Harry Richardsons - 'Karma' from 'The Gun and Other Stories' - A Short Story 1/4 OC
Part 1
Fate, chance, karma, whatever! Life is a fickle mistress, she always pokes you when you least expect it!
An elderly neighbour, once, when I was a young, took me flying in his little Cessna; we got on well and whilst driving back he leaned closer and conspiratorially gave me some sound advice. "Beware when you cheat on your wife Jimmy, just because you’re careful doesn't mean you won't get caught."
By way of explanation, he said. "Once, I flew my secretary over to a little place in Wales, two hundred miles away, right off the beaten track; later we were having tea in a little restaurant. Who’s on the next table? My brother in law! Trust me Jimmy you'll always get caught!"
Bryan was a rogue, I'm not, I keep things straight and simple; I also know when I'm well off; but I am one of life’s risk takers.
I didn’t follow into the family business, dad and his brothers were fishermen. I had glimpsed better possibilities, but I did gain a love of the sea from them as well as a love of cheating the taxman. Their boats regularly crossed the Channel to bring back hoards of duty-free, a habit I had continued.
Then one day Clare came back into my life! We were friends at school, then as teenagers we discovered we had rock climbing in common and for several years we were inseparable. Not lovers but really good friends. Oh, I'm not saying I didn't have fantasies about her, but she was, well, Clare, and I was nothing if brutally shy; frightened to break the ‘status quo.’ We came close on several occasions, but I never asked, and then someone else did!
I knew him, climbed with him, but he wasn't my type, brash and crude, so we drifted!
I had just advertised for a full time PA, having just landed my crowning achievement; I went into property
development and had started my own business six years earlier, this project was for me the big-time! Thirty houses on a single development, I had burnt the midnight oil to pull it off; but then, when I set my sights on something, I get it!
In walked Clare! I hadn't realised from the résumé who she was, her married name unknown to me. She’d have got the job anyway, honestly; she was brilliant! Had that rare quality of being able to read my mind, always anticipating my thoughts and pre-empting me. For a small businessman like myself she was priceless, a real one woman team.
Ten years she had been married to the same guy and had two little children, a boy of six and a girl of four, while I had been married for six, with a four-year-old daughter. Gave me pause, we had been working together for over a year by then, Clare talked about her children constantly and I began to realize that I didn't know my daughter or even my wife, I was a workaholic, either never at home or never available.
Ironically, I had been around to Clare's for dinner with her family more times than I had my own of late. Admittedly, she lived far closer to work than I did.
I wondered sometimes what Clare saw in her husband, as before, we got on ok, but he wasn't my kind, arrogant, and I thought a bully, but maybe that was my perception.
My wife, worked from home as a hair stylist, short hours, good pay. Thanks to her the house was always immaculate, she worked at it tirelessly, her showpiece. A petite natural blonde she was the very definition of ‘vivacious’, and loved nothing more than playing hostess at her frequent social gatherings.
Clare, by comparison was slightly taller, very pretty, her long raven hair falling below her shoulders in ringlets; but always dressed very conservatively. Long sleeves, high necklines, always trousers, and there was a shyness about her that I didn't remember.
Inevitably, it happened, we were working late getting the show house ready for the press launch the following day. It was immaculate, I had learnt from the best, but put my own spin on things. It was getting late and Clare had stayed on helping, so I phoned around and got a takeaway delivered.
Feeling that we deserved it, I poached one of the bottles of fizz from the fridge, and we toasted our achievement.
Then we were talking and laughing, standing face to face, sipping at our wine and it was as if I was drugged, the air became thick as though we were in a bubble cut off from our surroundings. The two of us just chatting and giggling, standing very close; the atmosphere was electric, we were talking about . . . I don't really know, I was going numb, could feel my heart beating, I could hear Clare's, then her hip brushed against my thigh.
It was like a thousand volt shock, we had touched!
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Please check out more of the book at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Stories-Harry-Richardson-Book-ebook/dp/B00HY4CSX2/ref=la_B00HOGD3XY_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470869269&sr=1-2
There's also a full book available!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@mrkuujo/harry-richardson-s-the-encounter-sneak-peek-at-his-first-book-1-4