Monday’s Stories (Flash Fiction #106)

Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Valentine’s Story #1

“I thought you like flowers, which is why I bought them for you. Remember you complained that I didn’t bring flowers. Now I bring them, and you…” Jom stares at his wife Jasmin in dismay.

“How much did you pay for this? We have our mortgage to pay; we have our son’s college tuition to plan for.” Jasmin says in a worried tone.

“It didn’t cost a penny. The florist just insisted that I took these flowers for free and she would not take no for an answer.” Jom says.

“Oh, give me a break. That doesn’t sound plausible. Wait a minute. She? She insisted? I mean is there a special relationship between …” Jasmin says.

The two argue for a while until finally Jasmin extracts the information from Jom–it costs $40. Then Jasmin quickly whips out her iPhone and did a calculation. She’s a mathematician and works as an accountant. They can somehow lower their heating bill by $40 without too much erosion on their winter comfort to recuperate the loss. Jasmin becomes happy again.

Valentine’s Story #2

“An anonymous love letter for you? Who’s he?” Arhu asks his wife Armei.

“I don’t know. There’s no signature.” Armei says.

Arhu takes the letter in hand and examines it closely, but doesn’t know what to make of it one way or another.

“Who sends letter these days? I mean everybody is using email or social media.” Arhu says.

“Probably my admirer is a very handsome wild caveman who lives in a place beyond the reach of internet. And he only comes down to a village once a month to collect his mails.” Armei says with a deliberate drawl to show her pride.

“If that’s the case, I don’t need to worry about it. You will never be interested in a caveman since he doesn’t take showers and has no sense of modern hygiene…” Arhu says and sits down for dinner.

“Wait, wash your hands. You just touched the letter, which might have Covid or …” Armei says.

“See, this is exactly what I am talking about. You will never go for a caveman.”Arhu says. However he still can’t let go. Throughout the dinner time, he would from time to time comes up with one or two questions for Armei about this mystery man. And Armei answers his questions with all the vagueness she can master to tease Arhu, who looks annoyed and plagued.

After the dinner, when Arhu goes to the living room to watch TV, Armei exchanges text messages with her friend Reni, who lives in California.

“Thank you for sending the letter, Reni. Arhu is appropriately disturbed, very much to my satisfaction.” Armei types.

“Wow, Armei. My husband and I drove to Las Vegas last weekend and I mailed you the letter from there. It should have a post mark from Nevada, not California. Anyway, thank you for mailing me an anonymous love letter. My husband is disturbed too. You are so clever to come up with the letter exchanging scheme. However I am planning to tell him the truth tonight.” Reni types.

“I mailed the letter last weekend when I went to New York City. So the letter should bear the post mark of New York, rather than New Jersey. Well, are you sure you want to tell him tonight? I am thinking of revealing everything to Arhu in a week, just to keep him guessing a little longer.” Armei says.

“Sounds good. Happy torturing.” Reni types.