A Good Runner: Part Eight

~ beetleypete

This is the eighth part of a fiction serial, in 728 words.

Diane White had never had a boyfriend. It wasn’t that she didn’t attract men, if anything she attracted far too much attention from them. All of it unwanted. From her early teens, she was aware of being attracted to women, at a time when it wasn’t possible to be open and honest about such things. She once tried to talk to her mother about it, and that was dismissed with a smile. “Oh girls always have crushes, darling. You will grow out of those, trust me”.

But Diane didn’t grow out of them.

At university, she found a soul mate in Francesca, another fan of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, and anything written by Jane Austen. They spent hours discussing the characters and plots in great detail, and it wasn’t long before Diane was sure that her friend loved her as much as she loved the raven-haired bookworm. Then she returned from the first Christmas break full of news about losing her virginity to a boy she had long admired, and Diane was devastated. She was even more devastated when Francesca left university in the spring after confiding that she was pregnant, so was going to get married.

After that, Diane stopped bothering. She had heard of clubs where women who liked women went, but she was far too embarrassed to go to one of those. Instead, she dedicated herself to the brightest girls, as soon as she became a teacher. As well as being determined to be modern in her outlook and to encourage the same in others. Now she had met the brightest girl of all, the true gem that was Constance Reilly.

If she was allowed, she would change that girl’s life for the better.

That summer was warm, and Diane was busy with the older pupils who were taking crucial examinations. Although her job was far from arduous, the long summer holiday couldn’t come too soon for her. Not that she was heading off to some exotic foreign destination. Her plan was to tidy up the garden at the front of the cottage, then perhaps drive up to Howarth in Yorkshire, to immerse herself in Bronte country whilst staying at a small bed and breakfast for a few days.

On the second week of the holiday, she was using some clunky old shears to trim the privet hedge at the front when she heard a voice behind her. “So this is where you live, Miss”. She turned to see Connie, standing by an old bicycle. The copper hair was released from the usual long plait, and completly covered her shoulders. In a green summer dress she looked older than her fourteen years, and her gaze was mesmerising. For a moment, Diane wondered if the girl had followed her some time, to discover where she lived, then Connie spoke again.

“My mum has taken my brother and gone to visit my granny in Winchester. I didn’t want to go all that way on the trains, so stayed here. I got mum’s old bike out and pumped up the tyres, and I have been riding around the village and the area. I hadn’t really seen that much of it before”. The girl looked hot, so Diane did the decent thing and invited her in for a cold drink. As she prepared some lemon squash in a jug, Connie wandered around the snug living room, staring at the books and framed prints. “This painting is so lovely, Miss. I have never seen anything like it”.

She was looking at a large print of The Lady of Shallot, by Waterhouse. The young woman in the painting has long ginger hair, and both Connie and Diane could not fail to notce the uncanny resemblance to the teenager. Passing a glass of squash, Diane was excited to show the girl a book of paintings that included that one, and Connie sat attentively as each page was turned on her lap. “Oh Miss, they are wonderful. I have never seen anything so lovely”. Diane smiled. “Look, while you are here, and school is finished, why not call me Diane? Miss makes feel feel old and frumpy. But just here though, never in school”.

As another page was turned, Connie turned and stared at her teacher. “Diane is such a lovely name. Perfect for a lovely lady”.

Diane could not stop herself blushing.

32 thoughts on “A Good Runner: Part Eight”

  1. Pingback: A Good Runner – Serial by Pete Johnson – Part Eight to Fourteen – DEEZ – News about Art, Books & more

  6. Ooh, I can still see that teacher’s eyes boring into mine when I was 17. She drove past as I was walking home in the rain and gave me a lift, just like Sting’s song. I didn’t want her to find out where I lived, but with hindsight of course she probably already knew. At the end of my time there she invited me to a classical concert at Knebworth which would have been later in the year after I had left school for good. Alarm bells rang and I said no.

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      1. No, you weren’t. When I went back for a school reunion a few years after leaving, I saw her there. We didn’t speak, but I found out she had got married to a man about 30 years older than her who used to be her music teacher.

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  7. (1) Francesca Hayward is the cat’s meow. And, at least in a particular film, she’s as white as Diane. It’s too bad that, sexually speaking, Francesca strayed. But cats are wont to stray…
    (2) Diane decided to immerse herself in Brontësaurus country whilst staying at F&W Flintstone Bed & Breakfast.
    (3) The Statue of Liberty is a green copper goddess.
    (4) “The girl looked hot, so Diane did the decent thing and invited her in for a cold drink.” I have a feeling that even after a cold drink, Diane will still think Connie looks hot.
    (5) Shall it be henceforth suggested that The Lady of Shalott is reilly Connie?
    (6) Connie is going to be hit on by Diane. A Hit and a Miss.
    (7) Wait until Diane shows Connie “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli. Connie is bound to come out of her shell.

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