She said that she was happy for me that I had found love with Chloe and invited her along too for the grand opening of her café. Pen explained in her letter that we both had to come dressed as characters from the moving pictures, ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I went dressed as a scarecrow and Chloe as the wicked witch.

‘The Ooze Bar’ was packed on its opening night. The place was full of Tin Men, Scarecrows and Lions. Holding Chloe’s hand at my side, I looked about the café in search of Pen.

What would she look like now, seven years later?

Would I recognise her? Was she in costume like the rest of us and would she recognise me? I felt nervous but excited all at the same time at the thought of seeing her again. I looked around the café and to see all of those tin men, lions, witches, and scarecrows reminded me of the night we sat and watched the magical moving pictures together. There was a real carnival type atmosphere in the place and it buzzed with pulsating music and energy. Then, without warning, a pair of hands slipped over my eyes from behind.

“Guess who?” a voice whispered in my ear.

I whirled quickly around and there she was, dressed like Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Despite the long platted pigtails, which I guessed was a wig, I recognised that smile pulled across her face, her bright hazel eyes. Pen looked older, but more beautiful than I had remembered.

Her body had grown up, too, and filled out in all the right places.

“Wow, you’ve grown up!” I said.

“So have you! Filling out nicely I see,”

Pen grinned, patting my stomach. “Good to see you again, Jim.”

“You too,” I smiled, my heart leaping, as I hugged her tightly in my arms.

Letting go of her, I turned to look at Chloe. “This is Chloe,” I told Pen.

“Hello, Chloe,” Pen smiled.

“Hi,” Chloe said back, and even beneath her bright green make-up I could see she felt uncomfortable.

If I were to be honest, I felt uncomfortable, too. I was unfamiliar with Pen’s new friends. As we sat and chatted at the end of the bar and watched the inhabitants of Oz jive around the small dance floor, Pen beckoned over one of her staff. I guessed she was in her early twenties, just like us, but it was hard to tell behind the heavy lion’s make-up that she was wearing.

She had light blond hair which had been vigorously backcombed to resemble a lion’s mane.

“This is Annie,” Pen shouted over the booming music.

“Pleased to meet you, Annie. I’m Jim,” I said. “This is Chloe.”

“Good to meet you both,” Annie said as Pen propped her arm around her shoulder.

“Annie’s a real sweetheart, she keeps me out of trouble,” Pen said wistfully.

“Pen’s told me all about you,” Annie said as if studying me. “She said you were like a brother and sister once.”

“I guess we were,” I said, looking at Pen.

“She doesn’t stop talking about you!”

Annie smiled. “Jim, this and Jim that!”

“I have the same problem,” Chloe chipped in, staring at me. “I’ve heard so much about Pen, I didn’t know what to expect!”

“Am I a disappointment?” Pen asked, flamboyantly tossing her Dorothy style pigtails from side to side.

“Mmm…let me think about that for a moment!” Chloe placed one hand to her chin and pondered.

I couldn’t tell if Chloe was joking or not.

“That witch’s costume suits you,” Pen suddenly teased Chloe. “I bet you didn’t have to borrow a broomstick, you brought your own!”

Chloe looked at Pen, and with a wry smile on her green lips, she said, “I borrowed yours!”

There was a moment’s silence between them and I wondered if they would get on or not.

Then, both of them began to laugh. I hoped Pen and Chloe would grow to be friends.

Annie said farewell and went back to serving the customers that were queuing at the bar.

“Annie’s been a good friend to me,” Pen said. “I met her a year or so ago. I worked for a local photographer. Weddings, that sort of thing. I never took any pictures. It was my job to try and get people to have photographs taken of their kids.

We had a stall set up in the local shopping mall, taking kiddie photos for ten pounds a go. Anyway, Annie comes along with this doll of a girl in a pram. My boss gives her the hard sell – telling her what a beautiful kid she’s got and it would be a crime not to have her picture taken. I could see that she really didn’t want to have it done – she didn’t look as if she had ten pennies to rub together let alone buy a photo. But my boss just keeps ragging on at her, until she gave in.

“He’s sounds like a real nice guy,” Chloe added.

“He was okay, just under pressure to make money, you know,” Pen said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Anyway, she has the picture taken, and although the photo wouldn’t be developed and sent to her for a few days, she has to pay up front. I’m working the register and see this all going on. She reluctantly comes over to me, opens her purse, and hands me the money in a five pound note and the rest in change. I take a peek in her purse and can see that this leaves her with nothing. I took down her address so I could post the picture to her a few days later.”

“Didn’t you feel guilty?” Chloe asked.

“I didn’t stop thinking about her for days. I wondered if her kid was going hungry or going without because we had taken her last ten pounds.

So when the picture was ready, instead of mailing it out to her, I personally went round to deliver it.

She lived in this scruffy-looking apartment block just outside town. I handed over the picture to her along with her ten pounds. But she refused to take it, she was too proud. So once she had gone back inside, I posted the ten pounds through her letterbox. As I was walking away, she came to the door and called me back. ‘Jeez, you are persistent,’ she said. She invites me in for a coffee and that was that, we became good friends.”

“What about a partner? Where was her daughter’s father?” I asked.

“Hit the road, as soon as he found out he was gonna be a daddy,” Pen explained.

Chloe shook her head and said, “Loser.”

“Yeah, I know,” Pen agreed. “It’s his loss. Katie’s a real cutie, a peach of a little girl.

Anyway, I started going round to see Annie and sometimes we would take Katie to the park.

Anyway, we would sit and talk and I would tell her how one day, I would own my own café. I promised her that if my dream ever came true, I would give her a job.”

“And here she is,” Chloe said as she glanced over at Annie who was laughing with a customer.

“That’s right. She might only be bar staff at the moment, but as I get on, so will she,” Pen said.

“Who looks after Katie while she’s at work?” I asked.

“I pay her a little more than the rest, you know to cover the cost of a babysitter,” Pen explained.

“That’s really sweet of you,” Chloe said.

“I know,” Pen smiled.

Pen’s opening night was a huge success.

Just before she closed for the night, Pen announced the winner of the fancy-dress competition. The winner was a guy in his early twenties, and he’d won a bottle of champagne. I got the feeling that Pen didn’t choose him because he was the best costume, but because he was probably the best looking. The winner looked to be very drunk, as he smooched away on the dance floor with Pen to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, while the entire bar cheered and roared with good-natured laughter. I watched as Pen pulled the guy close and I felt a sudden stab of jealousy in my guts. Pen looked at me over the guy’s shoulder and smiled at me.

Chloe and I hung around until the last of the drinkers had staggered out into the night and Pen had locked the door behind them.

Pen turned to me, and beaming, she said, “Jim, I’ve done it. I’ve actually done it! I’ve escaped my past life and have a whole new world.” With a mischievous glint in her sparkling eyes, Pen laughed and said, “I’m the Wizard of Ooze!”

I couldn’t remember seeing her happier.

Chapter Twelve

Murphy

I didn’t see Pen after that night for a whole year. This wasn’t because I hadn’t wanted to; it was more of a matter of circumstance. I had been very busy that year at work and Chloe had decided to become a paramedic. What, with us both working alternate shift patterns, I was often climbing out of bed as she was getting in. Any free time we had became quite precious, so we usually spent this together, enjoying one another’s company.

Pen had been very consumed throughout the year trying to make ‘The Ooze bar’ a success.

I think even she had been surprised at how much work was involved in running your own business.

Even though we hadn’t managed to get together, we still spoke a couple of times a week on the phone and we still enjoyed writing each other the occasional letter.

It was in one of these letters, Pen told me that she was living with a guy. In the same letter, she also invited Chloe and me to stay with her over Christmas.

The weather, as usual for that time of year, had been awful, and our progress to Pen’s that Christmas Eve had been slow-going. Huge waves of snow had cut across the roads, hampering our view ahead. Chloe had brought with her a collection of Christmas songs on CD

and we wiled away the hours, keeping ourselves full of festive spirit by singing along to them.

We finally arrived at Pen’s just past 2

a.m. on Christmas morning. Pen was waiting up for us with two large mugs of hot chocolate at the ready. Once we had dragged our bags into the hallway, we sat in the lounge and talked in the glow of the Christmas tree lights that winked on and off.

“What do you think to the Christmas tree?” she asked as Chloe and I warmed ourselves.

“It’s huge,” I replied. Looking at its long branches and being reminded of the fir trees that had surrounded the great lake and its dark red waters.