Average
that's what she was, had always been. The average kid who was average
at school. The average teenager, possibly a touch more responsible
than her peers, but who still experimented with the latest fashion
and make-up, and along with it nightclubs and alcohol. As an average
young adult, she'd kept some of those habits up whilst holding down
an average administrative job. She'd followed the set rules of
home-commute-work-commute-home, as other averages had done before
her, and like them saved her salary for her 'BIG NIGHTS OUT'. A
Saturday, once a month with the girls. She became a member of a gym
and added it to her schedule as if she were revising for an exam. It
could not be put off, it had to be done. Every single day. Averagely,
although she would strive for sweaty perfection. Pound away stress on
the treadmill or cross-trainer; immerse herself in dance classes,
forget about those around her and perform.
A
baptism of rhythm and music.
A
hamster exercising in a wheel, in a cage.
Too
average to stand out from the crowd, as she didn't have a lot to say
nor did she ever think to push herself forwards. She was just getting
on with the average status quo. No burning ambition, no drive. A
pastel shade of wallpaper that you might find in any average home.
Magnolia. A pale English rose. With average looks and the average
height for a woman. An average build. Typically blue eyed, but not
typically blonde.
As you
get older, the more average you become.
And so
it was with her.
In her
mid-30s the average looks were faded, nature gradually stripping them
away, but by this point she had stopped being merely average. She
owned an average apartment, but paid below-average bills, and had
opted out of the average marriage with the average kids. She refused
to be Mrs Average, preferring to remain little Miss.
She now
avoided the gym, but still did the average daily fitness – a
combination of average yoga with average pilates - with lots of
walking thrown in as she refused to learn to drive the average car.
Her average feet, she claimed, were made for walking! Her weekends
were full of the average domestic chores: food shopping, laundry and
cleaning; the evenings saved for the average television viewing in
the ratings war. Her social life was about average for her age, far
less boisterous than it had been in her youthful days, and the venues
had changed to cafés, restaurants and cultural settings.
Average
she was still in appearance, but not in her attitude to paid work.
She passed up opportunities that failed to meet her exacting
requirements, that didn't give her essential 'ME' time. Time to
volunteer, to read, to write, to learn, to create, to reflect. Some
might complain she was inflexible, but the balance for her had to be
just right. Rigor mortis in regards to compromising on this had
already set in, which meant her mind was years ahead of her average
peers and older generations.
But
despite this growing intolerance for the hustle and bustle of life,
she's still your average person: nice. Although there are days when
little Miss Average has a little more bite.
A
hamster freed from its cage to trundle around in a clear, minuscule
plastic ball.