CLICHE #5

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 …

MY JERRY SPRINGER MOMENT

I LOOKED AROUND, HALF expecting someone to jump out from behind the couch and laughingly tell me I was on Candid Camera. I’d have said Jerry Springer, except in his case I’d have been lured to his studio under a false pretense.

It had to be a joke. It was too surreal, too bizarre, too warped to be true. I longed for it to all be one huge joke, bad taste and ill-conceived, but a joke nonetheless.

But it wasn’t. Read More …

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 …

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 …

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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COMPULSION – THE EXTENDED VERSION

SPECIAL NOTE: This extended version, adding approximately 3000 words, is thanks to the constructive feedback offered by low8option. Van1 and CTC love constructive criticism and questions. Thank you, low8option, for making us dig deeper on this story. Read More …