Mabel, youll be the one to blame for his death! How could it be anyones? Of course, Toms! Yes, youexactly you! Ah, nothing surprising! And who was that lovely girl sitting on the garden bench yesterday, flashing those bare knees? Can a lad even look at that? Toms mind is a fragile thing He probably only ever saw bare girls knees at school PE, and that was ages ago. So what if there are dozens of girls in miniskirts? You compared them! His knees and yours! Its a different story for Tomespecially!
The voice on the receiver grew harsh:
Im not making this up. I can see him now, writing his last letter Right! He says, I cant I cant live without her. It pierces my heartdo you hear me? He writes that, he says it, but he wont look at me. Im better off having a pint I mean, Im going to die! Yes, the word die is crystal clear. How can I not see? Ive got my grandfathers field binoculars! I can see anything I want through them!
A brief silence followed, broken only by the anxious breathing of the caller:
Oh, my dear, were late, Mabel, were late Ive taken the sharp knife, and its already sinking in blood Can you believe hell make it? Run, run, hurry and save your prince!
Granny Whitaker, squinting her crafty narrow eyes, watched with pleasure as the sturdy Mabel burst into Toms shabby flat, carrying with her unspent affection, a desire to feed him stew, and a dream of a bustling household.
Tom had no chance. The lanky, dreamy young man lived alone; just six months earlier his mother had remarried and moved to Spain, leaving her beloved son a threebedroom flat. Shed sternly ordered him to marry quickly and start producing grandchildrenat least one, and fast, no delays.
Tom agreed; a cosy family life appealed to him. But finding a girl proved impossible. A genius with electronics, he was silent, selfconscious, and shy in conversation. He couldnt take the initiative, and he fled from assertive girls faster than a jet fighter. Granny Whitaker was glad of it: she didnt want to share a wall with a cheeky, brazen neighbour.
Enter Mabel. She was plump, homely, and respectable. Not a beauty queen, but pleasant, with a round freckled face that gave a warm impression. All it took was a little attention and conversationthings these young men never seemed to manage.
All their gadgetsoh, what a horrid word!could only spit out snippets of information, a photo or a short video. And those TikTok girls werent even comparable to the clingy brats Tom feared like fire. Their makeup looked like witches at a coven! Modern girls were as different from Mabel as a circus clown is from a ticket seller at the box office. Youll remember the clowns odd face, not the ticket sellers. Yet you can actually talk to the ticket seller, exchange a few sentences. With a clown, you barely get a word.
So Tom, glancing now and then at his neighbour Mabel, never quite grasped his own happiness. Granny Whitaker thought hed die a lonely, wandering soulstarved, frozen, deprived of a womans tenderness.
At home, Tom resembled a hedgehog lost in fog. He ate instant noodles and dumplings, only remembering to lift the pot off the stove in time. He made sandwiches, and he was a sandwich pro. He even brewed a decent cup of tea.
That afternoon he tried to slice a cucumber for a salad, nicked his finger, and went looking for a bandage and some antiseptic. Just then someone pounded on the front door. Ignoring the bleeding finger, he flung the door open.
Mabel, eyes wide with alarm, lunged in. What she said, what she tried to convince him of, Granny Whitaker never heard. The binoculars dont transmit sound, and thats a shame! Yet cunning Matchmakerlike Granny Whitaker later saw Mabel, back in her own flat, feeding Tom hearty stew, potatoes with meatballs, a vinaigrette of cabbage, and a bowl of plum compote. From the look on Toms face, the food was deliciousvery.
Toms smile widened, the loneliness faded from his eyes, and the sense of being adrift evaporated.
A month later the two were wed. Granny Whitaker was invited, given a slice of the wedding cake, and even the biggest piece for herself. As the ceremony ended, the bride Mabel giggled and asked the old woman:
So he was about to die, right? You said he was stabbing himself in the finger? Oh, Granny Whitaker, I felt so ashamed when I said Id save him, and he just handed me his injured finger!
And so, Tom learned that waiting in the shadows never brings a partner, but opening the doorboth literally and figurativelylets love step in. The true lesson: courage and kindness can turn a lonely life into a shared feast.
