Liam jammed on his brakes and swerved to a stop. “Here,” he said, getting off his bike.
They were in a narrow country lane. Jason looked around him but the lane was hedged with tall bramble bushes and he couldn’t even see the tops of any houses. He shivered and pulled the zip of his parka up a little further. He was wet from the downpour of rain, unlike Liam he hadn’t bought his Mac with him and now he was soggy and miserable. He’d suggested they cut the ride short but Liam was having none of it. Now they were in a country lane and it was crunch time.
“I’m not sure,” Jason said.
“Don’t go chicken on me now, Jase,” Liam looked almost outraged. “I’m not twisting your arm; you said you wanted to try it. Scared are you, that mummy might find out?”
“Nothing to do with her,” Jason replied hotly, hoping his cheeks weren’t flaming with the lie. If his mum knew he was about to experiment with drugs she’d kill him. But Liam was grinning.
“So what have you got?” Jason asked.
Liam pulled out a piece of folded up paper and flourished two scruffy little roll ups in front of him. “Weed,” he hissed gleefully. “The old man kept his stash hidden under his bed, he won’t be needing it anymore.” He glared at Jason, “Don’t look at me like that, what’s wrong? Frightened his ghost is going to come back and haunt you?” His eyes glittered with unshed tears.
Weed. Jason cringed. He’d never even smoked a cigarette. He imagined himself coughing and gagging and finally throwing up and he shuddered. Liam would never speak to him again. Still, he supposed it could have been worse, Liam had hinted darkly in the past that his dad sometimes messed with heroin, now that would have been scary. He glanced around. Ghosts didn’t pop up in deserted country lanes, did they? He didn’t want to appear a wuss so he grinned.
“So you’ve already tried it?” he asked Liam.
“Course I have, loads of time.” Liam sounded confident but he wouldn’t look Jason in the eye, instead he began frantically fishing about in his pocket for a box of matches.
Maybe it’ll rain again, thought Jason hopefully; it would turn the cigarettes into a soggy mess they wouldn’t be able to smoke. He looked up at the clearing blue sky overhead and sighed. He would just take a couple of small puffs and let it burn out. Feeling better he watched as Liam lit the first one and took a long suck from it. He couldn’t help feeling relieved when his friends face turned pink and he coughed.
“Great,” Liam spluttered and handed the roll up to Jason. Jason put the cigarette to his lips just as a large black car roared into sight at the end of the lane. It was going way too fast on a narrow country lane and Jason dropped the cigarette from nerveless fingers and dived for his bike parked in the middle of the lane.
The driver of the car blasted his horn but horrifyingly he didn’t appear to be slowing down. The lane was long and straight so there was no way the driver hadn’t seen them. The one thing that penetrated Jason’s brain was that the maniac had no intention of stopping. He could almost imagine the driver, knuckles white on the steering wheel, his lips parted showing a row of gleaming teeth as he sped towards them. The car sounded souped up, the exhaust too loud and he knew he only had seconds to save himself and his bike
Out of the corner if his eye Jason could see Liam struggling as he tried to wheel his bike up against the hedge. Jason grabbed his handlebars and almost flew into the side of the lane as the huge car whipped past still blowing his horn.
He lay gasping for breath, his side was hurting but he was more concerned that the car had damaged his bike. He could see a couple of spokes twisted but that was all. Liam was cussing.
“Bloody car ran over our roll ups!” He glanced at Jason. “You okay?”
Jason wasn’t sure. He felt his side and decided it was just a bruise. Funny, he thought staring at the broken spokes, his mum had been worried about the wheels on his bike; it was almost as if she’d known something was going to happen.
“I’ll get us some more, Jase.” Liam was saying. He looked grumpily at the remains of the two cigarettes crushed by the wheels of the car. For one awful moment Jason thought his friend was going to try and scoop them up but he just shook his head in disgust and flicked the bits with his toe.
“Plenty more where those came from,” he grunted.
Jason couldn’t imagine having a dad who smoked weed, was violent and mean and smacked his mum around. Better to have no dad at all. He wondered if that was what Liam was thinking.
It was hard to believe but Geoffrey finally had to accept that he’d been conned. Whoever that old witch Shandra was, she’d had him over good and proper. He could still barely believe what had taken place. How was he supposed to have known that Elsie was bloody Elsbeth, Beth for short? Everyone knew her as Elsie.
She’d got the hots for him which didn’t surprise Geoffrey, he was a good catch, a business man with plenty of money, and he knew how to treat his women. If he was honest it had seemed she was more interested in the diamond bracelet he’d foolishly promised her but Geoffrey pushed that unpalatable thought to one side. The woman had wanted him and by God she’d had him, even if it had been a bit rushed. Geoffrey had never been adverse to a quickie. Elsie wasn’t his usual choice, he liked them younger and fresher but he had to admire her spirit. He hadn’t been too happy being blackmailed though, he needed to nip that one in the bud.
As far as he was concerned it was irrelevant that he was married, nobody, except maybe his wife, cared about such a piddling detail these days. The trouble was, Elsie was a merry widow living off her late husband’s prudent financial investments. She was used to getting what she wanted and by God, she knew how to get it. It seemed age hadn’t made her any less greedy and manipulative than her younger counterparts. They were all the same, out for what they could get.
He had to accept that Elsie had played him; one lousy kiss followed by blackmail. He supposed he should have been flattered but even he conceded her real motive had been to con him out of a diamond bracelet, seemed a girl couldn’t have too much sparkle. Him and his big drunken mouth.
He was really going to have to learn to keep it in his pants, pooping on his own doorstep had been a big mistake and if that wasn’t bad enough Elsie had coerced him into having it away with her in his bloody stock room. If any of the staff found out he’d never live it down. She hadn’t even given him time to stick a condom on and Geoffrey cringed. The merry widow could be riddled with disease.
He could hardly believe she’d turned up at his coffee shop and practically assaulted him. The bloody cheek of the woman took his breath away. He knew he was weak when it came to women and it would have gone against the grain for him to have turned down a quickie in the stockroom even with clinging Elsie, but to find out she was really named Beth was a shock he couldn’t come to terms with.
He’d had one chance and he’d blown it. He’s asked for sex with Beth and his wish had been granted, the fact it was the wrong Beth was something he wasn’t going to get over in a hurry.
He’d been tricked by some old con artist and Geoffrey wanted his money back.
He debated his next move. The old witch Shandra wasn’t going to give him another wish he was sure, unless...what if he offered her a hundred pounds? If she was as greedy as he thought she was then it might work.
Geoffrey slunk into the stockroom and closed the door. He was surprised to feel his fingers trembling as he tapped the number out on his mobile.
“Hello again Geoffrey, what can I do for you, my dear?”
Shandra actually sounded pleased to hear from him and Geoffrey relaxed.
“I think there’s been some sort of mistake.”
“Really? I’m surprised to hear you say that.”
“Yes, well, it seems you gave me the wrong Beth.”
“The wrong Beth? You’ll have to explain, my dear, I don’t understand. Are you asking for your money back?” She gave a dry chuckle.
Geoffrey laughed awkwardly. “Nothing like that, in fact, I wanted to offer
you more money for another wish.”
“More money, I like the sound of that.”
“Yes, I thought you might,” Geoffrey spoke eagerly. “I’ll give you another forty pounds.” He thought he might as well start off low and work his way up.
“So what is it you want?”
Too easy, Geoffrey smiled with delight. He chose his words carefully, he wasn’t about to get it wrong for a second time. “Beth, the one who works for me, I want to give her a good....rise in pay, she deserves it.” Geoffrey heard the words coming out of his mouth but he couldn’t stop them, what the hell was wrong with him?
“How generous of you my dear, and for that I won’t even charge you.”
“No wait, that’s not what I meant,” Geoffrey almost howled. “It’s not a rise I want to give her, it’s....hello? Are you still there?”
The silence on the end of the phone was complete. Shandra had rung off.
“Damn you woman!” He yelled, outraged he’d messed it up again.
Okay, it’s not over yet, he told himself. All it meant was he would have to persuade Beth to give him his twenty pounds back. There was no way he was lining that slag’s pocket when she hadn’t kept her side of the bargain. It shouldn’t be too difficult, Geoffrey thought, he knew she was frightened of him, they all were, none of them wanted to lose their jobs. He knew where she lived, he’d call round after work, tell her he’d changed his mind about the deal. She didn’t need to be told he’d already gone through with it, it was none of her business. Geoffrey rubbed his hands together as another thought struck him, maybe once he was inside her house she’d see him in a different light and he wouldn’t need to ask for his money back after all. He could be very persuasive.
“Joe?” Abby’s voice was small, “I’m not sure about this holiday, I haven’t had time to prepare.”
Joe was cramming a pile of his clothes into his suitcase, he looked up surprised. “I thought it would do you good,” he said. “You’re always saying how much you’d like a holiday. I know things haven’t been easy for you lately but it’s all come good now, hasn’t it? The house belongs to us, we’ve a bit of money put by thanks to mum’s savings, we should be looking forwards to a better future.”
“I suppose you’re right.” But Abby was doubtful. She still couldn’t reconcile her belief that her mother-in-law was alive with finding out she’d died three months ago. How could she not have known? She tried to think. Every evening she’d cooked dinner, three chops, three steak pies, three chunky cod fillets all dished up on three plates. Had she been throwing one meal away every evening and not known she was doing it? And why hadn’t Joe noticed when she placed three plates down on the table? Or maybe he had and was too afraid to say anything, waiting for her to realise herself that Vera was dead.
And then there was the washing; the old lady’s underwear, her nightdresses and, cardigans, had she really been putting them in the machine unaware that her mother-in-law would never wear them again? Abby could feel her head beginning to ache trying to remember. Hadn’t she sat and darned Vera’s thick brown Lyle stocking for her only a few nights ago? Could her mind be so damaged that she hadn’t noticed what she was doing? There were two things going on here, Abby thought, either she was going mad or she was being haunted by her mother-in-law. She thought she preferred the former. Vera had been obnoxious enough in life now she was horrendous in death.
All this had only unravelled after she’d made her wish to Shandra. A home of her own, not too much to ask for but it seemed she’d asked for something she’d already got, a wasted wish in fact.
Abby frowned. She could have requested a million pound. If she’d known Vera was already dead then she would have. She felt like she’d been tricked but she couldn’t work out whose fault it was. Maybe it was Beth’s, she’d started this.
Thinking about it, Abby grew more convinced that Beth was playing a game with her. Of course her friend had known all along that Vera was dead and she must have been secretly laughing at her knowing she was asking for a home of her own when she’d already got one. But why would she do that? The answer seemed simple. She’d set the whole thing up to make some money.
Shame on you, Beth, Abby thought. You knew I was unstable and you used it against me. I can’t go on holiday and leave you thinking that you conned me out of twenty pounds, using my fear of my mother-in-law and my confusion to line your pockets.
“I’m sorry, Joe,” Abby said, “Maybe in a few weeks time, but I don’t want a holiday right now. I feel that I need to stay here and rest, you do understand, don’t you?”
Abby had watched him filling his suitcase, surely, Abby thought, if he was hiding something in there she would have noticed. She felt a warm glow steal over her. She was so blessed to have such a good husband, Joe was kind and considerate, generous and loving and she was a lucky woman. She said, “Why don’t you go and make a cup of coffee and I’ll unpack for you? It’s the least I can do.”
Joe stopped unpacking, “Whatever you say, love.” He murmured and then smiled brightly at her. “Mum will be pleased, she didn’t fancy going into that nursing home for a week while we went on holiday.”
After Joe had left the bedroom Abby sat on the edge of the bed trembling. Had Joe really said that? Was it even conceivable that he’d been feeding her fantasy, slowly sending her mad? Was that why he’d never said anything when she dished up three dinners? Had he just sat there smiling and pretending everything was all right so she wouldn’t suspect anything? Abby couldn’t think of a single reason why Joe would do that to her, unless....the next thought sent a tremor of fear through her, unless Vera was still alive and they’d set the whole thing up between them to drive her mad. Was the intention to get her locked away in a psychiatric hospital, a lunatic asylum so she’d be out of their lives forever?
Tears of self pity poured down her cheeks. She’d thought the cuckoo in the nest was Vera now Abby realised with horror that it was actually her.
Pulling the damp washing off the line, Fiona wondered briefly why she’d bothered washing Rod’s shirts and underpants. He wouldn’t be wearing them again and they really weren’t in good enough condition to send to the charity shop. They needed to go in the dustbin and set fire to, but old habits died hard.
The last couple of days had been bliss. No more keeping her head down, sneaking around her own house to avoid bumping into him. And it was all thanks to Shandra. She’d made this wonderful thing happen, Beth too, who’d given her the chance of a better life. And all for a measly twenty pounds.
It was strange how it had happened. Just those few simple words uttered in panic, “I want him to disappear, to be gone forever,” and hey presto, Rod was gone. Just like that, no smoke and mirrors, nothing to point the finger of blame at her, a straight forward accident of monumental proportion. The deliciousness of it sent a shiver of wicked pleasure through Fiona.
She could see clearly now how events had unfolded. Her son, Liam had sneaked off to spend the night with his friend Jason, prompting Rod to go looking for him and put him in exactly the right place at the right time to have his accident. The whole scenario had been beautifully crafted and Fiona could only stand back in awe. Whoever Shandra was she deserved a medal.
A letter had arrived a few hours ago but Fiona hadn’t opened it yet. It looked official and Rod always dealt with official letters. But Rod wasn’t here, was he? She would have to get used to dealing with important mail herself now. Maybe, she thought, it was from the funeral directors awaiting her instructions. Did she want to bury her husband’s carcass or maybe she’d prefer to burn him? Fiona didn’t much care, the bastard had gone to hell anyway and she didn’t intend to waste time putting flowers on his grave. It was almost with delight that she sat down at the kitchen table and opened the envelope, pulling the letter out.
At first she didn’t understand what it was saying. It was from the building society and it seemed to be suggesting that Rod had only been paying the interest on the mortgage all
these years and with no back up insurance the house was now about to revert back to the mortgage company.
They said they were sorry but she’d have to vacate the house by the end of the month.
Fiona read it through several times but it didn’t get any easier to understand.
For one thing the date at the top of the letter was Saturday, the day Rod had died. How could they possibly have known? She hadn’t informed them, yet they must have sent the letter out immediately after Rod’s accident for it to arrive this morning. She tried to think. Had she phoned them up and told them? Suddenly she wasn’t sure. Maybe Liam had done it, thinking he was helping her. Saturday. Were building societies even open on a Saturday? This wasn’t right, it couldn’t be. This was her home, they couldn’t just kick her out. She should phone them, ask for clarification but her finger had gone numb, trembling over the pages, and her brain felt fuzzy with terror.
Where would she go? She had no kindly elderly parents who would take her in, give her and her son sanctuary. Her grown up children had their own lives, the last thing they’d want was another two mouths to feed. It was all so horribly difficult to understand.
Fiona looked around her kitchen her eyes blurring with unshed tears. So this was her punishment for what she’d wished for, she should have known. Nobody gave you something for nothing in this life, there was always a price to pay. She could imagine Rod, slinking around in the depths of Hell, rubbing his hands together in glee, laughing at her because it served her right.
She should have paid more attention to what he’d been doing but she’d left everything to him. Unbeknown to her he’d entered into an unworkable agreement with the mortgage company to save himself a bit of money every month and now she was paying the price. He was supposed to take care of her, protect her, instead he’d messed up, not paid the mortgage and now she and Liam were about to become homeless.
The letter calmly informed her that if she didn’t remove herself from the premises on the said date then Bailiffs from the high court would be instructed to turn up to help her on her way.
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