an eleventh story...'the engineer'

‘There’s nothing remarkable about me really’ he said, the girls were listening, ‘but there are certain things I don’t like people to know about me’.  The pretty one smiled and the fat one chortled, ‘what’s that supposed to mean?’ she asked, ‘whatever you want it to mean’ he replied flippantly, his eyes on the pretty one, watching her reaction.  He took a sip of his beer.  ‘What do you do?’ asked the fat one again, ‘for a living I mean’.  ‘I’m…well have a guess’ he said.  ‘What do you think I do judging by my appearance?’.  ‘Law?’ said the pretty one shyly.  He couldn’t tell if there was hope in her voice.  He wanted to say something like ‘and if I did?’ but thought it might be suggestive, so he told her he didn’t but that at school he had toyed with the idea. 

The fat one was tugging at her chin with her big creamy fingers.  She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out.  The pretty one appeared to be thinking.  ‘You don’t look like a creative type’ she said.  ‘No, I’m not’ he said frankly, deciding in that instant that honesty might be the best policy.  ‘A policeman?’ the fat one blurted out.  ‘No’ he said.  ‘A teacher?’, the pretty one again. ‘No I’m afraid not’ he grinned.  ‘Tell us’ demanded the fat one impatiently.  He didn’t want to.  He took another sip of beer and asked them both what they did instead.

It turned out the fat one was a secretary, she mentioned the company she worked for but he forgot it immediately.  He was waiting for the pretty one to reply.  She hesitated a moment.  ‘And you?’ he prompted her.  She smiled shyly again and put her hands in her lap. ‘Go on, tell him’ said the fat one, the pretty one blushed, although he couldn’t be sure, ‘I’m a…’ she began, and then giggled, ‘I’m a dancer’ she said finally.  The fat one burst into an almighty laugh and her chin wobbled.  He leaned toward the pretty one, ‘are you fucking with me?’ he asked genuinely surprised.  Her eyes were bright.  ‘No’ she replied.  It was his turn to blush.  ‘Tell me what you do then’ she said.  He gulped, ‘er, I’m an…I guess you could say I build bridges’ he told her.