You must be joking

As a teller of stories, the author needs to introduce you the reader to the main characters, to do this in this story it would be advantageous for you to understand how Joyce and John were introduced to each other. Now many stories tend to refer to the characters as young love in that they meet at school and become interlinked from that time. Not in this case, for John was introduced to Joyce by a work friend and five years later at a second meeting they finally hit it off and end up dating.

George Jameson was Johns superior at work, by that I mean that when the 18-year-old John began work as an apprentice surface electrician for the National coal board. He was assigned a personal tutor and his tutor was George. It was common practice I the early seventies, in the mining communities that on a Friday night, all those who were not working would meet at the miner’s welfare club and enjoy an evening of social events complete with alcohol. It was at John’s first Friday night at the Miner’s Welfare Club (WMC) that George introduced him to his sister’s daughter, Joyce aged 19. It took only one drink for there to be a tangible air of animosity between John and Joyce. Joyce thought that John was a wimp and John thought that Joyce to put it bluntly was an overbearing bitch. In fact, both seemed in a hurry to leave without the other one, so it was something of a shock when they found themselves both waiting for the same bus home. John followed Joyce out to the bus Stop and when the bus finally arrived, Joyce went into the downstairs seating and John went to upstairs seating. Neither seemed to take note of where the other got off. Although to be fair it was Joyce who got off the bus first, so she had no way of knowing how much further John travels on the bus.

George occasionally ribbed John during their work shifts together, about him being man enough to tame Joyce but that was as far as it went. They got on together great at work, but every time George invited John to either go for a drink or round to his home, John always declined. The four years this went on until John finally qualified as a surface electrician with the National Coal Board and part of the practice for qualified Electricians he was moved to another pit where the need was greater for a qualified electrician. No longer teased by George, John settled down to working hard and playing just as hard both at work and in the two sports he followed. In football on his days off and at the miner’s welfare club where he came to be a competitive darts player. He had just about forgotten about Joyce when by strange coincidence his darts team played at the same venue on the same night that Joyce was there with her friend’s.

Joyce was first to recognise John, despite it being over five years since she had last seen him, and she made a beeline to say hello as soon as John walked through the door. Her attitude seemed different to what he recalled, she was far politer, less pushy and altogether different to what he remembered. From Joyce’s point of view John looked the same, maybe a little leaner more muscle tone but nothing you could put your finger on to say was totally different. John being courteous as ever asked if Joyce would like a drink and when he went off to the bar he found that she followed him and even squeezed in beside him at the bar pressing her 38 C bust into his side, John glanced in her direction and then gave her a smile.

Suddenly John was tapped on the shoulder by one of his team members and was told that he was up next on the oche and he looked down at his watch and found he had been in conversation with Joyce nearly an hour and yet neither of them had touched their drinks yet. John excused himself and went off to play his match but as he stood at the oche he noticed that just to his right was Joyce cheering him on. At the end of the darts tournament John volunteered to walk Joyce home and she eagerly accepted, as they walked they shared mindless chitchat and to be honest by the time they reached the front door neither could remember a word of what had been said. Joyce suddenly turned to John and gave him a kiss, intending it to land on his cheek but as John turned to say something the kiss landed on his lips.