The Taming of the Shrew

Chapter 5

5
Miriam entered her flat with a pounding headache.  Dropping her purse and keys on the nearest table, she headed straight for the couch, sprawling onto it while massaging her aching temples.  Usually she headed straight to the shower as soon as she came home from work.  Today however, she just didn’t care.  As she lay there, the events of the day replayed itself in her mind, despite her best efforts to block it out.

Mark was not too pleased to see her again, and he was even less so when he learned the reason for her little visit.  After a good tongue lashing – where he even compared her to a petulant child- he ordered  her to not only make room for Mr. Barnabas in her office, but also to formally welcome him to her staff.  He expected that this would be done first thing on the morrow.  His last words as he coldly dismissed her from his office were particularly stinging.
“I don’t know what has gotten into you today Mary, but I do hope that you regain your sense of professionalism come tomorrow.  I’d hardly want Mr. Barnabas to think of this attitude representing Knightons.”
Miriam sniffled.  Since she began working at Knightons, she’d never been reprimanded by her superiors.  It had been a humbling experience, especially considering that it was Mark, the epitome of good humour.  It seemed like everything was crashing down on her,  all on the same day.  Normally, when unpleasant situations arise, it’s nice to have someone close, whether it is a friend or family member, who you can vent to.  In Miriam’s case, she had neither.  She, as you already knew, had no friends, and her relationship with her mother, who lived in Neasden, was so strained and uncomfortable that she didn’t even bother to call, aside from the perfunctory greeting over the Christmas holidays.  Her method for dealing with anything upsetting was work, but the thought of that seemed quite disagreeable, considering the day’s events.  Her headache finally abating, she headed to the shower, soaking her head under the tepid, but refreshing spray.  She headed to the kitchen, dressed in a bathrobe and towel tied hair to prepare a sandwich for supper, which she planned to wash down with bottled water.  Holding the bottle in one hand and the plate in the other, she headed towards the table, where her laptop was up and waiting.

She had already started to eat as the laptop loaded and the browser finally opened.  The Google homepage appeared, beckoning her to search.  We’ll try something different today, she thought as she typed in the phrase ‘dating sites’.  She had remembered one particular time, as she was making her way towards her office, one of the ‘gossip mongers’ was talking about some dating sites that matched Europeans with Americans.  She didn’t quite catch its name, since by then they had caught wind of her stilettos and scattered.  The search engine had generated a few million hits.  Miriam decided to narrow the search by adding ‘matching Europeans and Americans’ after the original phrase.  The hits were a lot less this time, so she decided to sift through its results.

This one looks interesting, she thought, as she clicked on a link that promised to find the ‘love of your life’.  They offered both local and international matchmaking.  Now Miriam had never gone on sites like these before because she did not believe in the notions of ‘soul mates’ and ‘the love of one’s life’.  Her parents were divorced since she was five years old, and every time they came into contact with each other, they bickered.  Added to that, they both remarried, to who they claimed was the ‘love of their lives’, but to Miriam, all they seemed to do was verbally abuse one another.  She had decided very early in life that she was not going to get married, simply because she abhorred quarrelling, and that’s all married people do, aside from having sex.  And nowadays, you don’t need to be married to get a little action.  The page opened, giving her a brief history of the site and the services they offered.  One of its links offered a free instant messaging match.  She clicked on that, which opened a form she had to fill out.  Taking a bite of her sandwich, she perused the form, often scoffing at some of the questions they asked. ‘Let’s see: what is the longest time you’ve ever been in a romantic relationship?  I’ve never been in a romantic relationship’, Miriam snickered as she typed that.  ‘Next question,’ she thought ‘what sort of personality traits do you look for in a significant other?’  That one was tricky.  ‘I hope he can be as loyal as my dog and as cuddly as my teddy bear’, she typed, snorting with laughter.  Wait, she thought suddenly, scrap the teddy bear bit.  You don’t want to be set up with a fat guy.  She deleted teddy bear, replacing it with male mannequin.  She was tempted to put male sex doll, but didn’t want to sound too kinky.  ‘Let’s see if they can match me now,’ she thought wickedly as she finished up the form, using the pseudonym Nora McIntyre and the username boss_lady.

The page loaded again, processing all of her information.  Miriam finished her sandwich and water while she waited, and was toweling her hair dry as a new screen appeared.  She had been redirected to a chat room, which was occupied by a lot of people.  Leaning forward, Miriam typed:
boss_lady: Any Americans here? 
She instantly received two invitations to chat privately, one from BigBadBud and FarFromHome:(.  She decided to ignore the former.
FarFromHome:(: Good night miss boss_lady? Where do you come from?
boss_lady: I’m from the UK, London actually.  And you?
FarFromHome:(: Pennsylvania, USA.  That’s funny; I’m actually working in London right now.
boss_lady: Really?  I don’t understand your sad emoticon.  London’s a fantastic place to be.
FarFromHome:(: I don’t doubt it.  I’m just new to here, that’s all.  Prob need some time to adjust.
boss_lady: How long have you been here, anyway? I hope you don’t mind me asking?
FarFromHome:(: I don’t mind.  A few days actually.  Been working nonstop.
 
Miriam was beginning to feel a little bored, so she decided to end the conversation.

boss_lady: Well I hope you get a chance to see all the sights in our lovely city.  It was very nice meeting           
                    you, but now I must go.
FarFromHome:(: Same here.  It was nice chatting with you.  Maybe we’ll see each other online again?
boss_lady: Maybe, if I’m not too busy. 

Miriam logged off and shut down her computer.  She did not see what all the fuss was about instant messaging and dating sites.  She switched off the lights, placed the dirty dishes in the sink and headed to the bathroom to scrub her teeth.  Her bedside clock read 9:15 as she entered her bed.  Never one to fall asleep immediately, she pulled out a book from her night table, opened it on the last page she left it and began reading till the wee hours of the morning, when she finally fell asleep.