Daily Dreaming

The pub was bustling with people, all in their finest suits and dresses. We were celebrating a family friend’s wedding and having some drinks in a local before the main ceremony. I recognised quite a few faces around me, including my mum and dad, my godfather, and a number of other regulars from the rugby club that my parents frequent. The atmosphere was rowdy, as drinks and banter were dispensed in equal measures.

While we were waiting for the happy couple to arrive an entertainer had been hired, and he was setting up his activity for the afternoon. He had a number of large cylindrical containers, each housing columns of jelly beans with mystery flavours. Each container was placed on a different table, and we were all sorted into small groups of three or four people. I ended up with a tall, handsome looking man and a young girl, neither of whom I knew, but we exchanged pleasantries whilst the activity was set up.

Once he had sorted everyone into their groups, the man announced that the aim of the exercise was to taste each jelly bean and write down what we thought the flavours for each colour were. The quickest team to guess every flavour would win a prize. It was certainly an odd choice of wedding entertainment, but I’m a big fan of jelly beans so I wasn’t about to complain.

There were about twelve flavours, with about 10 of each bean to try. Our team decided to split the cylinder equally, dispensing the four flavours closest to us to try and cut down on time. I went for a red one first and popped it into my mouth. It only took a few moments for me to recognise the taste, as it was a variety of sweet that I particularly disliked. I wrote ‘Apple’ down on my paper next to the corresponding colour and moved on.

I was pretty quick in guessing the next two – candy floss and cinnamon. The last one proved a challenge though. It tasted strange, unlike any flavour I’d had before, and I passed one to my two team mates to get their opinion. Neither of them could pin point what it was either, and we started to throw out random ideas to see if any of them stuck. Vanilla, Custard, Toffee… none of these quite hit the nail on the head.

The entertainer announced that we were down to one minute left and nobody had guessed everything yet. If nobody got them all, then the prize would go to the team with the most correct answers instead. I decided to write banoffee pie as a complete shot in the dark and handed in our form. To my amazement, he looked at me with a smile and congratulated me. We’d won the contest. Our prize was nothing special, just a few bags of sweets, but it had been a fun little game to pass the time.

We had finished right on cue. Everyone else started getting up and moving to a door heading to a flight of stairs that descended into a garden outside. There was a large area set up to host the ceremony in the back of the pub, and everyone was eager for the main event. I took my seat and waited, as the scene slowly drifted away.

—

Now I was in a small corner shop, wearing a uniform and stacking some shelves. It was very quiet, and outside the night was passing slowly by. There were only two aisles leading from the main door, with a checkout to the left of the entrance and one central shelf in the middle. Two of my friends were also working here with me, and we were all fairly miserable at having to spend our evening restocking tins of food.

I decided to have a look outside, and exited the store onto a pavement. We were at the bottom of a slowly sloping street that curved gradually to the right as it went up. There were commercial buildings on either side of the road, all about three storeys high, but most of the shops on the ground were closed for the evening. I spent a few moments searching for anything of interest, and then noticed that there was a growing noise in the distance.

At the top of the hill a crowd of people began to emerge into view. I realised that there had been a rugby match on and it had likely ended, so the spectators were now on their way home. Our little shop was the only place for them to get any late night refreshment, so I knew we were likely in for a busy hour. Heading inside I warned both of my friends and then began stocking canned drinks into the chilled section of the right aisle.

Before long the sound of the approaching masses was intense, and the door to the shop swung open to reveal a steady stream of customers. The aisles were so small that I could barely move for the amount of people inside, and soon the stacked shelves had been emptied. There were so many people that we had to start taking requests, going into the back and handing them what they wanted.

At one point I noticed that my cousins were present, and they started laughing at me when they realised how overwhelmed I was getting. In a joking manner I told them to leave if they were just going to get in the way, but they instead asked if I could get them each a drink for the road. I popped into the back and brought out two energy drinks for them. Thanking me, both of them paid and left with a wave. They had been towards the back of the queue, and now the rush began to slow down until finally the last customer left with a sandwich and drink in hand.

The shop looked as though it had been cleaned out completely. My friends and I were knackered, and all we could do was laugh at the insanity of the shift we’d just completed.