Romantic gift search yields new romance - a short flash fiction coffee break Internet Cafe story by Rob Hopcott

'Ideal romantic birthday gift for boyfriend' typed Samantha into the online search engine displayed on the public screen of the Lanzarote Internet cafe.

A quick scan of the suggested items had her wrinkling her pert nose and tossing her long fair hair with disgust. Nothing exciting, nothing interesting and nothing she wanted.

'Boyfriend birthday present' she entered, but again this yielded nothing useful.

'Perfect present lover' was no better.

'Ideal gift lover' left her fuming with impatience.

Why don't search engines ever give you the information you need, Samantha moaned to herself.

Her first holiday morning was fast ebbing away. It was a beautifully sunny day outside with a beach to die for and this Spanish Internet cafe was a lousy way to start her 'use it before you lose it' final two weeks holiday entitlement.

Samantha also doubted whether Nigel, her boyfriend back in England, would inconvenience himself to remember her birthday if the roles were reversed and this thought wasn't encouraging.

Come on Samantha, she told herself. Use your knowledge. You are an I.T. expert. Think like one. What exactly is the problem that you need to solve. Is it the perfect present or is it something else that's the problem.

It's these useless search engines, Samantha thought glumly. They are massively improved on previous years but they are still pretty unintelligent. They don't really understand ideal, perfect or any qualitative phrase or seem to have benchmarks that will enable them to do more than find something that has been described by somebody else as 'perfect' or 'ideal' and most of the time these people have an interest in stretching the truth.

What I need, she thought, is better search technology.

Samantha's clear blue eyes wandered from the screen in front of her and rested for a few moments on the fresh young face of a dark haired, brown eyed young man who had just seated himself behind the network administrators desk. He caught her eye and she looked past him to avoid giving him any encouragement to the new mobile cell phones displayed on the shelves against which he nonchalantly leaned.

Samantha tried to refocus her attention on the search screen and then pushed the keyboard away violently with annoyance as she realised her booked time was up.

The network administrator stopped Samantha on her way out of the Internet Cafe. She noticed he had the deepest brown eyes and beautiful black tousled hair.

"Search engine technology leaves a lot to be desired," he smiled, guessing accurately her problem. His voice was deep and mellow like chocolate.

"I hope you're not going to complain about me mis-treating the keyboard," snapped Samantha, "because I'm in a very bad mood and you wouldn't like to see me when I get really mad."

"I take it that you couldn't find what you are looking for." With a smile that lit his face up, he didn't seem at all worried about the keyboard.

"Half the morning wasted and still no gift for my boyfriend," admitted Samantha. "Search engines are just too frustrating for words.

"Try using this," said the young Spaniard holding out his cell phone.

"It's state of the art and has new search technology built in that doesn't rely on the main search engines. It uses artificial intelligence search algorithms and lots of clever new techniques to search the web and find what you really want. Here's the deal. If it doesn't, I'll refund your Internet Cafe fees for this morning. By the way, my name is Daniel."

He held out his other hand with a radiant smile.

Samantha shook his hand which was warm, soft and gentle and then took the mobile phone he was offering. It seemed very ergonomically designed and fitted her hand beautifully, rather like Daniel's she fleetingly thought.

When Samantha again tried the search phrases she had just used at the public terminal, she gazed with amazement at the results displayed. Without any doubt, she could see there were several that were very promising.

"That's incredible," she admitted and quickly socially bookmarked the gift sites for later reference. "I didn't realise that an improved mobile phone or better cellphone could give more perfect search engine results. This is a new concept and, I have to confess, one that seems ideal. Not only a mobile solution but also intelligent results."

"It's yours, " said Daniel with a smile, if you will go out with me tonight.

"I have a boyfriend already," said Samantha, wryly.

"But a better boyfriend is better, surely." Daniel's smile was easy, relaxed and confident.

Samantha lifted her long eyelashes from the cellphone and gazed into his eyes. They looked soft and gentle and very intelligent. Samantha knew she was a sucker for intelligent men.

A quick decision was needed but how to decide.

One last search, though Samantha, before I give the cellphone back to this attractive young man.

'Should I date him or not?' she entered into the search screen of the bright new mobile phone he had loaned her.

'If you don't, you'll never know what you might have missed,' the beautiful new cellphone startlingly replied.

Samantha lifted her crystal clear eyes to gaze steadily at the young man.

"OK," she said, "I give in. Perhaps my perfect new telephone can also find my perfect mate."

Daniel's hand closed over Samantha's hand and his arm looped around her waist as he led her into the bright sunshine outside.

"I own the shop," he said, "my assistant can take over. Let's start the date now."

As the hot sun fell on Samantha's face, she closed her eyes for a moment in bliss. Daniel's arm was now tighter around her waist and the day ahead was beginning to look very perfect. The sea was blue and her new Spanish companion looked very masterful and strong in all the right places.

Sun, sea, sand and a wonderful new cellphone with clever search technology. Who could ask for anything more, Samantha smiled to herself.

The End

Have you ever fumed at the poor results that search engines have given you in answer to straight forward questions? I'd love to know :-)

Bye for now

Rob
(Rob Hopcott - free online author)


Enjoyed this? You may also enjoy 'Always loving but never lovers', my short flash microfiction love story about unrequited love in Italy.

This romantic gift search flash fiction short story romance, set in a Spanish Internet cafe, is copyright Rob Hopcott 2008, all rights reserved. All characters and places in this Internet cafe romance and other free on-line humor, short stories, flash fictions, science fictions, micro-fictions, sudden fictions, post card fictions or very short stories on this site, are fictitious and no reference is intended to any person or organization, living or otherwise.