CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 18
After a pleasant lunch, Claudia drove Christoph to the airport to collect the luggage he had left there. On the drive back into the city they passed the Paddington markets. ‘Hey let’s go buy something we don’t need, but can get for a song.’
‘We have to sing to buy something?’
‘No, No, No. We don’t have to sing, we just have to haggle.’
‘OK. Let’s haggle. I’m pretty good at that.’
Although the city traffic was heavy and parking was at its peak, Claudia managed to find somewhere to leave the car. Christoph was amused when she drove up the footpath, miraculously squeezed between a power pole and a fence, reversed the vehicle into a building site, and then parked in a garage shell, which like the apartment block, was still under construction.
‘Surely you’re not allowed to park here.’ He said, shaking his head at her.
‘Why not? The builder’s won’t be back until Monday.’ She skipped over to him and gave him a bear hug. ‘You worry too much. You’re in Australia remember. We’re not as wound up as New Yorkers, and we’re much more practical. Why waste a perfectly good space, that no one is going to use for two days?’
He lifted her off the ground and swung her around. ‘You are a crazy woman, and something tells me you’re going to land me in serious trouble.’ He lowered her gently and cupped her face in his hands, then slowly lowered his head and kissed her softly on the mouth.
The kiss was brief, but in just a second it unlocked every door they had ever closed during the months their love had been shut away. The tenderness of the kiss healed every hurt Claudia’s heart had suffered, and as if released from the darkness of a prison. Doubt, betrayal and despair all vanished.
Claudia had known degrees of happiness before, but nothing had the depth and joy she felt when Christoph’s soft lips pressed gently on her own. It was such a simple act; but one that had the power to restore her faith and trust.
They walked arm in arm across the building site and ambled along to the markets. ‘Let’s have a competition.’
‘What sort of competition do you have in mind?’
‘We find things. And the person who finds the best things wins a prize. We can look for the ugliest thing, and the most useless thing.’ She said.
‘And how about a prize for the most stupid thing?’ Christoph added.
‘And one for the oldest thing.’
‘And one for the most beautiful thing,’ He said and tussled her hair. ‘If you were for sale I could buy you. Then I’d win that prize.’
She wriggled her nose to tell him she thought it was a silly idea. ‘So how long will we have to find the stuff?’ Christoph asked, smiling broadly.
‘How does an hour sound? We should meet back here in one hour and we’ll compare our purchases to see who’s been the most successful.’
‘Great.’ He said enthusiastically. Claudia reached into her handbag and took out her wallet. She removed two fifty dollar notes and handed them to him.
‘What’s this?’
‘Just in case you’re short on cash.’
He smiled, ‘Thank you, but I changed two thousand US dollars at the airport. I hope that will be enough.’ He said with fake concern.
‘Stupid man. Get going before I mug you and steal your cash.’
They met again in an hour and sat on the steps of the Church next to the markets to compare their goods. ‘So what is your most ugly thing?’ Claudia asked excitedly. ‘This is mine,’ she said and held up a large green plastic frog that was holding a yellow ball in its mouth.
Christoph peered into the plastic shopping bag a stall holder had given him and slowly drew out a huge rubber spider that had fake hair stuck to its back. They agreed it was uglier than her frog.
Her most useless was a broken tin opener; his, a badly scratched CD. Her most stupid was a wind-up doll that waved a flag; his, a black hat someone had painted purple stripes on. Her oldest was a hat pin; his, a copy of a book that had been printed in 1804. Her most beautiful was a black onyx pen sitting in a crystal stand; his was a mirror in a plain white frame.
They tallied their points. His spider won ugly; her broken tin opener, won useless, they agreed even a badly scratched CD could be restored with modern technology, but the tin opener was impossible to repair. They finally agreed the most stupid was her flag waving doll, because his black hat could be turned upside down and used to store tennis balls in. There was no debate about his book being the oldest, but she insisted her pen and stand were the most beautiful. He disagreed and held up the mirror in front of her face. ‘That is the most beautiful thing.’ He said to her.
‘No. No. No.’ she argued, ‘you didn’t buy a reflection. You bought the mirror. So whilst your mirror is, because of its rather pleasing simplicity, rather nice, it could never be called beautiful; in fact it is really very plain.’
‘You win.’ He said gallantly, Now what would you like as a prize?’
She gazed into his eyes and said softly, ‘You.’