Couple in Cafe'

Heighton painted 'Out of Hours'...


At the window table, the couple sit close together enjoying the closeness that only those with such private thoughts can share. ....

.... She nervously rubs her wedding band with her thumb from the same hand, an unconscious habit she seems to have routinely developed since her newfound affair.

So this is it, the time seems to slow down, croissants, warm and soft that lose their shape when they are ripped apart, and he talks between mouthfuls, and quickly she glances at her reflection, and purses her lips together to smooth out her thickly smeared lipstick. She looks afflicted by some kind malady, one that each of us romantics contrives, hopes or dreams of being struck by.

There is a bustling gaggle of shoppers entering that remind her of ducks waddling down a country lane, as they appear undecided and one of their group seems to lead them nudging each towards available seating.

Somewhere the chimes of the Church bells, she is unsure echo across the village.
Sanatorium silence.

stanzas, Cafe' Couple - from the pen of Sapphirex...October 28th 1999