Glimpse

by Stephen B King

  It may have been seconds or minutes, but eventually the pounding in my ears slowed, and I inched along the wall and peered around the doorframe. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dim light inside, but slowly the shadows cleared, and I noticed shapes. On the back wall, I could see the long white outline of the commercial grade chest freezer, and there kneeling in front of it was my father.

  Now, when I say kneeling in front of it, it was more like he was on his knees, but with his arms and head over the edge, like he was peering into a wishing well.

  “Dad,” I whispered urgently, “are you okay?”

  There was no reply.

  “Dad!”

  Silence was the only answer. Slowly, I crept inside. At all times, I was fearful, that he would suddenly sit up, yell at me for being in the shed, and give me a beating for disobeying his most basic rule. But, something didn’t look right, and I had called out before I entered, so surely he would forgive me, right? Wrong. I knew that he wouldn’t.

  I’m not sure what I noticed first because looking back it’s hazy. Was it the blood from my father’s slashed wrists and throat, or the frozen body lying in the freezer looking up at me. Face forever locked in an icy scream, squashed into the confined space, lay a woman. As I stood there, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, one thought worked its way through my foggy brain. The dead body wore the red shirt I had last seen my mother wearing, when she had gone shopping, and vanished. Right then, that was when I saw it all.

  My father had murdered my mother and kept her in the freezer, while slowly, every day, he went more, and more, insane. I realized something else too. I would have been a constant reminder to him of her, and what he had done. I understood then, that was why he beat me so often and hard. It was my fault she had run away. If I hadn’t been such a bad child, she would have stayed, and Dad would have loved me. I’d not only made her run away, but eventually, caused my father to kill himself. The guilt descended around me like a cloak.

  Chapter 5: Into the Noughties

  While January the first, 2000, and the supposed end of the civilized world, loomed ever closer. The media in all forms seemed to take great delight of telling lurid stories of doom and gloom, and a large percentage of the populace, like Juliet McCoy, believed them. For those who thought it nonsense, life went on as normal. They wore an incredulous grin at the gullibility of people who worried that a state of anarchy would follow the destruction of the technology we had come to rely on.

  Rick and partner Tyler had been working long fruitless hours, trying to find a breakthrough in the ‘body in the suitcase’ murder, without success. Hundreds of witness statements had been taken, every possibility had been looked at under a microscope, and they had nothing to show for it.

  Meanwhile, Rick and Juliet had spent some, at first, uneasy weeks living together again, trying to find their way back as a being a loving couple. Rick spent his time teaching himself to be a better husband, and Juliet, tried to learn to trust him, not to stray again.

  At 5.37 on Christmas morning, they were woken by a very excited Amy, jumping onto their bed. “Merry Christmas,” she screamed. Her face was a picture of wonder, and boundless enthusiasm.

  Rick reached for her and dragged her, kicking and giggling into bed to lay between them. “Merry Christmas to you too, Pumpkin. What do you think, do you think Santa has brought you something?”

  She nodded in somber response. “I’ve been jolly good, you know, so I deserve lots of presents.”

  He looked up at Juliet. She was smiling, and he thought she too remembered the night before, when they shared a bottle of wine while wrapping Amy’s gifts. They ended it making love in front of the brightly decorated tree adorned with flashing colored lights.

  “Well, Munchkin, maybe it’s still too early for getting up, maybe Santa hasn’t been yet. How about we go back to sleep for a while, just in case?” He snuggled her against him, and just for a moment, she seemed to consider his suggestion.

  “Daddy!” she whispered. “How about I creep like a little mouse and go and see if he’s been. I left him cookies and a glass of milk cos I knew he would be hungry, so he won’t be mad at me if I meet him.”

  “Good idea, Baby, you do that, but be very careful he doesn’t hear you if he is still unloading the sled,” Juliet suggested, as she stroked her daughter’s long hair, which had been mussed up through sleeping. She had drunk the milk, and they had a cookie each after their lovemaking, just before midnight.

  Rick sat up, picked her up under her arms, and twirled her through the air to put her softly on the floor by his side of the bed. He put a finger over his lips and whispered: “Shush.”

  She nodded earnestly, her big brown eyes wide as she turned and crept to the open door. Juliet sat up and cuddled into Rick’s back wrapping her arms around him to watch her. “I love you,” she said softly. He slid his hand behind, to find her thigh and squeezed it through her night dress in response.

  Amy rested one hand on the wall, then leaned around the edge to see if the coast was clear down the passage. Rick’s heart swelled with love for his daughter, and her gentle soul, as she turned back to her parents and nodded it was safe. In an instant, she had disappeared on her way to the lounge room on her voyage of discovery.

  Rick only ever slept in shorts so he grabbed his T-shirt and hurriedly put it on, knowing they had only seconds remaining. Juliet swept the bed covers aside and swung her legs over the edge to slip her feet into her slippers. As if choreographed they got out of bed at the same time, just as Amy’s excited squeal echoed to them: “Mummy, Daddy, come quick and see what Santa has brung me.”

  At seven a.m. Rick stepped over the mountain of discarded wrapping paper, announcing he was just going to pop next door and wish their elderly neighbors Will and Edna, a Merry Christmas. They were holding something rather special for Amy, and he had arranged he wouldn’t pick it up before seven, so as not to wake them too early.

  “Say hi to them from me,” Juliet said with a wink.

  “Don’t be long, Daddy, I’d like you to help me pick out clothes for Molly to wear for Christmas lunch at Nanny’s,” Amy added.

  She put down a large jigsaw puzzle she had been studying to pick up the teddy bear which had slipped off her lap. Molly was the name she had given to the blonde haired, blue eyed, near life size doll she had received as a Christmas present.

  “I won’t be, baby,” he replied, with a grin to Juliet.

  Five minutes later, he returned carrying a box with an oversized red ribbon on the lid. “Look what I found on the doorstep, Amy. Santa must have left it there by accident, but I know it’s yours because it has your name on the tag.”

  She looked up sharply and did a double take when she saw the size of the box. With an incredulous look on her beautiful face, she whispered: “Is that for me?”

  Rick nodded, and squatted down, gently putting the box on the floor. He looked up to see Juliet wiping a tear from her eye as she watched Amy leap to her feet and run to the doorway. “Let me take the lid off for you baby, this is a special present, from Mummy and Daddy, are you ready?”

  She nodded, and clasped her hands together, as if in prayer.

  “One, two, three.” He took off the lid, and Amy screamed with joy at the sight of the fluffy brown and white, crossed Pomeranian, puppy that jumped up, wagging his tail. He put his front paws on the rim of the box yapping at his first sight of Amy.

  Bedlam ensued. It was love at first sight between Amy, and as he was set to be called, Minty. Though Rick never discovered why or how she came up with that name for him, they were inseparable. He laughed when the puppy peed on the carpet half an hour later, and Amy, ensuring Minty didn’t get a telling off, said quite calmly: “It’s because he’s just a puppy, you know.”

  Later, Juliet and Rick sat on the garden steps just before they were due to go to her parents for lunch, her arm through his, watching Amy giggling while laying on her back while Minty licked her face. “You know so
mething, big guy?” she asked, squeezing his arm.

  “What’s that, Jules?”

  “I never thought I would say something like this, but I think Angie was the best thing that ever happened to us. You’ve been amazing since you moved back in, and I’ve never felt happier.”

  He turned to look at the sincerity she displayed on her smiling face. He had stopped smoking, cut his drinking habits dramatically, never went to the pub after work anymore, and talked with her about his day over dinner each night. He too had to admit, life was far better than he could ever remember it being before the break up. He also felt better about himself. He had taken up rising early and going for a jog around the park where he used to sit in his car, and watch Amy play from afar. He had dropped a few pounds, increased his fitness, and felt his life was complete, again. “I love you too, Jules. That man is gone now, the old me, and he’s never coming back. I guess it’s true what they say: ‘you never know what you have, till it’s gone.’ Thank you for taking me back and giving me another chance.”

  They kissed, long and lovingly, while their giggling girl and her new puppy played on the grass. Life was good.

  ****

  Rick had taken the week between Christmas and New Year off work, to spend with Juliet and Amy. He had done it not only because of wanting to be as a family at such a time, but also because, despite her brave face, he knew Juliet still worried about the Y2K bug. The closer it came, the more she seemed panic struck. She inexplicably feared the life of happiness she had found with Rick again, could all come crashing down if all the computers in the world stopped working. Worse, for her, was her irrational fear for Amy, that if disaster struck, her daughter would suffer.

  Often, she admitted to Rick it was madness, and she knew she was being silly, but she worried none the less and was powerless to stop it. Then her nightmares started. She dreamt of lawless streets, of gang of hoodlums raping and taking whatever, they wanted, the police and armies long since disbanded. The dreams broke her sleep and left her crying and sweating, while Rick did his best to comfort her. It was irrational, she told Rick often she knew that, but would then add, “But what if it does happen?”

  He had offered for the three of them to go away for a few days and get out of the city. But, such was her fear, she worried if they did go, would their car work after midnight on the 31st, and not let them get home again. Surely, she argued, there were micro-chip computers in motor cars these days?

  The old Rick would have lost his temper, but the new and improved version was kind and considerate. He understood her fear was almost phobia like in proportion, and while she refused to seek counselling, she appreciated the time he took from work to be with her. But, the time ticked away like a deadly countdown, and the closer New Year’s Eve got, the worse it was for her.

  Rick never lost sight of the fact that were it not for Y2K bug, she may never have let him back into her world, so ironically was grateful. With his new-found lease on life, and love for Juliet, he was determined to be her rock in her time of need.

  Minty bonded completely with Amy, and they were inseparable. He slept by the side of her bed, content to sleep only when she did. She fed him, gave him treats when he deserved them, which for her was continuously, and insisted on walking him with her parents in the park. She did draw the line at cleaning up after him when he had his inevitable accidents, but she was quick to remind Juliet or Rick whenever he left a little present for them: “He’s still just a puppy, you know.” Each time she said it, they couldn’t help but smile at the obvious love she had for her dog.

  Rick was very worried when on the night of the 30th, Juliet was incapable of sleeping. She tried, but her tossing and turning kept Rick awake, until he got up and made them both a cup of tea. That was around two a.m., and he could see she was bordering on a state of hysteria; her fear threatening to take over completely. During the day, with things to do and occupy her mind, she had been good, with only long periods of silence when she would stare into space. That night, her imagination was running riot, and for her sanity, he knew he had to do something.

  They sat, with the backs against the bed head, sipping tea, with a plate of biscuits between them that he had found in the pantry. They listened to the silence of the house, while Rick decided what he could do to help.

  “What about Amy, how will she cope if everything turns bad tomorrow? It’s so unfair,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Jules, did I ever tell you about Peter McGrigor?” Rick asked quietly, as he took a bite from a jam coated shortbread.

  Since moving back home, each night he had taken great pains to share with Juliet what had transpired at work during the day. Unfortunately, with the body in the suitcase investigation, there wasn’t a lot to tell, but she listened with rapt attention anyway.

  “No, who is he?” Her voice brittle. She is barely holding on, Rick realized.

  “Well, he murdered his wife, but he did it in a very clever way. He almost got away with it, and two million dollars in insurance money.”

  She looked up, their gaze locked, and Rick knew this was the best way to help get her mind off the end of the world which she imagined was coming. “How did he almost get away with it?”

  “Well, he killed two other women first. He found two who resembled her, to make it look like she was a victim of a serial killer. This was back in ninety-four, one of my cases when you were pregnant with Amy. It was an investigation I didn’t want to talk about back then because I didn’t want to upset you. But, it’s one of the most fascinating investigations I’ve ever been involved with.”

  The next three and a half hours sped by, as Rick recounted the intricate details of how he and his partner at the time, Detective Ramos, had eventually unmasked the true murderer, and brought him to trial.

  When he finished his tale, Juliet looked at the clock, and smiled at Rick. She got out of bed and softly closed their bedroom door. Coming back to his side of the bed, she stood, with one hand on her hip, and head tiled to one side. “I know what you did, Rick. You told me that story to help get me through the night. Thank you. I love you so much.”

  She straightened up and pulled her nightdress over her head. shaking her long hair free of it and threw it on the bed. Her white lace panties followed to land on top. “We’ve got about thirty or forty minutes before Amy wakes up. Can you make love to me in that time?”

  Rick nodded, licking his lips, instantly hard at the vision of beauty standing before him. As the dawn broke, and early sunlight filtered through the blinds, they reached a shattering climax together.

  ****

  “McCoy,” Rick answered his mobile phone later that afternoon, as he and Juliet watched Amy tossing a small ball for Minty to chase in the park. Juliet was still worrying, with occasional outburst of venom at the ‘stupid fuckers’ who had brought this technological terror upon her world.

  “Rick, it’s Rita, can you talk without Juliet listening?”

  “Sure, just hold on a second will you, boss?” He stood mouthing the words, ‘work’ to his wife, and walked away a few paces out of earshot. Rita was Juliet’s mother, who had never quite forgiven him for the affair and hurting her daughter. Really, Rick couldn’t blame her for that, and they had abided each other since, but any closeness they had once felt was gone.

  “What’s up, Rita, is everything okay?” he asked quietly when it was safe.

  “How’s Juliet? Herb and I are so worried about her, with this Y2K thing, she seems so upset about it all. Tonight, it’s all going to come to a head one way or another, and we are frantic here about her state of mind. We’d like you all to come over and spend the night with us, so we can make sure she is going to make it with her sanity intact.”

  “I’m worried myself, Rita. Last night was bad, she didn’t sleep at all. I helped her, by telling her stories until morning. Today she’s been better, but now she is so dog tired that’s getting her down too. She can’t bring herself to leave the house because she is scared she
won’t be able to come back if everything else stops working, or the bombs start to fall. There’s no way I could get her to go over to your place. I’ll tell you what though, why don’t you and Herb come over here for a barbeque, and you guys spend the night in our spare room. I think she’d love the company.”

  There was a silence for a while, and Rick wondered if the line had dropped out, which was not an uncommon occurrence with mobile phone technology. ‘Rick, I’m going to say something to you now, I hope you don’t mind. When you hurt our daughter, I could have scratched your eyes out, you were an asshole and there is no other word for it. But, since you made up, we’ve seen the change, not just in you, but how Juliet has come to life again. You inviting us over is a nice thing to do, we will take you up on it, and I thank you. Maybe you’re not such an asshole after all.”

  When he got back to Juliet, she wore a scowl. “Why is your boss phoning you when you are on holidays, and its New Year’s Eve?”

  With all that had happened, he was not going to start lying. “It wasn’t work, love, it was your mother, and she asked if she could talk to me out of your earshot. She’s worried about you and wanted to make sure you are going to be all right tonight.”

  She hung her head and cried. “What’s happening to me, why am I so scared? Everyone must think I’m stupid.”

  “No, they don’t babe.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “They say everyone has one fear. Tyler is shit scared of rats, a guy I know at work turns to jelly if he comes across a spider. Some fear small spaces, others open ones. I knew a girl at school who was incapable of walking under power lines, she was petrified of the electricity, and it she could hear one humming she was a basket case. This is your phobia, and it’s not something to be taken lightly. The good news for you, is that at one minute past midnight, you will be relieved of yours, never to recur. I love you, even with your phobia.”