Girl Power

ISBN: 978-1-84747-980-8
Published: 2009
Pages: 46
Key Themes: diary, hemiplegia, love, relationships

Description

‘Girl Power’ by Lee Seymour is the follow up to 2008`s debut “Hemiplegic Utopia.” This is no sordid, kiss and tell collection, not by any means, nor a fight for female rights, but a very short, honest diary with a slight twist, recording a young man`s quest in wanting to give one`s heart away to somebody who`ll accept him with all his traits, both good and bad, physical or otherwise.

Afterall beauty is only skin deep.

About the Author

Lee Seymour, born in Manchester on the 21st of April 1980, was diagnosed with Hemiplegia around eight months old, a case of minor left sided cerebral palsy, whose symptoms are often likened to someone having had a stroke. Knowing the dream to play professional football for Aberdeen could never be realised Lee quickly decided at an early age to turn his hand towards writing about the beautiful game not to mention his difficult childhood, in the hope it might give him the same satisfaction as fulfilling a career in soccer, and now has over 250 freelance junior/senior match reports printed by five different newspapers.

He lives in The Scottish Borders and has two younger brothers Paul 25 and Craig 18.

Book Extract

I’m not the first man nor will I be the last to fall for the charms of a femme fatale. The cliché ‘She’ll eat you for breakfast!’ is one of my favourite, because you do want them to eat you for breakfast. I can’t think of many better ways to go than making love to a beautiful woman. I know that from looking at me it’s hard to believe that a model nearly ruined my life – though I grew up and turned the whole experience into a positive.

Cutting a long story short I fell – hook, line and sinker – for this blonde bombshell at my local. Within days of meeting, the world in which I lived had been shattered. Not only was she too good to be true, but also any lingering hopes she had of having my friendship were rather slim after her ultimate betrayal. I’d given her one of my prized possessions as a gift, and she had gone and tried to get rid of it over the bar – through whatever means possible. To say I was gutted is putting it mildly. In a card I sent with my Aberdeen scarf I referred to her as ‘My angel sent from heaven.’ How cheesy, though relevant, nonetheless. No other before this phenomenon had ever paid me so much attention. Nicking the chips off my plate, whilst I was trying to watch the football, is my most lucid exposé. God, after getting that intangible mobile number you’d think I’d hit the jackpot. It’s like when your elders say, ‘Don’t go looking for love, it’ll find you. Has a habit of biting you on the buttocks when you least expect it.’

I wasn’t anticipating any major disasters so early. Okay, we’d never actually gone out on a date. An invitation from me of good food, fine wine and excellent company had neither been refused nor accepted. However, you don’t expect someone you’ve only just met to plunge a knife through your heart so viciously, or if they’re that gorgeous and you’re that ugly, maybe you do. As it was, I avoided the awkwardness whenever she was working, by boycotting the pub I’d been drinking in for over five years. If she wanted to continue making a fool of me, I certainly wasn’t giving her the ammunition. I find it very hard to rise above the silly antics of those who live within my town. I’m a very emotionally charged man, and I hated not being able to deal with the situation straight away. Let me tell you, those were dark days. The whole thing almost threw me over the edge for the one and only time. It was that big a catalyst.

After a few weeks of mother baying for the blood of a woman she’d never laid eyes on, I’d eventually pluck up the courage to come out all guns blazing. According to her, I was making a drama out of nothing. Now that statement – where we are in the present day compared to where we were back then – seems awfully ironic. I’m seven years her senior, though the age difference has never been an issue for me. Maybe she just didn’t know any better. I know when I was seventeen that I didn’t know how to tactfully tell a woman to sod off. I suppose it comes with age – the capacity of seeing how the land lies, while reacting to certain situations differently each time. What works with one person may not necessarily work with the next. I’m not even saying she’s stupid because she’s not. I know for a fact she’ll achieve anything she wants to, if she would only put her mind to it. That’s why her initial response was so confusing. From my own understanding of her, there should be no reason for her actions. I could have a perfectly adult conversation with the lass without fear of there being an uncomfortable silence.

They reckon that a sign of a strong relationship is being able to sit in a mate’s company and not feel the need to utter a word. Yes, the range of our one-to-ones can be pretty mundane, though it’s not for the lack of trying on my part. I still intend to take her to an Aberdeen game that I promised on the first night I met her. I’m a lad whose pledges can be relied upon. The sixty-four million dollar question that needs answering is can a man and woman just be friends? In all honesty, no matter what length of time I’ve known a woman, I’ve always found myself pondering whether they’re ‘the one’. Am I reading far too much into things that aren’t there? Probably.

Answer me this… Is ‘yours truly’ not worthy of someone who has both IQ and good looks? Somebody that’ll love me for who I am, regardless of my physical state, but more importantly a soul mate who’ll help me to succeed in every path I choose to follow. I’m beginning to wonder whether a higher power has it in for me. Yes, I’ve got bags of time. Or do I? What if this person doesn’t enter my chart until the most influential lady in life to date has departed for the other side? It’s all very well for you saying ‘so be it’, but you don’t know my mother like I do, because she’ll probably live til a hundred and forty-two! Even if a partner were to walk into the Seymour sphere, no woman would have the desired criteria for my mum, when it comes to taking on what is a mammoth challenge in everything this monster has to offer.