The Girl with the Dangly Bag

By Paul Stansby

An adventure of alternatives in life where one dreams of different existences after having new encounters and they physically happen

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Stansby
• Release date: Apr 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215888018

Book preview

Introduction, Out of the blue

An instant, this was certainly one to stand out for the current year. Last year's main event was when I saw an asteroid whizzing through our outer atmosphere, burning bright and with a grand plume as debris lit up the night sky as it passed us by some hundred miles hurtling on into space , a near miss, at least it was as we would most likely be no more, there's probably loads of those, clueless to its size but I have been working on that one as the concept to size distance and the current status of the atmosphere to where you are all playing a part, just to conclude it wasn't small and what should something appear to be like in size when so high up in the dark of the night. Today it was brilliant sunshine, blue as blue could be in a slightly clouded but enigmatic sky of wonderment and wonder whereupon out of the blue a lively vivacious, curious person crossed my path, they've done so before but so enigmatic as this person was, forty-one years had passed since such a person had enrolled and captivated my attention. How was I so certain of this, I have a person who took over my soul becoming a muse to me and I took some time to realise this fact, so now a new person had steamrolled into this enigma, two touches from her and forty-one years began to unravel. Can one have two muses?, The first was all apparent inspiring many stories though she would most likely be unaware of even being a muse, or at least mine, as she was such beautiful person I expected her to be one for many a person.'

  So this new firecracker of enigmatic personality who easily displaced the thrill of this hurtling asteroid on its way to collide with somebody's world in space came on the scene, in terms of space and the time 41 years in the universe is a mere pinprick though on the human mind somewhat longer, especially bearing in mind that this firecracker was yet to be born when I had my original encounter with this person who had turned out to be my everlasting muse and now was somewhat displaced by this new girl though not overturned completely, a battle for the mind which had suddenly become derailed from the reality of day to day life. Is this evolving or just getting on the train for a new journey, not knowing how one is supposed to evolve puts that ball game into somewhat of dilemma.

  Another avenue now releasing itself back into a dreamy world of expectations of desire and fulfilment, momentarily of course as dreams are such, reality for most are far removed from actually living out the dream, practicality rules with this or maybe acceptance of one's lot, middle and uppers class ideals as opposed to the working class ones differ here as working your way up the somewhat greasy pole of success needs some fortuitous events along the way, the sincerity of your progress or another's is for one's own interpretation.'

  Getting back to present day, past is exactly just that and future many like to plan out, mostly irrelevant as plans go topsy turvy in general upsetting the golden ideals people are seeking. So why the connection with this girl in a very random circumstance, more than accidental as it was in an instant similar to eyelids blinking a couple of times, the probability of actually connecting being greater than man discovering another similar lifeforms to us in the universe, making the last forty-one years relevant to myself chink together, remember the universe has been chinking together for Ex billions of years, they say five billion but do the scientists have knowledge enough to date back further, what is the difference between five to ten billions years for instance? Times two hypothetically.

  What arose to make the first encounter? More or less the same magically happenings which produced this planet we're now residing on. So on this specific day I's set off without my prescribed sunshades, some awesome Oakley ones which did the business of stopping sunstroke, I was spending a lot time in the Caribbean after succumbing to early retirement. Work I had liked, the jolly old treadmill proving some occupancy for the mind though nowadays I look upon as a disease rather like diabetes which I have, there's many alternatives to work if its affordable, if not one just keeps digging a hole to which eventually consumes. Now these magically happening could be regraded as accidental or preordained, the old destiny scenario. I'd set off early to the nearby Hog Island just around the corner from the Secret Harbour anchorage I was moored at, I'd forgotten my shades as I said, not far I thought and I was going to be sat in the shade writing on my laptop hopefully so I decided to not go back for them but It was far enough to start off sunstroke, the sun reflects off the sea with vengeance, not as much as snow, fifteen minutes of this bright sun was enough though, the blinding headache behind the eyes kicked in. I arrived at this island and pulled the dinghy up the beach and secure its line to a post, found a bench and table, flicked up the laptop lid and not a thing was occurring in my head, closed it and lay along the bench and promptly crashed out. An hour and a half later woke up with sand crabs scarring over me, felt awful so decided to go on to a nearby coastal cafe on the mainland and get some sort of breakfast, these breakfasts varied enormously on this Caribbean island of Grenada, a wide spectrum of clientele to cater for. On route picked up a stranded dinghy with one person trying to row it in a breeze, he threw me a line which I secured and towed him. Arriving at the coastal cafe, it was the nearest one from the island I got rebuked for towing this dinghy incorrectly, with a banging headache, dehydrated and hungry I was not in the mood for a know it all, correct or not it had only been for a short distance of half a mile so it was irrelevant, but as we all aware of these people fun of correct ways to do things exist in all walks of life.

  I got seated and sunk some Reef Beers, IPA variety and ordered some potatoes wedges with chicken burger, I had tried breakfast at this bar/cafe before and to me it was a rather hopeless event, some other dishes I had had at this place through the years were generally good. This  island, Grenada, I often frequented. Some other very distinctive English speaking persons arrived near me, distinctive I suppose as there were no other visitors around from that neck of the woods. Upon leaving I went past them in the dinghy as they starting to set off as well from the cafe, one passenger had her bag hanging off her shoulder dangling over the water as she sat on one of the tubes of the inflatable, as I went past them I announced loudly that this was not the place to fall overboard as there were some yachting aficionados around and were evident in the cafe  occupying their time watching the coming and goings of others, people watching as many do.

  Leaving the cafe I went for a tootle around in the dinghy feeling refreshed after the beers which was not exactly a good idea without shades and soon the banging headache returned so I set off back to this Secret Harbour moorings stopping off at this Hog Island on the way, more beers were sought.

  At the island were the persons who I had hailed from the dinghy at the coastal cafe, I hadn't seen there faces but they recognised me and the woman with the dangly bag greeted me,Hi we just met you at the other place. 

  I acknowledged, it was mere encounter but they seemed friendly enough and offered a beer and the dangly bag woman was on full on stream socialising, effervescent, charming, not too candid and super friendly, basically a breath of fresh air from my usual encounters, my normal lack of communication with others was seemingly eluding itself. Originally my plan for the day was to finish off a part of a series which I'd originally started writing in 2020, this was proving difficult, part five was hanging around without an end, stories are difficult enough to start with, good concessive endings are often remote, rather like paddling up a creek with an oncoming current.

  To myself a little dilemma was arising in my head, where to put this woman rather than being associated to a dangly bag, I'd like to think of her as a girl, not knowing her age but I'd say late thirties, the two she was with hanging out with were a couple who had a boat here and it turned out she'd been deliberating for a month before taking the plunge of getting a flight to here. Girls were already adorning beach of around twenty years old with perfectly proportioned bodies with velvety skin, so time for names I think and as accordance with the necessary protocols so persons remain anonymous and generally unknown unless permission granted, Janice shall be the dangly bag woman and her friends she was visiting Graham and Delia.

  This location was more than popular on this day as filming was taking place for Below Decks , an online TV series and the crew had done a very neat job of setting up the beach with the necessary props for the filming. On my tootle around in the dinghy after the cafe I had seen the super yacht St Georges at anchor which was the main prop, some hundred and ninety foot of it, creating a buzz