by Jo Meadows
‘Okay, I’ll go and get one now,’ he said, getting up.
When he turned on the garage light, David knew immediately that there was a problem. There was a small wet patch on the floor at the base of the freezer.
‘Jesus!’ he said out loud, ‘The bloody circuit breaker! I didn’t reset it this morning. God, I didn’t even think to check it’ He ran quickly to the back of the garage and sure enough, the circuit breaker for the sockets had tripped. He switched it back on and the freezer buzzed back into life. At first, he wasn’t sure what to do. He knew that it was safer to let the freezer get back to the proper operating temperature before opening the door but then remembered he’d come to get a joint of beef. Besides, he needed to see if everything inside was still frozen or if there would be a problem with it. As he opened the door and took out the part-defrosted beef joint, he realised there was nothing for it, he’d have to own up and tell Georgina what had happened. God knows how she’s going to react to this he thought. It won’t be good.
As David turned to leave the garage, he saw Georgina just inside the doorway. ‘What’s taking you so long?’ she asked.
‘I was just coming. But now you’re here, there’s been an accident with the freezer and we probably need to check all the contents to see if they’re all alright.’
‘What do you mean?’ she asked. He explained what had happened, starting with the problem with the drill short-circuiting. When he’d finished Georgina asked if he’d looked at the contents and he told her that he’d left the freezer door closed other than to take out the beef joint he was holding.
‘Well, we need to look at the rest then, don’t we?’
‘Yes I know. I was just about to come in to tell you.’
‘Oh, I’m sure you were. Right; let’s empty the thing out and see where we are.’ Ten minutes later they’d removed everything that needed to be thrown out and Georgina had worked out that they’d lost approximately £75 worth of food. ‘Well, you’d better get rid of all that hadn’t you?’
‘Yes, alright; I’ll go and get a black bag. Sorry I didn’t think to check the circuit breaker Georgina. I was a bit shaken after the drill blew up.’
‘That’s alright, don’t worry about it.’ David was quite surprised and somewhat relieved. What he didn’t notice was the change of expression that came over her face. As he turned away, she clenched her fists in anger. Then, without any sound or warning, she punched him in the stomach - Hard. David was caught completely unawares and, letting out a grunt, he doubled over. She kicked him hard in the leg and then in her rage, reached out and grabbed hold of the first thing that came to hand. This happened to be the can of paint that David had left on the workbench. As she raised the can above her head with both hands, ready to smash it down onto his head, David looked up, his eyes pleading.
‘Stop! Georgina, Stop! Please - No! What are you doing?’ he cried. When he shouted Georgina seemed to calm a little.
‘Christ, you make me so mad,’ she hissed at him through clenched teeth. She threw the paint can onto the workbench and taking one huge, deep breath she stormed off into the house.
When she’d gone, David collapsed to the floor putting his head in his hands, unable to believe what had just happened. He’d expected her to be annoyed but the speed that her mood had changed from one of normality, to a mood of pure anger and rage had been so quick and unexpected. My god, he thought, what the hell just happened? He realised he was genuinely afraid. Not afraid of her physically, but afraid of what the future would hold. She’d changed so much over the last few months; her behaviour becoming more and more extreme. He was scared, by god he was scared.
‘Pull yourself together Dave,’ he said out loud, knowing he still had to go and face her indoors.
When Georgina stepped into the kitchen, she looked down at her hands. They were trembling, no; shaking, with excitement and adrenalin. She let out her breath and let the now familiar feelings course through her body. She couldn’t remember when she’d last felt this good; when she’d last experienced this kind of buzz. The feelings were so powerful and intense this time that they felt almost sexual. She heard David coming in through the front door and was rapidly brought back down to earth. Shame, she thought, that was just getting interesting.
As he came into the kitchen Georgina looked to be in complete control of herself. Any trace of anger had gone from her face and she gave him a little smile.
‘Are you alright?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I’m fine David. I hope you understand why I got a little angry. That will turn out to be a totally unnecessary waste of money. Tomorrow, you can go to the shops and replace everything we’ve had to throw away, and you can pay for it with your own money.’
‘Of course. I was going to do that anyway Georgina. As I said, I didn’t think about the stupid circuit breaker because I was a bit shaken.’
‘Well if you don’t start thinking about what you’re doing a bit more, you’re going to find yourself in all kinds of trouble. Now get a grip of yourself. I wonder if you’re losing it sometimes David, you’re starting to worry me.’
Not half as much as you’re beginning to worry me, thought David to himself.
Chapter 10
David got up early the next morning and after giving Georgina her tea and preparing her toast, he got ready to go shopping. ‘Is there anything you need me to get while I’m out Georgina?’ he asked.
‘Just what we talked about. I’ll go out later myself if I want anything else. And, when you get back, I want to see what you’ve bought before it goes into the freezer. You’re not the best shopper, are you?’
‘No Dear, I suppose I’m not. Right I’m off then, I’ll be as quick as I can.’
‘Don’t take all day about it, but do check for the best dates and don’t just buy the first thing you see.’
‘Okay, bye.’ Getting no further response, David decided it would be best to get going and he set off.
After he’d gone, Georgina smiled and said, ‘Hopeless, just flaming hopeless.’ She’d forgotten all about David’s drill. She’d cut the power lead months ago and she couldn’t even remember why she’d done it. Probably just because he’d bought himself a new toy and remembering how he’d come in gushing about this great new tool he’d bought and what a bargain it had been. He hadn’t given a thought about her sat at home; no little gift for her was there? It was all about him and what he wanted. Well, he’ll be thinking now.
She thought back to the experience of the night before and sat there savouring how she’d felt after she’d left the garage. She was a little bothered why she’d felt so turned on by it; she never did what she’d almost been about to do. She’d been brought up in an old-fashioned way and you didn’t do that kind of thing. It was considered dirty. It had been very tempting though.
This was all starting to become great fun. Poor David. Poor, poor David, you don’t have a clue what I’ve got in store for you.
David stood at the till in the supermarket, waiting to be served. He was pretty pleased with himself, having found everything he needed in quick time. He’d got some bargains too, and had even taken the liberty of buying a bit more than he’d intended, spotting two buy-one-get-one-free deals. He’d even got a small bunch of roses for Georgina as a little gesture to show how sorry he was about the freezer.
After the girl at the till had scanned his shopping, he saw the amount he needed before she had a chance to say anything. Getting out his wallet, he went to take out the cash - He stared down at his wallet. It was empty. Where was all his money? He hadn’t bothered to check it before he left home because he hadn’t spent any money since he’d been to the cash-point last week. He’d withdrawn £100 and had put it straight into his wallet. He should have had at least £125 in there. Where was it?
‘That will be £78.25 Sir,’ said the assistant.
‘I’m really sorry,’ said David flustered and just a little embarrassed. ‘I’m afraid I’ve come out without my money. Could you
put everything on one side and I’ll nip to the cash-point?’ he asked.
‘Yes, of course Sir, but don’t be too long will you? Some of this is frozen and we can’t allow it to be out of the freezers for too long.’
‘Thank you so much. I’ll be as quick as I can.’ David left the shop at a run and crossed the road to the bank. He withdrew £100 and ran back to the shop.
‘My goodness, that was quick, said the assistant. I haven’t even had one other customer since you left. I’ve bagged-up your stuff while I was waiting so it’s all ready for you.’
‘I can’t thank you enough,’ said David handing over the money. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t worry about it, we can all make mistakes. Have a great day.’
‘Thank you. You too.’ David left the supermarket in a hurry, now more than just a little embarrassed and his mind in turmoil. Once again, he’d found himself in a situation that had caught him by surprise. He couldn’t understand how he’d ended up without any money. He did have £125 in his wallet, he was sure he did. Or did he? Perhaps Georgina was right, he was losing it. There’d been a number of times lately when he’d felt out of control of what was happening to him. He really must get switched on and focus. She would be saying he had Alzheimer’s if things carried on the way they were. He decided he wouldn’t tell her about the missing money; that would just give her all the more reason to have a go at him. So, on the way home he picked up his pace and whistled, trying to calm his worries. If he looked at all bothered when he walked through the door, she would pick up on it in a flash.
When he got home, she was waiting at the door.
‘Hi, Georgina, I got everything we needed and some bargains to boot. There were packs of pork chops and mince that were buy-one-get-one-free so I picked them up. Can’t miss out on a good bargain now can you? Oh! And these are for you.’
‘Whatever David, they’re supermarket flowers. It’s alright getting the bargains; you should do that anyway. It’s whether we’ve got the room for them. You didn’t think about that did you?’ she said with a sneer.
‘There’ll be loads of room, you just wait and see,’ said David smiling as he walked into the kitchen with the bags.
‘Right, let’s see what you’ve got. If something’s not right you’ll be going back to change it.’ Ten minutes later the shopping had all been assessed and deemed acceptable and David went to the garage to put it all away. As he packed it into the freezer he thought to himself, well, that was alright. Everything was okay; I must be doing something right. Before he left the garage he switched the freezer onto “super” mode to make sure the non-frozen items would freeze quickly, at the same time thinking, I bet she asks me whether or not I’ve done that when I get in. God, I’m becoming paranoid.
When he got back to the kitchen, he saw the flowers he’d bought had been tossed onto the worktop. So much for my little gesture, he thought. I shouldn’t have bothered.
Georgina wasn’t anywhere to be seen so he called out to her, ‘Would you like a cup of tea Georgina?’ After getting no response he turned to go and look for her. As he did so, his foot slipped and he crashed to the floor, hurting his hip quite badly. Sitting there dazed, he felt the floor where he’d just slipped and found a puddle of thick fluid. When he sniffed his hand he realised it was washing-up liquid. What the hell is that doing there, he mumbled to himself. This is getting to be a habit; I’m always hurting myself lately. Jesus, my back hurts. As he struggled to get up he turned to see Georgina in the doorway.
‘What are you doing down there?’ she asked smirking.
‘I don’t know. There’s washing-up liquid on the floor and I slipped,’ David said angrily. ‘How did that get there?’
‘How am I supposed to know, you do most of the dishes. Don’t look at me. I’ve told you David. You’re losing it. Anyway, what were you shouting for, what do you want?’ she snapped dismissively.
‘Once again, full of sympathy aren’t you? Thanks,’ he said.
‘Who’d have sympathy for a bumbling idiot? Would you like a cup of tea?’
‘Yes please, that would be nice. Sorry I snapped at you,’ he said apologetically.
‘You know where the kettle is, get on with it!’ she said laughing as she walked away. He couldn’t believe it. For a second he felt like small child that had just been picked on by the class bully. His eyes welling-up with tears, he sniffed loudly, got to his feet, reached for the kettle and told himself to get a grip.
***
Over the next three weeks, life for David became more and more difficult. Although his injuries healed quite well, Georgina kept up her relentless barrage of criticism and complaints, the worst of which was her interrogation about the withdrawal of the £100 from the cash-point on the day he went shopping. He hadn’t told her about his missing money and when she’d told him that she’d seen what he’d done when she’d looked at their bank statement, she went to town. After telling him that he was untrustworthy and deceitful, she asked him what else he’d been up to that she didn’t know about. When he’d tried to explain about the missing money and told her that he hadn’t done anything else, she accused him of lying and of, in effect, stealing their money. David gave up trying to explain and stopped fighting back with his denials. He’d just stood there and took what came his way.
A couple of days later, after a period of silent treatment, he’d opened a cupboard door and broke several cups and plates from a dinner set when they fell out. Although he’d only opened the door, it was of course, his fault. Another time, Georgina had been cooking and had asked him to drain and mash some potatoes that had been boiling on the cooker. Although it wasn’t obvious before he picked it up, the pan handle was red-hot and, burning his hand, he dropped the pan onto the kitchen floor. Both of these incidents, happening over just a couple of days, gave Georgina ammunition to go to town once again.
David had initially been suspicious of these little accidents he’d been having but he couldn’t believe that she would set him up on purpose. What would she have to gain; what could she be hoping to achieve? She already had total control over his life. Perhaps he did have a problem; perhaps he was losing it. He gave up. He became withdrawn and rarely spoke to Georgina. He felt both sad and confused and he stopped trying to understand why his life had become so difficult. He became afraid of the next mistake he was going to make or the next time he was going to have to face her wrath. He was at his wits end.
Georgina on the other hand, had been having a very good time. She’d taken the money from David’s wallet on the morning he went shopping and had waited a while before bringing up the subject of the withdrawal.
She’d spilled the washing-up liquid onto the kitchen floor and stood nearby, out of sight, to watch the results. It had been quite difficult for her to balance the plates and cups in the cupboard so that they would fall out when the door was opened. And finally, she’d had the pan handle positioned over the cooker ring for several minutes before moving it to a safer position just prior to asking him to mash the potatoes.
Unfortunately, despite the enjoyment she’d been having, and David being the perfect target for her, she felt she needed something more. She decided to back off a little and give him a bit of a break. She just had one more little thing to try and then she would sit back and start to plan her next major offensive.
***
David woke up feeling a little drowsy and felt as though he’d been on a good night out and had a few beers. He sat on the edge of his bed, stretched and glanced over at his bedside clock. Not again! What’s wrong with me? Why do I keep sleeping-in? He thanked his lucky stars that it was only about fifteen minutes to seven. He still had plenty of time to get dressed and get the tea ready for Georgina if he got a shift on. He got up, put on his dressing gown and went into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
As he turned on the tap, he felt odd; he found he had double-vision and had difficulty focusing on the water. Suddenly, excruciating pains engulfed his head li
ke the worst headache he’d ever experienced. He stumbled towards a chair, feeling dizzy and nauseous and then, extremely frightened and knowing that something was very wrong, he cried out for help. He said the words in his head but knew he wasn’t speaking out loud. God! What’s happening, he thought, and then the room went dark and he passed out.
Georgina was just stirring in her room. She saw that it was almost seven and smiling, she wondered if the half of a sleeping pill she’d slipped into David’s evening cup of tea had had any effect on his morning schedule. A loud crash came from the kitchen.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ she shouted. ‘Can’t you do anything without creating holy hell?’ After a moment or two without a response she shouted, ‘Well, what are you playing at? Are you ignoring me now?’ She decided to go and see what he was doing and give him a piece of her mind. She slipped on her robe and went towards the kitchen.
As she approached the kitchen door she could hear the tap running.
‘David?’ she called. Getting no answer, she went into the kitchen to find him lying on the floor. ‘What are you playing at? Get up and stop messing about,’ she snapped. Although there was no response from him, his leg moved and she could hear him mumbling something. She turned off the tap and picked up the kettle that he’d dropped as he fell.
At this point she still didn’t know what had happened. She stood over him for a moment or two and slowly started to realise that something was seriously wrong. ‘David Can you hear me? Are you alright?’ she said, tapping him nervously with her foot. When he failed to answer, she leaned over him and found that he appeared to be breathing but his eyes were closed and he had a funny look to his face. He continued to mumble but what he was saying was unintelligible. She stood and wondered what to do. He could be really ill; he could be dying, she thought, what do I do? Although she’d enjoyed giving him a really hard time lately, she couldn’t just stand by and leave him like this, although she was just a little bit tempted. She decided no, she’d better get help and walking slowly to the phone she picked up the handset and dialled 999.