Beginnings

Fuck me. It was gross.
Imagine the smell of curdled milk mixed with the smell of a cow's stomach lining. Yep … totally
disgusting. Inside the market cheese, tripe, eggs, and cooked meats were served to people who
obviously had no sense of smell. It always took me at least thirty minutes to acclimatize myself
to it, and this was only my second Saturday.
I worked with six other girls and one lad who was solely in charge of the meat slicer. Very
glamorous. It was a long day, nine and a half hours on our feet, and we only got half hour for
lunch, which we took in pairs.
I got on with most of the girls, but one girl, Sarah, really stood out from the crowd. Strangely
enough, she had taken me under her wing, and for the two weeks I had worked there, we had
taken our dinner together.
As I said before, I was pissed off, and Sarah noticed. She kept on asking if I was okay … if I
wanted to talk about it. Each time I turned her down … I was just angry about things … about
Tracy … about Ash. All this in between serving people whose main concern was how much
sliced ham they would need for Sunday tea.
Lunchtime couldn't come quick enough, and I grabbed my sandwich and bottle of orange, and
made my way to the locker room to get out of my overall … which by this time stunk to high
heaven of sour milk and fat.
Sarah was right behind me, and neither of us said a word as we made our way into St Mary's
churchyard, where we ate our lunch and looked over Stockport.
It was amazing how quiet it was there. We were completely on our own as we munched our
lunch and stared over the hills, the rest of the market din was like a distant memory.
'Do you want to talk about it' Sarah's voice was low, almost non-existent. And if I hadn't be
looking at her at the time I would have missed it entirely.
'There's nothing to tell.'
Sarah looked up from her sandwich and into my eyes. She had blue eyes … a little like Ash's …
but darker. I felt an ache skip across my chest, and without thinking raised my hand to it and
rubbed, all the while staring into Sarah's eyes.
I can't tell you how long we just looked at each other … but it was as if I was transfixed by the
blueness.
'Are you free tonight' A pause before she continued. 'I was wondering if you fancied going to
the pictures or something.' I still held her gaze, and nearly a minute went by before …
'I'd love to.' My voice seemed distant. Almost as distant as the sounds of the market.