Until now, she'd never thought of herself as pretty. Angela wasn't your typical wallflower. Every so often someone would, for a brief moment, catch a glimpse of another world in her twinkling eye, or see into the hidden realms in the cornered smile of her lip.
Then either she or they would notice the unexpected revelation and it would vanish from sight and thought, and Angela would be plain old Angie. Small, quiet, of no consequence.
Of course that's not how she saw things, if "saw" was the right word. What Angela perceived, every day in fact, for everyone she met, was the Who they could have been. If they'd made this or that choice. Gone down one path rather than the other.
So many disappointments. Regrets. They froze her like a stone. Then, when she had quite forgotten that the people she consumed, with her unique form of omniscience, were still living their lives, she met Bharani. He'd been just as futilely coasting down life's wasted existence, under her emotional radar. Scanned and passed over, as Angela sipped coffee in her local Starbucks.
Then Bharani had looked up, caught her looking at him and smiled back across the café. Angela, startled, dropped her Vanilla Latte, which exploded across the table. And her.
But when she looked up, expecting pity, or worse. Surrounding him was only Promise. And it was extremely bright.
Oops. The title sort of popped out after. Angela seemed right for the story. Angie a reduction not only of length but character; like comparing victoria to Vicky. Then I wanted her to be emathic (magical?) in some way, hence special. At that point Fate took over, and I too had an ear worm… and a title… and possinly a clue to my subconscience. NOTE the not inconsequential surname.
Although I really enjoyed the story, I have to admit that my main takeaway from this one is . o O(Dang it. Now that song will be running through my head all day!)
And apologies for typos. iPhones are no substitute for a proper keyboard
And apologies for typos. iPhones are no substitute for a proper keyboard
Argh! And now I've double tapped Comtribute!
Still, loved . o O ( thought bubble ) Never seen that before!
I admit that it took me longer than I'd like to realize you meant your surname and not one stashed in the story that I'd missed. Nice bit of connectivity there, then. I also like the idea of the name/diminutive as indicative of the reduction of character. I wonder how well that would come through without actually calling it out - e.g. "...and Angela would be plain old Angie." I mean in a long form piece. I think that's necessary in a flash piece. I'll have to let that percolate in the back of my head. Thanks!
I do all sorts of things. Mostly badly. Mostly better than others. I tell stories. Occasionally, I lie.
Until now, she'd never thought of herself as pretty.