Show Not Tell

Copyright oggbashan January 2023

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

This is a very short story intended originally for the 750 word challenge but got slightly too long.

*

It was Valentine's Day. We had driven to the local viewpoint although we could easily have walked it but the wind was cold.

I was aware that Angela was annoyed with me but I didn't know why. Eventually she exploded.

"James! It is Valentine's Day. We have been together for nine months and you have never said 'I love you'. I had hoped you would have proposed by now. You haven't and there is no sign you ever will. Yes, you sent me a Valentine's card that arrived today, but it was anonymous. You didn't even sign it. I've had enough. We're over. I want to find someone who will love me, not just treat me with indifference."

Angela stood up and started to walk away. What should I do? Follow her? Try to explain that my previous girlfriend had accepted my statements of love and returned them but eventually had betrayed me with someone else? I just stayed sitting in shock.

Angela was about fifty yards away when she suddenly screamed and yelled "I've been bitten!"

I rushed over to her. She had been bitten on the ankle by a brown snake. I kicked it away, pushed Angela down on the ground and lifted her leg. The two punctures of the snake bite were obvious. I took out my pocket knife, cut over the marks and started to suck. I sucked for about three minutes, filling my mouth with her blood.

"We've got to get you to hospital, Angela. I don't know what that snake was but it is not native. I've no idea whether it was poisonous or not."

I carried Angela to my car, put her in the passenger seat and drove to the hospital as fast as possible. Angela looked very white. I carried her into the emergency room. A nurse directed us into a side room and a doctor was with us in seconds. I hadn't expected that. The emergency unit had been busy for weeks, It must have been a very quiet time.

Angela was still in shock and finding it difficult to speak. I had to explain what had happened and that I didn't know what kind of snake had bitten Angela.

"You cut her leg and sucked the blood?" The doctor asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"That was the right thing to do, but looking at her leg, I don't think, in fact I am sure, the snake wasn't poisonous. Otherwise there would be more swelling and marks further up her leg. You behaved correctly but I think your efforts were pointless. We'll give her a tetanus injection just in case, bandage her wound, and then you can take her away. She'll be sore at that spot for a couple of days but that's all."

The doctor left. A nurse gave Angela a tetanus injection and then cleaned and bandaged the wound. I carried Angela back to my car and drove her to my flat. I sat her down on the settee and gave her a cup of over-sweetened tea.

Angela patted the seat beside her. I sat next to her.

"James? You love me, don't you? Despite having just dumped you, you rushed to me when I needed help. That's love..."

Angela kissed me.

"So why not say it?"

I explained about Chloe. I had been going out with Chloe for six months. Every time we met she told me she loved me, and I had responded. But the last two months, despite saying she loved me, she had been two-timing me with Simon and telling him she loved him. He didn't know about me. I didn't know about him until one of our mutual friends asked whose girlfriend Chloe was since he had seen her with both of us.

It had been a shock. I confronted her and she chose Simon. I had felt rejected and couldn't trust any woman for a year. Simon was also shaken by her treachery and ended with her a month later.

"That's why I was reluctant to say 'I love you'. I had been saying it several times a week to a woman who betrayed me. That hurt. But..."

I picked up a card from the coffee table. I opened it, wrote inside it, put it in its envelope and handed it to Angela.

"I had bought two Valentine's cards. I wasn't sure which one to send, but here is the second one."

Angela opened the card and read 'Angela? I love you. Will you marry me, please? James.'

Angela's response was to jump on my lap an start kissing me frantically before saying 'Yes, James, I will."

Actions had spoken louder than spoken words. From then on we were formally engaged and I made sure I told Angela I loved her every day.

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(Author's Note: I try to avoid typos, but my eyesight is compromised by cancer. I use two spellcheckers and print out in large typeface before submitting but I cannot guarantee that everything is typo-free -- because I can't see them. That is particularly true of the sub-title because I am typing blindly into a box I can't really see because it is so small.)