Kat Out of the Bag Chapter Fourteen contd By Steve Rudd

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However, I wanted to solve the riddle - but just as my prevailing train of thought promised to lead somewhere altogether disturbingly interesting, who should saunter around the corner to rock my world by different means entirely? I stood dumbfounded, in much the same manner that most people do upon believing that they've seen an Angel. I really had, as there before me the Angel from Kathmandu started sprinting in my direction, with arms outstretched and a spirited yelp of recognition perilously piercing the air.

The distance that separated us meant that I couldn't tell if it was a smile or a grimace that anchored her face. Within seconds at least one thing was clear, and that was that trouble was brewing. She reassured me that she was happy to see me, over-the-moon-happy if truth be told, but irrational fear danced in her eyes as we hastily kissed and made up for all the time we'd been apart since we'd last seen each other in the city. Within hours of having first met Angel in Kathmandu I was besotted, and back then I'd pitched the idea of going trekking together.

I was in the country on my own as it was and I'd kill for some decent female company whilst trekking. I told her this, and tried my best to sell her my vision of bliss. She said she'd love to join me, but couldn't. There was no way. A group of her friends were touching down from England in a couple of days time and she couldn't very well head off with some random Yorkshire bloke without seeing them first.

My idea just wasn't viable and I didn't want to press the idea to such an extent that she felt I was forcing her into something she didn't really want to do. Anyway, friends come first. Strangers come later. Instead, we provisionally arranged a date for when I returned from my Langtang trek.

By swapping e-mail addresses there was no excuse for us to not get back in touch with each other, especially given how easy it is to find cheap internet access in Kathmandu. As things stood, she was supposed to be heading to Pokhara with her friends in order to tackle some of the Annapurna circuit, so I was looking forward to meeting back up with her like a kid anticipates Christmas - and the parents the New Year sales that follow; bursting with exhilarating stories to tell one another. You might understand my shock therefore when she fell into my arms with the unbridled and animalistic ferocity that she did.

Not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, seeing the mysterious state of shock that Angel appeared to be in, I logically enquired after her friends by default. Deep down, any friends of hers - I hoped - might become friends of mine. But as her lips trembled and tears welled, I realised that romantic notion was to never be the case. The snag was, every last one of them was dead...

© Steve Rudd 2005

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