Fourteen Days

"Umm, thanks..." Kristy laughed at the strange bouquet as the men turned back and walked away from her. Looking at her watch and realising she was going to be late she put the rose carefully into the top of her handbag careful not to crush it and placed the bag on the passenger's seat before heading off.

Grabbing her bag she walked into the small café greeting her friend, Gabrielle, and apologising for keeping her waiting.

"Don't sweat it babe," Gabrielle smiled, "Oh, you got a rose! Tell me all, tell me all!" She said excitedly clapping her hands.

"Actually I got it as I left work, I haven't even read the card yet," Kristy grinned and pulled it out of her bag.

"A wooden spoon? Someone wants to spank you?" Gabrielle looked at her dubiously. "Far be it from me to judge but I didn't have you pegged as the kinky type."

"Hah! I hope not," she grimaced.

The waitress picked that moment to arrive and take their order. The summer heat wave was still in full swing, so the girls ordered icy frappe's and a mixed plate of the bite sized high tea type treats they loved at this café. Once the waitress had gone Kristy opened the card that had come with the odd bouquet.

"February 6th Day 9 Flowers are very commonly used as gifts for our beloved valentines. But you will be surprised to know that, at one time, spoons were used and known to be the most desired gift. This dates back to a time in Wales, where wooden spoons, known as 'love spoons', were specially carved by young men and given as gifts to sweethearts on Valentine's Day. The more special ones even had love messages engraved on them. In those times, a young man would spend hours carving the spoon with his own hands, in the hope that the girl would accept it. If the girl accepted the spoon, she would reveal her heart to him, which is the origin of the word 'spooning'. With time, gifts advanced to hearts carved with keys and keyholes. These key and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The adornment meant, "You unlock my heart!" From your Valentine."

Both of the women peered at the spoon then and could faintly make out the etching in the bowl of the wood. As they thought about the message in the card and allowed the waitress to put the plate of treats on the table, they made guesses at what it might be. "Oh, this is no good. Don't hate me for this but..." Gabrielle said as she took a swipe of chocolate ganache from a small piece of cake and smeared it into the bowl of the spoon. An intricately designed heart shaped lock appeared surrounded by roses and thorny vines. As the ganache, covered finger followed the pattern down the handle of the spoon, they found an intricately detailed key.

"Wow," Kristy breathed. "I mean, it's lovely for a spoon. Isn't it?"

"Who is it then? Go on you can tell me," Gabrielle lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

"I don't know," Kristy shrugged, "I wish I did, but all three gifts have told me nothing about the sender."

"You have had three of these?" Gabrielle was wide eyed.

"Well, not these," she admitted pointing to the rose and spoon. "But yesterday I got a sweet little glass ball with a bird inside it and a few days before that some of those glow in the dark stars, you know like we had as kids?"

Gabrielle picked up the card again, "The date, no clue there. Day nine, nine days since you got the first one, nine days since you met? Nine days of what?"

"Yesterdays was ten days, so I am assuming a countdown maybe, until Valentine's Day..." Kristy furrowed her brow in thought.

"What did the first one say? When did you get it?" Gabrielle was firing questions faster than Kristy could answer them.

"I got it Saturday, and I am not sure exactly what it said but it didn't have a number, I don't think" she shook her head.

"This is so exciting. Leo doesn't have a romantic bone in his body. He makes up for it in other ways though," she waggled her eyebrows at Kristy and winked sending them both into peals of laughter. As they drank the cool drinks and ate way too much sugar than was good for them they went onto other subjects relevant to their lives.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you Daniel is back from the States. Mum ran into him at the shops and invited him and his family for a barbeque this weekend," Kristy laughed as Gabrielle's jaw dropped open.

"The Daniel? The Daniel who went overseas to a famous ball player and crushed your teenage heart? That Daniel?" She was clearly astonished.

"Yeah, he hurt his leg before he made it to the pro's mum said, so he's back," Kristy nodded.

"Well that solves that mystery then. He's the secret Valentine. A man who could never forget you came back to his hometown after all these years to stake his claim," she looked smug as she declared the case closed.

"From what I have seen of college life over there, I doubt very much he was pining away for a typical Aussie girl like me. Plus he never wrote; he never called. You're wrong," Kristy shook her head. "I don't live in a rom-com, real life is never as good as the movies."

Getting ready to leave Gabrielle smiled, "My bet is still on Daniel but I will ring you tonight and you can read me the other cards, okay?"

"Make it a late call then, my Dads coming over for pizza and helping me put the stars up on my ceiling," Kristy laughed at the raised eyebrow she received from Gabrielle. "What? I love them!"

"Sounds like your admirer is someone who knows you really well then because I never knew that," she raised an eyebrow, "and I am one of your oldest friends."

"Probably just a lucky guess," Kristy consoled her.

*****

The idea that Kristy had a secret admirer bothered Darren more than he would have thought it would and he realised just how much she had been in his future plans as he dwelt on the idea of her dating someone else before he had had the opportunity to ask her out properly. It was with this in mind (a stern talking to himself) when he berated himself for being a gutless wonder that he arrived at Kristy's apartment on Wednesday night.

He was surprised to find Kristy's Dad there and made up an on the spot excuse for his presence of wanting to borrow a movie he knew she had. As he was a tall man though, he was immediately conscripted into helping align the galaxies that would live on Kristy's ceiling. Darren struck up an immediate friendship with Neil, Kristy's father, and they laughed and ate pizza as they drew up a plan and stuck the tiny stars in their rightful places.

They waited an hour after they had finished leaving the light on in her room to charge the glow in the dark properties of the stickers before the three of them went in and lay on the bed side by side and turned off the light.

"This is so good!" Kristy exclaimed rolling between them to hug her father first and then Darren. He found himself reluctant to let her go once his arms had found their way around her, and he breathed in the scent of her but knew now was not the time to start something that could go pear shaped very quickly.

"I better get home," he said suddenly, "I'll leave you to tell her a bedtime story Neil, because if I lie here much longer I will fall asleep," he chuckled as he got up.

"Good to see you Darren," Neil got up and shook his hand and Kristy walked him to the door hugging him.

"Here don't forget the movie you came for," she handed him a small case.

"Thanks, I probably won't watch it tonight though," he said , "I'll bring it back on the weekend."

*****

The Friday workday came and went with no surprises from Kristy's secret Valentine which disappointed Gabrielle more than Kristy when she rang warning her that Tabitha was a bit miffed that Kristy hadn't told her about the two new gifts, since she had seen the one on Saturday. She packed up her desk ready to head home when her phone rang again.

"Yes, I am heading home now... fine but there's nothing to tell... No, I really don't want to go out tonight... sure we will order Thai food or something.... Okay... Yep... No, nothing today... I promise... see you at my place then." Kristy hung up the phone; she loved Tabitha, but wow, she could be bossy at times. She was glad that Gabrielle had forewarned her.

As much as she had been in a funk and a type of self-imposed exile for the last six months, her large group of friends that she had retained since high school had never truly let her be alone. They had seized on her seeming willingness to go out again in recent weeks and bombarded her constantly, so it shouldn't have surprised her that when she arrived home, Tabitha waited with two other friends. Leading them up to her apartment they all chatted noisily drawing one of her neighbours out to see who it was.

"Kristy," the neighbour called, "Could you be a dear and help me with something?"

"Sure thing, Margie," Kristy handed her keys to Tabitha and told her friends to make themselves at home. Her friends disappeared inside her apartment and the older woman beckoned her closer.

"A big box came for you today and I didn't like to leave it outside your apartment, so I brought it in here," she whispered as if telling a secret.

"Thank you so much Margie. I really appreciate it. I wasn't expecting anything are you sure it's for me?" Kristy asked.

"Oh yes dear, I had a good look at it to make sure it wasn't a bomb or anything nasty," she indicated the box on the table.

"My goodness it's heavy," Kristy said as she lifted the box. "Come over tomorrow morning, and I will show you what was in it," she smiled, "I better not leave my friends alone too long right now though."

"Of course, dear, I will see you tomorrow," Margie said and walked her to the door opening it wide for her.

As soon as Kristy entered her apartment the girls descended on her babbling about valentines and how they wished they had a secret valentine, although one of them was married already.

"Wait!" Tabitha yelled above the din. "Let's start from the beginning, what came first and when?"

Kristy gathered the cards walking the three girls through the gifts she received and the messages that came with them. Each was studied intricately and discussed at length. Having washed the spoon the etching in it was once again difficult to see. Nisha, the most creative of the friends, called for make-up, preferably blush. She then painted the spoon carefully the fine granules falling into the carved lines as well as painting the spoon a pale pink colour. When she was done, the design was apparent in every exquisite detail. It was when she held it up again into the light, and her blush covered fingers smoothed over the back that Kelly exclaimed, "Wait, there's more!"

Surprised but trying to act nonchalantly as if she had always known there was more on the back Kristy watched as the second pattern emerged in the same rose and thorny vine design the letters "D & K" emerged. "So there was a big clue, and you weren't going to tell us!" Tabitha accused and she had to admit she had not known it was there.

"Let's see, D, I can think of half a dozen right off the top of my head, it's a pretty common initial for guys," Nisha grimaced.

"I hear Daniel is back from the States," Tabitha said with a knowing smile.

"The Daniel!" The girls said almost in unison and Tabitha nodded causing them to squeal in delight and bombard Kristy with questions.

"I haven't even seen him yet, mum ran into him at the shops. That's it, end of story. I haven't spoken to him in close to eight years for goodness sakes! Can I open my box now? It's probably just some books I ordered." Despite herself, she was enjoying the excitement of her friends.

Taking a Stanley knife she carefully sliced through the tape holding the box firmly closed and opened the top. Peering inside she could see the edge of what looked like a dark slab of polished granite. Turning the box on its side she pulled it free. About thirty centimetres in length it was a lovely piece of stone. It was when she turned it over that she gasped and blushed.

In stark contrast to the dark stone were carved white figures in relief of men dressed as wolves and maidens in varying states of undress cavorting between finely detailed trees. As her friends exclaimed about porn and laughed riotously Kristy searched for a card eventually finding it stuck to the pieces of the stand that was also in the box.

With some trepidation, she opened it as her friends watched on giggling and waiting to be allowed to see it. The front had a wolf howling at the moon and she opened it to read:

"February 7th Day 8 LUPERCALIA The most likely predecessor to the modern Valentine's Day holiday, Lupercalia was celebrated in Ancient Rome, to run evil spirits from the city as to allow fertility and prosperity to flourish. Lupercus was the Roman equivalent to Pan, a shepherd god named for the cave in which Romulus and Remus were raised by wolves before growing up and founding the city. It was pretty much a street orgy, with men wearing goat or wolf skins and women offering themselves for mating. Sounds like they knew how to party throw a party back then. From your Valentine, D." Tabitha took it from her and read it out loud, and the girls went into even more fits of giggles as they teased her. "So are you going to offer yourself for mating on Valentine's Day?" Kelly winked at her.

"I don't even know who it is!" Kristy complained. "But I am sure getting an education about Valentine's Day traditions, there can't be very many more, can there?"

"I bet if we googled it there would be hundreds," Nisha laughed. "I wouldn't complain about getting presents every day. Since we got married I think, Paul lost any interest in romance. The most romance I get is when he comes out of the shower and flashes me and says something like; How 'bout it, babe, while shaking his man bits at me."

"All right girls let's organise some food and then we have some work to do here," Tabitha grinned.

They were arguing over who would go pick up a takeout as nowhere local delivered aside of pizza places when Tabitha's phone rang. She picked it up with a cheery "Hello." Then they listened in as they realised she spoke to her brother, "Oh yeah, I meant to bring that with me, I was so busy this morning... Oh, would you? That would be awesome... You're the best big brother ever... well now that you mention it there is a teeny weeny favour you could do for me, for us really..." Tabitha gave him the order they would like from the local Thai restaurant and hung up. "Food sorted now let's get down to business, who do we know, who is single and has a name starting with D," she grinned at her friends and pulled a notebook out of the small basket beside Kristy's phone and took a pen before sitting down on the couch.

By the time, Jumpy arrived with the food they had six names including the newly returned Daniel, David. S, Dave. B, Dylan, Duncan and Declan. The girls hailed Jumpy as a hero for feeding the starving masses as they grabbed out plates and invited him to stay for a little while and eat with them. He agreed with the proviso that the conversation would revolve around manly things as he could feel the testosterone leeching out of his body already. Tabitha went to hit him with the notepad she had been writing on, but he was too fast and grabbed it from her hand.

"What do we have here?" he raised an eyebrow at the women. "Hot men whose names begin with D and I don't even rate! I am wounded to the core," he shook his head at his sister.

"You, my muscle bound friend, come under cute hunky-dunky's with J names, show me your six pack and I could get you a five star rating," Kelly grinned at him flirting outrageously because it always made him blush.

"I'm not packing six of anything these days," he laughed, "To much easy living since I don't have to worry about being deployed again." He had been in the army for the last ten years and had returned from a tour in Afghanistan injured and was still receiving rehab for the wound to his leg. He worked now on the base in his hometown as a technician of some description. "I'll just take the four star rating you were going to give me anyway. He wrote his name on the list and drew four stars.

"Jumpy could you give me a hand for a minute?" Kristy asked interrupting the good-natured banter.

"Sure, what do you need?" He turned to look at her.

"Could you put this," she indicated the granite frieze sitting on its stand, "Up there?" She pointed to the top of a corner unit on her living room. "It's too beautiful to pack away but I don't want my parents looking at it too closely." She blushed.

"Whoa, that's a bit wild," he stood studying the figures for long moments before lifting it to where she indicated. "It's beautiful, huh?" he waggled his eyebrows at her, despite her blush Kristy rolled her eyes at him and laughed at his expression.

They ate and joked and laughed for some time until Jumpy finally stood, "Well thanks for the fun ladies, but I have a date," he went to leave stopping at the door, "Oh Tab, Greg asked if you were going to the pub tomorrow," he smirked.

"I haven't decided yet," she shrugged.

"I'll tell him it's a definite maybe then," he laughed as he left the apartment.

"We should totally go," Kelly said, "How many of these guys will be there? We could do a little undercover work," she tapped the notebook and grinned.

"And you could hit on Jumpy some more," Tab laughed. She knew that Kelly's sexual advances that bordered on aggressiveness were a turn off for her brother; he liked quieter more shy girls like Kristy. She frowned at the thought and looked down at the notepad he had written his own name on, 'Darren' with four stars. She shook her head dispelling the thought. Kristy was like a sister to her brother they had known each other that long. He couldn't be the secret admirer could he?

***** The next morning as usual Kristy went down to the garage to do her laundry. She had her own washer and dryer stacked beside the small laundry tub there but there really wasn't enough room to manoeuvre unless she backed her car up a little, so she opened the garage door and only noticing the small gift wrapped parcel when she turned back to her car.

"This was getting creepy," she thought. Whoever it was had been in her garage last night. She put on a load of washing making sure everything was where it should be and took the gift up to her apartment. Opening it, she found a glass sphere much like the one that held the glass bird. This one though held a carved sculpture of a muscled angel holding a blindfolded woman in his arms. She smiled seeing a card with cupid smiling cherubically on the front.

"February 8th Day 7 The Myth of Cupid and Psyche The story of Cupid is rooted in literature. The tales come from Greek mythology and involved Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and her son Eros. The Romans took over the stories and changed Eros to Cupid and Aphrodite to Venus. Anyway, Cupid was so handsome and charming that he could make anyone fall in love. He thought that was fun, so he went around shooting his arrows of love to cause mischief. He fell in love with the beautiful Psyche and consented to marry her as long as she never looked upon his godly form. While she was not happy she agreed, and she lived a rich wonderful life full of nights of pleasure in the darkness with her husband. As it usually happens with the jealous, mean spirited gods, they were pulled apart, and Psyche was forced to endure trials to prove her love, finally falling into the sleep of death within Hades. Zeus took pity of the girl and her husband and granted Psyche immortality so that she may look upon her husband's form without harm and, as they say, they lived happily ever after.

It wasn't until the Renaissance that Cupid was depicted with more childlike features; he then evolved into the mischievous baby with angel wings and a bow and arrow that we know today.