Author: Van1

THE FINAL CONVERSATION

Posted onAuthorVan16 Comments

As befits the most expensive and ever so exclusive restaurant in town, the tables were intimate and well separated. Each a little candlelit bastion of intimacy. Nevertheless, if one stood in the centre of the room as I currently was you could see all the tables and recognise the occupants.

They could also recognise me and the look of anger on my face.

This was proven when I saw Colleen, who I’d married twenty-seven years ago, holding hands across the table with a guy about fifteen years our senior. The pair were gazing into each other’s eyes. The cock-sucking mollusc looked like he’d been born in that $3,000 suit which, of course, he’d accessorised with a Patek Philippe watch. Read More …

GONE IN MINUTES # 7

Posted onAuthorVan17 Comments

I glanced out of the bedroom window at Dave, my husband of sixteen years mowing the lawn. The sight of him in his blue singlet, faded old shorts, safety boots, earmuffs, and sun hat made me linger. He cut an impressive figure with his muscles bulging as he pushed the lawnmower up the slope of the bank. I continued to watch him admiringly. Read More …

CLICHE #5

Posted onAuthorVan16 Comments

The first inkling I had that my wife didn’t deserve the trust I’d always placed in her was after an invitation to our new neighbour’s house. Sandy and John had bought the place a year ago but delayed moving in until they’d completed major renovations which included the building of a clay tennis court. Sarah and I were the first of the neighbours they invited over. We enjoyed a lovely barbecue lunch and some friendly drinks before being given the grand tour. Ours was an affluent neighbourhood and the tour of the gardens alone took some time and ended up at the magnificent tennis court. At John’s invitation, Sarah and I went home, only next door, to change into clothes more suited to tennis. Read More …

SEVEN DEADLY SINS: SLOTH

Posted onAuthorVan124 Comments

Jane lay there as Peter pounded into her from above, pretending, for his sake, and hers, to enjoy what he was doing. ‘Thrash your head from side to side, girl, that’s what you normally do’, she said to herself. She normally loved what they did together but today was different. How different was demonstrated clearly to her when on one of her head turns she spied her husband’s side of the bed. The familiar sight of Dave’s bedside table, complete with his dress watch and other paraphernalia, caused her to freeze. Read More …

CLICHE #4

Posted onAuthorVan115 Comments

So much has happened in a few short months that it’s now hard to remember how my doubts started. Let me think back to what happened on that extraordinary, ordinary day.

I remember it was a Wednesday, a Wednesday that started like every other ordinary work day. I left for work at seven-thirty after kissing my wife Julie and giving my two teen sons, Pete and Mick, a squeeze on the shoulder because, apparently, they weren’t babies anymore and therefore were too old for a kiss – their words, not mine – goodbye. Read More …

CLICHE # 3 – THE JUDGE REYNOLDS SAGA CONTINUES

Posted onAuthorVan16 Comments

I finished reading the note my lawyer had just passed me and smiled, then glanced over to the other side of the courtroom. There was Laura, my hopefully soon-to-be ex-wife, with her lawyer. She glanced over and gave me a nervous but confident smile. Read More …

CLICHE #2 – FIVE STAR RESTAURANT

Posted onAuthorVan111 Comments

I’d never been to a five-star restaurant before and I gotta say it felt like alien territory to a panel beater tradie like me. Give me a small family diner every day of the week. I was damned lucky to get a table, but, apparently, the five-star hotel hosting the five-star restaurant reserved tables for house guest walk-ins. The fact it was a Monday night in mid-winter helped as well, of course. Read More …