Tender Documents

Ruth Graham

I came across a file at work marked 'Tender Documents' and longed to fill it with real tender documents - hand-written of course - on warm creamy vellum - swollen with feeling and moistened with a kiss.

The tender emotions in these documents would nestle subversively inside their plain manila folders - the perfect antidote to cost benefit analysis or paper profits - page after page of quiet illogical secrets full of deep, dark human things with heady nuances of sweat and tenderly expressed nostalgia.

Files marked 'PFI' and 'Articles of Association' winced at the proximity of potential chaos. For all they knew, the next step could be breastfeeding at Town Planning Committee meetings or sexy architects with dyed hair and bright emotional ties. There was poetry in the margins of the spreadsheets alright ….

Tender Documents - File reference COC/P9 - contents - tender bids from contractors etc.