If you have ever met somebody whom you might trust for discretion, and be sure she would keep any secret, my old companion Yolanda is the one. Yolanda and I have known each other for fifteen years now. I have lived in Britain for five years now; while she doesn't want to leave Poland next door in the town of my youth. We do not spend time in each other's company at weekends any more, but talk on the phone or send messages to each other several times a week. In August I am coming to pay a visit to my close friend who has evaded showing me her photo since 2004. I have missed Yolanda as she is so vital to me for her loveliness, her bighearted personality, her hilarity and her intelligence.
As soon as arrive, I imagine meeting Yolanda, a flaxen haired woman with intense mascara and excellent lashes. She has green eyes, a dark skin texture and grins in that particular, ironic way. Though we have lived far away from each other for several years, I keep in mind her look very exactly. I used to criticize her pretentious mascara very often, as she needs no eye makeup, even the slightest. As a rule she wears close fitting jeans and trainers and it makes her look younger than 35. She brings to my mind a notion that she is a cheerful little squirrel jumping and rushing about. She just loves dragging a tiny backpack with her, full of holiday brochures, lottery coupons and aerobic clothes. All the same, she has that crazy makeup even on her way to the leisure centre. It has nothing to do with her tracksuit and shoes, but she likes it that way. One remembers not so much her appearance but rather a general impression. And Yolanda likes impressing people, especially students, who experience inferiority complex looking at her fitness and energy.
Yolanda is a positive individuality generally liked for her helpful nature, offering positive guidance and always ready to help r everybody. Yolanda is a sociable, cordial woman that is very considerate, yet objective. She is a sensible shopper and her advice is reliable.
As a typical blonde girl, Yolanda is used to be extremely careless as a student. She never revised for the exams and always forgot to pay her bills. It is easy to guess that she never paid her bus fares, either. She used to be quite reckless when it came to taking up some serious duties and usually I had to do everything myself if we started the work together. She used to do half the work and leave earlier while I stayed overtime and always took it for granted when she explained the manager that I would be better because of my intelligence and appearance. In the long run, it proved useful for my present job at a promotion department, so all in all she helped me.
When she was still at school, she was too lazy to make a crib for the class test. She always borrowed mine and forgot to give it back to me, and when the test started, it was too late, so I never had one. Maybe that helped me again, as I have completed my MBA post-graduate course lately, and I was supposed to write all the tests without a crib.
As a student she never took her keys when she went out, so I had to get up at night to open the door when she came back. It happened quite often, but this was the only unusual thing she did, and I was happy when she was out as I had the whole room for myself.
Yolanda's life in Poland is rather hard, as her ex-boyfriend went to work abroad twelve years ago and never came back. She never wanted to emigrate and as an aerobic trainer she earns enough to pay her bills. She helps her mother who lives two streets away with her stepsister who is still a student. Yolanda was ten years when her father died. Her mother remarried, but her second husband was killed in a car crash. Nevertheless, she is an optimist and expects Yolanda to be one, too. The stepsister is a pessimist, though, and Yolanda does her best to stop her from falling into depression. It is not easy, as prospects are grim for university graduates in Poland and the little sister is going to emigrate as soon as she gets her diploma.
There is one thing that I am never going to tell Yolanda. Ten years ago I met an intelligent young man, Alex, who came to work in England and started a promotion company that proved quite successful. I married him, but there was one mysterious thing about his past, as he had never mentioned the name of his girlfriend whom he left in Poland. As a gentleman, he is perfectly right not to comment upon his former acquaintances, but I suppose that it was a positive coincidence that Yolanda split up with him… Nevertheless, as she is my best friend, I cannot wait to see her.
