A short story by K.D. Smith

Gina accelerated smoothly onto the freeway. Her foot floored the pedal to get in front of the slow, steady stream of four-thirty traffic. She simply had to be home by five-thirty to watch her favourite soapie, Flirtations. As usual, the last episode had ended on a cliffhanger, so Friday's long-awaited episode promised to be a delectable one.

Cruising over a rise in the road, she mused over how the love triangle between Aimi, Brock and Jed was fraught with complications, so unlike her own plain life. The traffic had slowed enough for her to take in the scenery and she idly noticed a sky blue vehicle pulled off the road up ahead. As she crawled closer, she noticed that it was a florist's van. The hood was propped up and the driver stood nearby, talking on his cellphone. He looked stressed. Through the van's back window, she could see that it was chock-full of flower arrangements.

Maybe it was the flowers, maybe it was the previous
day's tumultuous episode of her soapie, but,
she found herself swerving off the freeway to offer her help...

She pulled up in front of the broken-down van, blissfully ignoring the hoots from the cars in the traffic behind her. She got out of her car and walked over to the driver who was now agitatedly holding his cellphone up in the air to try and get a better reception.
    "Need any help?" she asked magnanimously.
    "No thanks," came the quick, disappointing reply.
    "Oh," she said, taken aback. The driver must have realised that his response was rather curt.     "I mean," he frowned, hastily trying to rummage for an explanation with his shy vocabulary, "I've already called a tow-truck." He indicated with his thumb toward the van's cargo of flowers. "Now I'm just trying to sort out the delivery I was on my way to make. I need to get hold of the client to tell her I've been delayed, but she's not answering her phone." He looked like he would throw the cellphone into the road, but instead, put it carefully in his pocket and scratched his head awkwardly.
    "Um, well, maybe I can deliver those for you?" Gina proposed coolly, since he had brushed off her earlier kind offer. At least he had the decency to look embarrassed. But, no, that was unkind, he was clearly very ruffled by the situation.
    "Oh, thanks," he said, gratefully, rubbing his chin. "My name's Nico Langenhoven," he extended his hand. "Gina," she replied, glad that his ferocious expression had eased and he was looking a lot friendlier.
    “Whew,” he let out a sigh of relief, and reiterated his thanks “I really do appreciate this.” Good, she thought, a little relieved herself, at least she hadn't completely wasted her time.

Nico was very trusting, she thought, you
don't find a lot of that these days

Together they loaded up the backseat and boot of her small hatchback with bouquets of red and white roses. "It's for a wedding," Nico explained. "Here's my card," he said, “Just in case.” The tow-truck arrived just as they'd finished putting the flowers in the car and Gina was ready to go. She waved goodbye to Nico and set off with her fragrant load, disgruntling the traffic once again by her free and easy entry back into it. Nico was very trusting, she thought, you don't find a lot of that these days. She could quite easily have driven home with the flowers and he'd never be able to track her down, assuming that he had not taken down her number plate.

She located the venue, a fancy wine farm, and drove up the gravel driveway to the chapel. On the way, she noticed a striped marquee in a field nearby and a few people bustling around setting things up.
    "Oh, thank you so much," said the middle-aged lady who introduced herself as Mrs de Wet, the mother of the bride, when Gina went into the chapel and explained who she was. "These are just perfect, my daughter will love them," Mrs de Wet concluded. Gina flushed with pleasure and a wave of charitable feeling. She had to admit, this was much better than sitting glued to the television. After all, who really cared if Brock and Aimi would live happily ever after? But then again it might be interesting to know whether Jed, Aimi's ex, would finally escape from the jungle prison he'd been thrown into after trying to infiltrate that gang of diamond smugglers. Her mind wandered, would Jed have enough time and money to fly back to LA and interrupt Aimi and Brock's wedding? She looked at her watch, wistfully, there might still be time to catch the ending.
    "Hm, will you please excuse me," she said to the lady.
    "Flirtations?" Mrs de Wet replied, knowingly.
    "Yes! How did you guess? Is it that obvious?" Gina asked. The woman laughed, "No, no it's just that the last episode was so gripping that I cannot imagine who wouldn't be wanting to watch. I've had to record it myself. Why Gillian selfishly chose to get married on a Friday evening is beyond me. I mean, having to give up a precious Friday night episode, with a whole weekend to wait until the next one? Do you think Jed will make it across the crocodile-infested river?" she finished quizzically.
    "I wonder?" Gina murmered. "But, I really must dash," she said almost tripping as she ran back to her car.
    "Wait!” Mrs de Wet cried, “Give me your telephone number - I can lend you the tape?"
    "Oh, that will be so kind of you," said Gina eagerly. She scribbled down her phone number. "I still want to try and catch the ending, I'm such an addict," she apologized, “Good luck with the wedding!”

Mrs de Wet phoned her on Saturday morning and said she'd happily drop off the tape for her that afternoon. She was only too keen to accommodate a true fan. Gina was savouring each minute of the wait though last night she had been quite frustrated. Despite having taken shortcuts from the wedding venue to her home, she had still only walked in and switched on to the sound of the closing music and the last few credits of Flirtations rolling up the screen. No matter now, soon, she'd be watching the whole episode. She tidied up her house a little and lolled on the couch, flipping through magazines and waiting impatiently for Mrs de Wet.

The doorbell rang at twelve-thirty. Curious, she was only expecting Mrs de Wet at two o'clock. She couldn't see a thing through the spyhole and when she opened the door, there was no one there. But, there was a huge basket of dark pink carnations on her doorstep! She looked up and down the street. Not a soul in sight. She picked up the heavy basket and brought it in. Wow! There was a video tape labelled "Flirtations", a box of chocolates and a card which she ripped open to read, "Dear Gina, thanks so much for the kind favour. Sorry if I seemed rude at the time, was just having a bad day. (Poor excuse, I know). Sorry that you had to miss your program for it. I spoke to Mrs de W and she mentioned you'd be waiting for the vid, so I thought I'd bring it up earlier for you. See you, Nico." Oh my gosh! Gina felt embarrassed and overjoyed at the same time. What a sweet suprise!

This was steamier than your
average episode of Flirtations.

She fumbled with the flowers and put them in a vase of water, then she popped the cassette into the VCR and sat back in the couch. Still tickled by Nico's gesture, she was horrified to see two writhing bodies, inflagranté, appear on her screen. Oh my goodness! This was steamier than your average episode of Flirtations. She scrutinised it for as long as she could – just to make sure it was not her soapie – and then ejected the tape. It was clearly labelled “Flirtations”. She wondered whose mistake it had been, Mrs de Wet's or Nico's?

The handwriting on the tape was not the same as on the card, so the answer seemed to lie in Mrs de Wet's backyard. Could that be possible though? Mrs de Wet really didn't seem like the type. Perhaps it was her daughter's or her husband's, or-? Oh, she quickly stopped that flow of thought. Now what to do, she wondered. Phone Mrs de Wet and tell her that she'd made a mistake, risking embarrassment for both parties? Or wait for the woman to call her, if she wasn't too embarrassed about it herself. The best option seemed to be to try and forget about the whole thing. And focus on Nico's “See you” in the note. But, the steamy images kept getting in the way. She could not keep that kind of “entertainment” in her house, what if her little nieces found it by mistake?

She was still trying to decide what to do when then the telephone rang.
    “Hi, it's Nico.”
    “Hello, how are you?” she stammered in confusion. That naked thrashing... those horrible sounds.
    “Did you like the flowers?” he asked politely, “Thanks so much again for your help yesterday, I'm truly grateful, you saved my face and someone's wedding day – and you just don't get such kind offers these days.”
Offers? What did he mean by that? she panicked.
    “I must confess that I was surprised that you like that sort of thing.”
That sort of thing? she winced.
    “Oh, well,” she explained, “You watch one and then you get hooked, the plots are so far-fetched, but um, its entertaining.”
    “Oh. Yes. I had to drive to four video shops to find it! And then I could only get a copy of a copy,” he finished.
    “Huh?” she replied, puzzled.
    “Yes, it is quite a rare example of that...that genre,” he confirmed tactfully.
    “Oh gosh!” she exclaimed, “Well, at last that explains things. I don't think you realise that Flirtations – at least, the Flirtations Mrs de Wet and I enjoy – is an afternoon soapie, not err, well, what you stumbled on,” she explained, starting to giggle. There was silence on the other end. Eventually, there was an embarrassed cough. And then a chuckle.
    “I am so sorry,” he said abashedly. “I don't watch TV, at all. Mrs de Wet didn't say anything more about the thing, other than the title and that it was a show you loved and hated having to miss. I happened to be at the video shop last night and asked them if they had it, and, well, I guess that's where the mixup started.”
    “As if they'd have something like that on at prime family viewing time!” Gina laughed.
    “I guess that's true,” he responded thoughtfully.
    “Well, where do we go from here?” she asked tentatively.
    “How about dinner tonight?” Nico asked quickly, “To say thanks properly and sorry for everything else!” Gina smiled, astonishing herself with her daring, “Okay. Maybe we can watch a movie or a video afterwards too, I hear there's one called “Flirtations” that comes highly recommended!”