Hugo, my friend

Once upon a time there was a career woman, a business lady. She always dressed smart and looked classy and efficient. She was thought by some to look beautiful, though she did not smile very often. Some were in fact a little afraid of her. She worked in a big busy company full of men, but she had worked her way through from being a coffee maker to an executive with a good position. She was sharp and witty. She was not a floral dresses and giggle -type of woman, no. She was strictly business. No one at her work knew much about her private life. They gossiped though, as they always do. The men in the company had pictures of their wives and children on their desks. When they visited her office there was only one picture on her heavy mahogany desk, a picture the point of which they could not quite grasp: a picture of a pink plastic flamingo. Some said it was merely a question of decoration or design, some however, "just didn't get it", it did not seem to fit her style.

She lived in a big white house. A mansion really. She loved Scandinavian clean white style in decoration. She also loved modern art and had collected some statues and painting to add that finishing touch to her home. After rthe hectic day at the company, sometimes when she removed her heels, the marble floor felt a little cold under her feet.Sometimes the house also felt a little too big and empty and cold. In fact, sometimes she herself felt an odd cold feeling inside, and when she really really thought about this feeling she realised what it was. She sometimes felt, even though she had everything a woman can hope for, a bit lonely.

On moments like this, she sat down, held her pink flamingo, Hugo, on her arms and talked to her about her worries (yes, even hard boiled business women worry sometimes).

(c) Nadi Hammouda

(c) Nadi Hammouda