A MEAL GONE WRONG

A MEAL GONE WRONG:
The date was ten days short of Yule. The Christmas tree outside the station rocked side by side like a toddler demonstrating her first dance. With each movement, crimson baubles crashed at each other, ribbons slowly unfastened.
She jumped on the train; auburn hair straight as dice, face still not quite ready for a fresh day, unreliable zip of her black Mulberry ajar.
He tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me, you pushed me! I was in front of you!” He said briskly: his touch had aroused a familiar, pleasant sensation in every fiber of Scarlett- a touch which she longed for so long, so desperately. She twisted her neck and gazed at him; her night-blue eyes watered with the early winter mist and a whiff of nostalgia.
With the sliding doors of the train closing on Rhett: his body resembled a strong ox’s body caught in between a nutcracker. She offered him a hand. “Ohh it is you, Rhett!” She uttered in a jovial tone and shot a warm smile at his direction.
Rhett always longed for this smile. “Scarlett!” He managed. Then he twisted his thin lips and tried to utter some more words. Nothing came out of it.
“How nice to see you again Rhett!”
” Scarlett, you look, different: amazing!”
“Amazing?”
“Yes, amazing! Your hair, it is so, it so different!” He stuttered.
“Ohh my hair! I straightened it!”
“You are not with Shebnam, anymore! Sorry Rhett, I don’t know what came over me!”
They giggled together briefly, each lowering their eyes on the ground coyly.
“No, I am not! Has she been talking about me?”
“A little!”
“A little? Ohh ok!”
“Sorry, I did not want to upset you!”
“You did not. Look! Don’t worry. Shebnam and I weren’t meant to be. Anyhow life goes on! What have you been up to?”
“Nothing much! Still living in the same place! Still single! Ohh dear me!”
They giggled a little more!
“Listen, Scarlett, I am going to a Christmas do tonight! I was wondering if you wanted to come along too. I bought two tickets. We need to have a meal first though!” Rhett loathed party food.
“I would love to! ” She blushed.

Rhett was to pick Scarlett up from her flat later on. Back in her flat, Absentmindedly, with her translucent fingers, Scarlett drew a couple of circles on the steamed windows of her tiny kitchen before forcing them open. “Scarlett! Never stuff an aubergine: life is too short for it! If you insist on stuffing one, it should either serve a good purpose or at least you should have the sense to keep quiet about it. There is no bigger bore than a foodie bore”. Her grandmother once told Scarlett. Scarlett’s friends told Scarlett the way into a man’s heart is through his stomach. She soaked the aubergines in salt-water. “Salt takes the bitterness away.”
She licked her fingers which were drenched in béchamel sauce. She opened a pack of almond with a knife, her hands became shaky as she poured the almond in the béchamel sauce, she caught her blurry reflection in the window; her face closed up and her eyes displayed anguish. She tried to steady her hands with all her might but the knife penetrated into her skin and a few drops of her blood flew into the sauce. Scarlett had no more ingredients left for béchamel sauce. So she stirred the sauce thoroughly. Blood barely coloured the sauce anyhow. After she put the food in the oven, she changed into a sunflower coloured , strapless number. Luckily, Scarlett had not inherited her mother’s ghost like skin: it didn’t drain her complexion. She poured some wine on the scarlet number earlier on; scarlet looked much better on Scarlett! She poured herself another glass of wine. The sickening , fruity smell of the wine mixed with the bitter smell of aubergine and the sweet smell of béchamel sauce made her feel slightly light-headed or her light-headedness may have been borne out the mortal sin which she was about to commit; she was not sure. The door-bell rang. Rhett stood in front of Scarlet with a bunch of red roses in hand, wearing an ash grey tweed jumper and a pair of blue-jeans, his hair the same shade of black olive that Scarlet has for breakfast on Sunday mornings, his posture enviable. Scarlett groped him on the sides feeling gratified as her hands filled with his love handles. “But can he handle my love? “ She heard herself thinking wickedly. She poured him a glass of wine before dragging him to the sofa and pulling her knickers down. “Absinthe makes hearts grow even fonder!” 
They sat on the dinner table next: She, knickers-less; he, pants done up.

“I should’ve married you! Really I should’ve! Ohh I am so sorry, Scarlett! So sorry for not making you my bride!” Rhett whispered in her ear while reaching for his first bite. After the first bite, he choked: the blood on his ruddy face drained, his tongue resembled a duck’s tongue with blue veins in abundance! She drove him to the hospital and abandoned him at gates of the A & E before speeding off. On her way back home, Shebnam stood at the door, "Are you alright sister? You look a ghost” Shebnam held Scarlett. The police men are clever: they tracked Scarlett down in no time and broke the news of Rhett’s death to Shebnam. Rhett stuck her knickers down in his pocket. Scarlett is now serving four years in prison. “Scarlett knew about my ex husband’s fatal allergy to nuts!” Shebnam told the jury.