Unexploded Love

by Paul Gait

  After a few abortive attempts, they stopped trying to talk to each other and waited for a quiet moment.

  They didn’t have to wait too long as the DJ’s over modulated voice announced something about food being available and at the same time he put on a quieter CD. He made a beeline himself to the buffet table and headed up the queue.

  ‘Thank Christ for that,’ Frank said, without having to shout. ‘I think all these bleedin’ DJs are deaf with the volume that high, when all everybody wants to do really is have a beer and a chat.’

  ‘You sound like a grumpy old man,’ she said. ‘You need to ‘feel’ the music to dance.’

  ‘Perhaps you’ll show me later on after you’ve given me lessons on the Kiss of Life. By the way how is your plumbing now?

  Liz blushed at the mention of the plumbing incident. In spite of feeling queasy from fainting she had enjoyed his version of the kiss of life. And his attempt at chest compressions.

  ‘Yes. The drains are OK thanks. I’m sorry I’m not qualified to give first aid training.’ she added awkwardly.

  ‘Pity I’m a quick learner. But practice makes perfect,’ he smirked.

  Someone put the main lights on so that people could see the contents of the buffet table.

  Immediately the revellers started leaving their tables and headed for the refreshments. The club caterers had been busy preparing a mountain of food. The table was groaning under the weight of it. Sausage and filled rolls, fresh tiger bloom bread and cheese, crisps, pork pie slices, salad and sliced beetroot enticed the revellers.

  ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘Yes, you can,’ she slurred. ‘But you’ll have to buy my friend one as well because it’s my round.’

  Her friend had finished the conversation with the person next to her and turned around to speak to Liz then noticed Frank. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your charming companion?’ she asked, studying Frank.

  ‘Mel, this is…oh dear I’ve forgotten your name,’ she lied.

  ‘Well, I obviously made a lasting impression on you,’ he said. ‘Frank. Frank you, frank you very much,’ he said delivering a poor Tommy Cooper impression.

  ‘Frank. Pleased to meet you,’ Mel said, proffering her hand. ‘I’m Melanie.’

  Frank kissed the back of her hand,’ Charmed I’m sure. Pleased to meet you too Melanie.’

  ‘Watch him Mel. He’s a smooth talker.’ Liz added.

  Liz then spotted his damaged eye. ‘I see somebody made an impression on you too.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ he said puzzled, having forgotten about his damaged eye.

  ‘Your eye,’ she said studying it closely. ‘Have you been fighting?’

  ‘Yes I fought off several guys to get to sit next to you,’ he smoozed

  ‘See what I mean Mel. Full of bull,’ Liz said, laughing.

  ‘No. This is my trophy for scoring the winning try today.’ Frank proudly announced.

  ‘Oh you play rugby?’ Mel said unnecessarily.

  ‘Amongst other games,’ he said and seductively rubbed shoulders with Liz.

  ‘Anyway. About this drink.’ Liz quickly changed the subject. ‘Rum and Coke for me and a red wine for you Mel?’

  ‘Yes please.’

  ‘I know when I’m defeated,’ he said, going to the bar.

  ‘Oh my God. Where did you find him Liz? He’s absolutely gorgeous.’ Mel oozed.

  ‘I didn’t. He found me.’ Liz filled Mel in with the encounter in the Flying Machine. ‘And he sorted out my plumbing too.’

  ‘What sort of plumbing?’ Mel asked suspiciously.

  ‘I had a flood in my basement.’

  ‘Oh that sort of plumbing, I thought you meant…you know.’

  ‘You’ve got a dirty mind missy.’ Liz scolded.

  ‘So you and him?’ Mel asked suspiciously.

  ‘Of course not. He’s only a kid.’ Liz said, trying to sound casually disinterested to hide her smouldering interest in him.

  ‘I reckon he’s got to be mid to late twenties.’ Mel said surveying the young rugby player. ‘So you’re not that much older.’

  ‘If you call ten years my junior not being that much older,’ she argued unconvincingly.

  ‘Yes. But what a catch,’ Mel continued. ‘If you’re not interested, move aside and let me have a go,’ she said ogling Frank at the bar.

  ‘Beside which, you’re forgetting. I’m married.’ Liz said, without much conviction. For although she was concerned about William’s state of mind following Pete’s death, she couldn’t do anything about it while he was away and decided to have a good time at the dance.

  ‘Yes, but for how much longer? Let’s face it Liz, you haven’t been happy for a long time, have you?’

  ‘William and I are OK,’ Liz added unconvincingly.

  Frank bumped into the team captain at the bar. ‘Sorry skipper. Didn’t see you there. How’s it going?’

  ‘I’m OK. Looks like you are too. You know she’s married, don’t you? ‘

  ‘Yeah I know. But how do you?’

  ‘Her old man’s in the army. I’ve been on tour with him.’

  ‘What a rugby tour?’

  ‘No. I’m in the TA. I’ve done a tour in Afghanistan with his regiment.’

  ‘Yeah, but you can’t blame me for trying can you? I reckon she’s up for it. She’s even taken her wedding ring off. She thinks I hadn’t spotted it.’

  ‘I wouldn’t mess with an army man’s wife,’ the captain counselled.

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘They’re trained killers,’ the rugby captain said dramatically. ‘And they got a lot of mates who don’t take kindly to people poaching their women either.’

  ‘Come on. I can’t turn this gift horse down. She’s serving it to me on a plate.’

  ‘She’s an officer’s wife.’

  ‘So will it be pistols at dawn then?’ Frank joked. ‘Anyway I quite like her.’

  ‘What happened to your last one? Who was it now?’

  ‘Chelsea.’

  ‘Yeah. So what happened to her?’

  ‘I’m avoiding single Mothers from now on. They’re too clingy and maternal. No, I quite fancy Liz. She’s a bit of fun.’

  ‘OK. But I bet you don’t get past first base with her.’

  ‘You’re on. With my charms, she’s as good as another notch on my head board already. Anyway I ain’t got time to chat to you. I’ve got hunting to do. See you.’

  Frank arrived back at the table carrying all the drinks in his big hands.

  ‘You going to join me at the food table ladies before it’s all gone?’

  They followed him to the table and moved in front of him at his invitation.

  ‘Thank you kind Sir,’ Mel said, and brushed past him seductively.

  Liz and Mel selected a few crisps, sausages and a bit of salad which just about covered the bottom of their paper plates and made their way back to the table, leaving Frank loading a plate with a mountain of food.

  ‘Need to keep my energy up, he said, re-joining them, ‘Got some partying to do tonight with you two ladies.’ And he duly tucked into his large banquet.

  When the disco resumed Frank danced with both of them but made sure he ended the night dancing closely with Liz…getting up close and personal in a smooch.

  ‘Did I hear somebody say that you’re married?’ Frank queried.

  ‘Maybe,’ Liz answered, wrong footed by the question.

  ‘But I didn’t hear them say, happily.’ Frank smiled and wrapped his arms around her in a smothering embrace.

  Liz moulded into him and returned his advances, drunk with a euphoric feeling that she had not experienced for many years in her dormant marriage.

  At the end of the evening Mel, having conceded defeat in the passion stakes, nevertheless decided she needed to rescue Liz from wrecking her marriage. She duly grabbed her arm and dragged her away from Frank. The pair reluctantly unpeeled from each other but not before t
hey kissed.

  ‘Come on you two. Get your tongue out of her throat Frank.’ Mel said and steered a reluctant Liz to the door.

  As they were departing Frank shouted, ‘hey, haven’t you forgotten something?’

  The girls checked each other for any missing items and looked at him blankly.

  ‘No,’ they chorused.

  ‘What about me?’ Frank said hopefully.

  Mel giggled and pushed an unwilling and slightly drunk Liz out of the club.

  ‘See you soon Liz,’ Frank called as the girls disappeared into the night.

  ‘I hope so,’ Liz thought. ‘I really hope so,’ her heart beating wildly.

  CHAPTER 12

  During the night of the dance Frank had managed to get Liz’s mobile number from Mel by persuading her he had forgotten the number Liz had previously given him.

  ‘I need it so that I can make arrangements to do some plumbing work for her,’ he lied.

  Mel was not convinced.’ Why don’t you ask her yourself then?’

  ‘I don’t want to embarrass myself admitting I’d forgotten it,’ he suggested weakly.

  With a knowing smile Mel gave him the number. ‘Be careful what you’re up to. Remember she’s a married woman.’

  ‘What are you suggesting? It’s only to do with her pipes. That’s all.’

  ‘Yes I can imagine. But which ones?’

  So having now gained the number, Frank sent her a text message.

  ‘I found UR nbr in the angel’s directory. Now U have mine 2.’

  Liz looked at the message. She didn’t recognise the number and wondered who’d sent it. She decided to ignore it initially, but her curiosity got the better of her and she replied.

  ‘Who RU?’

  The reply came almost immediately. ‘I haven’t been able to find my heart since the dance, I think you must have stolen it.’

  ‘Oh Frank, you’re so full of BS even on your mobile,’ she laughed.

  Quickly she replied, ‘Not guilty, your honour.’

  ‘Look fwd 2 Cing U at the pub 2 do a full body search 2 make sure.’

  ‘In your dreams Rugby boy.’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. I dream of U constantly. U R my dream girl.’

  Liz was flattered by his attention and enjoyed dreaming about the fantasy of an illicit love affair, in spite of her moral standards about no hanky panky during tour absences. She had seen many marriages founder as a result. However, her firm resolve was weakening. ‘William obviously wasn’t interested in her to even let her know he was safe,’ she thought.

  But she didn’t think there was any harm in responding to some of Frank’s less outrageous texts.

  CHAPTER 13

  It had been a week since Pete died in the massive explosion. William was lying fully dressed on his cot staring at the roof of the tent. His eyes focussed on nothing, his packed camouflaged rucksack standing nearby.

  He made no effort to move at the sound of approaching footsteps.

  ‘Boss, the Chinook is here,’ his deputy informed him. ‘It’s time to make like a shepherd and get the flock out of here.’

  ‘Hasn’t come soon enough for poor Pete though has it?’ William said thickly, without moving. ‘End of operations in Afghanistan. What have we achieved? Eff all.’

  ‘Come on Boss. We came to do a job and we’ve done it.’

  ‘Yeah, but not very well. Do you know that about 80% of our casualties are as a result of bombs and IEDs?’

  ‘You said that you can’t boil the ocean.’ Smithy reminded him. ‘One job at a time isn’t that what you used to say?’

  ‘You know there will be hundreds of them left,’ William reflected pessimistically. ‘We don’t stand a chance of stopping it. This type of guerrilla warfare has been going on for thousands of years.’

  ‘Yeah, I guess the IED problem has gone off the scale…it’s easy killing for them. No fire fight. Just a remote detonation and bang. Another one hits the dust,’ Smithy reflected.

  ‘They don’t even have to kill. Maiming is more disruptive’ William added.

  Yeah, but there’d be more if we hadn’t done our job,’ Smithy repeated. ‘Anyway, you always said we needed to be in control, otherwise…

  ‘In control! Huh! That’s right. I have never felt so out of control as I do now.’ William admitted.

  Smithy struggled to think of something encouraging to bolster up William’s flagging spirits and finally said, ‘I guess it only takes one trigger situation and years of staying in control can easily disappear,’ he said sympathetically.

  ‘Yeah, just like a house of cards,’ William said, closing his eyes. ‘Your belief system starts disappearing and you lose control.’

  ‘Well it’s over now Boss and we’ve got a helicopter waiting for us.’

  William ignored the reminder about leaving and carried on dolefully. ‘But the danger is, you are so focussed on doing the one job, that sometimes you don’t see the bigger picture.’

  ‘Not our problem you used to tell me,’ Smithy reminded him. ‘We’re cogs within wheels you reckoned.’

  ‘No you’re right. I suppose that’s where the Generals and strategists sit isn’t it? One mine, one IED is nothing to them.’

  ‘You got to admit though Boss, it’s a great crack when we defuse an IED, isn’t it?’

  ‘I used to have this romantic idea of saving communities by pitting our wits and risking our lives against an unseen enemy. But Pete’s death has brought me back to earth. It’s a shit job.’

  ‘But somebody’s got to do it. To defeat the people who lay these IEDs.’

  ‘No, they’re only the ‘cannon fodder’.’ William added. ‘The insurgents don’t risk losing a bomb maker to deploy their handiwork. No, the people who site them are expendable.’

  ‘Boss the heli…’

  But William wasn’t listening. ‘The bomb makers are the intelligent people. Some only in their teens. Geeky’ computer boffins. As I know only too well. Underestimate their intelligence at your peril.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Smithy said, as he visualised the Memorial wall at Bastian thinking about his own fallen colleagues.

  ‘This was mine and Pete’s last job before going home,’ William said quietly. ‘Well, I suppose nothing’s changed. Except Pete won’t be walking off the plane at Brize Norton.’

  ‘Sorry about Pete boss. I know he was your good friend.’ Smithy added softly.

  ‘He was more than a friend, Pete. He was my guru. We trusted each other implicitly. I trusted him with my life when we were in some dodgy situations and he trusted me… If you haven’t got trust you have nothing.’ Williams voice cracked, ‘I let him down… I lost him his life.’

  ‘No Boss, you’re being too hard on yourself. The bomb maker tricked us…Pete cut the wrong wire.’

  ‘Yes, we all know he cut the wrong friggin wire. His body is scattered all over Helmand to prove it.’

  ‘No, what I’m saying is, you shouldn’t beat yourself up about his…the explosion. He couldn’t hear you very well and he didn’t cut the correct wire. It’s not your fault.’

  ‘Great. So I blame the Comms team do I?’

  ‘No, boss, I was just…it doesn’t matter.’ Smithy concluded, realising William was too traumatised to listen to a rational argument.

  ‘No you’re right. It doesn’t matter,. He’s dead is all that matters. I let him down in the worst possible way. I betrayed his trust.’

  The soldier waited in deafening silence wondering what to say to the man they called the ‘Iceman’.

  This man was normally ice cool even in the worst situations, especially under fire when all around them were panicking. Here was the man he himself trusted with his life.

  William’s calm and professional approach gave him a confidence he had never felt from others. Being William’s number two, Smithy had been in deadly danger almost every single day.

  William’s ‘long walk’ to confront another IED was text book. His courage walking
into danger was boundless. It was as if he had a shield of invincibility surrounding him.

  To see him in this distressed state was hard to stomach.

  After a respectable pause he finally worked up courage to speak again.

  ‘They’re waiting for us Boss,’ he said quietly. ‘Do you want me to grab your rucker?’

  ‘I’m not a frigging invalid. No I’ll take it myself. Now eff off before I…’

  William swung his legs off his cot, stood up and grabbed some nearby ornaments off a shelf. He looked at them for a second then threw them angrily on to the floor, smashing them to smithereens.

  The iceman had totally lost it.

  Smithy fidgeted before retreating out of the tent, embarrassed at seeing his officer in an angry frenzy and desperately wondering what to do.

  CHAPTER 14

  Liz drove to Brize Norton to pick William up from the military airport. After passing through several security checks she eventually entered the arrivals lounge. She held small and meaningless conversations with other service wives, some of whom she had met before, others she only vaguely remembered. Being off the camp and away from married quarters she had become detached from the social side of being an officer’s wife.

  Liz’s heart was in her mouth as the Airbus A330 Voyager touched down. A puff of smoke announced its landing as the wheels kissed the runway. While the plane was on the taxiway a large C17 Globemaster transport plane also touched down.

  The taxiing aircraft seemed to take an age to manoeuvre around the airfield before finally heading towards the terminal buildings. It was another frustratingly long period before the steps were positioned for the passengers to alight.

  Then, at last, the passenger door of the Voyager opened and the excitement amongst the waiting families became an audible chatter.

  A chameleon of soldiers still dressed in their desert camouflage uniforms started exiting the plane and descending the steps.

  Liz searched expectantly for William, but couldn’t see him in the euphoric waving line of smiling faces.

  Suddenly the doors of the arrivals lounge were opened and a small stampede of relatives avalanched on to the edge of the airfield where a line of traffic cones had been placed to indicate their border.