Julia had awoken very early that Friday morning and couldn't get back to bed so she headed off to the tranquillity of Desert Bloom Park carrying a bag with some breakfast items in it. She was all alone at first, as the Sun rose above the tall rocks that flanked the North and West sides of the park. She lit one of the grills took out her skillet and began to cook up a batch of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and small bits of German beef sausage.
When she had finished and a moment to savour the aroma, she sat down on a nearby park bench to eat her meal, still with the park to herself and no one to bother here...
Until she took her first bite, when someone sidled up next to her. A girl in her late teens with a glint in her eye that showed she was practically a woman and wearing a very short dress in a print of swirling green, turquoise, white and yellow with accessories to match.
"Hmmm, that does look and smell good" said the girl to Julia. "I stupidly ate lightly with breakfast this morning: Just a banana washed down with orange juice. Can I sit here for a while and just inhale what you're eating"
"I made more than enough for just me...if you'd like I can plate you up a serving" replied Julia.
"Oh you are an angel, Miss!" replied the girl, eagerly.
"Hmmm, this is delicious." said the girl. "By the way, my name's Gillian"
"Julia"
"Nice to meet you. I'd ask what the recipe is but I don't really cook and I should watch my figure anyways: I'm training to be a model!" Gillian said, proudly.
"Does that require much training?" asked Julia. "I barely know anything about fashion"
"Oh you wouldn't believe how much you have to learn to be a model!" said Gillian. "How to walk, how to stand, how to sit..."
"I would have thought that's something we all do by default?" said Julia, struggling to understand how anyone over the age of 2 needed to be taught those things.
"Not the way you see in the magazines and catwalks. It's like you have to re-learn everything from scratch...oh, hello, here's a familiar face". Gillian's attention was drawn to another young woman approaching them. She was a girl in her late teens with bright blonde hair but a grumpy expression on her face. Julia recognised her as well: She'd once been a patient of hers at the hospital. The girl's name was Judy Keith.
"Judy! Come and join us...now that dress is just fab. I've been eyeing up that one but haven't got around to buying it yet. Life's so busy with both school and my new modelling career..." Gillian said, proudly.
"Thanks, I got it this last weekend. It's a lot more figure hugging than my other favourite dresses but I really like it. Feel the chenille..." she said, reaching across the table and getting Gillian to feel the fabric. All this was lost on Julia.
"Hey, I know you from somewhere" said Judy to Julia.
"I'm Dr Epstein from the hospital. You came in with a nasty stomach bug not so long ago"
"Oh yeah...well, thanks to that trip to hospital I missed out on a party and that horrid Lulu Strang went off with this cute guy I was sooooooooooooo interested in! I don't blame you, by the way Doc, you were just doing your job....as my Daddy said to me when I wanted to sue...but grrrr! Lulu Strang! I hate her!"
"She's the pits!" added Gillian.
"What's wrong with her?" enquired Julia, who was getting some insight into the minds of the popular, fashionable teenage girls at high school.
"She thinks she's special but she's not" said Judy.
"She's not even that pretty" said Gillian.
"But she tries it on with all the cute guys and it's not fair!" said Judy.
"I tell you" said Gillian. "She's worse than Cassandra Goth!"
"Oh yes...Cassandra's a big downer but at least she's not after anyone: She doesn't get in the way" said Judy.
"Right. I think I understand" said Julia.
"It's alright for you, Doc...you're a doctor and you've probably got some handsome surgeon going after you" said Judy.
"Actually, I don't. I don't think about men much at all" said Julia, proudly.
The two teenagers gave her a look of amazement and confusion.
The truth was, when she got to work, she WAS thinking about a man: Dr Vincent Bledsoe, MD, FACS. He had worked a couple of days as a locum doctor at the hospital the previous week and by all accounts he was going to be offered a full time contract to work there but today he wasn't rostered on nor was his name visible on any of the schedule for that week. Julia had liked working with him. He was very intelligent, knowledgeable, well travelled, dedicated to medicine and nice to work with. On top of all that he, like Julia, was a fan of classical music and had sophisticated tastes which she thought reflected well on him. She was sad he wasn't going to be there today...
But she had a job to do and she couldn't be distracted by thoughts of Dr Bledsoe...even if he was a great help in giving her a second opinion. But before last week she didn't even know he existed so she couldn't get hung up over one man she's known for only two days. So she did what she usually did: Immerse herself in her work.
When she finished her shift she headed straight home where she thought about cooking a simple dinner but as soon as she took one step through the door her telephone rang. Was it her parents or Aunt Elle with some family gossip? Were her folks checking up on her? She strode over to the phone and answered it.
"Hello...Dr Epstein speaking" she said.
"Oh Julia, I hope I'm not disturbing you...it's Vincent. Vincent Bledsoe?" came his smooth, cultivated voice. Julia immediately perked up.
"Vincent! I mean, Dr Bledsoe....no, you're not disturbing me at all. I...I mean, we...that is Dr Murakami, Nurse Griffiths and myself...missed your presence...I mean missed your expertise at the hospital today." Julia replied.
"Well, I'm helping out at a number of medical facilities right now but I did very much enjoy working with the team at Willow Creek hospital; particularly with you, Julia."
Gosh! She thought to herself, he's so charming.
Gosh! She thought to herself, he's so charming.
"Anyway, the reason for my call...I'm still new here in Sim City and I've heard about this thing called the Spice Festival. Have you heard about it?" He continued.
"Oh yes, it's very popular. I've been to it myself; it has lots of good food" she replied.
"That's good to hear...so I was thinking of heading down there this evening to try it out and I was wondering if you might like to join me there? I mean, I don't know many people here and I thought of you first..."
"YES! I mean, yes, that would be very nice and I would like to join you at the Spice Festival." she said, trying to sound composed and sophisticated.
"Shall I see you at 7 then?" he asked.
"I shall see you there." she responded, cordially, but as soon as she hung up she did a little jig of joy before composing herself. Then she changed out of her surgical scrubs and into her casual clothes: Her favourite plaid skirt and black turtleneck sweater.
Vincent had arrived there first and his face lit up when he saw Julia. As she came close to him he started to lean in to give her a friendly peck on the cheek but she instinctively recoiled and he quickly backed off. However, her manner towards him was distinctly friendly, if not romantic.
"Vincent, lovely to see you and thank you for inviting me along this evening" she said.
"Not at all, and you look very nice tonight" he responded.
"Oh this?" she said, looking at her outfit "this is just my usual attire; nothing snazzy...but you like it?"
"Yes, it suits you" he said, appreciatively. "Anyway, shall we get some food? Where do we find it?" he added.
She led him to the other side of the plaza where the line of exotic dishes were set up. "You can see the cook over there preparing the food" she said, pointing to an old, Asian lady frantically stirring a wok. "That's the food you can sample over here..." and Julia pointed to a table with a line of piping hot dishes laid out on it "...and over there is the bar where you can get milk and iced water if the food's too spicy" she said, pointing to a bar where a man was already downing an entire jug of ice cold water to kill the fire in his mouth.
"Right, I suppose we just dive straight in...now what's this one? 'Ensaymada', smells interesting" said Vincent.
"I'll try one too" said Julia. He plated up a dish and handed it to her before serving himself.
"Hmmm....that one's a bit....spicy..." he said, blinking. "You get an aftertaste which is interesting to say the least....then the spice kicks in...getting hotter....hotter....HOTTER...how did you find that one, Julia? Julia?"
He saw she had gone and sat down after having sampled the meal and her eyes were watering.
"Get....me....milk!" she gasped.
Vincent ran to the bar and grabbed a jug of milk and a glass. Like the man from earlier, she didn't bother with the glass but instead chugged the whole milk jug down.
"The sausages take a bit of getting used to...." she gasped.
"I'll bear that in mind!" said Vincent, chuckling.
Another familiar face was present at the festival and she made her way over to Julia to say hello.
"Jules...I see you're enjoying Spice Night as well!" she said. "Are you here on your own?"
"Not exactly..." said Julia, looking sheepish.
"Well, Suzy, nice to see you again." Vincent had spotted Suzy's approach and came over to greet her.
"And you too, Vincent. Nice to see the two of you together, out and about" said Suzy.
"I'm just showing Vincent the local sites, that's all" said Julia, defensively.
"She's a great guide" said Vincent, warmly. "Can I get either of you ladies a drink?"
"Oh, yes please. White wine for me" replied Suzy.
"The same, Vincent" said Julia.
"No, it is certainly not a date...Vincent is new in town and I thought I'd show him the Spice Festival and that is all." replied Julia, haughtily.
"Sure" said Suzy, unconvinced. "Now are you still available to come to by bachelorette party next weekend?"
"Yes...I don't want to miss that" replied Julia.
Vincent came back with the drinks "There you go, ladies...the food is interesting but the whole atmosphere here is great. I like the decorations they've done and there's music as well. I can see why this event is popular. I wonder if there are any other special events you could show me in town, Julia."
Suzy gave Julia a gentle nudge to respond to Vincent.
"Well...there are various things. I mean, there's the science-fiction convention...that's pretty new but it's becoming more popular." said Julia. "Then there's the Flea Market which is pretty low key but you can find interesting stuff there...oh, my favourite, the Humour & Hijinks festival. That's where you can play practical jokes on others, there's stand up comedy and it all ends in a firework display. I think that's all of them."
"You left out the Romance Festival" said Suzy, knowingly.
"Oh, there's that as well but it's a bit tacky" said Julia.
"Looks like plenty to see and do" said Vincent.
Suzy could see that Vincent was trying to get Julia to open up and talk more but she was still tongue tied and awkward around him. She tried to liven things up by suggesting they all watched the singer for a bit and Vincent was certainly up for that idea. He reached out to Julia to come and join him but she didn't pick up on the signal and just said "I can see the singer just fine from here". Suzy rolled her eyeballs at Julia's gaucheness around men. She knew her friend liked Vincent and that Vincent liked her but they needed a chance to relax around each other...especially Julia.
Suzy offered to leave to not be a third wheel but Julia begged her to stay so in the end Suz reluctantly agreed to stay behind but she wanted no obstacles between Julia and Vincent.
"He's good, isn't he?" said Vincent to Julia. She nodded in reply. "I was wondering" he continued "whether you liked jazz or not"
"I do" she replied.
"Because I was thinking that perhaps...." but before he could finish his sentence a buzzing noise went off in his pocket. He reached inside and found that his pager was making the noise. "It looks like our evening together has to be cut short: The hospital needs me right now. Julia, thanks for showing me the delights of the Spice Festival...we should meet again soon."
Julia waved goodbye to Vincent as he ran off and sighed. Suzy walked over to her.
"Wow, do you have it bad for him!" she said.
"What? No! It's a shame he had to leave early, that's all" replied Julia.
"He was about to ask you on a date!"
"He was merely asking if I liked jazz...the inference that he was asking me to accompany him to some jazz concert is purely yours"
"Oh Julia, what are we going to do with you?" sighed Suzy.
"Well, I for one am going to enjoy the rest of this evening...it is a shame Vincent couldn't stay but we doctors do have our medical duty to help others."
