Diva Dismayed: Chapter 2 - Out of the Frying Pan
My journey here on the previous Saturday had itself been prompted by a seemingly hopeless predicament. I had left my parental home that morning in headlong flight and the reason for my abrupt departure was simple. The day was to have been my wedding day, if my mom had gotten her way. I’d had misgivings about my engagement from the first and latterly the realisation had crystalized that the state of married bliss which had been planned for me was the opposite of what I wanted. Bitter experience had told me that once Mom had set a thing in motion there was little chance of changing her mind or stemming the tide which was about to sweep me off my feet. The one alternative to going with the flow was to make a run for it, and that was exactly what I did!

The only clothing I had with me was the bridal outfit that I was wearing, complete with veil and white satin shoes. All I wore in the way of normal attire was a jacket I’d been able to borrow from an unlikely assistant. As the former maidservant to my fiancée, up to that point Maria had always seemed in league with the others against me, but on this occasion she took pity on me and helped me escape.

Having volunteered as a favour to come and help me get ready for the ceremony she had been chattering excitedly to me the whole time she was there, while I half-listened disconsolately. We had reached the stage where I was in the dress, my hair and make-up had been perfected and there were only the final finishing touches to perform when Mom left us to go and complete her own preparations.

After she had gone I stood in front of the mirror staring at my reflection unhappily. True, I couldn’t find fault with my appearance but it was with a heavy heart that I viewed the prospect of what was about to take place. After some moments thus, I realised that my assistant’s babble had ceased and silence reigned in the room. Glancing over to her I saw that she was regarding me earnestly, a puzzled expression on her face. What felt like an age passed until she finally seemed to come to a conclusion. “You no want?”

It was more of a statement than a question but I shook my head to signal agreement with her. I really didn’t want. A moment’s pause then Maria made her decision. “Come!”

She slipped on her jacket and, placing her finger on her lips, led me out of my room and down the stairs as silently as possible. Pausing only to grab my purse she took me straight to the front door and out of it.

Closing the door quietly behind us she led me to where her little car was parked up and bundled me unceremoniously into the rear seat, dress, petticoats, veil and all.
As the car started, “Where you want go? You got friend?”

As to the first question, I was too stunned by this unexpected turn of events to make any reply. But the second gave me the beginnings of an idea. I had a friend who could help, but only one. Rachel!

There was just a tiny problem. For the last few months she had been living in the next state! I’d never been so far from home myself and it seemed an insuperable obstacle. It would also be too much to expect Maria to take me there even had it been entirely legal, but perhaps... “Let’s go to the bus station please. I have to make a call.”

Once there I found a telephone kiosk and was put through long-distance. Thus it was that an impromptu phone conversation decided my destination. With ten minutes to spare I boarded a Greyhound which was heading in the direction of the small city where Rachel had recently been appointed as a nurse. Her position was in a hospital a hundred miles or more from our home town. Maria’s culminating act of kindness was to press some bills into my hand and lend me the jacket she was wearing. It was a skimpy denim affair, but when I put it on over my wedding dress and ditched the veil, I was able to entertain a vain hope that my appearance had gained a modicum of normality.

Travelling such a great distance at the pace of the bus, I had plenty of time to review my decision of that morning. The more I reflected on my escape, the more firmly I believed I’d taken the right course of action, even if I would now be faced with some dire consequences as a result. I thanked heaven that my collaborator had enough of her wits about her to pick up my purse as we left the house. Its contents included some essentials which would make life easier in the days ahead. I just hoped that she wouldn’t face too much trouble for aiding and abetting my disappearance on her return.

As could be expected I was subjected to a lot of curious looks from my fellow travellers. I chose a seat half-way down the bus where there were a few vacant spaces, but if I hoped to attract little attention I was disappointed. Fortunately most folk were content just to stare and exercised the freedom to do so liberally, but after we’d stopped to pick up passengers a couple of times, a middle-aged woman got on and sat in the seat opposite.

“My-my, we are dolled up today, now, aren’t we?” she opened with. “Fancy-dress?”

Fortunately I’d had time to come up with what I hoped was a plausible story. “No, just travelling back from an end of term party.” I smiled at her disarmingly, and resumed my vacant gaze out the window. However she wasn’t put off and my response only fuelled her inquisitiveness further, provoking a lengthy conversation regarding my mythical college and studies. That was something which I could have done without. My inventiveness was wearing thin by the time she alighted at the next town. I was just about exhausted mentally and fresh out of ideas.

The woman clearly had some doubts about the truth of what I was telling her; unsurprisingly so as it was a fable from start to finish. She also didn’t hide her disapproval that a girl of my years could be allowed to travel so freely about the country. If I came across as a teenage miss whose parenting left a lot to be desired, that didn’t upset me much. What she surmised about me could have been so much worse. At last she departed and I was left in peace.

Across the state-line, I stepped off the bus and looked about me. A familiar figure was waiting there. Rachel had always been an idol of mine ever since those childhood days when she used to babysit me and my younger brother. When I saw the smile of sympathy which lit up her gentle features, it was more than my battered emotions could cope with. I dissolved into tears at the sight.

She comforted me with the warmest hug and in response I broke down completely and sobbed on her shoulder. “You poor sweetie! What you must have been going through.”