Philip Dampier's Blog

Wanda

by Philip Dampier

(This story is based on a prompt suggested by the author Steven King)

Episode 1

Arvie Anderson left his small neat office at five after five on the first Monday following the first of the year. He wasn’t expected anywhere special, so he decided to stop at a small bar on his way to the apartment he shared with Scratch, a large gray cat.

He had met Scratch when he was a senior in college. The kitten had been abandoned, and Arvie’s soft heart couldn’t bear to leave him in the cold. Scratch was now his best friend. They had learned each other’s personal habits and had developed a live and let live relationship. Scratch was well fed and medically sound. He loved to curl up next to Arvie during television time, and Arvie would scratch his ears, absentmindedly, as he watched whatever show was on. People can’t actually own cats, but Scratch seemed to think he owned Arvie. Theirs was a peaceful life and uneventful to the point of boredom.

There had been an occasional girlfriend in Arvie’s life, but nothing lasting had managed to develop. Arvie wasn’t feeling any particular need for a companion, but he was open to a relationship with the opposite sex if the right person appeared. Scratch could care less. On the rare occasions a female visited the apartment, Scratch usually made himself scarce. He was a one-person cat and was aloof to anyone else.

Arvie stopped by the Campus Pub at least once a week because it was near the university campus where he had graduated, and he sometimes saw some of his old classmates there. He had graduated from the university two years earlier with a degree in engineering and management.

Visiting the bar was a way of keeping in touch with the academic community, he thought, and it was better than being alone the whole time. He would have a beer or two, gossip a bit if friends were there and then go home to check on Scratch and fix them both some supper.

The small neighborhood bar wasn’t particularly dark, the neon lights just bright enough to cast shadows and illuminate faces. Arvie sat down on a bar stool and looked around. There was no one he knew, but then it was early. The TV on the wall behind the bar was showing pictures of Jack Kennedy and discussing his upcoming inauguration. He wasn’t big in politics, but he watched the story while he sipped his beer. The stool he was on allowed him to see the bar’s entrance in the large mirror facing him in case someone he knew came in.

He was on his second Miller High Life when a group of students burst through the doors with noisy chattering, typical college students’ behavior. He looked them over for a familiar face but halfway through the group his eyes stopped. The girl stood out like an evergreen in a winter hardwood forest. Tall, dark-haired, fair complexion, and something else. She had a sexy aura around her. Hard to explain but he felt it. She was dressed in typical campus style, shorts and a tee with white low top Converse All Star tennis shoes. But the sex appeal was there. He felt it across the room.

Their eyes locked. She took in his blond hair and black-rimmed glasses. She smiled. He smiled back. She stepped away from her group and advanced towards him.

“Is this stool taken?”

“No, it’s not. Please sit down.”

He watched her climb on the stool; small purse clutched in her hand. His heart stopped beating for a few seconds, and his brain went slack to the action at hand. When everything caught up, he managed to speak.

“I’m Arvie Anderson.”

It was an effort, but he managed to get it out in a clear voice. He wasn’t sure if he should offer his hand or not.

“Wanda Williams,” she responded, “nice to meet you.”

Wanda stuck out her hand. Arvie took hold of it and gave a polite shake or two. When their hands touched, he felt an electric current run up his arm. It was very disconcerting. He could just smell her perfume, not strong but a new, different scent. He wasn’t sure what it smelled like, but it seemed to fit her somehow.

“Nice to meet you. May I buy you a beer or something else to drink?” he asked.

“Budweiser, please, and thank you.”

Small talk began and the minutes turned into an hour. Arvie glanced at his watch and realized he had not fed the cat and he hadn’t had supper.

“Wanda, I’m starved. Would you like to have a bite to eat with me?”

Her smile devastated him; at the same time her answer sent shivers through his body.

“Why thank you, Arvie, I’d be delighted to dine with you.”

Arvie paid the bar tab and escorted his new lady friend to the door. He knew a quiet restaurant just a few blocks up the street, and he motioned for her to accompany him. They weren’t really dressed for dining out, but neither of them seemed to care.

Beer at the bar and then supper at a small dinner nearby became the pattern for the rest of the week. They spent the weekend with each other, and a whirlwind romance ensued. Arvie found himself unable to think about anything but Wanda. She interrupted his sleep by appearing in his dreams, and she took away his concentration when he needed to focus at work.

He neglected his cat that had been his constant companion every evening for the past four years. It was suddenly impossible to function outside of his fixation on Wanda. He felt sure she had the same experience. He felt it, not because she told him so but he also could feel it by the way that she looked at him and touched him.

He would naturally move with caution in a new relationship being somewhat shy and introverted. She was the exact opposite. She seemed eager to hurry the pace and move from friends to lovers to… could he dare think it, engagement?