Last week I asked fellow members of the Winter Park Short Story Society group if anyone had saved examples of Kimberly’s work and two members shared two stories that they had saved and I am now sharing these stories with you. Each week we had a theme or genre to write in and I’m not sure what the theme was for this assignment, possibly Mystery or Dating Stories (two things that are easily confused…). Finally, if anyone has any other stories written by Kimberly, please feel free to contact me, I know that there is one zombie and one crime story floating around there somewhere… Enjoy.
Nice Eyes by Kimberly Wolski (2014)
It’s Friday night and she sat there at the dining room table. Her librarian glasses perched on her nose peering over a simple pane of glass. This is no ordinary glass; it is her iPad holding the realm of possibilities for her future. She joined the online dating site convincing herself that she was just joining the site for the humor. Just like the age old joke of men reading dirty magazines only for the “articles.”
The absurdity of the situation makes her chuckle. However, as frozen in time, she lingers at an email that simply states ‘you have lovely eyes’. She has received numerous crafted emails featuring similar sentiments and she always replied in her Minnesota Nice charm a standard ‘Thank You’. However, her eyes kept lingering. His picture was artfully and quirkily done, profiled seemed sincere, and pictures showed a face of a cute guy. As her finger lurched over the reply button once again, she decided to take a leap of faith. With the first thing that popped in her head, she typed ‘You have nice eyes also’ and hit send. Her head hit the table. Repeatedly.
She sat breathlessly waiting for a reply. Again, being grappled with the absurdity of the situation; the humor girl still sat motionless and her heart beating loudly. What has she become? Even more importantly, what did she write? She wished she could channel her inner Carrie Bradshaw looking effortlessly chic in a tank top and undies composing a witty question. A question that would show her intelligent and cute side, but instead she sent ‘nice eyes’. Picking her head up off the table rubbing the red spot on her forehead, she read several other emails that that just paled in comparison. Then the notification popped into her inbox, she has received a reply. Kimberly has now officially started a conversation with a stranger.
Stranger, Kimberly thought to herself, is a word that should be coupled with danger. Today the idea of strangers is that of a bad one. She so longs for a time that she could equate strangers with Frank Sinatra who so perfectly crooned 60 years ago ‘Strangers in the Night’. Our generation will never know the feeling of ‘something in my heart told me I must have you’ or ‘lovers at first site, in love forever’. We have been instilled with unbridled fear by 24 hour news networks. She could hear the song in her head as she takes a long sigh. Kimberly prided herself to never equate people she didn’t know as strangers.
She learned that friendly way of life from her father. She is the chatty girl at the grocery store. She is the girl who makes the witty comments in long lines at Target. She is the overly happy girl that says hello to you while pumping gas. However, men on dating sites are indeed strangers. And with each email Kimberly received from a stranger, she has the image of her internal organs getting harvested in a shed outside his pristine home in Sanford.
But Chris seemed different. It’s a good thing he doesn’t live in Sanford, Kimberly snickered to herself. As the night progressed, you could see the practical uptight Kimberly start to relax. Like having a balloon slowly deflate, Kimberly’s body took a different shape. With relaxed shoulders and eyes bright and wide, she was comfortable. Maybe she was Carrie Bradshaw sitting in a cool New York apartment surrounded by designer shoes. Their conversation flowed like old acquaintances rediscovering what they liked about each other. But just as the comfortableness was setting in, she received an email that would bounce her back to reality.
Chris’ suggestion of texting wasn’t out of line. Kimberly understood that eventually being on a dating site that could be a possibility to give. But was she ready? As her heart flutter, “OH MY GOSH YES”! Her brained screamed the sensible “NO”! She nervously danced around the living room. Covering her face she realized that she turned from Carrie Bradshaw into a neurotic Woody Allen with just one email.
She pictures herself nervously talking into a camera spewing lines of Woody that rings so true of the strangers request. She deadpans into the living room and says ‘I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens’. She chuckles loudly and shakes herself back into the here and now.
Kimberly longs for her life to be different. She knows that she will need to take risks. Thinking of the Choose Your Own Adventure books that she loved as a kid, she decided to let chance decide. Remembering the childlike Kimberly, she decided to Google the Magic 8 Ball. The Magic 8 Ball always came in handy as a way to determine the fairness between her siblings. The 8 Ball is always right! She asked the question and hit the button. The Magic 8 Ball has spoken and the answer in ‘NO’. Sitting back, staring at the blinking ‘NO’. Well, that is that she thought.
Sitting back at the ‘nice eyes’ picture, a feeling of regret appeared. Where is the risk taker that she claimed she would be when she turned 39? Where is the woman who is determined to change her life and live? Kimberly thought to herself that she needed another choice. “What other absurd way to determine my fate?”, she exclaimed. Horoscopes are perfectly absurd! Reading Virgos horoscope, in simple print was the answer she was desperately looking for ‘Someone special comes your way’.
And with simple print in front of her, she simply emailed her phone number finally choosing a new adventure.
Simple print became a very easy conversation that flowed into days. Chris had the perfect blend of charm, humor and sweetness; a loyal father who was very passionate about his job. He was attentive with the just the touch of romanticism that you could have without meeting the other. Simple gestures had her reeling, like googling images throughout their conversation showing just how interested he was.
Characteristics he betrayed were something Kimberly hasn’t witnessed in a long time. Who was she kidding, ever! With each text and each good night, Kimberly had a growing desire to meet this blue ‘nice eyes’ guy.
But the meet! This is where Kimberly can get herself into trouble. She has all the confidence in the world except when it comes to dating. Horrible husbands that have berated her over the years have diminished her confidence. Having spent the last year and a half alone, picking up the pieces of her esteem, Kimberly had finally started putting the puzzle that is her back together. There still might be a missing piece lost under a sofa cushion, but for the most part Kimberly is finally complete. She likes to imagine that her puzzle is of a bright blue sky in the meadow of tulips. Tulips have always intrigued her.
They have delicate petals that are so bright in color and the way they perk up in the sun. But tulips are the forgotten flower. The beauty of the tulip has and will always be there but no one seeks a tulip. But once you come across the delicate flower in a vase or garden, you will see the understated but vibrant beauty that it is.
Hoping to channel her inner tulip, as the quick evening progressed, the tulip didn’t arise. Instead Kimberly projected that missing puzzle piece. While sitting across from the strangely familiar face, she can see the missing piece of the bright blue sky that is underneath the sofa cushion next to the tarnished 1997 penny and a popcorn kernel. Chris was handsome and full of life but that made
Kimberly’s insecurities flooding right back out into the surface. As Kimberly sat there trying to focus on the conversation, she realized how much she admired him. He had confidence, he had charm, and he had passion.
And with that fateful meeting, things changed between Chris and Kimberly. Their texts became less. His sweet romanticism waned which was replaced by a simple ‘nite’. Her witty texts would get a simple ‘LOL’. Kimberly never understood the moniker of ‘you never get a second chance at a first impression’. She just thought it was a gimmick to sell inspirational plaques to hang in offices or a clever way to sell deodorant. But now, she realizes that should have been paying close attention to those plaques and commercials.
Even if Kimberly doesn’t get a second chance, she is forever grateful for taking that leap of faith. She has most importantly met her match. Chris will be a constant reminder to not forget about first impressions. She has a friend that will challenge her to be a better person. A friend, that has told her to simply live and forget logic. She is now a girl that can follow her heart instead of a Magic 8 Ball. In return, Kimberly wishes him to finally have his love to work out right. What will happen if she doesn’t get that second chance? She will be a friend that will be harboring a secret crush. She will always be acutely aware that he is the blue ‘nice eyes’ guy that made her heart flutter. As the immortal inspirational picture of the kitty hanging from the tree branch; she will be ‘hanging in there’. She is that understated tulip that will one day meet her stranger.
