Its just over a week since I 'came out', the world is still turning, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west (not that we ever get to see it through these rain clouds but still...)
Couch surfing isn't working again.
Oh and I wrote a two minute story...
Thought I'd share the whole thing

"A soul mate is a friend you make and meet on the astral plane" Michelle Garcia 2014

Gear stick into reverse, side mirror – check, rear view mirror – check, quick look over shoulder - check, all clear, gas on, clutch up slowly, release hand brake, then BANG – ARGHHHHHHHHHH. That sickening, heart stopping moment when you realise you just hit somebody with your car.

Brake on, hand brake up, deep breath and launch yourself out of the car wondering if you should have just driven off.

Welcome to Charlie's Monday morning.

She quickly ran round to the back of the car where a young Asian man lay on the ground, his twisted bike frame front under the rear of her car, the front wheel buckled, the man wincing in agony and clutching his leg.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, which was a stupid question considering the contorted look on his face. He replied in a language she didn’t understand. “Stop!” she said, she needed to get help and quickly.

“Chinese?” he looked blank for a moment as she asked the question. “Ch-i-neese” she sounded out the word, he shook his head. “Japanese?” she asked, he nodded his head vigorously.

“Ichi” she said and pointed at her watch to indicate a minute, while she dialled 999. The operator asked her a few questions which she couldn’t answer. Did the man speak English, she gathered not but asked anyway, “English?” he shook his head, and winced at the pain in his leg which was trapped under the bike which was trapped under the car. He tried to pull it out and she yelled “No!” he seemed to understand and stopped. When she had finished the call and there was an ambulance on its way, she let her first aid training come into play, she motioned to him that she would lift the bike if he could move his leg, she did this with the best sign language she could. She had considered moving the car, then envisaged his leg being dragged along with it and thought better of it.

She checked none of the metal was digging in his flesh, thankfully not, he was just pinned. She motioned she would lift, and held up three fingers and prayed he understood the 'on three' principle. “Ichi, nee, SAN!” she said and lifted the bike, the young man pulled his leg out crying out in pain in the process. Charlie yanked the bike backwards to make sure it cleared his leg, then got in her car and got the bike out from under it. The young man sat on the curb rubbing his leg which was swelling and bruising badly. It seemed so long before the sirens were heard, the boy started shaking his head and talking in Japanese. Charlie couldn’t understand a word he was saying, “You must go to the hospital” she said. He got his wallet out of his pocket, shook it and shook his head. Charlie pushed the wallet down to show he didn’t need to pay. He nodded his head to say he did, she shook her head to show that he didn’t.

Charlie sat there trying to figure out how she hadn’t seen him, she had checked all her mirrors and looked over her shoulder he hadn’t been there, he must have been bending over. She downloaded a Japanese voice translator, it wasn’t perfect but it would help.

She asked his name, he answered, 'Fukishima Hikaru', and bowed his head, she bowed back as she said 'Charlie Barnes' patting herself on the chest so he would know she meant herself. She was finally able to apologise for hitting him with the car. She suddenly remembered she was on her way into work called in and explained she wouldn’t be in. Charlie told her translator to relate to Hikaru that she would stay with him and make sure he was OK. Using the translator between them they managed to communicate that he had just been leaving the UK. He was using his bike and the train to get across Europe. He had Ireland left to do, she promised him he would get there, but first she had to make sure he was OK. He didn’t have a hotel to stay in, she told him that was OK, she had a spare room, he couldn’t ride his bike with his knee all swollen and bruised. He asked how he was going to pay the hospital bill when the ambulance arrived, she told him health care in the UK was free and if it hadn’t been she would have paid for it, as it was her fault he was in this mess.

He shook his head and managed to communicate that he had been bent over his bike sorting the chain, she probably hadn’t seen him.

Seven hours later they left the hospital and got a taxi back home, she had put the bike in the boot before she left so she helped him up the steps to the apartment building.

With the translators between them they were able to communicate pretty freely. He had a notebook and they had a way of chatting, and within twenty minutes she was making him coffee just the way he liked it. He seemed an amiable young man, and Charlie felt ever so guilty about knocking him off his bike. She would put the bike in to be fixed the following morning failing that she would buy him a new one.

She put the kettle on, she had asked him how many sugars he took, he had said ichi, one. As she went to put the sugar in his cup, it felt like her hand was knocked so there was only half the sugar left. She put the half in the cup, and put the spoon back in the bowl to get another half spoon, but as she reached the cup her hand was 'knocked'. She tried again the same thing happened. She wanted to shout out 'stop it' to whoever was knocking her hand but she didn’t want her guest to think she was a nut case. So she filled the teaspoon, it got knocked empty. A hand stilled her hand then, Hikaru said something in Japanese into the translator, “someone is trying to tell you I only take half a sugar”. She turned startled, he had a knowing smile on his face. She finished making the coffee and helped him back to the sofa. She put the cup down and got shoved till she hit the sofa face first.

“I can still say the word Exorcism pal, he wont understand that one.” she said between gritted teeth, she was shoved again, this time she was prepared.

Over the last few months she had gained a liking for Asian food and had plenty of sauces in the cupboard, a wasabe and plum fell onto the counter as she opened the door. Wasabe and plum it is then, she thought. In a few minutes she had her ingredients ready, it took only a few minutes to prepare, she had stainless steel chopsticks. It was the first time she had cooked for anyone since her daughter had left for university. It made her feel good, also to know that spirit had given her the OK to invite him into her home, he must be a good person, she wondered how he had known it was safe to come back to a strangers home like this? She asked him, and was surprised when he pulled a tarot deck from his back pack, he pulled the ace of pentacles from the deck. She reached to the drawer under the coffee table and pulled her tarot deck.

“You must ask what every day will bring, today I got the best of all cards.” she protested that today he had been hurt really badly. He laughed, his knee was bruised and swollen, in a few days it would be fine, and if she hadn’t hit him with the car, they never would have met. She blushed, it was almost as if he were chatting her up, but looking at the reality, he was about 10 or so years younger than her and totally beautiful. No he definitely wasn’t chatting her up, and she laughed to herself for her folly. She told him to help himself to food and drink, he was free to use the big computer if he needed to contact people to let them know he was all-right. She went and got a shower, it only took five minutes to wash and dry her short blonde hair. She would be asleep in less than twenty mins.

She couldn’t wait to get into bed, in recent months wherever she was going in her dreams she didn’t want to come back. Waking up was depressing, and she longed to sleep, to be wherever it was that her soul was at peace. One day she wouldn’t wake and she would stay there forever, she really longed for that day recently. She was forty and was ready to depart this world. She had done what she intended to do, watch her daughter grow into a fine young woman and send her out into the world with a sensible head on her shoulders. She felt spirit were preparing her for departure, telling her all would be well, wherever it was she flew in her dreams, she just wished she could remember his face, the one who always met her at the style and helped her over it, from this world to the plane in between this world and the next.

She guessed her body must be failing her, but she wasn’t in pain, it was just her time, and she was ready to go. She knew that one night he would help her over the style and he'd cut the thread that held her to her human shell and she would be free to spend eternity with him. If only she could remember what he looked like when she awoke.

When Charlie awoke next, she made her way into the kitchen, where Hikaru was making breakfast, his knee seemed completely healed.

“Ohio” she said and “arigato” as he put the plate down in front of her. Something was wrong, her thoughts were in English, she seemed to be speaking Japanese. She got up and made her way to the mirror, “aishteru Hikaru gomennasai ” she managed turning to look at him. She turned and looked back at the mirror, long black hair, white skin, Asian eyes, exactly the same as she had been when she had gone to bed the night before, and she went and sat back down.

“Aishteru?” Hikaru asked her.

“Hikaru, that accident you had in England last year, what happened again?” Chiyo his room mate asked him.

“The woman Charlie Barnes, she backed her car into me, pinned me against the wall, and had a heart attack at the wheel and died, why?”

“She was here a moment ago, I don’t think she realised she had died.” Chiyo explained.

“Yeah I feel a presence sometimes too, when I'm making coffee, someone knocks the sugar out of my hand, and sometimes when I'm dreaming, there’s a woman waiting for me on a fence and we go for a walk, I don’t really know what Charlie looked like, but I feel it's her.” Hikaru told her. He hoped Charlie found peace now.