Patrick Thompson

All White. . . No More

Posted on October 1, 2017

I felt a mixture of anger and sorrow. Why was all of this happening at such a lovely calm time of my life?
I decided to go to the woodland clearing to lay on the hammock, a peaceful oasis, a place where I could 're-balance' my thoughts and maybe not even think about HER. I did doze in that comfortable zone for well past an hour. I took a stroll back towards the pavilion and stopped at the car park area, her car was gone! I again felt confused, in a way I felt happy that she had gone, but perhaps sad that this entire episode was happening. Later as I packed my things ready to leave I saw a letter had been placed almost completely under the managers door. It could only have been left by Angela.
Three uneventful days later I went once more to the sauna, the usual mix of friends were there plus some visiting people from another club. We all enjoyed our session in the sauna, it was busy and spaces were rare, I always managed though to get a seat. One time I sat next to Linda the club secretary, she seemed eager to speak to me and in a quiet voice she said, "We have a letter from 'Angela' that partially refers to you, it told us that she and her family were leaving the club & the area. She just said that things weren't going well for her so she was returning to be near her parents. She just said also 'Tell Patrick that in a while I will return just to see him, he knows what I want'"
Linda looked at me awhile waiting for a reply, my brain was confused and annoyed again. Some while later we all got dressed to leave, then Linda came to me and said "I don't want to impose on you, but since we talked in the sauna you haven't really been 'with us' have you, you're lost in deep thoughts and sort of entranced?" I smiled and thanked her for her concerns. As I left I knew I hadn't seen or heard the last of Angela, or had I?
Several months later I was to attend an anniversary party at the club pavilion. It was a cold November afternoon and I got a lift to the club with two friends, we arrived just before 2pm and the cold air hit as we stepped from the car, another friend came over and took me aside, he said "I know the timing isn't great but I do need to tell you something right away, your friend Angela has died, she was found unconscious and apparently she had gotten way too drunk and taken some pills." I sank to my knees and was stunned, two or three men lifted me, I remember asking, "She's died on booze & pills?" Someone somewhere replied "YES, Angela is gone!"

8 thoughts on “All White. . . No More”

    • The title comes from her appearance naked at the sauna. Compared to everyone else (who had a tanned, weathered complexion) she had a 'white' look, possibly what could be called a 'virgin naturist' look? or an 'All White' look?
      Maybe it was just my way of using words.

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