5

Fred was tucking into his dinner with gusto. Marge Allsop looked on happily, even though he was a grown man now, she still liked to cook his favourites and never worried about his figure, she still thought of him as the growing lad that needed all the calories she could lay on for his growth. The favourite she had chosen today was steak and kidney pudding with creamy mash, to be followed by a golden syrup steamed pudding with lashings of creamy custard. She picked at her own helping, knowing that a ham salad would have been more to her taste, and the pudding to follow would be beyond her bird like appetite.

“Thanks mum!” said Fred. “I’m not sure why, but I’m famished! Must be how well you make it!” Then Fred coloured slightly as he remembered the abandoned liver and onions from earlier in the day. He would be mortified if his mother knew about that, but luckily he was well aware that the “Red Rooster” was far removed from the gentile tea rooms his mum was likely to frequent.

“How are you getting on with that computer dig thing?” Asked Marge.

“MUM! It is called a BLOG” said Fred. He despaired of his mother ever catching up with the internet age and the technology involved. She much preferred to curl up in the armchair with one of her favourite detective books at the end of the day, and there had been no question that the computer should be installed in his bedroom, which all suited him just fine.

“It is going quite well”, he continued, “In fact I might be making some new friends”

“That’s good”, said Marge. She had long wanted to Fred to widen his social circle and secretly hoped he might one day bring home a lady friend for her to meet. He was getting older and to call him a ‘late developer’ seemed a misnomer, even to his doting mother.

“Well, if you’re really enjoying it I suppose you can take your pud to your bedroom then.”

“Thanks mum”, said Fred, “I might do that”. On reflection fred knew he would do so, he was more than a little excited and apprehensive to find out how his opening remark to this Lydia from his blog had been received.

Gathering up his pudding plate and spoon Fred returned to his room and was rewarded by the sight of the ICQ flower flashing in the corner of his screen. He set down the pudding and settled to his desk, his face flushed with excitement.

Clicking on the link, Fred read Lydias messages and checked the timestamp. Crikey, she had replied quite quickly and that was only twenty minutes ago! I wonder if that means she is “keen” he thought to himself. Fred flushed with the thrill of a woman being keen to “talk” to him, this was a new feeling for him. He was far more accustomed to women rejecting his overtures, rather than engaging with him.

“19:14:54 AntonF – Why yes, of course we might “chat”. Until then may we email? My address is Fehrnzeit@geekmail.com and if you care to tell me yours I shall write to you soon, I promise”

Anton reflected, this was too short for a reply and he had heard women liked it if you listened attentively and asked things about them. So after thinking for four minutes he scratched his head, took a spoonful of pudding, then typed;

“19:24:54 AntonF – I have authorised you as my friend and requested the same. How exciting that you can imagine us friends! And tell me about your friend, how old are they? Just as soon as I have your email I shall send one to you.”

He smiled and licked his lips, then spooned more up greedily, before pausing and looking down at his growing paunch. He set down his spoon with a sad smile – Anton Fehrnzeit would not eat like this, Fred resolved to mend his ways and shed some of the extra weight he seemed to be accumulating.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~­~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lydia had shown Olga and J out, trying not to show any eagerness for them to depart. She did not want to give any more grounds for the guesses she thought Olga had made as to her feelings about the mysterious Fehrnzeit. Now she hurried to her computer in the bedroom, the washing up could wait. She sat down and clicked the chat window, reading the message from Anton eagerly.

Goodness, his email looked impressive! He must know all about computers, perhaps he had well-paid work in that field, she speculated, after all he certainly seemed to be a man of many talents. But she must not be too quick in her judgement, her priority now was to engage this man in further conversation. Yes, she would make an email address and give it to him, this was clearly overdue and would further her newfound internet adventure.

Turning to the page she seemed to have as her homepage she scanned for email, there it was. Now then… create account. Right, this was going well she thought. Then the computer flashed up a screen and asked her to “choose a user name”… Goodness, decisions decisions. What to choose? Lydia typed in experimentally… ‘lastingloveliness’ and completed the other details it was asking for. Would that do? The computer blinked a moment then flashed up;

Email address ready for use.

Brilliant! She switched to the chat window and typed excitedly,

“20:38:22 LydiaDip – Why yes, how charming of you to reply so quickl. My email address is lastingloveliness@hotmail.com and I look forward to hearing from you soon. X”

She thought long and hard before adding that X at the end, but she was keen to move on from their slightly formal introductions and felt it struck the right note.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~­~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear lovely Lydia,

For I feel sure with this email address you must be lovely, and of course your beauty shall be enduring. Do you not feel the true beauty is in the mind though? I do not mean to detract from the loveliness that I can only imagine I should regard were I to see you in the same room and not simply be gazing into a computer screen. I have long held you mother land in high regard, surely in history we can see that the Polish had a regal beauty and many a Polish women might be held in high regard, as a princess even. As the neighbours of Poland, your country no doubt also has beautiful women living there. But unlike Poland the Lithuanian neighbours are seldom heard of here. I feel certain your country is wrongly overlooked and have long wished to travel there.

I have yet to hear about your friend and her son, but look forward to that. Perhaps you might tell me a little in your reply?

I feel our initial exchanges have been so promising and struck no wrong notes. So I am delighted to make your acquaintance and hope we may have sowed the seeds for friendship?

Yours cordially,

Anton

X

~~~~~~~~~~~~~­~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Anton,

To make your acquaintance is most lovely. You are so kind to interrupt your busy life and swap words with a simple Lithuanian woman. I have no great education and live simple life here. If my English is not good forgive me you must. Since school I study and try hard but here Englad seems so far. Since those days ever have I longed to see it, but alas not.

Your kindness in thinking of me with lovely words makes me pink to my face! So I am happy it is a computer screen you see. Perhaps I tell you too much.

My good friend Olga since school has known me. How the time flew and now she has a son. His name is J and he is like a son to me also. Chocolate cakes I for him bake.

Your job what is though? Very high power technologic I am sure! With you I compete not, but beauty of mind must surely mean you have beauty in plenty.

Now I must go, before my feet turn pink too.

For you to write again my greatest joy would be.

With cordial

Lydia

Xx

11:48 AM | Tags: Five