Short Story: A Missed Opportunity

By Varunesh Kumar

There are many stories about people who lived a very structured life for years on end. Eating the same food; taking the same bus route; going to the same mundane job; going home to the same afternoon routine then return to the same bed. It never changes or deviates. It is a comfortable life. No challenges, no stress, no expansion of their world or their understanding.

Then with one simple change in their schedule, a minute deviation, their whole life changes for the better. They find purpose and hope and joy. Some even find new love.

Well this is NOT one of those stories.  

John Graves was an ordinary man.  He grew up in a middle class family in the southern side of Adelaide. He was born to an English father and a Japanese mother. He inherited the brains from his mother and his physique from his father. Every day he wished this fact had been reversed, but his wish never came true. He was still a slightly stocky yet good looking, slightly balding young man which made him very self-conscious around women.  Because of this he never heard the whispers of “Isn’t he cute! I just want to rub that cute bald head of his all night!”, or “He seems like a nice, stable guy. Wonder if he’ll ever ask me to dinner”.

To compensate for his lack of social skills and lack of Extra-Sensory Perception, he delves into the world of numbers. He works as an accountant in the city looking at figures all day. Multi-billion dollar corporations come to him for bookkeeping work due to his excellent ability to read and interpret numbers and bring his clients a good result. He earns a half a million dollars a year as a result but has nothing to spend it on. His house is his own, inherited when his parents both died in a car crash. He does not have any hobbies. He does not drink or socialise or make small talk with the neighbours he sees. 

There’s Mr Roberts on the left. A war veteran, living alone. On the right is a family consisting of Mr and Mrs Carlile and the boy. Across the road lives someone he’s been interested in for years. Jenny Sharp is someone who always smiles at him.

“Hi”, she always called out waving.

All he could do is stop, smile then keep walking. Her nurse’s uniform betrayed a lovely figure and her blonde hair was always hiding her eyes from strangers. Yet for him, she always allowed her full face to show.   

 He always wished he could say something back. He was never taught by his parents how to talk to girls. He couldn’t go across and say hi, so he kept walking. Not saying a word to the woman he thought was the most beautiful in the world. All he could focus on was work, which kept him going.

                                                                        *

Every morning, he woke up. Showered. He also brushed his teeth to the point of whiteness, which kept him out of the dentists’ surgery. He had jam on toast with a cup of tea. Then he walked out the door to his front footpath being careful not to get hit by passing cars. He’d never been to the emergency room and did not intend to go anytime soon.

 Looked across the road to hear Jenny shout and wave, “Hi”, stands frozen to the spot and smiles, then gets into the next bus express to the city that arrives at his doorstep one minute later.

Then he would get off the bus on Gouger Street and walk across the road to his office on King William Street. He would greet the receptionist with a nod and walk into his room and work the day away, never coming out except to relieve himself and to get a drink of water.

In the afternoon he would walk back to the Gouger Street get on the bus and sit quietly with his bag on his lap till he reached his doorstep. Once inside he would shower, make himself a cup of tea, settle down to watch a movie as he ate his microwave meal. No one cooked him a meal. He never had any reason to. One person is never enough to cook for.

*

It was on one of these ordinary days that things did not go as planned.

 It seemed like just another typical day. Waking up in the morning and having his shower he went through his usual routine expecting another typical day in his life to continue. But this was a different day. Fate had decided to throw the dice and see how the results would entertain him.

 John finished his meagre breakfast and washed the dishes before going to the door to step out, not knowing what lay before him would change his outlook on life. As he walked out instead of seeing the blue sky and the trees and Jenny Sharp, all he could see was a bus advertising the next blockbuster movie right outside his doorstep.

“Pssshhh”, the door closed as the bus started to move away.

He Shouted, “No, I can’t be late!”, as he ran after the bus, trying hard to get the drivers attention but it kept moving further away as he ran behind it waving his arms like a crazy man. 

After the bus had well and truly gone, all he could now do was catch his breath as he huffed and puffed with his hands on his thighs and wait for the next bus to arrive. During the night, an electrical storm had passed through the city causing havoc with all electrical equipment in the houses. His alarm clock, Jenny’s clock radio had all had their time moved back by 5 minutes making everyone late. Surprisingly Mr Roberts was not outside in his usual spot in the garden. He happened to have a pacemaker, but John had not the time, nor the inclination to find out what really happened. Then he saw Jenny running out of her house late like he had been. While she was fumbling with her keys, pushing her hair back to see properly while trying to make sure she had everything she needed for work, she looked and saw John and all he could do was stand frozen to the spot. He could not talk, could not run, he could not jump into a passing bus. All he could do was stand there with the cheesy grin on his face.

As soon as she saw him she stopped what she was doing and started walking quickly towards him while saying, “John, I know we’ve been neighbours for a while, but i needed to ask you something, please?”

The only words that came out of his mouth was, “Ok”.

“I was wondering”, she continued, “If you wanted to come to dinner tonight?”.

Here he was standing in front of the woman of his dreams being invited to dinner and he was speechless. He couldn’t even make the usual noises one makes when they’re unable to speak or decide. He just stood there frozen, unable to speak.

Then out of the blue the next bus arrived right behind Jenny and quick as a flash he picked up his case and ran for the bus, shouting back, “I have to go to work! I’ll let you know later!”.    

As he sat down in his seat, he was keenly aware of his traveling companions staring at him with angry looks and looking outside to see a disappointed and dejected jenny walking back to her car. He could not believe that the day he had wish would arrive all these years had come and gone and all he could do was grin and run for the bus. How much of a coward had he become? Is this what would convince a woman to want to spend a few hours during dinner with him let alone a whole lifetime?

All the way to Gouger Street, all he could think about was how stupid he had been, but understanding the deed had been done and there was no way to go back and salvage the situation. He had disappointed the woman of his dreams and now he will spend the rest of his life alone.

As he stepped off the bus at his usual spot, he could not stop beating himself up about his frozen state when the perfect opportunity had arrived. “All I had to do was say YES! Why couldn’t I even say that much? I am so stupid!”, he said as he slapped his forehead with an open palm.

He continued to do this as he hurried to cross the road towards his office. If this were any other day or time he would have taken care, but he was late and was in distress. So much that he failed to notice the light turn green while he was rushing across, or the blaring horns of 3 cars bearing down on him till he suddenly came back into the real world and turned to look and suddenly, the world turned dark.

*

When he finally opened his eyes, it was blurry. A bright light over him and a ghost like figure speaking to him.

“John, John. Are you awake?”

The shadow turned to someone else saying, “I think he’s coming to. Go get the doctor”

Turning to him as he became more lucid she said “John, Are you ok?”

“What happened?”

She helped him up and fixed up the pillows behind him to make him more comfortable. “You were in an accident. A car ran into you and knocked you out. The driver called the ambulance and they brought you here to the emergency room”.

It was Jenny. She was her nurse. Thoughts ran through John’s head like a road train. “What did she think of the way I acted? Is she mad? How am I going to explain myself?”

All he could muster with his lips was, “Have to get back to work”.

“John, you’ve been in a coma for five days. There’s no way you’re going back to work. The doctor will be here soon to let you know how you’re doing but you have no chance of leaving here for at least another five till we’re sure you’re completely fine.”

“But I have work, I have bills to pay, clients to meet. It’s almost tax time and there will be a lot of work for me to do!”

“Relax John, your boss has been able to survive without you for the last few days. I don’t think another few days would hurt the business too much. If they really need you then visiting hours are from 5 till 9pm” She smirked as she checked his vitals and the equipment. “Comfortable?”

John resigned himself to the fact he was staying put for a while. “Yes” , he replied.

Jenny stayed in the room. She helped the doctor as he checked on him again and made sure that he was not suffering any major complications or injuries and left to see his other patients.

When they were alone John finally got the courage to speak clearly about that day. “I’m sorry for how I reacted when you asked me on the dinner date. I should have just said yes. I don’t know what came over me”.

The look of surprise on her face caught him off guard. “Dinner date? When?”

“The day of the accident. You asked me to come over for dinner. It’s just that I’ve been trying to get the courage up to say something to you for months but was never able to speak or even do anything.” He stammered on, “I know it all sounds stupid now but I could barely speak around you. I’m sorry for the way I reacted to your invitation. I panicked. I think you’re just amazing and you’re wonderful and I would like to be able to take you out to dinner and get to know you. Will that be ok?”

The silence was deafening.

Then she finally broke through the silence. “I’m so sorry, John.”

“What do you mean”

“Well when I asked you to come to dinner, I wasn’t asking you for a date.”

“Oh”

“I was actually asking you to come over so I could introduce you to a guy I’d been seeing for a couple of weeks. I wanted to ask your opinion of him. I thought that since you were a bystander in the neighbourhood, you’d give me your honest opinion on him. I’m very interested in settling down with him but I was looking for a second opinion to be sure. I guess I’m glad you never took me up on the offer. I wouldn’t have been able to explain you to each other.”

The term “tonne of bricks” didn’t seem to do justice to what John felt in that very long, lonely moment. He had wished for an opportunity to speak to Jenny for so long and when the opportunity finally arrived it was already too late. If only he had spoken up earlier. What if he’d waved back on those days when she waved at him in the morning? What if he had gone over and said something? What if he’d pretended to be sick and come to the hospital to see a nurse? A nurse named Jenny?

“I’m sorry I never asked earlier. I froze every time I saw you. All I really had to do was take the chance but I didn’t. The only person to blame for that is me.”

“That’s ok, John. Thank you for understanding. But I hope we can still be friends, hmmm?”.

“I guess..........Yes we definitely can be friends! I’d like that”.   

Jenny looked embarrassed by the whole situation. She turned and was about to leave him with his thoughts when she suddenly turned.

“John, don’t blame yourself. Fate has a way of playing games with us. We get opportunities to do great things and it’s up to us to take them or leave them. I was kinda hoping you would ask me out at some stage. You seem like a great guy. But after my mum passed away last month I realised I have to stop wasting time waiting for someone who won’t show up. Sorry John. I took my opportunity.”

Then she quietly turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind her.

All John could do is look at the door. Shut. Unyielding. Unfriendly. Just shut. Why didn’t he walk through it before it was shut forever? 

*