A Curiously Big Day in the Life of David Smalls

David looked wearily up from his soapy mop to glance at the large white traditional clock hung on the warehouse wall.

'Half-past seven,' he thought as he continued mopping. He pictured his bed and the anticipated sweet relief of his head hitting his pillow to sleep after a long nightshift. David had been working at the warehouse for nearly seven years. He found his job to be monotonous and repetitive, but it paid his bills. David had few friends of mention and no living relatives. His parents, who had lived about a kilometer away, had both passed away last year, his mother in June and his father in October. David was still in the process of dealing with their estate. David had already assessed that he would be lucky to see $20,000 after everything was said and done, to which he felt indifferent. His mother and father were not rich and had lived on a fixed, modest income. The grief of losing his parents was something David was no yet ready to face. He had bottled those emotions up and effectively buried them deep down to perhaps be dug up and examined at a later date. At almost 50 years old and after spending his entire life in a small town without any real job or relationship prospects, David considered himself relatively fortunate to have his health and the few friends he did. Depression had never been a concern of David's when his parents were alive. Lately, he felt a slight malaise—a sense of boredom that he had never really felt before.

Lost in thought, David was startled by the pitchy beeping of his watch alarm, alerting him that it was now 8'o clock, and he was finished work.

As David rounded the corner on his bike, he could see his neighbour, Mrs. Bradley, outside pruning.

"Good morning, Mrs. Bradley," David said with a quick wave as he passed her.

"Oh, David!" she said as she glanced up from her perfectly manicured bush of porcelain pink roses. "Someone stopped by to see you about an hour ago, and I told them you weren't home."

'Curious,' David thought to himself. David rarely had guests over. When he met with a friend, he would always meet them at a pub or local restaurant for drinks or a pool game.

"She said that she needed to speak with you," Mrs. Bradley added.

"Did she mention who she was or what she was looking for?" David asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"No, she didn't, and she seemed a bit... well, eccentric. She was off in a hurry before I could get any more information from her. She left so fast she forgot her planner on top of her car." Mrs. Bradley turned around and grabbed a black notebook.

"Thank you, Mrs. Bradley." "I'll take a look at this after I get some sleep."

David sighed as he plopped all his weight down on the couch. After work, he would typically make himself a bowl of cereal and fall asleep after watching an hour or so of mindless mid-morning television. Today, however, David just sat down with the black book in his hand. He opened it slowly and scanned the first pages for a name or an address. 'Elizabeth N.' was written on the second page with no other personal information. David flipped to the current date and saw that whoever Elizabeth was had a full day scheduled. Her first appointment was beginning and appeared to be a breakfast date at a local restaurant. His mind started to race as to why she had stopped by to see him in the first place. He wondered if she was here on official business or for a personal reason. He considered what Mrs. Bradley had meant when she said 'eccentric,' and he began to regret not asking her. David quickly changed and showered before dialing a cab and heading to the restaurant to find the mysterious woman named Elizabeth.

David felt awkward standing at the front desk by himself, looking around the restaurant for a woman he didn't know.

"For how many, sir?" the waitress said as she approached from behind the desk.

"Actually, I am looking for a woman named Elizabeth. I have her notebook, and she is supposed to be here for a breakfast meeting that started less than an hour ago," David said with uncertainty.

The waitress flipped through her reservation book and shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir. I don't have any reservations for Elizabeth, but you are free to look around."

Feeling slightly embarrassed and somewhat out of place, David sat down at a table by himself. He began listening to the buzz of the conversations around him. He could hear the family next to him ordering another round of mimosas to celebrate their daughter's 21st birthday. "Happy Birthday, Alycia!" the father exclaimed as they clinked their glasses together.

David glanced down at the menu as his phone lit up next to him. It was a text from an unknown number.

'Hello, David,' it read.

He paused and replied, 'I'm sorry, I don't know who this is,' both nervous and hopeful it was Elizabeth.

'It's me, David, Elizabeth. I need to speak with you. I know you came to the restaurant to find me. Please call me after you eat. -Liz.'

Starving, he thought to himself, 'why not?' David ordered and devoured an extra tall stack of blueberry flecked pancakes with his two large cups of coffee.

Satisfied, he stood up and walked over to the front counter with his bill. The waitress told him the lady outside had already paid for his breakfast. She pointed out the window to a woman standing in a group across the parking lot wearing a wide-brimmed purple hat and long brown coat. The woman at that moment glanced towards David and waved as she got into a dark SUV and left.

David ran outside, flailing his arms over his head as the vehicle sped off. He quickly pulled out his phone and attempted to call Elizabeth.

'Hi, it's Liz; leave me a message.'

Feeling exasperated, David was at a loss. He walked across the parking lot and sat down on a cement barricade. David could feel Elizabeth's notebook in his back pocket, again taking it out to examine it. He admired her perfect handwriting. It looked effortless as her l's and o's delicately looped in ideal symmetry. It reminded him of his mother's writing.

His phone beeped again. 'I can't answer now, David, but I left my vehicle unlocked in the parking lot. Can you meet me at the airport?' the text message read.

At this point, David was overwhelmed with suspicion. 'Is she trying to use me as a drug mule?' he wondered. 'How does she know my name, where I live and my phone number?' 'Should I go to the police?' All these questions flooded his mind as he stood up and began pacing around the parking lot.

"Sir" a voice behind him said.

He frantically turned around to see the waitress from inside the restaurant.

"You must have forgotten these at your table," she said as she handed David a small ring of keys.

"Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Smalls" she winked and shot him a knowing glance before heading back inside.

"Do you know who that woman is?" he managed to get out before she was too far out of earshot.

"I honestly don't know. But we all love it when she stops in," the waitress replied playfully, barely glancing back.

David suddenly noticed Elizabeth's new silver Mercedes Benz at the end of the parking lot. David hadn't seen it parked there when he arrived and was sure he would have noticed it amongst the sea of weather-beaten local cars.

A sharp rush of adrenaline crashed through his system. David knew he had to find Elizabeth. With a newfound sense of courage, he got into the car, threw it in first gear and peeled onto the highway. He could feel his thoughts dissipating as he accelerated, passing through the last intersection in town.

'I can be there in twenty minutes in this car, I'm sure.'

He could feel a sense of urgency as he ran into the airport searching for Elizabeth. The rational part of his brain knew she wouldn't be there, but he was hopeful in his pursuit.

"Mr. David Smalls" he heard a female voice boom over the airport loudspeakers. "Mr. David Smalls, please report to airport security immediately."

A flurry of emotions began bubbling up inside of David. One of his favourite sayings, 'curiosity killed the cat,' rang in his mind as he considered leaving the airport and jumping in the first cab home.

'No,' he thought, 'not today.' Not until I know what's going on.' David approached the security desk and introduced himself to the woman who had been speaking over the loudspeaker.

"We need you through security and out on the tarmac right now," the woman said. "I know first-class passengers often show up late, but you are certainly cutting it short today," she said with a tempered look of mild contempt.

At that moment, David knew he had a big decision to make. Retreat to his stagnant everyday routine, or take a chance on an absolute stranger and continue on this whirlwind adventure to finally meet Elizabeth.

'Satisfaction brought him back,' David affirmed to himself as he nodded at the annoyed airport security worker who quickly ushered him towards his terminal.

It wasn't until David was suspended at 33,000 feet that the full brevity of the situation dawned on him. Not only was this his first time flying, but he was also on a one-way trip across the Atlantic without so much as a clean pair of underwear. The extravagance of the first-class flight, the gourmet meals, the complimentary glasses of fine scotch and overly attentive flight attendants, however, helped ease his anxieties.

David's nerves started to get the better of him once again as he sat restlessly in the back of a black cab, now in London on his way to meet Elizabeth. He smoothed her black notebook between both of his hands as he repeated her house number in his mind.

Without a doubt, David knew he had arrived as the driver pulled up to a quaint brick house, the hues of the bricks varying in autumnal brown and russet tones. A garden wall stood in front of the home with sweet-peas and a bursting array of bright and delicately fragranced flowers. The rounded purple-painted door beckoned to him as he bounded up the garden steps. He used one of the keys on his keychain to enter as instructed by Elizabeth's cryptic texts.

True to form, Elizabeth wasn't at home. He began exploring her vast rooms of antique furniture and eclectic decor. There was one more key on the keychain that Elizabeth requested him to use. David pushed through old clothes in a closet looking for the old safe. He anxiously fumbled the key into the lock and turned the handle to find several hundred thousand dollars, stacks of precious metals, jewelry and finally, a letter addressed to him. Tears welled up in David's eyes as he read his mother's words to him about Elizabeth. Words that explained a difficult decision to put their firstborn child up for adoption.

In a single day, David had proven to himself that his life was not finite, and while stagnation creeps into all of our lives from time to time for different reasons, there ever remains room for expansion in big ways and small. David tipped his hat to himself in the mirror as he admired the look of his crisp new dress suit. He smiled as he locked the door to his new house and hailed a taxi for brunch with his sister.