text: Wendy was sitting on the curb side, her feet buried amongst the crispy dried leaves in the gutter. It was 6.10 pm Saturday, her dress had a ripped hem and was held together with a safety pin, her lipstick smeared. She was shaking with nervous laughter as she held the snapped off heel of her favourite blue Damon Romanio shoe in one hand, and her cell phone with a flat battery in the other. If only she had not opened the letter in her mail last Saturday, she would not be in her current predicament! She had wandered out to her mailbox, Saturday morning, to check her mail as she always did. Three letters were sitting in her mailbox. The first, her phone bill, the second, her insurance bill, and the third, she was unsure of, so she flipped the letter over checking the senders' address. At first, she thought she might have made a mistake. “Stephanie? No, it couldn’t be!”, she had not heard from Stephanie for a couple of years now! “Oh no, I hope this is not...”, her thoughts trailed off as she ripped open the letter. There, printed in bold, across the top of the letter were the words, Invitation to your High School Reunion. Stephanie had sent Wendy an invitation to their up and coming High school reunion. It was to be held at a local venue, the next Saturday. During Wendys' awkward High School years, she felt she never fitted in with the other girls like Stephanie. Wendy was the study freak, while the other girls partied all night. She was the ugly duckling, and they preened themselves in front of a mirror. She preferred science fiction or factual books to their romance novels, Tai curry to their ‘bird food’ and salads, indeed they were like chalk and cheese! Wendy had always been well organized. Studying hard, she was a straight-A student. When she left high school she continued her study, working toward her goals. Passing her master's degree with honours, she was now a successful architect with her own business. It wouldn't matter who or what she became, girls like Stephanie always made her feel disorganized, awkward, and inferior. The fact that they were extroverts, while she was an introvert, did not help her situation either. “No, I’m not going”, she thought as she read the invitation. “I’ll just let her know that I have a huge workload bogging me down and I have been working overtime to catch up”, she was not going lie to Stephanie, she would tell her the truth. Wendy flipped her phone out of her pocket, texting Stephanie to decline the invitation. “Now is as good a time as any,” she thought as she tapped out the message and pressed send. Slipping her phone back into her pocket, she headed toward her door when her phone started to vibrate. Without checking who was calling she unlocked the screen and answered it in her usual confident tone, “Hi, Wendy speaking”. “HI, Wendy”, Stephanie’s familiar voice echoed in her ear, “You got the invitation then?” “I, I, err, yes thank you”, Wendy stuttered. Stephanie was already making her feel nervous! “Great, we will ALL be looking forward to seeing you! Take some time off work. Don’t forget, at 6 pm, don’t be late”, then she hung up! “Oh great!”, Wendy mumbled to herself, “How on earth am I going to get out of this? I need coffee!” She opened her door and stepped inside. Walking into her kitchen, she filled the coffee percolator and proceeded to brew herself a strong coffee. Flipping her phone out of her pocket, she typed a quick text back to Stephanie, “Huge workload. Not sure I can make it re-Saturday”. Beep, beep! Wendy’s phone alerted a text message, “All work and no play makes Wendy dull! 6 pm Saturday, don’t be late!”. Wendy tossed her phone on the counter in disgust, “I’m not going”, she mumbled as she drank her coffee. The next week passed by slowly. Wendy worked hard and gave herself very little time to think about the coming reunion. Whenever thoughts crept back into her mind, she would convince herself that she was not going! Deep down though, she had to admit, she harboured feelings of curiosity. It was the same thought that continued to roll around in her mind, “I wonder what everyone else has been up to since departing ways after High school? Perhaps it would be fun to catch up with a few people?” Friday. Beep beep! Wendy’s cell phone alerted a text message. It was from Stephanie, “Looking forward to catching up on Saturday, 6 pm, don’t be late!” Wendy started to reminisce and was thinking about her High School years. She pulled out her yearbook from the bookshelf, and proceeded to flick through old photos of friends she had let slip her mind. Slamming it shut, she repeated, “I’m not going”, in yet another one of those attempts to convince herself. Soon Saturday rolled around. Wendy went to work, putting in a few extra hours as she usually did, besides, she didn't have anywhere to be by 6 pm, did she? All-day Saturday, she flipped wrist constantly checking the time. 4 pm Wendy decided it was about time she headed home. She turned off the lights and locked the door. Walking out into the parking lot, she unlocked her car and jumped in. Beep beep! Another text message from Stephanie, “See you at 6 pm!” followed by a smiling face emoji. Driving home through the busy traffic, Wendy let her mind wander again. She was thinking of all the friends and acquaintances she had not seen for several years. Finally, she asked herself the question, “Am I going?” Arriving home, she parked her car, unlocked her house, and headed inside. 5 pm Wendy was standing in front of her bathroom mirror. Her reflection staring back at her, eyebrows deeply furrowed and a serious expression on her face! “I must be crazy, insane, or both?” she muttered, “but dammit, I’m going to go to this reunion!” Jumping in and out of the shower quickly, she scrubbed her face, and then applied a fast coat of ‘war paint’. She flung open her wardrobe door, quickly rummaging through the hangers holding her many dresses in place. Too old, too new, too low cut, too high cut, too pink, too blue, time was ticking on! 5.15 pm “This will do!” she thought as she grabbed a pretty floral dress off its hanger. She threw it on over her head and began fiddling for the zip behind her. Just as she had almost zipped her dress, the tongue snapped off the zipper! “Darn!” she thought, “There is no time to change this dress, it took me far too long to choose already!” She sprinted back into the bathroom and found a safety pin in her cupboard. Pinning the zipper of her dress in place to hold it together, she slipped on a cute pair of her favourite blue Damon Ramanio high heel shoes and made her way to the front door. 5.20 pm Slamming the door shut, she headed toward her car. Halfway there, and she suddenly realized she had left the car key in the kitchen draw. Tottering and wobbling her way into the house, she stumbled inside. She had not worn these heels for a while now, and was experiencing a bit of trouble with her balance! Back in the kitchen again, tipping junk from the draw, she spread it on her kitchen counter and found the car key. 5.25 pm. Slamming the door she made her way out to her car, unlocked it, and jump in. Flicking her wrist over again, she checked the time on her watch. Quick mental calculations, she estimated that she would still have enough time to get to the venue with five minutes to spare. Adjusting her rear-view mirror, she caught a glimpse of her reflection, only to discover, with horror, her lipstick had smeared, most likely when she put her dress on earlier. She decided she could sneak into the lady's room at the venue when she arrived, fix her lipstick, and would still be on time! There were many intersections and traffic lights to cross through if she took the direct route to the venue. She, however, knew a short cut through a few back streets that might get her there faster. Making her way there, she turned into Maryville Street, unfortunately for Wendy, she had not expected the un-manned road works cluttering the road. Large signs, potholes and course chip covered unsealed portions of the road. 5.45 pm. Weaving her way through the road works, she swerves to avoid a road cone. Her rear wheel falls into a pothole, and she hears a loud pop and then pffffffff. Winding down her window, she looked behind, only to see her rear tyre slowly deflating! Pulling off and parking against the curb, she flicked her wrist and checked her watch again. 5.50 pm “OK, cutting it fine,” she thought, “I can still make it on time if I walk the last couple of blocks and fix my lipstick on the way.” She opened the car door to step out. Somehow, as she stepped out, the heel of her shoe got caught in the hem of her dress. She could hear it ripping as she lowered her foot down to the unsealed road surface. Staring down at her torn dress, she momentarily contemplated looking in her first aid kit, for another safety pin to hold her ripped hem in place. “Perhaps I should ring for help?” she thought as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. The screen was dull. The remaining power on the phone was just enough to illuminate the screen. It read Battery 2%! The mad rush and stress of her current situation were becoming all too much for her! As she stood there, she started to shake and was soon laughing nervously. She must have looked like a complete mess to passers-by! She was going to a reunion she did not want to go to, and now she was running late! Not only that, she had smeared makeup, a ripped dress held together with a safety pin, a flat tyre, and her phone was now displaying a 2% battery life. It could not get any worse, or so she though! Wendy walked around the back of her car towards the pavement in defeat, when suddenly, she stumbled in the loose chip on the road surface. Her foot slipped! The heel of her favourite blue Damon Ramanio shoe snapped off just as she grabbed the boot of the car to steady herself. She picked up the broken heel, and then with an awkward high and low stepping motion, she made her way to the curb side, and sat down. It was now 6 pm. Her High School reunion was already underway at the venue. Stephanie made her entrance and was standing on stage behind a podium. The crowd of ex-students gathered around in anticipation of her announcement. “Thank you all for coming”, her voice boomed out over the loudspeaker system. “We did arrange for Wendy to be here, and to be the recipient of a surprise award, for the Most Organized and Successful Past Student”. Stephanie’s eyes scanned the crowd in front of her looking for Wendy, “It appears that Wendy couldn’t make it. Has anyone heard from her? “ Meanwhile, Wendy was sitting on the curb side, her feet buried amongst the crispy dried leaves in the gutter. It was 6.10 pm Saturday, her dress had a ripped hem and was held together with a safety pin, her lipstick smeared. She was shaking with nervous laughter as she held the snapped off heel of her favourite blue Damon Romanio shoe in one hand, and her cell phone with a flat battery in the other.