The Kiss (v 1.1)

Another attempt at microfiction. Again, please note that the "I" in the story refers to the narrator, not myself.

Susan's Kiss
by Tan Yee Wei

We had finished our long lunch when Michael ask me the question, “Susan, will you be available this Sunday night? The European Grand Prix will be on at 8.00.” Since meeting Mike, I had started taking a passing interest in what my brother calls the ‘F1 Circus’. It’s one thing watching a live telecast with two commentators, and another thing to have a third, interactive commentator that does not take commercial breaks.

“Will it be any good?” I asked him.
“Most probably. The Nürburgring has fast straights and slow curves strung together for overtaking opportunities, and some technically challenging curves thrown in for good measure. BAR-Honda will be back too.” He gave me a wink- I have an unexplained soft spot for Jenson Button, the promising and slightly cute BAR-Honda driver.
“I’ll trust your judgement. Should we have dinner before that?” I had initially allocated Sunday evening to clean up my manuscript for the editor, but that could wait a few hours.

“Dinner sounds nice. At my place? I try to make a nice meal,” Mike suggested.
“I’ll bring something. Ice-cream?”
“Ok. I’ll see you on Sunday evening then.”

Before we parted, I gave Michael a hug. On impulse, I tipped my toes- I was slightly, just slightly, shorter- and gave Mike a kiss on the lips. What was intended to be a quick peck was starting to turn into a much more engaging affair. As he opened his mouth slightly, a warm, humid, saliva-ish smell typical of oral cavities came to me senses. Immediately after that, a pungent and utterly repulsive odour of decaying vegetation attacked my olfactory nerves.

At once, I shut my mouth with a clap, retracted my face and shoved him away, “Ta ma de! Never brush teeth is it?”

Regaining my composure, I tried to mend the situation, “I’m sorry…slight over-reaction.”


Nothing spoils a good kiss faster than bad breath.

-315 words

Epilogue

The European Grand Prix turned out to be a surprisingly emotional event. At the closing stages of the race, race leader Kimi Raikkonen had an unbalanced tyre that caused his car to vibrate wildly, and blurred his vision. Even so, he managed to hang on to his speed, being only one second a lap slower than his nearest competitor Fernando Alonso.

By the last few laps, the tyre vibration had worsened to the stage where the suspension links (Mike says they are made of resin bonded carbon fibre) were visibly flexing like coconut trees in a storm. Kimi continued to push hard, as Fernando was catching up at a rate of one second per lap.

On Kimi’s last lap of the Nürburgring, his suspension failed from the excessive flexure. In an abrupt explosion of carbon fibre composite bits of front wing, suspension elements and miscellaneous aerodynamic elements, Kimi’s race ended.

I almost cried at the disappointment.

Feedback? Be as long-winded or brief as you see fit; as positive or negative as you wish. The more the merrier.