“ My Little Mouse Geek”

By: Catherine Abellanosa

March 11, 2008

It was a very calm and beautiful day as I sat at the bench and admired the Almighty’s wonderful handiwork around me. I took in a breath of the refreshing breeze and smiled as a memory flashed by my mind. It was at around this exact time and day that I met the most interesting woman I could’ve ever imagined…

That particular day, I was tasked to fetch a family friend of ours from the train station. With much reluctance, I went since mom wouldn’t stop with her nagging then. But it was not until I had arrived at the train station that I realized something vital. Since I had wanted so much to escape my mom’s world famous nagging, I had left the house without so much an idea of who I was to fetch or how he or she would look like! I was pondering on that thought when not far away from me the train made its hooting sound as if announcing its arrival. I felt for my mobile phone in my pockets and to my eternal blunder I just realized that I had left it at home since the battery had been drained.

‘How stupid is that?! I’m such a loser!’ I told myself as the train finally made its stop. ‘Talk about moronic!’

And so, there I was, standing in front of the train doors, supposed to fetch someone but looking like a fool because I had no clue who that person was. There was a whoosh as the doors opened followed by the emerging of the passengers. I stood there looking confused and unsure of what to do. I was silently hoping that this family friend recognizes me at the least when someone bumped into me all of a sudden. The impact caught us both – the person who bumped me – off balance. We fell with this person on top of me.

“Oh no!” a voice squeaked. It sounded feminine and when I looked up, I confirmed it. She was a female…probably.

I wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted me. This lady – well, she is wearing a skirt – was far from being described as ladylike. She looked more like a mouse with her out of fashioned sweater and cardigan paired up with an ankle-length skirt, and brown for that matter. Her untamed hair was don into a braid but was somehow useless since there were stray stands everywhere, some were even standing on their ends. The glasses she had on were thick rimmed with black colored frames fitted perfectly on a pair of thick lenses. It magnified her eyes to ten times their original size. She looked more like a mouse than a human being.

We got up and I noticed her being restless looking here and there, moving around and about. It didn’t look like she felt my presence there.

“Oh no!” she squeaked once more, “It’s really gone!”

“Did you lose something?” I asked.

She literally jumped at the sound of my voice and stared at me wide-eyed. She had that innocent look in her as she studied me closely. It could be that she just realized someone else was there aside from her at the station. A moment of silence fell upon us as she continued with her scrutinization of my whole being. Since she made no move, I decided to break that silence.

“Is there any problem, miss?”

“I’m lost,” was her immediate reply without averting her gaze from my face.

“Were you supposed to be somewhere else?”

After a nod, she then started with her tale as if she was confiding with someone she has known all her life. She animatedly narrated everything to me in a very rapid manner. I was listening to her as if she was switched on to fast-forward mode. I couldn’t catch what she was saying but I was able to at least get the main thought. According to the bits and pieces I heard, she was supposed to tour the whole city but unfortunately, she lost her one and only map to the city.

I didn’t know what came over me but I surprised myself when I suddenly blurted out something about offering to help her. I had presented myself as a tour guide! Her eyes glistened. She looked like a child who was offered a box of tasty sweets. The next thing I knew, I found myself around the city acting the perfect tour guide. She was having the time of her life and just looking at her made me forget all my earlier confusions. I even forgot that family friend I was supposed to fetch at the train station today. She may not be hat attractive but I had to admit, there was something about her that drew me her way.

We had a lot of fun that before I knew it, afternoon had already passed and darkness had already surrounded the whole city. It was also time to say goodbye. So I brought her back to the train station for her to catch the last trip.

When the train doors opened, she turned to me smiling with her magnified eyes. Instead of feeling disgusted, I found her cute looking like a mouse instead.

“Thanks! I had a lot of fun. If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve been lost and missed the best day of my life,” she said. The conductor was already announcing the last call for the passengers. “Well, see you when I do!”

I just smiled and nodded. She was about to enter the train when she stopped and turned back to me,

“Wait!” she called out.

“Yeah?”

And without another word, and much to my surprise, she gave me a smack on the lips then ran off to the train which was already in motion. Still in shock, I followed her with my gaze with her waving at me along with a big smile. The train was no longer in sight when I realized one vital thing, again. I didn’t get her name! We spent the whole day together and I was not able to get her name?! Even if it was just a smack, she was my first kiss. A nameless first kiss.

‘Ugh! I’m such a loser!’ I told myself.

That was what happened when I was just seventeen last year. But I still couldn’t seem to get her out of my mind. Every time I com by the train station, I would always remember that spunky geek who looked much like a mouse. Now, as I waited for the train to come, since I was once again there to fetch that family friend I was supposed to fetch last year – of which I had failed to do – I once again remembered her.

I got absorbed with my memories that I did not notice the train stopping and the passengers emerging. It was not until a pair of sneakers stopped right in front of me that I looked up. I could only stare at the girl before me. She looked so cute in baggy jeans and pink tank top with her hair don in a ponytail. And that smile… wait! That smile looked familiar.

‘It’s her!’ I thought to myself, ‘but how could that be? How could a mouse transform into a cutie?’ But I couldn’t be so sure, can I? So I had to ask…

“Is there any problem, miss?”

She gave me that smile again, “I’m lost,” was the immediate reply.

And I knew it. It really was her! My cute little mouse geek. How she became a beauty, I would never know. I’m just too ecstatic to see her again.

We stood there smiling at each other. I was just about to say something when someone suddenly called me from behind.

“Michael! What are you doing there?” my mom called. I totally forgot that I was there together with her. She must’ve noticed I wasn’t alone so she came over to check. To my utter amazement, a smile broke out from her lips when she saw who I was with.

“Abigail! Is that you? My! Look how much you’ve grown! I’m sorry I was not able to see you last year. My son here, Michael,” she hit me on the arm for emphasis, “was just too absent-minded and forgot to ask who he was going to fetch.”

She smiled at my mom, “That’s all right, Mrs. Brooks. I did fine last year. Someone was kind enough to tour me around,” she turned to me and gave me a secret smile, “because of him, I had the time of my life,”

Both of them continued on talking while I, on the other hand was too shocked to absorb everything. The family friend my mother was referring to last year was my mouse geek all along?! And here I thought I was never going to see her. It’s funny how fate plays its cards, huh?

In between the cheerful conversation, my little mouse geek stole a glance my way and gave me a wink.

‘Abigail, huh?’ I thought and smiled, ‘It’s a cute name…’

- FIN -