Pat having won last time started with dancing with death on a cliff edge not forgetting the dog. John on the child who lost his parents and was a problem. Joan Read mistaken identity.Brian seeing things that weren't there at least we hope they weren't. Sheila self catering holiday cottage. Jenny bike ride to the New Forest. Joan live as it is for us, My story my first job in the docks. Joan E staying home happy with what is.
When I lived - next month's story
Ann won
Tell Me What
When
Felix told me he was leaving I was devastated, but on reflection, I
should have known this was coming. All the signs had been there for
several years and I had chosen to ignore them – working late at the
office, overnight meetings midweek and taking more interest in his
appearance. How could I have been so gullible?
We
had met at university twenty years ago and there had been an instant
affinity. When we graduated we managed to both get jobs in the same
town and got a small flat. I always hoped we would eventually get
married, but Felix seemed in no hurry saying that we didn’t need a
piece of paper to prove our love. I accepted the situation, but said
that if we started a family I would want to be married before the
child was born. No children came and things continued in the same
way. We moved into a large house in a smart area of the town, had
holidays in exotic places, were able to eat out at fancy restaurants
when we felt like it and go up to see the new shows in London. Some
of our friends said they envied our carefree life, but if the truth
be know, I envied them theirs, with their small families and regular
routines.
As
time went on the holidays, restaurant and theatre visits got less and
we both became immersed in our jobs. We met at breakfast and made
polite conversation and as we came home at different times, often ate
our evening meals alone. One Friday evening I arrived home to find
several suitcases in the hall and Felix waiting in the lounge. He
told me he was moving out and had got a flat in the next town. On
further questioning he admitted there was someone else and they were
moving in together. I ranted and raved and told him none too
politely what I thought of him. I ended up by picking up one of the
smaller cases, took it to the front door and threw it into the front
garden and told him to take the rest and clear off. When he had gone
I was so exhausted I fell into the chair and cried myself to sleep.
I woke up the next morning and took stock of the situation. I was
not going to let this drag me down. I almost felt a sense of relief
that there wasn’t any obligation now to put on a show of unity any
more and decided that even though I was nearly forty and unmarried, I
still had a life ahead of me. That weekend I sorted cupboards,
drawers, bookcases and shelves out, filling dozens of bags with
anything Felix had left and things he had given me. I even went into
the roof and got cases down with old clothes in – the dress I wore
on our first date, clothes he had bought for me when we went on
holiday. On the Monday morning I called into the charity shop near
my office and left them all there. That lunchtime I visited an
estate agent and enquired about small flats for sale. I phoned Felix
and left a message for him saying I was putting the house on the
market. A few days later my boss told me the promotion I had applied
for had been agreed and I would be in charge of the training. I
started the following month and enjoyed the challenges the new job
entailed. Alice, one of the young girls was having a few problems
with some of the work and I took her aside and gave her more
instruction. She opened up and started telling me that she didn’t
remember her parents as they were killed in a car crash when she was
small. An aunt had brought her up with her own children, but she had
always felt an outsider. I liked her and over the months we went for
coffee together and she would tell me things she was doing and
planning. I almost felt like a surrogate mother to her. One day she
told me she and her friend were going to a fancy dress party. She
had got the perfect outfit and would bring it in to show me. The
following day she came in with a bag and explained she had done a
trawl of the charity shops and had found this. I couldn’t believe
my eyes. There on the table was one of the outfits Felix had bought
me on one of our trips abroad.
“Tell
me what you think,” she said. “ I can’t imagine what sort of
person would wear this, can you?”
“No
I can’t,” I gulped. “It looks very, er, um, unusual,” I
replied, as I inwardly smiled to myself at the thought of the big
putdown for Felix’s choice of outfits.
