Shorts
A Selection of Short Stories and other Scribblings
Sian Turner
Copyright Sian Turner 2014
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The pieces in this book are works of fiction. All persons appearing in this work are, therefore, fictitious (including their actions, characters and motivations). Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Hot Under the Collar
Lola’s First Christmas Eve
Poor Law
Road Traffic Accident
The Chair
The Promenade
Time to Go
Watching
7th May
Muuuum?
I Wish
Only a Dream
Other works by Sian Turner
Dedication and Acknowledgements
Hot Under the Collar
I knew I was lucky to have Dan and, having heard the saying, ‘All good things come to an end’ quoted so many times, you’d think I’d have realised that something would happen to take him away from me. But no; you always think that the bad things will happen to other people, rather than to you, don’t you? You think you’re safe and comfortable and then – wham! – something unexpected knocks you for six because you just weren’t ready for it.
For me, that moment was two weeks ago exactly, at twenty past two in the afternoon when I popped out of the office and into the town centre to grab an unusually late lunch from the little baked potato outlet round the corner from my office building.
I never did get lunch that day because, as I rounded the corner, a courting couple caught my eye. They were sitting at one of the benches opposite ‘Big Pete’s Baked Potatoes’ and they were all over each other. Really!
A grey-haired lady in her seventies gave them a look of total disgust and I was just thinking that someone should tell them to get a hotel room when the cold dagger of realisation hit me right in the heart: the boy was Dan. My Dan.
Well, he hadn’t seen me – he was too busy ‘exploring the terrain’ of the girl he was with – so I made a hasty retreat around the corner, my heart thumping so hard that I thought it would burst right out of my chest.
I thought about going back and confronting him, but I didn’t want to make a scene in the middle of the shopping precinct; I’m not the type who likes to be the centre of attention. Perhaps that’s what he likes – the girl he was with didn’t seem bothered about making a spectacle of herself in public. So I just trudged numbly back up the hill, across the traffic lights and back to work.
All afternoon, I sat at my desk wondering what I should do.
Dan had moved in with me two years ago, and I loved having him around – I loved him. We had such good times together: the holiday in Morocco last spring, meals out, trips to the cinema – and we’d made plans for this year’s holiday, too.
I spent the afternoon sitting at my desk staring blankly at my computer screen unable to get the image of him with his hands up the back of that girl’s top, and the seductive look on her face, out of my head. I wondered where they were now and what they were up to? Perhaps they were still sitting there engrossed in each other, or perhaps they’d gone to ‘get a room’ after all. The thought was unbearable.
I’d been sitting there for about an hour when Sue from Human Resources walked past my desk. “Are you all right, Jess? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” she remarked, coming over and putting a hand on my shoulder.
I flinched slightly at her touch; hadn’t she heard of personal space? “I’m fine. Just a bit… distracted this afternoon,” I said, smiling weakly.
“Well,” she responded, trying to look sincere, “just come up to my office if you need to chat. You know where to find me.”
As if she was bothered. I hate people like her – all false sympathy and petty gestures. Didn’t she have someone else to hassle?
For the whole afternoon, I sat there, not getting any work done at all, despite the upcoming deadline for the management accounts.
And the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I should have noticed the signs: he’d been smiling a lot lately, especially when he received text messages on his phone. He’d been dressing more smartly, too; I’d hoped it was for my benefit, but now I could see all the evidence coming together: Out with his ‘friends’ twice a week leaving me at home in front of the telly; getting back late, long after I’d gone to bed.
Eventually, it was time to go home. I climbed onto the bus, sitting in one of the spaces that you have to give up if a disabled or elderly person gets on, and wondered what I would say to Dan about the girl.
Nothing. That’s what I said to him; nothing. I knew he loved me – he did so many things to show it. So it must be her fault; that girl had seduced him and was planning on taking him from me for good.
So I decided I’d have to do something about it.
The next day, I left for work as usual, leaving Dan still munching his way through a big bowlful of breakfast cereal. But I didn’t go to work; I rang Sue from Human Resources and told her that I had some things I needed to sort out and she agreed I could take a day’s holiday. Some people are so gullible.
I hid just around the corner to the left of the house and waited for Dan. Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, he appeared – all cleanly shaven and wearing a new T-shirt I’d given him as a gift the week before. He shut the front door and was just locking it when his phone rang. As he looked to see who was calling him, a big soppy smile spread across his face and I knew it was her. He hurried down the path with a spring in his step, huddling the phone to his ear as if it was a child’s comfort blanket. She really had him, I thought.
Luckily, he turned right when he reached the road, so I didn’t have to scurry off and find another hiding place; I just waited for him to turn off along the short footpath that led towards the park and then scampered after him.
I felt quite pleased with myself that he didn’t notice me; it even felt like a game for a while, until he turned down a little slope into the park and she was there waiting for him. That wiped the smile right off my face.
I watched them from the other side of the road. I could only see their heads since they were sitting on a bench. I was grateful that I couldn’t see more, since they were all over each other again, just like in the town centre the day before. Unfortunately, my imagination filled in what their hands were doing, and I actually started to feel a little nauseous as I watched them.
I was just beginning to wonder how long they could carry on this way when they stood up and sauntered off through the park hand in hand, chatting like old friends. I panicked a bit, wondering how I could follow them without having to hide in bushes and draw attention to myself from other park users, but luckily they stopped at the café about 30 yards down the path, so I was able to stay put next to the road.
She sat down at a small table outside on the decking while he went inside and bought some drinks. I no longer had an unobscured view of the pair of them, so I shuffled a few steps to my right to enable me to watch them properly.
She was pretty, with long, wavy, chestnut brown hair and dark eyes, a narrow face and high cheekbones. She was slim, but not skeletal like all those dreadful size zero models, and her long legs looked good in skinny jeans. I glanced down at myself and, realising that I’d put on a little weight since Dan moved in, resolved grudgingly to exercise more regularly.
A couple of minutes later, Dan emerged from the café
with two cups of steaming coffee. She smiled alluringly at him as he put them on the table and sat down. Wow, she was really working on him.
Well, they sat there for about three-quarters of an hour; Dan would smile goofily at the girl as she giggled at something he said, then she’d run her hand seductively through her hair as they chatted.
Once they’d finished their coffees, Dan reached across the table for her hands, and they sat staring into each other’s eyes like they were mesmerised. How sickening!
My feet were starting to hurt now. I’d been standing in the same spot for nearly an hour and my work shoes with their two-inch heels weren’t designed for standing around in. I thought about giving up and going to work after all, but then Dan and the girl stood up and started walking back towards me. I scuttled about six feet to my left where I would be hidden behind a tall bush, looking frantically around for somewhere I could hide if they came back up the slope out of the park. I noticed a transit van parked about 10 feet away from me, and decided that I could safely manage to hide behind it if I had to.
Looking back down into the park, I saw that they were indeed making their way towards the slope, so I tiptoed (quite a feat on heels, I can tell you) quickly off to hide behind the transit van. Luckily there were no passers-by on the road, so I didn’t have to worry about drawing attention to myself.
I peered around the side of the van just in time to see Dan going in for a kiss. I instinctively recoiled, grimacing