Elsie and her Man

Preamble: During Blogchatter's A2Z challenge during the month of April 2024, I am writing mini stories on various subjects and characters on each day of the month except on Sundays. The name of the protagonist shall begin with the alphabet assigned for the day.  

Elsie had moved from her native town of Bainbridge in the state of Georgia to San Francisco, California 10 years back when she landed a job in a start up tech company. At that time she was full of excitement to move from a small agricultural town to a big city. Since then she had acquired the ways of a city girl both in terms of style and being street smart. 

It was in this city that she had met Jeremy who worked in the E commerce company Door Dash. They met at a night club and was instantly drawn to each other. During the dating period of over six months, Elsie could see that Jeremy had alcoholic tendencies. While he was very sweet when sober, he would become violent when intoxicated and get into fights with people in public places. During this time, Elsie's best friend Mary advised her to stop seeing Jeremy, notwithstanding the fact that he was a very handsome man. But, as they say love is blind!  They married with the blessings of family and friends. But as predicted by Mary, it did not last beyond two years. Jeremy was unable to control his tantrums when drunk. 

In the meanwhile, Elsie got a job at a bigger company Sales Force. Although Mary and Elsie parted ways professionally, they continued to keep in touch and met socially often enough. Two years later Elsie decided to marry again. This time it was a colleague working for the same company. When Mary met her friend's fiancé, John at a social dinner, warning bells chimed in her head. There were classic similarities between the two men Elsie had been attracted to. Both of them were very good looking but more significantly both went out of control after a few drinks entered their body. 

This time also Mary sounded her apprehensions to her friend, However, she knew it was useless seeing the moony expression on Elsie's face when she looked at John. This marriage lasted for a year more than the previous one. But this time Elsie was devastated; her optimism and confidence in the institution of marriage was completely shattered. She began to focus on work and stopped dating altogether. 

Mary tried hard to get her out of this phase. She took her for counselling to a very reputed therapist. Elsie was given insights into what they called  the "Relationship repetition syndrome" and  as to why she was drawn to similar people. Sometimes it is about what is familiar and comfortable or it could be what they observed in their parent's relationship and so on. Elsie felt that perhaps the parental factor was the closest in her case. However, all this did not change her inclination to dating or wanting to settle down with a man. It did not bother her that she was touching the age of 32. The other alternative was more painful. 

In the meanwhile, two years after her divorce, Elsie met Tom quite by accident at the Golden Gate Park where Mary had persuaded her to visit to beat the blues. On Tom's request, she had given her contact number but engaged only in polite conversations whenever he called. Mary felt that Tom was sincere as he continued to pursue Elsie in spite of the conspicuous disinterest exhibited by her. 

It was not because Tom was unattractive but the fact that she had bitter experiences in the past that dissuaded Elsie from accepting the olive branch he offered. Finally, finding it difficult to turn down Tom without a legitimate reason, Elsie decided to engage a private detective to spy on him. She hoped that something 'negative' would be picked up by the detective making her task of saying "No" so much easier. This was one time though that she did not share her plan with Mary. 

When the report came from the detective, Elsie found that Tom's reputation was impeccable. He was employed as a senior executive in a leading biotechnology company and was known to be always courteous and considerate in all his interactions be it official or social . He cared for his parents and sister and maintained regular contact. Now, Elsie had no reason to hesitate and she gave the green signal.

The next fortnight can only be described as 'Bliss'. Elsie and Tom spent the maximum time possible with each other and loved every moment. It was a Saturday and Tom had booked a table at a fancy restaurant. Elsie arrived on the dot but Tom was nowhere to be seen. Fifteen minutes later the waiter brought a note that left Elsie totally devastated. She left the restaurant her legs shaking. The note had said something to the effect "Trust is the most important aspect in any relationship. The fact that you spied on me is something I cannot come to terms with. Good bye!" 

Another month passed and Elsie was back to her old life of being single and spending more time at work to beat the feeling of loneliness fueled all the more by the "Tom episode".  She returned on a Wednesday at 7 PM tired, discouraged by the thought of cooking dinner. Perhaps she can order for home delivery. At 8.15 PM there was a ring of the door bell. It was a smiling Tom with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.  

As he entered he asked" Why on earth  did you not tell me the details of your life so far dear ?  If not for Mary, I may have missed out on my beloved and regretted it all my life!" Elsie could not control the tears flowing down her face. Trust "Good old Mary to play angel so many times in my life" mused Elsie. 

NB: This post is a part of  challenge #BlogchatterA2Z