Brief Holiday Drabble (female)

[Chanel_no5]

Imagine, if you will, some year, ANY year, prior to this fucking shitshow of 2020, a year when catching a very common, regular cold around the winter holidays was pretty much standard and nothing to be overly concerned about.

Now, imagine a ceremonial holiday event outside, in the chilly weather. Imagine a handsome woman in some kind of power/leadership position - business owner? Politician? Organiser? Sponsor? You decide - waiting to give a brief speech in the spirit of the holidays, along with a few others. She has a nice, warm wool coat, a stylish knitted scarf, and elegant leather gloves on. Her nose is a deep rosy pink, and she's sniffling. Neither is because of the biting December chill, but because of her tickly head cold that's only just starting to be obvious to any onlooker, and not just to herself. She has tissues in the pocket of her coat, but she doesn't want to call attention to herself with something as undignified as a noseblow. So she keeps sniffling, as discreetly as possible, and in between she's breathing through her mouth to reduce the amount of cold air irritating her hot, sensitive nose. But there's a prickle starting to bloom deep within her left nostril, growing in intensity, and she presses a knuckle against the side of her nose, silently begging the slow-building sneeze to retreat. Instead, the urge grows stronger. She blinks as the burning sensation suddenly becomes so strong it makes her eyes water. She fights the sneeze every step of the way, but eventually she has to admit defeat, the tickle is too strong even for her willpower. She turns slightly away from the person she stands next to, cups her gloved hand over her mouth and nose, and stifles two quiet sneezes in rapid succession. She has just lowered her hand when the need to sneeze returns with a desperate urgency and she only barely has enough time to cover again, but not the presence of mind to be able to stifle. Instead, she ends up muffling a full, wet, spraying sneeze into the palm of her hand - or more accurately, into her leather glove. The person next to her quietly blesses her and she thanks him equally quietly, a bit annoyed at how much more obviously congested she sounds now. She lowers her hand and looks at the shiny leather sprinkled with glittering droplets of spray, sighs, and rather than go digging in her pockets for those tissues, she discreetly wipes it off on her coat. She only wants to get through the next twenty minutes with her dignity intact, and then she's going home, taking a hot bath, having a cup of hot tea, and then she's going to bed. The thought of pulling the warm, fluffy blankets tightly around her and drift off to sleep makes her smile. She still wears that smile when it's her turn to step up to the podium. 

Imagine that... if you will.  

Stay safe over the holidays, everyone. ❤️

[Jeff1]

Well written!

[Sneeze-aholic]

I loved the image that you painted in this, such a vivid scene. 

[Chanel_no5]

Thank you so much guys! It was fun flexing my creative muscles a little again.   I'm glad you liked it! 

 

[aggedy_ann]

Mmmm...delightful.   I want to start attending these types of events now...

[Chanel_no5]

Thank you! ❤️