He couldn’t believe it!
He found it in the rubbish bin. She had never liked it, but trying to sneak it out by hiding it right down at the bottom of the bin without him knowing… The list of things that they didn’t see eye to eye about seemed to be growing longer. He remembered coming across it at a jumble sale, a real find. It was a dinkum cowboy hat, and not the sort you’d see every day. In fact, it was unique enough that the likelihood of ever seeing one like it was extremely remote. He had fallen in love with it the moment he picked it up.
Of course, this was a long time back, before he had moved in with her. No, before he had even met her. She said it made him look silly, but this wasn’t true. Somehow, he just knew that he was meant to wear it. It had become his signature. None of his friends had ever minded him wearing it. It was just him.
He took it indoors and brushed it off. He put it down in the middle of the kitchen table and sat staring at it. Maybe this was a good thing. A sign or an omen. As omens go, this one was pretty blatant! A strong signal telling him something about the future. So strong, it couldn’t be ignored. He rang home and made arrangements. His mum would have tea ready. She sounded delighted. He packed, loaded the boot and sent his girlfriend a text saying he would pick her up after work. He did this sometimes. She wouldn’t think it was strange at all. He usually sat in his car in the car park, waiting for her. Not this time. He would go in to the office where she worked, right past all of her colleagues, and collect her.
Of course, he’d be wearing his hat.