SEVEN DEADLY SINS: SLOTH

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 …

OUTSURANCE

If I’d known that today would be the last normal day in my life for many months to come, I might have made more effort to stop and smell the roses.

It was near 3:00 p.m. when my secretary came into my office to say there was a man to see me. I stood and walked around my desk as she led him in, but he ignored my outstretched hand. Well, ignored it for a handshake. He took advantage of my stance to thrust an A4 envelope into it with the words, ‘You’ve been served’.
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CLICHE #4

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

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

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 …

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! How does he know? How did Dave find out? My marriage is toast, I just know it. The courts will judge Dave to be the primary caregiver of our kids, he’ll be awarded custody. I’ll be a social pariah, shunned by just about everyone in this church-going community. Forgiven by the priest with the soft words but the judging expression. Read More …

POETIC JUSTICE

To this day, I don’t know if it was a sigh, a cough, a breath of air stirred up by my husband’s presence, or something on a more psychic level that made me open my eyes. I do recall having an inane, endorphin spurred goofy grin on my face attesting to the success of John’s recent efforts. Read More …

AT LEAST I STILL HAVE MY BALLS

“But at least I still have my balls, Your Honor.”

I heard my lawyer emit a low hiss and out of the corner of my eye saw his glare directed at me. I thought a guy on an hourly rate as huge as his would have a little more self-control than that. He’d warned, or rather, begged me to stop saying that phrase, citing that we risked losing public sympathy. Public sympathy, apparently, sways judges into handing out shorter sentences.
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