Clifton Falls (4 page)

FIVE

Vincent eagerly gathered his thoughts as he prepared himself for the blossoming task waiting for him. He could easily have forgotten all about Karen but was in such a good mood that he kept to the agreement.

“Good afternoon, this is the National Bank, you’re speaking to

Karen. How may I help you?”
“This is your dirty secret coming back to haunt you.” Karen recognised the filthy-minded voice, but wasn’t going to

say anything just in case there was another weird pervert out there. “Excuse me. Who’s this?” she said, putting on a shocked tone. “It’s me, Vincent. Who’d you think it was?”
“I thought it was you, but you don’t normally phone from
outside the bank.”
“I know, but this is important. I won’t be back in today, so I’m
letting you know that you can go home at three o’clock. You’ve got
two and a half hours to find some cover.”
“Okay, whatever you say. See you tomorrow then.” “One more thing before I attend to my garden, if anybody asks to speak to me and it sounds urgent, pass on my home phone
number but don’t mention why I’m not at work. Be a good girl and
you’ll be rewarded. Bye.”
Karen was left thinking about what he said, but hoped Vincent
wasn’t going to attempt to reward her.
He changed into his gardening dungarees, placing a little straw
hat on his head before sorting out the dreaded back garden, but
stalled. He hadn’t set foot on the blasted thing for the past six
months, well not since his mother died. She was the keen gardener
and had taken great care in keeping it perfect. The house originally
belonged to her. It seemed she hadn’t wanted to leave it, so had
written in her will that she wished to be buried on the property.
Margaret had been born in the house and thought it the perfect
goodbye if she was laid to rest there as well.
The grave was out of sight from the public eye so not many
people knew it was there, but it made Vincent feel anxious. Each
time he went outside the back door could feel his mother’s eyes all
over him, as if she was watching him from her new home. It took another hour before he finally erased the nasty stomach
churning thoughts about his dead mother and stepped onto the
garden. The sack had been unloaded from the boot of the car as
soon as he arrived home and now rested on the paved surface near
to his back door. He dragged it to the end of the concrete slabs,
slicing it open with a Stanley knife.
Vincent knew he would have to do some weeding before
spreading out the fertilizer. After quite a few months of neglect,
weeds, thistles, and even litter had taken over the once immaculate
showpiece of a garden, so he gathered together the vital tools from
his shed and started tidying.
“What are you doing?”
He looked up to see that his wife had returned from doing the
shopping. She never worked much these days, but sometimes
would help out at the local school doing dinners and other duties,
but not this week.
“Hello dear. I’ve decided to take some time off to attend to the
garden. I know I’ve been stupid about my mother being here, but
I’m okay now. She wouldn’t want me to leave it, so I’m not going
to.”
“I see you’ve made a start. I’m glad for you. I’d better leave you
to it before you change your mind.” His wife gave a little smile.
“I’ve just bought you a bottle of that wine you like. Would you like
a glass?”
“No thanks, love. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you inside soon.” It took another half an hour to clear the debris before Vincent
scooped contents from the sack into a bucket. He then scattered the
soft, soil like fertilizer over the piece of land. All areas needing
urgent attention received an overdose of the wonder-growth. He
then grabbed the garden fork, mixing the dirt into the fertilizer.
Once completed, gathered the rest and placed it in a wheelbarrow,
wheeling the remaining fertilizer and the tools into his shed before
locking the door.
With his clothes now dirty, Vincent walked back to the house,
but forgot to pick up one of his tools.
“Vince, love, could you put your clothes down by the washing
machine, I’ll wash them later,” Mary shouted from the next room. “I wouldn’t bother washing today if I were you, the sky’s
clouding over and it looks like it’ll rain,” he replied, while removing
his dungarees and hat.
“It looked okay earlier. Are you sure it’s going to rain?” “If you don’t believe me then take a look yourself.”
Mary entered the kitchen, staring out the window to witness the
sky form into one huge mass of blackness. It looked strange, and as
Mary watched, smaller, black clouds teamed up to join the large
one.
There’s going to be a major storm and one that could go on through the
night
, she thought.
“Get ready for some thunder and lightning dear, you’re right
about the weather.”
Vincent looked up to the sky upon hearing the first sound of
thunder. The noise slowly increased with every deafening ‘CRASH’.
The storm seemed to have developed out of nothing, like an
unexplainable freak of nature.
Rain pelted down, splashing with a whip-like force against the
windows around the house until they were close to breaking. In just
five minutes the garden looked more like a swimming pool than a
plot of land ready for seeding.
Together, the married couple watched in total amazement as
the storm turned into a multicoloured mixture of darkness and
light. The pitch-black clouds smothered the daylight but the lightning flashes brightened the sky again like fireworks on bonfire
night.
“Don’t worry, love. The garden could do with some water on
it.”
“Mary, are you taking the piss? I’ve just wasted the last hour or
so putting down compost and now it’s vanished without a trace. So
please, don’t tell me it’s fine because the garden could do with some
watering.”
Vincent never normally swore at his wife, but when he did, she
knew he was upset over something.
“I’m sorry dear. I didn’t mean to annoy you.”
He wasn’t going to be mad at Mary for very long as it wasn’t her
fault it rained like a waterfall. “It’s all right. I’ll just have to do it
again on another day.”
Vincent placed the dirty clothes by the washing machine,
slipped on some clean ones, and walked away from the kitchen. He
felt grumpy that all his good work seemed to have been for nothing,
but knew he would get over it.
He entered the living room and sat down in his favourite chair.
Mary followed him in after a few minutes. She held two mugs of
tea, placing them on the sideboard before sitting in the seat next to
his. Both were like quiet little mice for the next fifteen minutes. By 3.00pm, Mary had gone into the kitchen to prepare Vincent’s
lunch. He thought about watching some daytime television but the
noise of the thunder made him change his mind on that idea.
Knowing my luck
, he thought,
the lightning would aim a bolt right at
my aerial and blow the bloody thing up.

Mary returned with Vincent’s rations. He was supposed to be on a strict diet and his wife didn’t trust him to make his own lunch. Vincent’s version of a diet was a lot different to hers. “Here you go, love. Get this down you,” she said, grinning slyly.

Vincent produced a fake smile. He knew his life was under threat if he didn’t eat properly and didn’t want to let Mary down, but sometimes, the food she gave him tasted disgusting. “Cheers love. It looks tasty, yum, yum.”

Mary slapped him on the shoulder and huffed. She wasn’t going to give in and returned to the kitchen. The weather change had stalled her daily plans so preparing food for later on was now top priority. Dinner was going to be a treat for her moaning old husband.

Vincent prodded the sandwich then lifted it up to determine what was in it. There was no meat, no cheese, nothing resembling a dairy product, not even butter, but it did contain lots of salad, lots of salad on brown bread. Vincent sighed, but ate his sandwich to please Mary. A few minutes later and he contemplated about going to bed for a nap before dinner. “I think I’ll have a lie down. I’m a bit worn out after all that gardening,” he shouted out to her in the kitchen.

“Okay,” she replied. “I’ll wake you when dinner’s nearly ready.”
Vincent headed upstairs while his wife carried on peeling the potatoes.

SIX

During the past hour, Blake and Karen had gone home, dried themselves off and had changed into fresh clothing. They hadn’t been able to avoid the onslaught of vicious splashes of water tossing down from the sky. The weather wasn’t letting up as raindrops, almost as big as table tennis balls crashed onto pavements, while drainpipes up and down the street gushed out water. There were no signs of humans or animals at this time. Even the birds had flown to safer and drier places. No one was stupid enough to be caught up in this, unless, like Karen and Blake, were heading home from somewhere.

If the roaring thunder, lightning and rain kept up this pace then Blake’s plan for them to have an amorous meal somewhere was probably going to be scrapped.

“Maybe our romantic dinner might have to be put on hold for a while. Well, at least until the rain slows down.” Karen looked disappointed and Blake knew he needed another plan of action to make her smile again. “If it doesn’t go away before seven then I promise to make a romantic meal here. What do you say?”

“How can I resist such an offer,” she replied.
“Problem solved then,” he said with a smile.
Last night had rekindled the flames of desire between the two of

them but today the water from the rain was close to putting the flame out again.

He gave Karen a comforting hug, she responded, hugging him back. It was a good thirty seconds before the clinch was released.
Blake remained close and lifted her chin with his left hand. He stared deeply into her pupils, his own eyes shining like they’d done last night.
“I know you’re upset about our plans being dampened, but I’ll make it up to you. Just wait and see.”
Karen felt an urge to sexually attack her husband with kisses again and her face moved closer to his, he responded, doing the same. Their mouths slowly searched for each other’s, but as soon as they reached an inch apart, froze. Their eyes remained open, but who was going to make the first move? Karen couldn’t resist the moment and moved her lips to his, a touch at first, but then licked Blake’s lips with the tip of her tongue which caused a refreshing event in his trouser area. They now kissed in a lustful and erotic manner. It was like their first time kiss all over again. Karen’s tongue went through the motion of slipping in and out of Blake’s mouth as her right hand aimed toward his groin. She felt the lump and rubbed her hand over it. Blake was now becoming a victim of an over-sexed woman whose sexual appetite had increased by fifty percent in the past day. He reached for her wandering hand before it ventured into his trousers via the zip, backing away slightly, but not enough to send out the wrong messages. He was keen to continue this, but in a more appropriate room. “Stop for a minute,” he said, panting.
“What’s wrong?” Karen frustratingly replied.
“We can’t do this here. I don’t want Gene Kelly looking through the window and seeing my arse go up and down.”
“Gene Kelly?” she asked, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.
“Yes. Have you seen ‘Singing in the Rain’, the movie with that bloke in it? He could be out there as we speak, his umbrella collecting raindrops. You never know, he could be.”
“Stop being stupid, that’s just a film, and not even Gene Kelly would be daft enough to step outside today. Trust me. Get your arse upstairs. If you can’t take me out then I’m going to have to find something else for you to do.”
Karen became very forceful in her choice of words. Blake did what he was told and forgot about the man in the movie.
The sheets were messed up within the first fifteen seconds of them touching down on the bed. Blake felt younger and younger as the minutes ticked by.
Karen’s excitement allowed her to take control of this sex act. She turned him onto his back before swift hands searched for the belt on his trousers. It was unbuckled before being pulled away from the item of clothing.
“So lover, what would you say if I told you I was going to tie you up?”
Blake’s mood at this time meant he couldn’t care less what she did to him. “I would say belt me, baby.”
Karen gripped his hands together, wrapping the belt around them and the headboard. Once secured, went on to the next step in her little plan. Blake’s trousers were undone.
Karen tugged at them until they slipped to his ankles. One more tug and they were off completely. She then moved toward him and Blake began to smile…

The storm hadn’t slowed down as the time reached 7.00pm. For the past two hours Blake and Karen had slept, showered, and were now back downstairs looking bleakly at the rain drenched, monsoon-like street.

“What are you waiting for, get in the kitchen and cook me something.”
“Okay, I will. Just give me a moment to compose myself.”
“Get in there, I’ll show you where you’ll find what you need.”
Blake wasn’t really known for his cooking skills so wasn’t surprised to see his wife follow. To Blake, the kitchen was a place of mystery. “Okay, okay, so I’m not very familiar with where to find everything.”
He looked inside the fridge and noticed a couple of nice, juicy steaks that Karen had bought for yesterday’s meal. He removed them and placed them on the table. He then smiled at his wife. “I’m going to make you the best steak surprise you’ve ever tasted…”
Karen laughed at the funny man who stood in front of her. Blake placed his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and pointed in the direction of the living room. “Get your arse in there and leave me to impress you with my cooking skills.”
Karen still howled with laughter, but did as she was told.
For the next hour or so all she could hear was clattering coming from the direction of where Blake was supposed to have been making dinner. “Is everything okay in there? You haven’t smashed any of my good crockery have you?”
“Babe, everything’s brilliant. It’s all under control, and no, I haven’t broken anything.” The quick snapping reply came.
“Just checking…”
A strange aroma floated into the living room.
“Jesus Christ, Blake, what’s that smell? Is there something burning?”
Why did she have to say it like she’s taking the piss?
he thought.
The oven released smoke and looked like a fire-breathing dragon after spraying deadly flames on its prey. This wasn’t a good sign for Blake.
“Don’t panic. It’s nothing serious, just a slight problem. There’s nothing to worry about. You sit down and watch some television. Dinner won’t be long now.”
Karen wasn’t convinced that Blake had the situation under control, but gave him the benefit of the doubt this time. The television was switched on, but the screen was fuzzy. “I can’t watch it. The storm must’ve blown the aerial off the roof. If I can’t be entertained by that then I could help you with dinner?”
“No, no, no, you sit back down. Do some knitting or something. Everything’s cool. I’m fine on my own.”
Karen didn’t listen this time. She became too eager to see what he had or hadn’t achieved in the last hour so headed for the kitchen where she was met with an appalling mess. “Blake.” There was a major pause as her eyes scanned the area. “When have you ever known me to do any knitting?”
“Well now’s a good time to start learning. You’ve no excuses. I might be in here for some time, so knit me a jumper or something. Christmas is only nine months away. I’ll definitely be out of here by then, so you can give it to me as a present.”
Karen didn’t want to start laughing again but couldn’t force herself to be angry with him. She should’ve shouted at Blake for the mess he’d made but he was such a sweetheart with his apron on. He was trying so hard to impress her, even though he was the worst bloody chef she’d ever seen in her life. “I’m being serious now, I’ll go back into the other room but I won’t be knitting you any jumpers, cardigans or woolly hats. However, I am going to let you have another half an hour to come up with something resembling edible food.”
She slowly walked away grinning, deep down predicting that he wouldn’t manage to meet the set target.
Blake was left once again alone in the smoke-filled kitchen. With a scratch of the head he opened the window to release the black, charcoal-tasting smog. He’d more important worries on his mind now than think about the rain splashing through the opening.
He looked at the oven, knowing the steaks were ruined before opening the door.
Oh well
, he thought.
Looks like I’m going to have to think of something else.
At 9.00pm on the dot, dinner was finally completed. The smoke had cleared and Blake was at last on top of the situation. “Dinner’s ready. Come and get it,” he shouted.
Those weren’t the words that his beloved expected to hear and her theory had backfired.
He shouted for Karen to close her eyes as she came into the kitchen. He wanted to astonish her, so she agreed, but as she moved past the doorway, Blake reached out and led her toward the kitchen table. “You can open your eyes now.”
Karen’s reaction to the sight in front of her wasn’t good and her hopes of a delicious, succulent, steak feast were deeply dashed when she saw what stared back at her. What’d started off as being a steak surprise had now turned into greasy chips, eggs, and beans.
“What happened to my steak surprise?”
“You’ve got steak surprise.”
“There’s no steak on my plate,” Karen replied, with a hint of upset tapping at her brain.
“Well, that’s the surprise. There’s no steak. Are you surprised?” he replied, as a large smirk spread across his cheeks.
“Very funny... I was looking forward to a nice bit of rump.”
“Stop moaning love, you’ve had enough romp to last you a lifetime.”
“I said rump, not romp…”
Blake shook his head, laughing as he did so. Karen was always a bit slow on the jokes, but did click on after another twenty seconds. “Okay, you got me, you were talking about the sex we had.”
Blake concentrated on getting the conversation back to the appropriate subject. “So, what do you really think? I know it’s not what you wanted and I’m very sorry for burning the steaks, but at least the eggs came out okay. Look, I never even broke the yolk, just for you.”
“You’re right. It’s not what I thought it was going to be, but hey, at least you tried.” Karen glared at him. “But promise me you’ll never, ever cook anything as a surprise again and I’ll let you off?” She paused briefly. “One more thing before I finish, those eggs do look nice.” They were back on smiling terms again. The couple sat at the table to eat, or at least try to eat their meals.