COUNTY FAIR

The fair came to town today.

I told myself I was almost too old for this kind of thing, but all the sounds and colours, the stalls with the goldfish in bowls waiting to be won by some happy child drew me there.

Gipsy fortunetellers waiting to tell you all about the tall dark stranger you are about to meet. I paid my dollar and she told me I would soon find happiness. My troubles were behind me. No tall dark stranger for me, no love waiting in the wings.

Passing the roller skating rink I wondered if I could still stay upright, ride around the small wooden floor without falling. Securing the wheels to my trainers, I skated around in circles, the colours around me swam into one another. I found myself sitting in the most beautiful meadow. Daisies, buttercups and butterflies, no buildings, no people.

I wondered if I had fallen and bumped my head. Someone was trying to pick me up and a soft breeze blew through the meadow. The sweet scent of something now filled my senses. I had fallen and found my tall dark stranger…

©Anita Dawes