Scott really liked Charlene. He used to meet her in the local coffee shop, and they had a whale of a time; she was an interesting lady and made him laugh like a kookaburra. As a result, he tended the pay attention to what she said. Quite often, he would recall some of their previous conversations and turned them into a witty little joke. He was clever like that.
Charlene certainly thought that Scott’s jokes were funny, but she was deeply suspicious. How was he able to remember so many of the things that she said? As she had been raised in a society where the menfolk were not particularly adept at listening, this answer did not even occur to her. She assumed that he must be making notes.
They continued to meet and they had a wonderful time, laughing, joking and making merry, but, in the back of her mind, she was always checking to make sure that he didn’t write anything down. He never did. She was baffled. Scott remained completely oblivious to the whole investigation.
Despite finding no evidence of writing materials, Scott continued to remember things that she had said. Charlene began to suspect that he had a concealed dictaphone and was transcribing their conversations at a later date. The question that kept rattling around her mind was why would he be doing such a thing? The only conclusion that she could come to was that he was working for a secret government agency and was collating data on her for some kind of sinister experiment. Little did she realise that he was simply paying attention to her because he thought she was great.
One day, out of the blue, Charlene disappeared. Scott tried to call her, but her number had been disconnected. He was devastated. His time with Charlene had been so much fun, what could he have possibly have done to have offended her? The truth was that she had given up her job and identity, and had gone to live as a sheep on her uncle’s farm, somewhere in Yorkshire. The precise location remains a mystery to this day. She’d used the proceeds from the sale of her house to buy an ultra-realistic sheep costume, it was really very elaborate. She had simply become too afraid of the knock on the door from the men in black. It was a knock that was never going to come.
Scott eventually learned to move on in his life, but he never truly recovered, and for all the people he would meet in the future, they would always pale in comparison to Charlene. He lived to be a very old man, still wondering what he had done wrong. He suspected that it was probably the smell of pickled onions.
The moral of this story appears to be ‘don’t pay attention’, but that would be a crazy and irresponsible message for any work of fiction to promote. If we’re going to take away a positive message from the whole sorry affair, it should be this: not all men are interested in FHM-style women, who are thicker than any woman could actually ever be, and whose ambition in life is to sit around in lingerie while declaring their fondness for sexual activities that they’ve clearly never done. No, some men actually like women and find them attractive for their (shock horror) personality.
Don’t get me wrong, not all men think like this. Lots of them are tits and are only interested in knocker-based rewards. Scott is just special.
yes , personality yes, and big knockers,knickers and a willingness to take it up the ar…… bugger here comes nanny..bye
Oh dear, Monkey. You may have just identified yourself as part of the category of men discussed in the final paragraph of the story.
It’s time to sit down and re-prioritise.
i should like to make it clear that , that last post was in fact from my wayward and vile twin Cheeky Monkey. he has an unhealthy attitude towards the ladies and is constantly impersonating me.
also he is wanted by various constabularies around the country for frutting without a license, lewd behaviour with a leprichaun and conspiracy to “trot the ladies”.
anyone who has information on his whereabouts should immediatley contact the samaritans and hide
that’s a lovely, touching story Sherbs.
w.o.s is right, lovely and touching but sadly true. men who pay attention and remember what they have been told are seen as geeky and stalkerish. men who do neither are considered `just typical`. generally.
i think most men are interested in FHM type women visually but attractiveness and beauty come in many forms and many different types of personalities. viva la difference!
but seriously , if you see someone who looks like me and shouts at 70 year old librarians `awite darlin ,getcha tits out` that`ll be cheeky monkey , my alter eg…. i mean my naughty twin
[...] Paying Attention – A Story – Another moving story about a man, a woman and the perils of paying attention. [...]
Happily for Scott, there was always his big Brother Paul to turn to. He buried his hot, tear stained face deep into Paul’s leather jacket and breathed deeply…aaaaahh. His brother always had the reassuring smell of petrol and vick’s vaporub. Paul offered to hook Scott up with a high street honey. Paul said that she had a belly chain with little play boy bunny motifs dangling tantalisingly across her midriff. Oh Paul! Scott would rather throw pebbles into Lassiters Lake, you gallaa! Did you not even read the story?