Four Lives: Part One

~ beetleypete

This is the first part of a fiction serial, in 823 words.

Marian.

It was pouring all the way home, and the walk from the bus stop had soaked her feet. All she could think about was getting in, and putting on some cosy pyjamas. There was half a bottle of Chablis left in the fridge, and the Brie would have to do for dinner, with some of those nice sesame seed crackers.

Leaving a wet footprint on the pile of post behind the door she flipped off her shoes without bothering to bend, and took her wet tights off before she had even removed her coat. Her umbrella went into the bath to dry off, and she had the wine open less than three minutes after closing the door.

Once she was in the panda pyjamas and fluffy socks, Marian stretched out on the sofa and thumbed through the post as she sipped her wine. Credit card bill, phone bill, and a reminder to book a cervical smear test. She kept forgetting to go online and arrange paperless bills, and as for the smear test, that would have to wait. Work was much too busy, and the clinic didn’t do tests at weekends.

Feeling the dent in her finger where her wedding and engagement rings had sat for so long, she wondered for a second what Steve was doing at that moment.

Just for that second though. No point dwelling too long on the past.

The wine was going down too easily, and she knew that it was time to put another bottle in the fridge for later. It always had to be as cold as possible, for her to enjoy it. The cheese and crackers could wait though, as she wasn’t very hungry yet. The chicken pesto panini she had for lunch was repeating on her, but she knew that would calm down soon. The bottle of Chablis in the wine rack was her last one, so she stuck a post-it note on the fridge to remind her to buy more.

Forget switching on the TV, she had been looking at screens all day. But one screen was calling, and that was on her mobile phone.

No matches on the dating app, and nothing much going on with Facebook, except everyone complaining about the rain in London that evening. Just as well she didn’t take the tube, as some stations were closed because of flooding. She put the phone on charge, and rested her head back against the far too expensive cushion that had tempted her. It wasn’t even seven, and she was contemplating a very early night.

Her legs needed shaving, but she knew that was never going to happen tonight. She would wear her pinstripe trouser suit tomorrow, and nobody would be any the wiser about leg hair.

Music might help, and she had the new Ed Sheeran CD in the machine. Pressing play, she drifted away to his voice. Steve had never liked him, not even at the beginning of his fame when everyone thought he was great. He stuck to his shitty rock stuff, and she would watch TV in the bedroom when he played AC/DC and Def Leppard.

Sometimes, Marian wondered how they had ever got together. They didn’t like any of the same things, whether music, films, TV, or even food. He hated foreign food, and she detested fish and chips, his favourite. But when you had been school sweethearts people expected you to get engaged, then marry eventually.

Marian had gone along with it. Dad walked her down the aisle, and they had the full deal. A white Rolls-Royce, the huge reception at a nice hotel, and a honeymoon in Las Vegas so Steve could play on the machines while she sat bored watching him. By the time they got back from America, she knew it had all been a terrible mistake. But she stuck with it for the sake of both families, and because she felt she owed it to her dad after he had spent most of his redundancy money on the wedding.

And because you did all that, when you were a woman. You just did.

Perhaps it was the third glass of wine from the second bottle, or because she hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, but she was out cold on the sofa when the door buzzer sounded.It took her a while to come round, and her head was fuzzy. One good thing about her rented flat, it had a camera on the entryphone.

She could make out her younger sister, Ros. She wasn’t dressed for the rain and was soaked to the skin. If she had come from home, it would have taken her the best part of two hours. She was looking into the camera, her eyes swollen, hair lank from the rain, and a huge bruise visible on her cheek. Her loud voice on the intercom made Marian jump.

“Let me in, Mal. For christ’s sake, please let me in!”

38 thoughts on “Four Lives: Part One”

  7. (1) For a moment there, I thought it was Robin Hood at Marian’s door. He might have come to borrow her tights for the evening.
    (2) Overheard:
    Him: “Come on baby, light my fire!”
    Her: “Sorry. No matches on this dating app.”
    (3) Is AC/DC a current band?
    (4) Rather than watch Steve play the slot machines, Marian could have gone to a Las Vegas beauty salon to have her legs shaved by a sexy monsieur. But then Steve would probably have upped the ante by going to a high-end strip club. That would likely have encouraged Marian to audition for erotic poolside modeling. Steve might then have hitched a ride to the Chicken Ranch where, much to his surprise, Marian had just been hired, prompting him to admit that perhaps their marriage had been a terrible mistake.
    (5) Ros should have worn a diver’s wetsuit. Or a bikini. Or nothing at all.
    (6) A friend of mine in New Mexico said, “I hope she treats Ros well. It would be a shame for Marian to alienate her sister!”
    (7) I knew Marian would go by Mal from this story’s Inception. #MarionCotillard

    Like

    Reply

  8. (1) For a moment there, I thought it was Robin Hood at Marian’s door. He might have come to borrow her tights for the evening.
    (2) Overheard:
    Him: “Come on baby, light my fire!”
    Her: “Sorry. No matches on this dating app.”
    (3) Is AC/DC a current band?
    (4) Rather than watch Steve play the slot machines, Marian could have gone to a Las Vegas beauty salon to have her legs shaved by a sexy monsieur. But then Steve would probably have upped the ante by going to a high-end strip club. That would likely have encouraged Marian to audition for erotic poolside modeling. Steve might then have hitched a ride to the Chicken Ranch where, much to his surprise, Marian had just been hired, prompting him to admit that perhaps their marriage had been a terrible mistake.
    (5) Ros should have worn a diver’s wetsuit. Or a bikini. Or nothing at all.
    (6) A friend of mine in New Mexico said, “I hope she treats Ros well. It would be a shame for Marian to alienate her sister!”
    (7) I knew Marian would go by Mal from this story’s Inception. #MarionCotillard

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

All comments welcome

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.