Adventures in Avoiding Downsizing
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Slowing Down free porn video
Slowing Down
by Paul1954 (c)
"Here you are Mr Grant - the report you were asking for".
"Thank you Mary. I'll have a chance to update myself with this before this
afternoons meeting".
"Oh, and Mr Jamieson called a few minutes ago. He asked me to tell you...".
"Thank you I said, Mary. That'll be enough for now. I need some time to go
through this report to see whether I'll have to change my presentation to
accommodate its conclusions. I'm cutting it fine as it is and if I don't do
it now then I won't have time so please, let me be"!
" B..but...".
"Mary, let me be"!
I watched Mary do her best to maintain her dignity as she turned out of my
office in a snoot. Never mind, I would 'sweet talk' her later. She was a
good girl really, but I really did need some time without whatever
distraction it was that she had been lining up for me.
Time. Ah, time now. It had always been a curse as far as I was concerned. It
was just something I never seemed to have enough of. It had always been that
way for me. Either as a small boy or a husband and father, it had always
been the same. There had never been enough hours in the day for what I
wanted or needed to do as far as I was concerned, or if there was then I
always seemed, somehow, to contrive a way to make sure that it ended up that
way. Maybe it was just in my nature!
I took a deep breath and reached into my desk drawer and took out a little
pink tablet and swallowed it with a mouthful of water. Who'd have believed
it? At only twenty-four years of age I was already suffering from
hypertension and the doctors had told me that I would need to take these
tablets to control my high blood pressure, for the rest of my life probably.
Oh, I might be able to get onto a weaker dose if I changed my lifestyle. You
know, do something to de-stress myself - try meditation, stop rushing
around - that type of thing, but there was some chance of that! I had a good
job and was marked down as a high flyer so easing up would have to wait a
while.
I swivelled my chair around so that my back was to the door and closed my
eyes for a second, taking a deep breath as I did so. I took a rare moment of
self-indulgence and thought back to my dear old Granny, and how she used to
laugh at my impatience when I was a small boy. I was one of ten children -
six boys and four girls - brought up on a small farm holding in County
Wexford, Ireland. My much loved Granny used to entertain us for hours with
her wildly exaggerated tales and her ridiculous sayings. Anyone with an
ounce of Irish blood coursing through his or her veins will know what I
mean. One saying in particular though was always reserved for me.
"Patrick" she used to exclaim, "you need to slow down a little. You're
running around so fast, haring around to and fro everywhere, that if you're
not careful, one day you're going to catch up with yourself on the way back,
and you wouldn't want that to happen now, would you"!
Yes, even as a child I was always rushing around everywhere and wanting to
take the shortest route from A to B.
"But Granny!" I used to say, "that's impossible. How can you meet yourself
either coming or going, and if so, why wouldn't I want it to happen"?
"Ah, little one - so many questions. There is so much for you to learn. The
world is a strange and marvellous place and many wonderful things happen in
it. Indeed, this beautiful land of ours has more than its fair share of
miracles and mischief. It has a way taking care of itself and of keeping
things just as they should be. It was here long before man was even thought
of, and it will here long after he's gone so you heed my words or else ...
well, who knows. It might decide it has had enough of a small boy like you,
upsetting things with your impatience"!
I had heard her say this many times and sometimes, when I would question her
about it, doubting her words, her eyes would take on a wistful look and
she'd pull me close to her.
"I knew a young boy just like yourself once Patrick. In fact he was a lot
like your good self. His own Granny once warned him, just as I am to you
now, but he didn't listen".
She would never say any more after that, whenever I would ask for more
information about this boy. On occasions though, I would repeat my question
as to why I wouldn't want this to happen to me, for it seemed to me like it
might be a lot of fun to meet yourself. Usually I would be told to go and
play and not to worry myself, but on rare occasions I would get a hint of
something else from her,
"It would not be fun Patrick, believe me. There cannot be more than one of
you in this world can there, so something would have to happen to make sure
that things stay that way".
What she considered an explanation was as big a puzzle to me as her original
statement but after that she would say no more, leaving any answer I might
conjure to my fertile imagination. I would soon find out however, that I
never came close to the reality of what she was referring to, not even once!
A rapping on my office door interrupted my thoughts about my dear departed
Granny, and I almost fell from my chair in shock as Mary bowled in again.
"Mary - I thought I told you that I didn't want to be disturbed!" I snapped
at her.
Couldn't she understand a simple instruction?
She stood her ground this time, and refused to budge.
"I am sorry Mr Grant, and although you really don't deserve it, I am going
to give you the message that you wouldn't allow me to, earlier. You can do
what you want after that" she snorted indignantly.
"Oh, go on then. Just get it over with" I sighed with resignation, and also
feeling a little guilty about the way I had treated her. It wasn't her fault
that I always ran to a tight schedule, after all.
"It's Mr Jamieson, he's called again. He wants to know whether you'll be
able to make it in time. He says that he's getting nervous".
"But he already knows that I'll be there for two o'clock. What is wrong with
him"?
"But that's what I was trying to tell you earlier Mr Grant. His message
earlier said that he had to bring your client meeting forward to twelve and
he wanted your confirmation that you can still make it".
"Twelve!" I screamed, "but it's eleven o'clock now. I'll never be able to
review the report now. Why didn't you tell me about the change in plans when
you first found out about them"?
"But I tried! You didn't want to listen and were quite rude to me, if I
recall".
I don't know what upset me more. The fact that I would have to trust to luck
as to whether my presentation would still remain valid or not, or her
superior 'I told you so' attitude. I would ponder it later, when I had the
time.
"Please Mary, call my Bernadette for me, and tell her that I'll check the
results of her visit to the doctor later. Oh, and to give my love to Sean".
As soon as I said it I realised I had made a mistake. The office grapevine
would soon be buzzing with the news that my wife was visiting the doctors,
and the rumours would be rife that there might soon be a brother or sister
maybe, for our son. Bernadette had already intimated to Mary once, at an
office party a month ago, that we were trying to increase out family. I had
no time to dwell on my mistake now though, and I grabbed the acetates that I
had already printed along with my jacket before rushing out of the building
and into my car. I had to get across to the other side of Dublin, not
something that would normally be a problem, but as always seems to be the
case for me, I found myself caught up in heavy traffic and was soon going
nowhere, fast. I then remembered hearing on the radio this morning that
there was due to be a parade today, and that motorists were advised to avoid
the area. I cursed, knowing that it could be some time before it cleared so,
on the verge of panic, I managed to park my car in a side street and started
to make my way to the meeting on foot. I would just have time to make it if
I hurried.
I started to make quick progress but there was only ten minutes until the
meeting so I tried to politely push past the various tourists and citizens
of Dublin, who were blocking my way across the Ha'penny bridge, over the
Liffy. That was the shortest route for me. Finally making my way over, I
could feel my heart pounding from my exertions as I entered a small
alleyway, just a quarter of a mile from my destination. That was when it
happened - when I saw a woman who looked eerily familiar to me, approaching
from the opposite direction that I was travelling in.
She was wearing a light floral print dress, taking advantage of the hint of
a summer that we were enjoying at the moment, and had long flowing auburn
hair of an identical colour to my own. Her skin looked to be of an alabaster
hue and her lips a deep red, although they appeared entirely natural on her.
In short she was beautiful, but not in a glamour model way, rather more of a
natural beauty, pretty, attractive and attainable. In fact she reminded me
of how my sisters looked - what most would term to be a typical Irish lass!
The more that I looked at her though, the more that I realised that there
was something very strange about her though. I stopped, unable to prevent
myself from staring at her now, despite the lack of time available to me.
She had a quizzical expression on her face as she suddenly stopped and
looked down at her body, and then began feeling it up and down in a brazen
way as if surprised at what she was finding. I looked down at my watch once
more, conscious of the time, and then back at the woman again and saw that
she was staring at me. She looked at me pleadingly for a moment, and was
mouthing something, but I couldn't make out what she was trying to say.
Suddenly, everything around me seemed to spin and I fell to the floor. I had
a vague thought that I might be having a heart attack as my body twitched
and went into a spasm, and that was the last thing that I remembered
until...
* * * * * * *
...until I became aware of a crawling sensation moving down from my
shoulders and then all over my body. Everything was shimmering as I became
aware that my clothing was loosening and then I noticed a tress of long
auburn hair, just like that of the woman I had seen, fall across my face. I
hardly had time to note that the hands that pulled it away were smooth and
refined looking before a small but unmistakable pair of breasts made their
presence known on my chest. I may have been in shock but I was not stupid. I
dreaded to think what might be happening to me further down below as I then
felt tugging and pulling sensations.
All else in the world ceased to exist for me at that point as I stood up and
noticed that, somehow, I was wearing a dress - a floral print dress no less,
that was identical to that of the woman I had just been looking at. A
tightening and lifting sensation from my chest left me in no doubt that,
impossible as it seemed, I was now also wearing a bra. Moreover it was no
surprise that as I ran my hands down along the front of my dress I
encountered nothing but a smooth and flattened front, with no hint of a
bulge from the area around my groin.
"No..no - this can't be happening!" I said to myself in a shocked and
feminine voice, and I then looked up, becoming aware that someone, a man,
was standing almost opposite me.
It took me a moment to realise who it was, as I had only ever seen the face
staring back at me as a reversed mirror image, and the difference in
perspective made me pause, momentarily. Eventually though, I recognised the
man as ... myself! As impossible as it seemed I knew that I was looking out
from within the woman's body that I had seen earlier, at my own form!
It is hard to recall the exact feelings I went through at that moment, but
uppermost was that I was also now starting to remember a life and
experiences that I could not recall ever living through, at least from
Patrick's view of the world. They were intruding deep into my mind and
mingling with those I already knew - or thought - were my own. Along with
this was the recollection that I had already had this morning, of what my
Granny used to tell me, as if I was getting a message.
"You need to slow down a little. You're running around so fast, haring
around to and fro everywhere, that if you're not careful, one day you're
going to catch up with yourself on the way back, and you wouldn't want that
to happen now, would you"!
I knew intuitively, that what I thought was just her fanciful teasing had
come to pass and that I had, as ridiculous as it seemed, met myself on the
way back and that this was the result of my haste. It was then that I
remembered the rest of her playful warning, when I would ask her how it
would be possible to have two of me in the world at the same time.
"There cannot be more than one of you in this world can there, so something
would have to happen to make sure that things stay that way".
I had never understood what she meant as either man or boy, but I did now,
as a woman. I watched numbly as my former body started to shake and then
tumble to the floor before becoming a shadow and then fading away
completely. It was if it - I - had never existed.
I was left standing alone in the alleyway, staring at the spot where my
whole life had just simply vanished. Whether I was in a parallel universe,
an altered reality, or whether some unspoken magic had facilitated this
change upon me, did not matter. I just knew as a fact that however it had
happened, what was done was done and that this is how things would remain
for me, unless another twist of fate decreed otherwise. Patrick was gone and
I was now ... Car...Carmel, as new memories were telling me, and somehow, it
seemed right.
New memories continued to make themselves known and merged with past life
until I was longer sure what was, and what wasn't and when I saw a
handsome(?) man carrying a little girl in his arms and approaching me I
smiled.
"Dermot?" I said, as he passed the little girl towards me and kissed me on
the cheek.
"You're early darling, I thought I'd pick Maggie up from my mothers house
and meet you at the doctor's, but you got here before me. You really must
start slowing down you know, otherwise you will make yourself ill. Anyway,
I've got some good news myself, but I was impatient to hear your results
first".
Results? I wasn't sure what he was talking about at first, but as I looked
at the man who I now recognised as my husband, and then down at the baby
girl who I also now knew as my daughter, it all started to make sense. I
then felt an overwhelming sensation of love, maternal for my daughter and
something else entirely for Dermot, and from somewhere came the answer to
his question. The mention of a visit to the doctor triggered two memories in
me, one as Patrick and one as Carmel, but Carmel's now felt more real to me
and I knew what to say.
"I..it's positive. I'm expecting again. It'll be due in another six months
time," I said, looking at him expectantly, not yet sure of what his reaction
might be.
How could we afford another child? He had been working so hard to support
us, doing a part time job in the evening as well as his day job, and I felt
so sorry for him. All I wanted to do was to care for him and look after our
family. I didn't want to be a part-time mother like I was now, playing
office politics instead of caring for Maggie. I needn't have worried though,
for he flung his arms around Maggie and myself and squeezed us so tightly
that I feared for our very safety.
"I've got it darling, I've got it! The interview went wonderfully well and
in the new job I'll be getting a forty-percent increase on my current
salary. Those years of studying haven't been wasted and now you'll be able
to give up that office job and start slowing down. With the money I'll be
earning there'll be no more need for you to keep rushing around like you
have been and besides, it won't be good for the baby" he said, patting my
stomach fondly.
I smiled back at him, feeling joyously happy and feeling a sense of
equilibrium, knowing that this was my new reality and that it was what
Carmel - myself - wanted. Granny was right - this was indeed a strange and
mysterious land and it had certainly found a way of protecting one of its
sons, and had indeed, found a way to slow me down.
I rubbed my tummy and tried to imagine the life growing within me and what
my new child might be like, and whether it, or little Maggie, might one day
have a baby of there own. I had a sudden premonition, seeing a little boy
running hither and thither everywhere and knew, like my Granny before me,
that he would have to watch out, for no good would come of it.
Or maybe it would!
The End
Rowan
- 15.10.2022
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