bright, wide eyes, her ecstatic expression, her smile
when she sighed contentedly. After about a minute, he realised what
he was doing, that he was watching her speak but not listening to a
word. What am I becoming? he thought, that I'm captivated
by this woman I've only just met? It was unusual for Oscar to
warm to someone so quickly, and for him not to be listening. He was a
businessman, set in his ways, who make formal, professional
relationships, not emotional connections. This was new and different.
He was a little scared but mostly excited.
He came out of his reverie just as Delta was finishing a story about
the personalised chocolate hearts she'd given an old school friend on
the occasion of her wedding. Oscar laughed with her at the end even
though he didn't know what he was laughing about.
'I'm so glad you understand,' Delta sighed. 'Not many people see my
side of the story.' Oops, what had he agreed with? He smiled
non-committally.
'Tell me more about yourself,' Oscar suggested. 'Why are you
travelling from Salzburg to London alone?'
'I was visiting a family friend,' she said. 'What about you?' she
asked.
'Business,' Oscar said shortly. 'I usually travel alone. I quite like
it.'
'Especially when you get to meet people like me?' Delta said with a
smile.
'It doesn't happen as often as you'd think,' Oscar said truthfully.
The truth was that this had never happened before. He'd never struck
up a conversation longer than Is this seat taken? or Coffee
please, two sugars.
'I feel honoured,' Delta told him.
The bus began to move. As the driver manoeuvred it out of the airport
and towards the motorway, Oscar and Delta silently looked out of the
window at the distant planes and passing cars. Oscar considered
getting his newspaper out of his briefcase and continuing to read.
'I was kind of here on business, too,' Delta said quietly as the bus
gathered speed.
'Kind of?' Oscar asked. Delta was silent for a moment, her face
turned towards the window.
'Have to ever been to Canada?' Delta said, turning back to Oscar.
'No,' he answered. 'Never. I've only travelled around Europe. My
company hasn't spread as far as Canada yet. We're looking to expand
there next year actually.'
'If you do go there, look up a place called the Glass Plains. They're
in dire need of some good chocolate.'
Oscar was about to ask why she was talking about chocolate when he
remembered that she believed he worked for Thornton's. Then he
thought of a more pressing question.
'What does that have to do with why you were in Austria?' he asked.
'The Glass Plains is where it's based. There's a branch in Salzburg,
in the big castle on the hill. I was there sorting out some problems
with a nearby restaurant.'
'So you're in the restaurant business?' Oscar was a little frustrated
that she wasn't being more explicit, but was pleased with himself for
working it out.
'No,' Delta replied.
'Something in hospitality or entertainment?' Oscar ventured.
'Wrong again,' Delta replied.
'Are you going to tell me or make me guess?'
'It's fun making you guess,' she decided.
After Oscar had run through everything he could think of, from
journalist to pirate, Delta told him the nearest he'd been was with
pirate, but that she wasn't evil.
At this point, the bus slowed down and Oscar looked out the window,
know that they must be near the German border now. He noticed a row
of toll booths ahead. He also noticed that Delta was looking a little
agitated.
'Don't worry, it's just a toll booth. They're not going to ask for
passports or anything,' he assured her. Nonetheless, she picked up
her handbag from between her feet and started rummaging for
something.
'What are you looking for?' Oscar asked.
'Hairbrush,' she mumbled. 'Here, hold this,' she added, handing him a
small tin which fit neatly into his palm. He was about to ask what it
was when she instructed, 'Open it.' He obeyed and took off the lid to
find a pile of neatly stacked hair bands inside. He blinked. Yes,
he'd definitely seen right. Why was this woman pulling out a tin of
hairbands and a hairbrush?
'I knew I shouldn't have let my hair down,' she chided herself as two
men in blue uniforms boarded the bus.
What's going
on? Oscar thought, trying
desperately not to panic. I thought we were at the toll
booth. Just as this thought had
finished travelling across his mind, Delta stood up to pass him, her
hair now up in two bunches, each with five hair bands running down
them, holding the hair down in two straight ponytails. Past Oscar,
she paused in the aisle. She raised her hands to head height, elbows
bent, hands facing the floor. She brought her hands round in a slow
circle, about two feet in diameter, breathing in deeply and closing
her eyes, until her hands rested in front of her, palms up. When she
opened her eyes a second later, Oscar, who was transfixed, was sure
her eyes glowed red. She took two steps forward, put her arms up to
the sides, elbows bent, hands sticking to the sides, raised left
knee, then kicked one of the blue-uniformed men hard on the chin. He
fell backwards. Oscar, wide-eyed in amazement, realised that her
high-heeled boots could really do some damage. He was amazed at how
well she kept her dignity in the skirt she was wearing. Next she
began to spin on the spot like a ballerina. It was amazing really,
considering the boots she was wearing and the small space she was in.
Her hair spun out around her, glowing, and caught the second
blue-uniformed man in the face. He, too, fell to the ground. Delta
turned and rushed back up the aisle.
'Budge
up,' she said shortly to Oscar. 'I'll have the aisle seat now.'
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