The Life Of Robert Peterson

by Paul Kelly

  “Nice to see you again, Freya and this is how me and daddy make the coffee. We don’t have a perco thing.”

  Freya knew what Cameron meant, but she said nothing to embarrass the little boy.

  “That’s lovely,” she insisted, “ but instant would have done. I don’t mind in the least. In fact we always use instant in the cafe.” At that moment, Robert appeared from the bedroom.

  “Good evening,” he said solemnly. “Are you ready for the persecution?” he asked and Freya smiled as she saw that Robert had a towel wrapped around his waist.

  “I hope you have your drawers on under that thing,” she said with a wide grin on her face. “I wouldn’t like to find that I got this needle in the wrong place.

  “The drawers are in place alright, madam. My jab is in the fridge. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll disrobe.”

  Two minutes later, Freya took the syringe to the kitchen.

  “Nice tartan drawers you’ve got,” she remarked, “but in my world, we call them boxer shorts ... NOT DRAWERS ...”

  “Never mind that now. Just get on with the needle stuff, will you?”

  Freya stood upright in front of Robert, who by this time was looking quite ill and had his eyes closed tightly.

  “All done,” she said, “but I thought a nurse should have come in to do this for you.”

  Robert looked about him in amazement.

  “Do you mean to say, the injection is over?” he asked and Freya nodded happily. “I never felt a thing, “ he said, “You are as brilliant as you say you are and as for a nurse doing this sort of thing, ‘yes’ I did have a Twilight Nurse for the first few weeks of the injections starting, but then I was encouraged to be able to self-inject but as I’ve said ...”

  “I know ... I know. You’ve already told me, you hate the bloody things, but you don’t have to worry any more, do you?”

  Robert looked to the floor before he began to speak.

  “Would you be able to do this every Friday?” he asked and Freya wanted to say that she could do it not only every Friday but any other day or night he wanted. In fact, she would have preferred if Robert had asked her to move in with him, so that she could be on hand should ever he need anything else, but Robert said no more as she nodded and assured him that she would be very pleased to help him in any way and at any time, on any day.

  “Now who’s for coffee?” she asked, popping her head from the kitchen door.

  Cameron gazed at her with wondering eyes as she moved so lightly through the flat.

  “I wish you could stay here with us all the time,” he said, but Robert scolded him and told him to ‘hush’, telling his young son, with assured authority, that Freya was too busy in her own life to spend any more time with them and before Freya could contradict that statement, Robert put his forefinger to his mouth.

  “Let’s have ‘hush’ all round”, he said and Freya brought in the coffee.

  “By the way,” she said, wide eyed and hoping for less ‘hush’ and more talk, “I have something in my flat that might be of interest to you guys. It’s something that I got as a wedding present and I have two of them, so what do you think?”

  Cameron looked surprised as Freya spoke.

  “Are you married?” he asked with surprise.

  “No. I was married once, but I’m divorced now ... but what about ...“ However before she could say another word, Cameron interrupted again.

  “So that means that you are able to marry again?” he asked and Freya looked from the little boy to his father.

  “Yes, I could, but I’d have to find the right man this time and above all, he would have to ask me,” she replied and Cameron gave a sigh of relief.

  “Now about this thing you have in your flat that you don’t want. What is it Freya?” he asked and Freya took his hand as she looked at the coffee mugs on the table.

  “It’s a percolator, that’s used for making coffee, you know and it’s what you told me you didn’t have.”

  Cameron jumped with joy and clapped his hands, but Robert sipped his coffee slowly.

  “You might need it again, if you get ...” he said, but he had difficulty in finishing his sentence.

  “Get married again?” said Freya ... “Well now, that would be a great day, wouldn’t it. Me and some bloke staggering down the aisle with two percolators in my hands.”

  Cameron laughed and Robert followed.

  “It’s very kind of you Freya. I was about to get one myself, but like everything else these days, I never get round to half the things I want to do or even SHOULD do. Thanks.”

  Freya grunted her appreciation with a grin as she cuddled Cameron.

  “Now then, I’ll finish what I came to do, unless there is anything else you need,” she asked as she drained her coffee mug and reached for her coat.

  “You’ve done more than was required, Freya ... but I don’t know how to repay your kindness,” added Robert with a look of despair in his eyes. Freya knew what he meant by that look as she left the flat, concluding that whatever she did or didn’t do for Robert Peterson, there was never ever to be an ‘item’ as far as they were concerned, but as she walked home slowly, she felt a bitterness that she had never ever felt before. She was bitter towards Rita for her lack of understanding when she was married to Robert. Rita could not appreciate his ‘noise’ as she called it, because Freya felt that the reason for this was because Rita had no passion in her soul. How could anyone call that music a ‘noise’ and nothing more ... and then she felt bitter towards Sarah. How could she have treated Robert as she did, if as she said, she loved him. She loved the music and didn’t consider that to be noise, unlike Rita, but Sarah loved what she heard in Robert’s music because she was a musician herself and Robert was ‘incidental’ to that. Sarah could have loved ... if you can call it love ... Sarah could have loved anyone in Robert’s capacity, but she didn’t love the man behind all this attraction that apparently swept her off her feet, at some time or other. She had destroyed the energy and soul in Robert that made his music talk and Freya also thought that Robert’s ‘disposition’ and not his illness was the one big thing that Sarah could not accept. She wanted to shine and had no time for what she described as ‘losers’. Sarah had to be FIRST in everything. She had to be ‘top dog’ and she considered herself to be a leader, but she could not follow. She was half a woman ... a woman with half a soul, if she had any at all.

  Freya returned to her flat with her dreary thoughts and cried herself to sleep. She knew that she truly loved Robert Peterson, but proving it was obviously beyond her power and she blamed the other women in his life for destroying that love in his heart that might otherwise have been rekindled with a little genuine affection and care and then the world could have been a happier place.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Freya wasn’t too surprised when she opened the front door of her flat to find Jenny standing on the doorstep, but she wondered what on earth she would have to talk about as it was only the evening before that she had met her in the cafe where they worked and she had said nothing to her then.

  “Good morning Jenny,” said Freya heaving her shoulders high and raising her eye brows as if expecting some great and elaborate news that had come about from just a few hours earlier, but Jenny didn’t respond to her as she had hoped. Instead she started to cry ... and Freya ushered her swiftly into the flat and closed the door behind her. This was something that she was used to by this time and she waited to hear Jenny’s news.

  “What ‘s wrong, Jenny? Is it that ...” Freya was about to refer to Sammy as a creep again, but she thought better of it this time until she had heard what Jenny had to say.

  “I saw him last night, Freya,” Jenny said between gulps and tears. “I wish I had never met him,” she went on, “but as you know Freya, I love him and I can’t forget or
deny that.”

  Freya put her arms around her friend to console her, but Jenny only cried all the more as she shook with emotion.

  “Sit down Jenny. I was about to make some coffee . . . will you have one with me?”

  Jenny nodded and Freya went into the kitchen where she noticed again that she had stored one of her percolators in a plastic bag, tied up with string, to take with her whenever she went again to visit Robert, but the news she got from Jenny when she returned with the coffee tray was something quite different to what she had expected.

  “I think I will have to leave him,” said Jenny with her hands folded neatly in her lap and with a look of confirmed assurance on her face which was still shiny from the tears, but she wiped her eyes and continued. “I saw him last night, as I have said, after waiting for ages at his flat ... on the doorstep, I might add ... and it was raining too. When he did eventually arrive, he looked at me and I thought he looked scornful at my ‘bump’. I asked him was he glad to see me and he nodded as he opened his front door, but I didn’t think he sounded too enthusiastic. I followed him inside and he turned on me angrily as he asked if I had got rid of the ‘thing’ yet.”

  Freya didn’t look surprised at Sammy’s response, but she was very concerned for Jenny as it was the last thing she thought she would ever hear her say, that she would leave Sammy.

  “What about the baby?” she asked and Jenny lowered her head before she spoke.

  “I’m gonna keep him ... or her,” she replied and the tears fell again.

  “Are you thinking of leaving the cafe, Jenny? Old Buggerlugs will be sorry to lose you. You know that, but under the circumstances, it might be the best thing to tell him now, rather than to leave it until it’s too late.”

  “I’ll see him today and give him a month’s notice, but if he wants me to leave immediately, I will do that. After all, he has had a lot of comings and goings with the both of us, hasn’t he Freya. He might just be too fed up and tell me to get the hell out of it.”

  Freya grinned as she sipped her coffee.

  “I doubt if he’ll do that,” she said, “You are too good a waitress for him to take that attitude.” Jenny squirmed when Freya said that.

  “You could be right, but who wants a wobbling, oversized waitress in a nice cafe like he’s got, eh? and besides that Freya.” she went on as she sighed heavily, “Something you told me about Sammy ... and which I never really wanted to hear, was that he was a womaniser.”

  Freya stopped drinking when Jenny made that remark. She put her mug down on the coffee table and looked intensely at her friend, wondering what she was going to hear next.

  “Yes, Jenny. I remember saying that, but perhaps I shouldn’t have done. After all, you are in the relationship with Sammy, not me and it really is not my business any more. I only thought it best to tell you and maybe now I shouldn‘t have done ...”

  “I think you may be right, Freya.”

  “What? Don’t tell me you’ve caught him at it?”

  Jenny screwed up her face for a moment as she drank her coffee.

  “I’ll leave this for a few moments,” she said as she put her mug down,”Too hot for me and I like it cooler, but I think you may be right, Freya.”

  “Yes, yes what has happened?”

  “Well, I told you that last night he didn’t want to know about the baby, but after a few moments of being with him in the flat, he suddenly turned the lights down low and ...”

  “Oh! Jenny. Don’t keep me in suspense. What the hell happened then?”

  “Freya, he pulled me towards the bed and put his arms around me. I watched his face, but it wasn’t a look of love. It was quite evil when I think back on it now. He fumbled around with my bra, shoving his hand under my blouse and I tried to shove him off, but he slapped my face and told me that he knew I would like what he was going to do ... as I always did.”

  “Yes, Jenny ... Tell me what happened next, please.”

  “Well, Freya, when he realized that I didn’t want to respond to his advances, he laughed and told me there were plenty of pebbles on the beach and that one day, I would come screaming to him for more ‘loving.’ I laughed when he said that, as I felt anything but loved at that moment and also, as I moved my face on the pillow, I was sure I could smell a strange perfume. It wasn’t one that I use and it wasn’t the after shave that Sammy wears. It was a cheap sort of stuff. Something that you might buy from a market stall ... you know, an imitation of the real thing, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”

  Freya smiled knowingly and bit her lower lip.

  “Do be careful, Jenny,” she said, “I’m not telling you what to do, but I think, given time, your natural instincts will tell you what you have to do. I’m just sorry that he got so far with you in the first place, the swine.”

  “Did he ever? I mean was he ever like that with you when you were married to him Freya?” Jenny asked innocently and Freya raised her eyebrows.

  “He was and always will be like that Jenny. I’m sorry but that’s the way he’s made. I don’t think he can help himself. He thinks he’s God’s gift to women and if you ask me, he’s a washout in every way as a man.”

  “I know that now Freya, but I still love him and I don’t know which way to turn. Will this other woman ... if there is one, will she be the last do you think?”

  Freya didn’t want to laugh, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “Jenny, take it from me, if you let him get away with this, he will plague you for the rest of your life. Take the step now, if you want my advice. I’ll stand by you in whatever you do. If you want to keep the baby that’s up to you. Only you can make that choice, but don’t let him baffle you into thinking he will love you forever and a day. He won’t ... and if you want to ...” Freya didn’t finish her sentence. She knew how she felt about abortion, but her thoughts were nothing to do with Jenny and she realized that Jenny should do as she liked and whatever she did, their friendship would continue and she would give her all the help she could.

  Jenny rose from her chair and sighed.

  “I’d better go now Freya as I am due at the cafe shortly as I’m on the early shift while Buggerlugs sorts out his business with the VAT man. He’s due to meet him this morning, but I think I will wait a while before I tell Buggerlugs what my intentions are. I don’t want the sack at the moment as I need the money. Bye and thanks for your kind advice.”

  “Bye Jenny and try not to worry. Maybe I’ll see you later on. I’m on at six, so if you want to call in, I’d be pleased to see you.”

  After Jenny left the flat, Freya ran her bath, but her mind was in confusion. She felt so sorry for Jenny, but knew that any advice you can offer to someone in love, will obviously fall on deaf ears, however now that Jenny thought as she did about Sammy, things might be different. Freya concluded that she would work out a precise strategy for when she would see Jenny that evening and she made some mental notes as she dried her hair. She thought of the number of times Sammy had let her down and the many excuses he made which came to nothing. She tried also to remember some of the names of the women he had been with, thinking that might be a more definite re-assurance for Jenny, but only three came to mind and she laughed at that. Only three, she thought again. My God, one would have been one too many, but three AT LEAST ... She laughed but her heart was sore, not for herself, but for the future that Jenny was about to embrace if she fell in with Sammy’s way of thinking.

  Suddenly, in the middle of her thoughts, the telephone rang.

  “Hello ... hello,” she called out and then raised her eyes to the heavens as she was sure she could hear heavy breathing. “Not another of those bloody anonymous calls,” she thought aloud and then a little voice came through on the other end of the line.

  “It’s me, Freya. It’s Cameron. Can I speak to you for a little while please?�
��

  “Of course you can darling. I hope you and daddy are alright, are you?”

  “Well, I’m O.K. but I think daddy is worrying about something ... I mean something more than his health.”

  Freya became immediately alarmed when she heard Cameron say that.

  “What’s the matter with daddy, Cameron? If I can help, you know I will. Anything. Anything at all, you know that.”

  “I know that Freya and that’s why I thought it best to phone you.”

  Freya couldn’t wait any more to hear of Robert’s worry and she wished Cameron would get on with it, but she had to be patient with the little boy and she was indeed glad that he phoned her before anyone else. It showed a certain trust, even if it was from the junior Mr. Peterson when she could have wished it would have been from the senior one.

  “It’s Sarah, Freya. She is pestering daddy again and she says she is coming round this afternoon to sort things out.”

  “Sort things out Cameron. I don’t know what you mean, love.”

  “Well neither do I really,” Cameron went on, “but she seems to think that daddy should give her a lot of money as well as the flat and other things and ... and “ Cameron started crying and Freya soothed him as best she could on the phone.

  “Try not to worry, darling,“ she said in a soft voice, “What time is she going to come to see daddy? Do you know, Cameron?”

  Freya was hoping that she might be at Robert’s flat when the ‘witch’ appeared, but Cameron only knew it would be sometime in the afternoon, so Freya decided she would visit Robert about one in the afternoon the next day.. That would give her plenty of time to see what she could do and still be able to start her work at the cafe at six, but she didn’t say anything about her intended visit to Cameron in the event that Robert might try to stop her.

  It was a worrying morning for Freya after she made her decision to try to help Robert when she thought in detail how she could do anything in the circumstances and she remembered Robert telling her that, at one time he did love Sarah It was she who walked away from the marriage; not Robert, although Freya felt sure now that even if things were to change and Sarah would like to come back to the marriage, Robert would hear none of it. He had totally turned against his ex-wife number two and nothing would appease the anger and hurt that he felt due to her cruel action in just giving him a letter one morning as she left the house ... and that was it. Final ... No more to it. Robert and Sarah had burnt their boats.