Winter chills

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To Trudi
From Scott

Hi Trudi
You may not remember me but we were introduced at Shona’s party. There wasn’t time to say hi or anything because Shona’s surprise present interrupted everything just then! Anyway, I hope you don’t mind me contacting you out of the blue but I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained. Hope you don’t mind.

Cheers, Scott

To Scott
From Trudi

So, hi Scott
Sorry I don’t remember you from the party, things were a little bit lively. Not sure why you’re contacting me, where’d you get my email?

Trudi

Hi Trudi
Sorry, didn’t mean to spook you. I got your email off Shona’s newsletter where she’d cc’d everybody. It’s just that I heard you’d gone to do History at Leicester Uni at more or less the same time as me, and I didn’t remember our paths crossing. I was in the same year as Natalie and her gang but I guess you must have been the year ahead or behind. Anyway, no worries, I’m not stalking you or anything, just wanted to compare notes if that was OK.
Anyway, I’ll back off if you’d rather not chat.

All the best, Scott

Hi Scott
You were in Natalie’s year? Wow, she was something else, wasn’t she, what’s she doing now, you any idea? Sorry I was a bit suspicious, you hear so much about weirdoes contacting you out of the blue. Did you know Jeremy too? I had a bit of a thing for him but he didn’t come back for his third year and we kinda lost contact, but then I was with Kevin for two years before finals. And you? What are you doing?

Trudi

Hi Trudi
That’s weird, Jeremy was at school with me! But when we went to Leicester we kind of made new friends. I know he suddenly swapped courses to do French, but then I lost contact too. He must have done his year abroad then, you know his mum was Swiss so perhaps he skipped a year. Me, I’m in some boring job, I’m not sure you really want to know, do you? Just really wanted to chat to someone about uni, life, the universe, anything rather than office politics. But that’s OK, just happy to get this off my chest. Don’t worry if you don’t want to chat.

Scott

Scott, don’t be a misery! I remember, you must be the guy that had the tee saying Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost! Look, where are you, are you close to town? Do you want to meet up for coffee somewhere?  I often meet friends in Caffe Nero behind the Exchange, when’s good for you? You don’t need to wear a flower in your buttonhole but for goodness sake don’t wear that t-shirt or I’ll pretend I don’t know you!

Trudi x

* * *

So, this is how the emails between Scott and Trudi could have panned out.  But they could so easily have taken a very different direction, couldn’t they?

To Trudi
From Scott

Hi Trudi
You may not remember me but we were introduced at Shona’s party. There wasn’t time to say hi or anything because Shona’s surprise present interrupted everything just then! Anyway, I hope you don’t mind me contacting you out of the blue but I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained. Hope you don’t mind.

Cheers, Scott

To Scott
From Trudi

So, hi Scott
Sorry I don’t remember you from the party, things were a little bit lively. Not sure why you’re contacting me, where’d you get my email?

Trudi

Hi Trudi
It’s OK, I got your email off Shona’s newsletter where she’d cc’d everybody. I thought that as we never got to chat at the party we could at least do it by email. As you’ve got a history degree and I’m a metal detectorist it seems we’ve got a lot in common! I’ve found a lot of Civil War stuff – you know, musket balls, horse fittings, fragments of spurs and so on – and since you specialised in 17th century politics you might be able to help me with dating the finds. Mind you, it’s hush-hush where I’ve been detecting, but if we collaborate on this I might just let you into the secret!

Speak to you soon, Scott

Scott
Listen, I’m not happy that you seem to know a bit about me and I know nothing really about you. I spoke to Shona and she has no idea who you are or how it was you were at the party. I’m afraid I’m not interested in metal detecting as my research was in Constitutional History. I’m sure you’re a nice guy but please don’t contact me again.

Trudi

Hi Trudi
Look, I’m sure we can sort this one out, Trudi, I’m not the kind of person you think I am. Why don’t we meet up? You could tell me about 17th century Constitutional History and I could show you my detecting finds, you’ll find they’re more varied than you might think. Why don’t we meet up at Caffe Nero, behind the Exchange? I know that’s where you usually meet your friends. Or why don’t I come round to your place? That’s only around the corner from the café, isn’t it, and I could show you much more of my collection than in a café.

Hope to hear from you soon, Scott

I’ve just realised who you are, you’re that guy with the Megadeth t-shirt, everyone called you The Boffin. You’re creeping me out, so don’t email me again. Just delete my details.

Don’t be so uppity, Trudi, I know you’re really friendly, everyone says so. Tell you what, I’ll just come round now, shall I? I can see you’re in, your car’s parked at the front and your light’s on. I’ve got my collection with me, as it happens. I’ll just finish this and then I’ll knock three times so you know it’s me. Speak to you soon.

Assignment done last year for a Creative Writing module on genre writing: perhaps you can guess which genre this was emulating …