Years later, while running into a shop for coffee during finals at med school, John met the lovely, intelligent, perfect Mary Morstan, although he had no idea of any of that at the time. They bumped into each other and coffee splashed in a theatrical display of explosive young love.
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized profusely as she did the same.
"In a hurry?" she gently teased as she dabbed a napkin to her coffee-splashed jumper. John frantically grabbed more napkins and didn't have the focus to appreciate the calculating twinkle in her eyes. "Let me guess: Med student?"
"How'd you know?"
"Frantic. Agitated. Strung up on caffeine but here for more. Stethoscope." She winked. "I know a man stressed by tests when I see one."
John laughed, or huffed a laugh as he was too distracted by the time to find much humor in anything. Except maybe in his own bumbling idiocy that could make himself late and run into a pretty girl with coffee.
"Oh, get on then," she'd said and John looked up from his watch, confused. "You've looked at your watch three times. My jumper will survive."
"I'm sorry," John said, longing for the exit -- but he couldn't just leave. "Let me buy you another coffee." Although the the line growing despairingly long.
"Sure." Her eyes fixated on him. "When are you done with your tests?"
John, distracted by looming assessments, was slow to see the relevance of her question. "Um, today?"
He did a double-take when she said, "Tomorrow then. Three-thirty work for you?"
And that was how he met his Mary, before even knowing her name.
*
Mary was John's soulmate, and he didn't need to read her name on his hand to know it. They could talk for hours about anything. She laughed at his jokes and he suspected she actually liked them. When she talked about working with children, he was interested, and they discussed child behavior between school and a doctor's office. She wanted children, and so did he. They got a flat together while he continued his internship with plans to become a paediatrician, she taught a class of eight year olds, and they somehow made rent. On evenings she'd put her students' homework aside, they'd curl up on the sofa with wine and a movie they weren't interested in watching, and make love.
She was pregnant before they were married because he was indecisive on how to propose. On one knee in front of her eight year old students while bringing her lunch was apparently the wrong way to go about it.
“I couldn’t get a single one of them to pay attention after that! A whole day’s lessons out the window.” The light in her eyes told him that she didn’t mind too much. Even with the frantic rush of a wedding, seven months of pregnancy and six months of marriage were bliss.
The day before she went into premature labor, they sat on the sofa watching a comedy show. He rubbed his hand across her belly, slipping under her loose shirt to tickle her belly button. A light patter drummed under his palm, and Mary laughed.
Fill: Handful of Dust 3/?
"Sorry, sorry," he apologized profusely as she did the same.
"In a hurry?" she gently teased as she dabbed a napkin to her coffee-splashed jumper. John frantically grabbed more napkins and didn't have the focus to appreciate the calculating twinkle in her eyes. "Let me guess: Med student?"
"How'd you know?"
"Frantic. Agitated. Strung up on caffeine but here for more. Stethoscope." She winked. "I know a man stressed by tests when I see one."
John laughed, or huffed a laugh as he was too distracted by the time to find much humor in anything. Except maybe in his own bumbling idiocy that could make himself late and run into a pretty girl with coffee.
"Oh, get on then," she'd said and John looked up from his watch, confused. "You've looked at your watch three times. My jumper will survive."
"I'm sorry," John said, longing for the exit -- but he couldn't just leave. "Let me buy you another coffee." Although the the line growing despairingly long.
"Sure." Her eyes fixated on him. "When are you done with your tests?"
John, distracted by looming assessments, was slow to see the relevance of her question. "Um, today?"
He did a double-take when she said, "Tomorrow then. Three-thirty work for you?"
And that was how he met his Mary, before even knowing her name.
*
Mary was John's soulmate, and he didn't need to read her name on his hand to know it. They could talk for hours about anything. She laughed at his jokes and he suspected she actually liked them. When she talked about working with children, he was interested, and they discussed child behavior between school and a doctor's office. She wanted children, and so did he. They got a flat together while he continued his internship with plans to become a paediatrician, she taught a class of eight year olds, and they somehow made rent. On evenings she'd put her students' homework aside, they'd curl up on the sofa with wine and a movie they weren't interested in watching, and make love.
She was pregnant before they were married because he was indecisive on how to propose. On one knee in front of her eight year old students while bringing her lunch was apparently the wrong way to go about it.
“I couldn’t get a single one of them to pay attention after that! A whole day’s lessons out the window.” The light in her eyes told him that she didn’t mind too much. Even with the frantic rush of a wedding, seven months of pregnancy and six months of marriage were bliss.
The day before she went into premature labor, they sat on the sofa watching a comedy show. He rubbed his hand across her belly, slipping under her loose shirt to tickle her belly button. A light patter drummed under his palm, and Mary laughed.
*