I advise readers to start with part 1 of this series, so that you know what "the list" is all about. Nonetheless, each part can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.
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Excitement gripped me. I just had to find out about why these women desired me, but what is my next best move? I had the list in front of me again now, and even though there were women on that list whom I knew or had known pretty well - and some about whom I'd had an inkling about all sorts of mutual attraction, sure... but others not - whatever... right now I felt like diving right in, deeply into the unknown.
The list of women who desired me which I'd found on this totally and bizarrely unfathomable website called "Les Désirs des Femmes" had 44 names on it, all desiring me, and now I scanned it again looking for the truly mysterious. I wanted a name which said absolutely nothing to me, not that of an old friend, no school-mates, no exes or babysitters, friends of my parents (and joyfully there were a few of those on my list; maybe I'll get to them another time,) or lonely-hearts from the neighborhood...
No. I wanted a surprise. I want to walk into a room to see a woman I think I've never met or even seen before, half knowing, or hoping to see, hoping to find out, how strong her desires for me might be. And where that all came from. And where it was going.
And there is a slight danger here... desires and memories do not last forever. Maybe some of these women had had a passing crush on me, a brief fantasy or desire, for an hour, a day, a week? But then life took them elsewhere and the memories faded. Well, whatever. I have two choices with that; either I turn my back on these amazing and exciting possibilities, or I go check them out.
Reader, I am the kind to go check such things out, and I invite you to come with me.
So, scanning down the list, I can see plenty of names I do not recognize. And so my mind started taking over, seeking out a first name that I like more than the others, maybe starting with a letter that I like more than the other letters... let's see, I like D and J and there are 2 names each there, but I'm not feeling it, so, moving on there is M, yes, good, a lovely feminine name, but not quite mischievous enough, that name seems kind of reserved, I don't know why, so onwards to R... uh-huh, tempting, both of them, exotic even, but there was no resisting jumping down two more lines, to T. Wonderful T. It has always been my favourite, strong, decisive, impressive. A leader amongst letters, not a follower.
Just one name there.
Tamara Hochstatter
What the...? I almost laughed out loud at the oddness of the smooth, feminine christian name alongside the pretty harsh-looking Hochstatter. And no, I have no idea who Tamara is. But there was a certainty in this moment for me. I am going to find you Tamara, and I want to hear what the story is with you and me.
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But how the hell can I find Ms. Hochstatter? Do I search online in the usual places? This could be a wild goose-chase, even if that name doesn't seem too common, at least to my eye.
I sat wondering what to do next, when this glorious web-page, the wonderful, wonderful "Les Désirs des Femmes", offered me up its second miracle of the month, the physical traces of which I had not noticed before.
Almost invisibly small, beside every name on the list was an asterisk in an odd purple colour, so not easy to see against the black of the full page, and when I dragged the cursor over to the line of asterisks and coasted down them, each one lit up slightly, suggesting clickability and maybe access to some further info or link or something.
I clicked on the asterisk next to Tamara's name and a small message-box appeared to the right. In it was the following line: "workplace: 28, King's Road, London. UK"
Holy Guacamole, Batman! This website is the gift that keeps on giving. It's almost feeding me access to exactly what I want.
I clicked on three or four other asterisks, just to see what kind of information they would reveal, and deliciously, they all offered up decent ways of either contacting or finding the women in question. There were phone numbers, all kinds of addresses, and one or two more cryptic clues... but I will get back to them later. Now I was locked into the idea of finding Tamara, so I scootched my cursor back down to her asterisk. It was time to consider what to do about a mystery woman who may or may not be found at 28, King's Road, London. And who may or may not... want me.
The 21st century has found many ways of offering plenty across the digital landscape, and barely a half minute later I was at a web page for "Thigh-High-Island" a pretty top-end shoes and boots shop for women, in Chelsea, just along from Sloane Square. The kind of place where nothing has a price-tag in the shop, and where their carpet probably cost more than my car, and where you need to look the part as you enter.
That place is under two hours of travel for me, so when shall I go?
Again, I did not feel it was right to overthink all this, I just travelled up there on the next Saturday morning (hoping that shoe shops were open on Saturdays - they should be, that's got to be the best day for sales, right?) and I did not want to call ahead, even though I now had the shop's phone number. I just want the magic of walking into a room, finding Tamara, and seeing what happened next.
And that is just what I did. I did not even attempt to dress up for this snazzy salon on the King's Road. I'm going to take what comes. Either Tamara wants me or she doesn't. The risk of failure actually excited me as much as the chance of success.
Just as with Emma's unforgettable bookshop from a few weeks back, this door jingle at Thigh-High was also distinctive, even harsh, as I stepped in from the street.
