There really should have been a boyfriend in the picture - Grace was nineteen and oblivious to her own beauty, as I told her.
"Ah, that's sweet, you mean it?"
Not so long ago, a man I considered more intelligent than me likened Grace to the Birth of Venus. I couldn't see it then but I could see it now, a bit. Telling her would only have confused her.
Don't get me wrong, she was no wall-flower. In the brief time I'd known her, I'd seen Grace out with dozens of guys but like her two best-friends on the dance-floor, they always appeared somewhat detached from them in public, like three small boats pulling away from their tethers.
The men seemed to be picked at random, there was no obvious system, or one I could lay a handle on. I had watched Grace, Hayley and Vera steadily over the last year - It was an instinct I followed, perhaps not wholly paternal but there was no hiding their youth and vulnerability.
I had thought that one day a prince would come but there appeared to be no silver-linings in any of the girls lives and my conclusion was; they had grown into women long before my time.
"You really think I'm pretty?"
Other than bar-room banter, I knew almost nothing about her, except that she worked in Dreamland and drank Pernod and black.
"Have you got a £2 coin?" She asked me as she searched through her tiny panda-face purse.
"Let me get these." I offered as I signalled to the staff to bring another round to my table.
"No, it's for a game." Grace said. "You like games, don't you?"
"Ah, that's sweet, you mean it?"
Not so long ago, a man I considered more intelligent than me likened Grace to the Birth of Venus. I couldn't see it then but I could see it now, a bit. Telling her would only have confused her.
Don't get me wrong, she was no wall-flower. In the brief time I'd known her, I'd seen Grace out with dozens of guys but like her two best-friends on the dance-floor, they always appeared somewhat detached from them in public, like three small boats pulling away from their tethers.
The men seemed to be picked at random, there was no obvious system, or one I could lay a handle on. I had watched Grace, Hayley and Vera steadily over the last year - It was an instinct I followed, perhaps not wholly paternal but there was no hiding their youth and vulnerability.
I had thought that one day a prince would come but there appeared to be no silver-linings in any of the girls lives and my conclusion was; they had grown into women long before my time.
"You really think I'm pretty?"
Other than bar-room banter, I knew almost nothing about her, except that she worked in Dreamland and drank Pernod and black.
"Have you got a £2 coin?" She asked me as she searched through her tiny panda-face purse.
"Let me get these." I offered as I signalled to the staff to bring another round to my table.
"No, it's for a game." Grace said. "You like games, don't you?"
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