A rainy night chance encounter

It was raining that night, and the hotel was about half-full due to it being the end of the season.

We had a few days more of the holiday.

Two ladies had latched onto us; they seemed to join us for every meal.

One I nicknamed Laurel, as she was arrow-thin, and her friend Hardy, as she cut a rather more imposing figure.

We sat around after dinner, my husband with his coffee and biscuits, making small delicate mounds of Stilton and pickle, while I was enthusiastically eating strawberries and cream. Directly opposite me at the table Hardy was demolishing a huge ice cream sundae, pausing to savour the chocolate sauce. We had just been asking them if they were married, they laughed and said, “no way!”

“Yes, fancy free that’s me,” smiled Hardy.

Her friend joined in, Laurel was toying with a small fruit salad.

As she speared a cherry she added,

“She did have this admirer though.”

They then giggled and slurped their way through the story, which almost got my husband’s attention too.

Chewing on the next layer of chocolate chips and vanilla, Hardy suddenly chortled, “A lot of water has gone under the bridge since those days though.” And as she shook with laughter everything about her moved; chins, stomach, jowls, and all joined in the joke.

“When I’d been divorced about six months, I met him. Walter was his name; he took me out for dinner, we had lobster – very posh.”

She paused, spoon in hand.

“I didn’t know whether to ask him in, you know. I wanted to offer a night cap but felt silly.”

“Tell them what happened. Oh, go on, it’s so funny!” Laurel was squirming with delight as she spoke.

We waited, and scraping the last spoonful, Hardy went on.

“There I was in the car in two minds about offering a coffee, when whoosh, he pressed a button.  The seat collapsed and i was flat on my back like a stranded whale!” 

We could only guess what happened when she was flat on her back and full of lobster and champagne.

Her friend had almost choked on a bit of pineapple, but she swallowed valiantly, went a little red and flailed her arms about.

“Tell them the rest, you must tell them the rest!”

By now we all had tears running down our faces. Then the waitress came. Taking back some control I managed to order four coffees. They nodded in agreement.

“A few days later,” continued our storyteller, “I saw him in the town.”

Her matchstick friend, already laughing in anticipation, joined in with, “you’ll never believe this! This caps the lot!”

“There he was, dressed as a woman!”

“What on earth did you do?” I enquired.

“I asked him outright, said, ‘what the hell are you doing in fishnets?'”

“He had the answer didn’t he?” came Laurel’s encouraging remark.

“Yes, he swore he was a private detective and was following someone!”

We all slapped each other on the back as we rolled around hysterically.

“How brilliant,” I spluttered, as I gulped more brandy.

The four of us continued for at least another hour, all our lives enriched by this chance encounter in a half empty hotel, one rain-filled night at the end of the season.

Have you ever had a chance encounter with interesting strangers while on holiday?