Kate Allan shares a Valentine's memory...
First the missions to Woolworths and Clinton Cards. Reading every card on the racks, the sweet ones, the saucy ones, until we found the perfect ones. Then to WH Smiths for special pens; gel pens, glitter pens, silver pens. And finally the art shop in the mews that sold the best selections of stickers. The scheme was simple: Valentine's cards were going to our secret loves on the school bus. And then we could tease them mercilessly about it. A prank, but motored by the beating heart of teenage crushes.
First the card recipients had to be selected. Easy for those only admired by one, but for the objects of multiple affections, mutual decisions by barter about who was sending which card to whom. The cards had to be written with great care at home; “i”s dotted with hearts, words ended with flourishes. Then sealed with spit and the best sticker. Addresses copied from the phone book and and then the card was hidden in among the homework ready to pop in the postbox along from the bus stop while no one was looking.
Valentine's day! A mist-breath morning as we wait for the bus. The most daring girl speaks first, “So how many Valentine's cards did you get, Adam?”
Adam looks away, colour in his cheeks. “Hundreds.”
“Bet you didn't.”
“What about you, John?” I pipe up.
John tosses his satchel over his shoulder and walks away. “I didn't get any.”
I know he is lying. I wrote his card, sealed it with a kiss. “Bet you did.”
John makes out he's the centre of a conversation with his mates. No reply.
A moment of doubt: has it been lost in the post? Then fear: did he open it, laugh and throw it away? My heart constricts with pain. Did he guess it was from me?
Kate's latest book...SNOWBOUND ON THE ISLAND ebook
After the break up of a long-term relationship Lisa escapes to the remote Isles of Scilly, twenty eight miles off the coast of Cornwall, for a new year reunion with old college friends. But as winter weather sweeps across Britain the airports close and only two people make it: Lisa and Dominic. She always thought him attractive and he still is, but he doesn't even seem to remember her.
After the break up of a long-term relationship Lisa escapes to the remote Isles of Scilly, twenty eight miles off the coast of Cornwall, for a new year reunion with old college friends. But as winter weather sweeps across Britain the airports close and only two people make it: Lisa and Dominic. She always thought him attractive and he still is, but he doesn't even seem to remember her.
