This is an oldie from 2010/2011. The original ending was very abrupt so I’ve updated it quite a bit.
Company Dinner/Dances are events to hate for the vast majority of single, unattached men. When these things come around, they are faced with three questions which may or may not become problems later in their career.
Firstly, do they get a date for the evening and risk becoming the office gossip for weeks and/or making a real fool of themselves on the dance floor with their multitude of big left feet?
Or secondly, do they say, ‘To hell with this’ and adjourn to the bar with the other poor male sods once the formal part of the evening is done and dusted and get totally ‘rat arsed’.
Finally, they could just not go and suffer the consequences later. One of the most common of these in the City of London is being passed over for promotion because you were clearly not a team player or words to that effect.
The least risky from a career point of view is the first option however…
His problem was the mid-summer ball. This particular year, it was being held on a Riverboat and the word from on high was that attendance was mandatory and that ALL men should have partners to accompany them to the event. Several on the unattached men were debating about becoming ‘gay’ for the evening and going together. Others were seriously evaluating the splashing out on a female escort for the evening and taking the reputation hit on the chin.
Sean, on the other-hand was positively dreading the whole thing. He had no girlfriend and to be blunt was very much a loner but as a newly promoted ‘Head of Section’, he was really unable to get out of attending the event.
Fortunately, one of the people who now worked for Sean took pity on his plight. Wendy Freeman, who was more than old enough to be his Mother, decided to help him out. Wendy had been with the company since she’d left school and knew just about everyone in the place. She was also the chief gossip broker of the department.
“Don’t worry Sean. I’ll have a date for you. It’s all fixed up,” were her endless words of assurance.
“But who is it?”
“Don’t worry she’s a nice girl and won’t bite,” replied Wendy as she tapped her nose.
This didn’t help settle his nerves, but it was obvious that Wendy was not going to divulge the name of his date for the evening.
“Just go off to Moss Bros and rent yourself a proper DJ,” she said as they left for the weekend. “Next Saturday will be ‘a night to remember.’”
Sean felt a severe chill go down his spine as he remembered the name of the old film about the sinking of the Titanic. Was his career about to sink without trace beneath the waves of the river Thames in a little over a week’s time?
The following week, everyone was talking about the event. Who was going with Who, what were they going to wear. Who was going to get ‘Lucky’?
Whenever anyone asked Sean who he was going with, he had to say ‘I don’t know’.
Not everyone believed him so he used the only ‘cop-out’ that he was able to play.
“Wendy has arranged a date for me and she’s not saying who it is” said Sean as his excuse.
This stopped most of the doubters in their tracks. Wendy Freeman was a person not to be belittled or even argued with. If she has said that she’d arranged a date for Sean then that was what was going to happen.
Even so, there was still a lot of chatter about which unattached woman would be as silly as to be his date. Sean was not regarded as a big catch amongst the single women who gossiped around the coffee machines.
Several of the ‘wise guys’ in the office had started a sweepstake about how ugly Sean’s date was going to be. By the time Sean left work on the Friday, he was thoroughly depressed.
The phone call he received from Wendy early on the Saturday Morning didn’t help either.
“Sean, there has been a slight change of plan. You’ll meet your date on board the boat.”
“Wendy, who is my date?”
“Don’t worry Sean. She’s a very nice person and really beautiful. Those idiots who are running that silly sweepstake are in for a real shock.
They are so wide of the mark that it is laughable.”
If that was meant to cheer him up, it did just the opposite.
Sean really was a loner. He had not really dated anyone since before he went to University almost 10 years previously. His ‘experience’ with members of the opposite sex was limited to a few unsuccessful bits of ‘teenage groping’ at the local cinema or in the back of his Cousins Transit van.
Only Sean knew the real reason for his reluctance to get romantically involved yet, he was always able to talk to women as friends and they would not treat him as if he was ‘coming on to them’. In fact, his only real friends were women but not in a sexual way. This was clearly something he didn’t broadcast widely for obvious reasons especially when their partners were around.
Sean arrived for the evening event very early. This was normal for him. Being late for anything was just not in his psyche. The Boat was not ready to accept guests so he joined some of the other early birds at a pub not far from the ‘Mermaid Theatre’.
“Getting some ‘Dutch’ courage then Sean?” said Jim Simpson when he walked into the Pub. Jim was in his mid 50’s and on his third marriage. His heavily pregnant young wife was there as well.
“Hi Jim. Hello Jenny. How’s the Baby coming along?”
“It is kicking a bit harder now. Jim thinks he’s going to play for the Orient when he grows up.”
They all laughed. Jim was a diehard Leyton Orient supporter. Jenny was as well. In fact, they had met on a supporter’s club trip to a match with York City a few years earlier. They’d clicked and a few months later they were married. The ceremony was held at the football ground naturally.
“Do you know the sex then?” asked Sean.
“No. We decided to wait until it pops out,” said Jenny.
“It’s a boy. I just know it...”
“Jim is hoping that it is. He’s got four daughters already. A fifth would just about kill him.” added Jenny.
Jenny did seem to be ‘third time lucky’ for Jim even though he was old enough for her to be his daughter.
“Get yourself a drink lad. I’ve a tab open at the bar.”
“Thanks Jim.”
Sean went up to the bar and ordered himself a Tonic Water with a slice of Lemon. With his drink, he went and sat with Jim and Jenny.
“Do you know who your date is yet?” asked Jenny quietly.
Sean shook his head.
“Not a clue. Wendy called me this morning and said that we would meet on the boat and that she was good looking. Beyond that, I know absolutely nothing.”
“Well Sean, if I wasn’t married to this lovely man, I’d go with you in a flash provided you supported the right footie team that is,” said Jenny trying to make Sean feel a bit more relaxed.
“Thanks for the compliment, but I’m more of a Rugby person,” replied Sean somewhat nervously.
People soon began to make their way to the Pier and board the boat for the trip down to Woolwich. Sean was just about the last of the people to leave the pub. At that moment, he’d rather be anywhere on the planet other than this bit of London but the message from his boss was clear so reluctantly, he left the pub and joined the others heading for the boat.
He did spot Wendy and her husband. He made his excuses to Jim and Jenny and joined them.
“Evening Wendy”
“Well Sean. Don’t you look a treat? That White DJ really suits you. You know Sam, don’t you?”
Sean shook Sam’s hand.
"I think we met at the Christmas do last year,” said Sean.
“The one before last, I’m afraid. I was out of the country last Christmas,” replied Sam.
“Sam’s in the TA. He’s a Captain in the Medical Corps,” said Wendy proudly.
Sam blushed.
“He was in Afghanistan for 6 months,” added Wendy with some pride.
“I’m back at the day job now,” said Sam looking relieved.
“What do you do?”
“I’m a Gynaecologist at St Thomas’s Hospital.”
“Oh well. Jenny will be in good hands if she gets in Labour tonight,” joked Sean.
“She’d better not. This is a brand-new DJ,” replied Sam with a smile on his face.
After a brief pause, Sean looked at Wendy.
“Are you going to tell me who is going to be my date tonight?”
She smiled back at him,
“No. You’ll find out soon enough. Don’t fret so much. She is a really nice person once you get to know her.”
Sean’s heart almost stopped.
The words ‘once you get to know her’ were the words he always dreaded to hear.
His face gave away his concerns.
Wendy gently took his hand and said,
“Promise me Sean. You will enjoy the evening. You will be the envy of most of the people here. Just go with the flow and you will be fine.”
He looked at her and managed a small smile.
“It is time to get on board otherwise they will cast off without us” said Sam.
Sean followed Wendy and Sam on board.
As they got into the reception area of the boat, there were a couple of easels with seating plans for the dinner. Sean took one look at the throng of people around them and decided to give it a miss for a while.
Instead, he wandered into the dining room and found that each place had the name of the person who was supposed to be sitting there. He thought that it would give him something to do before the inevitable embarrassment that he’d suffer when his date showed up.
He wandered amongst the circular tables searching for his name.
He found his name on the fifth table. He looked at the name of the person who would be sitting on his left. The place card said ‘Margaret Smith’. She was certainly not his date for the evening. Margaret was secretary to the MD and married to the Company Secretary. With more than a little nervousness, he looked at the name of the card on the place to the right of his.
His heart almost stopped dead there and then as he read the name. ‘Ingrid Svenson’. She was the office beauty. Almost all the single men and several of the married ones had tried and by all accounts failed miserably to get her into bed. Ingrid was 6ft 2in tall with legs that seemed to go on forever, long blonde hair and the most delightful blue eyes.
The words ‘Untouchable’ had been used many times when referring to her. Those in the office who had dated her only ever went on one date.
No one had ever got beyond that. The feeling of dread, doom and impending disaster filled Sean’s mind. His mood of depression remained until he was brought back into the real world by a light tap on his shoulder.
He turned around to see Ingrid.
“He… Hello Ingrid” he said stutteringly.
“My goodness Sean. Don’t you scrub up well,” she said with her nice smile.
He looked at her.
She was wearing an off the shoulder LBD that was clinging to the curves of her body. It was long for her in that it came to just above her knees and the shirt was fairly full. Her height was enhanced by the at least 5-inch heels that adorned her feet. The result was that she was at least three inches taller than him. His embarrassment was total. At that moment, he wished that there was a hold he could dive into and escape but the boat was moving. He was trapped for at least the next hour and a half.
“You look beautiful,” he stuttered.
“I’m glad you like it. I bought this dress especially for tonight.”
She took his hand and led him out onto the deck.
“There is plenty of time before dinner is served. Why don’t we go outside and watch the scenery? The Tate Modern has an interesting light display on its Chimneys at the moment.”
Sean was far too startled to say anything.
The Sun was just dipping below the Docklands skyline when the boat’s speakers announced that Dinner was about to be served.
“Come on, I’m famished,” said Ingrid as she took Sean’s hand and led him into dinner.
She seemed oblivious of the stares the couple received from many in the dining room. Sean on the other-hand just wanted to curl up and die. Ingrid was so far out of his league it was embarrassing.
Several men had various parts of their anatomy hit by their partners or wives for the open-mouthed astonishment that was their reaction when they saw Sean walking into dinner hand in hand with Ingrid.
One thing was certain to be a result of the evening was that Sean’s anonymity within the company was at an end.
They sat down to silence from the rest of the diners at their table. Ingrid didn’t let this dissuade her for long. She went around the table obtaining the names of the other diners, who they were, who they were with and what role they played in the company.
This not only served to break the ice but filled that gap between the time they sat down and the time when their starters were served. She was the perfect hostess.
By the time that the waitresses collected the plates from the starters, it was obvious that George Watson who was sitting on the other side of Ingrid could not control his wandering hands.
With a deft motion, Ingrid stabbed the back of his hand that was slowly moving up her leg with her fork. Blood was drawn. Then she made a great show by putting Sean’s hand in a similar position on her other leg. She was sending the message that ‘Sean’s my date for the night and I’m not interested in anyone else”.
Two of the women on the table reacted with obvious pleasure at the plain signals Ingrid was sending out to everyone around the table.
However, it was soon clear that all the other men on the table were totally oblivious to the message that was being sent loud and clear.
Sean was embarrassed as well as pleased that his ‘date’ was claiming him as hers for the night but he was already thinking about what was going to happen at the office the following Monday. It was not something he was looking forward to.
Being with someone like Ingrid was a completely new experience for him. Never before in his extremely limited experience of dating the opposite sex, had any of his dates reacted anything like this. In his limited experience with other women it was down to the man to be assertive, to make all the running. Here was Ingrid feeling totally at home with him and comfortable in his company.
When dinner was over, almost everyone adjourned to the outside decks while the tables were cleared away and the room prepared for the dancing. Ingrid and Sean were not alone in watching the historic buildings of Greenwich Naval College looking magnificent in their floodlit majesty against the now almost totally dark summer sky.
Their trip took them past the historic Greenwich Naval College and the Observatory up on the hill behind it as far as Woolwich where the boat turned around and began its journey upriver.
The sound of the four-piece band emanating from the now clear dining room signalled that the entertainment had begun. People began drifting away from the decks and into the dining room for some dancing.
Sean made a movement in that direction but Ingrid took hold of his arm and said
“Wait a while.”
Soon they were almost alone on the deck.
“Are you ok?” asked Ingrid.
“Yes, I’m fine,” replied Sean but his body language told her otherwise.
“You are a bit quiet.”
“I’m…”
He didn’t get any more words out before Ingrid leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a really long time,” she whispered.
“Eh?”
“Shh. Just enjoy the evening.”
Ingrid was turning out to be a real tease. One moment she was coming on to him. The next, she was hinting that this was a one-night stand.
Sean’s mind was all in a tizzy.
“Come on, we should go and dance,” said Ingrid pulling him towards the dance floor.
“I can’t dance. I have two left feet,” complained Sean.
“Nonsense. Everyone can dance.”
“I’ll tread on your toes.”
“Promises, promises,” she replied gleefully at the same time tightening her grip on his arm.
“Don’t worry my dear. We’ll just show our presence and then we can leave the dance floor to the others.”
Sean was getting worried at how familiar Ingrid was getting. This was totally unlike any ‘first date’ he had ever experienced before.
When they reached the edge of the dance floor they found that a few couples were already dancing. Ingrid let Sean lead her onto the floor and into the gaze of all their fellow workers.
The DJ was playing a fairly slow number so she made sure he held her tight. Her head nestled on his shoulder and for the remainder of the song; he made every effort not to tread on her toes.
The next number was more upbeat and more couples made their way onto the dance floor and attempt to move in time with the music. Ingrid was a natural and Sean soon found that he could follow her lead and by the end of the fourth song, he was actually starting to enjoy himself.
Ingrid took his arm and they left the arena the pair of them totally oblivious to the many stares that they were getting from the many men who were so envious of Sean.
“Let’s get a drink” whispered Ingrid in his ear. “I’ll have a G & T. I’ll wait for you on the rear deck.”
She squeezed his hand as they went their separate ways.
Alone for the first time since proceeding began, Sean made his way to the crowded bar area.
Several of the men gave him admiring looks.
After a few minutes, he managed to fight his way to the bar and put in his order.
While the barman was busy fixing the drinks, the person next to him at the bar said.
“Who’s a lucky bugger then?”
Sean looked around and saw that the voice belonged to Jimmy Chan. He worked in the same department as Ingrid.
“What do you mean?” asked Sean.
Jimmy smiled.
“Can’t you guess? She’s got you hook, line and sinker. She’s sure to get you into her bed tonight.”
“So?”
“So? Is that all you have to say. I’ll wager that there are thirty… if not more blokes here tonight who would gladly trade places with you.
Everyone knows that she is a real goer when it comes to the sex bit.”
“Everyone? Just how do you know that then?”
Jimmy just shrugged his shoulders.
“We all know.”
Sean paid for the drinks and fought his way out of the bar and onto the rear deck.
Ingrid was there watching the Riverside Landscape go by.
“Here you are,” said Sean holding up her drink.
She took it from him.
“Thanks. And thanks for not stepping on my feet too many times.”
Sean didn’t say anything.
“The bar is packed,” said Sean lacking anything else to say.
“Yes. I saw Jimmy Chan talking to you.”
“Yes. He remarked on how well you dance.”
Ingrid laughed.
“Fibber. I’ll bet he was saying how lucky you are and that I’m a real goer when it comes to sex.”
Sean didn’t know what else to say but…
“Yes he did.”
“Look, I know the rumours going around about me. Rest assured Sean, they are all untrue.”
“I’m sorry Ingrid but that was the first I had heard about the rumours.”
“Surely you know that I’ve dated most of the single men in the company?”
“Yes… well sort of. I really don’t go in for that sort of gossip unless I can’t avoid it. You never know who else is listening in and how it could come back and bite you later.”
“And that they only lasted one date?” said Ingrid totally ignoring what Sean had just said.
“And that too,” replied Sean with a definite sigh in his voice.
“And you are wondering if this is your one date?”
Sean was a bit more with it by now.
He smiled.
“That thought had crossed my mind at least a hundred times tonight.”
“Sean, you are such a sweetie. I think you’d die if that were the case.”
“Eh?”
“Sean Williams, will you be my boyfriend?”
“Eh?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake Sean, stop saying Eh? I want to go out with you again. So, what is it to be? Yes or No?”
Sean was still reeling from her directness but managed to mumble.
“Yes.”
She smiled from ear to ear.
“But it’s not as simple as that,” he added.
“Pah. Don’t worry. Lets’ get to know each other and then we can see how difficult it is.”
A dreadful sense of foreboding fell over Sean. For someone who liked to be in control of his life, he was now in a situation that he realised was totally out of control, at least from his point of view.
He realised then that he had taken hold of her hand and was holding it quite tight.
He let it go and said
“Sorry. I got a bit carried away.”
“Sean,” said Ingrid in a way that sent shivers through his body.
“If that is what you call ‘getting carried away’ then your education as far as women are concerned is sadly lacking. That is something that Miss Ingrid, teacher extraordinaire will have to rectify.”
Sean smiled through almost gritted teeth.
Suddenly, Sean realised that goose bumps were appearing all over Ingrid’s arms.
“You are getting cold. Here, please take my jacket.”
“Keep your jacket on Sean. Let’s go inside. We shall be docking shortly. Then we can go somewhere warm.
She took his arm and together they left the deck and went inside the boat.
Around 20 minutes later, the Boat docked. This was to let off people who had some distance to travel home. The more die-hard party goers would stay on board dancing for a couple more hours.
Sean led Ingrid down the gangway and onto dry land once more.
Sean realised that they were going back to her place. He lived south of the river in Battersea.
Sean paid the driver when they arrived outside no 12. Ingrid was already unlocking the front door.
Sean hesitated. He was unsure if he should go in or do what a good part of his mind wanted, shout goodnight and leg it. But this was part of London he didn’t know and what direction the nearest tube station was in, was a complete mystery.
Ingrid had opened the door and was waiting patiently for him in the doorway.
Sean stepped into the door and suddenly, she was gone into the dark interior. He heard the sound of more locks being opened and then a light came on. Ingrid was silhouetted in the doorway of what was obviously her flat.
He closed the front door and followed her into her home.
The place was decorated in a modern way but there were many obvious feminine touches all around. From the selection of cuddly toys on the living room settee to the selection of framed Chagall prints of Parisienne Women on the walls, it was obvious that a woman lived here.
“Make yourself at home,” said Ingrid as she shook off her shoes
“Ah, that’s better. I can wear 4-inch heels all day but 5-inch ones are only suitable for short periods.”
Sean started to feel a bit more relaxed until Ingrid came to him and wrapped her arm around him and kissed him gently at first but with an ever-increasing amount of passion.
Sean responded and began to enjoy the taste of her lips and the scent of her body.
When they came up for air Ingrid said.
“You taste nice.”
“You do as well…”
She looked at him
“But why me?”
“I fancy you and have done for a long time. In the end, I gave up waiting for you to ask me out, so I asked Wendy to get us together this evening.”
Sean smiled,
“I’ve fancied you for a long time as well but I sort of got the impression that you were… well, untouchable.”
Ingrid laughed.
“Yes I know. Most people in the office have that impression of me. It is just not true.”
“But I still feel like I’ve been setup. I know I shouldn’t have but I do.”
“That is natural my dear but ever since I found out about you, I knew you were the one for me.”
“You found out about me?” asked Sean suddenly fearful of what that meant.
Ingrid giggled.
“I’m sorry, I guess I said that all wrong…”
“What did you mean to say?”
“One day I was talking with some of the women in the office about men in general and your name came up. Everyone agreed that you were not like the other men. You didn’t talk at women, you talk to them. This intrigued me so I did a little more investigation and it was sometime later that it all fell into place. Do you remember when Dorothy Smart had that accident with the Printer toner? Right away, you volunteered to nip down to the supermarket and buy her some tights. You were going anyway so no one thought anything of it. But sure enough, you came back with the exact same shade and size as she was wearing. Most men don’t have a clue about women’s clothing sizes. This got my interest up even more. Then three weeks ago, I realised that you wear stockings to the office most days”
Sean felt the blood drain out of his body. His secret had been revealed.
Ingrid saw his dismay.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone and I don’t plan of telling anyone either.”
“How… how did you find out?”
“I saw the outline of the elastic top of the hold-ups you were wearing through your thin trousers one day at lunch a few weeks back.”
Sean was still reeling at the thought that his secret desires were out in the open.
“Are you wearing any tonight?”
“No, I’m not,” said Sean quite firmly.
“That’s a shame. Never mind, I have some stockings you can wear. I prefer them myself but I seem to wear such short skirts these days that tights are normally required. I wore these especially for you tonight,” said Ingrid in that enticing if not alluring voice of hers.
She reached down and pulled up the hem of her dress to reveal the lacy tops to her stockings and the suspender belt that was holding them up.
“I like the way they move with your body. It is a constant reminder that you are wearing them.”
She led a very bewildered Sean towards her bedroom.
There lying on the bed was an identical dress to the one that Ingrid was wearing. Lying alongside it was a pair of brand spanking new black stockings still in their wrapper and a suspender belt.
“Will you wear them for me now?”
Suddenly Sean panicked.
He turned tail and literally ran out of the bedroom, down the short corridor and flung open the door to the flat. Three steps later, he was wrestling with the front door. This came open and he was out and running down the street as fast as he could move.
At the bottom of the road, he saw a Taxi, he hailed it and climbed in somewhat breathless.
“Brynmaer Rd Battersea please,” he gasped at the driver.
“What’s up son, found the girlfriend in bed with another man?”
Sean didn’t answer but sank back into the seat and tried his best to stop the tears that were welling up in his eyes.
The evening had finished up a total disaster. He was dreading going into work the following Monday.
“His place of work?”
Probably not for much longer he thought. He expected that virtually everyone would be laughing at him when the news of his panic spread through the office.
After a few hours pitiful sleep, Sean could lay in bed no longer. His mind was racing. He got up and put on his track suit and went for a run around the nearby Battersea Park. Normally, he would do one circuit of the park and go home for breakfast. On this bright Sunday morning, he did three. Even then, it didn’t lift the impenetrable gloom that seems to be descending over his life.
After returning home, he showered and sat at the small table in his kitchen eating a ‘Bacon Butty’. Comfort food he called it. The Sunday papers were full of depression and gloom apart from the news that yet another male celebrity had been caught with his pants down and having it off with someone who was not his wife.
Still in a deeply gloomy mood, Sean walked into the second bedroom on his rented flat. Here was where he kept his alter ego Alexandria. Briefly, he debated collecting up all her clothes, makeup and other paraphernalia and after putting it into a few bin bags, taking it to the local council ‘tip’ and getting rid of her forever.
Deep down, Sean knew that this would never work in the long term. There really was far too much of Alexandria in Sean. He had fancied Ingrid but not as she imagined. He didn’t want to ‘fuck her’ or anything as crude as that; he wanted to ‘BE HER’. At the moment he made the decision to ‘leg it’ the previous night, he realised that Ingrid just didn’t understand much at all about how much of a mental torture it is to be transgendered and in the presence of someone as beautiful as Ingrid.
With a shudder and a shake of his head, Sean left Alexandria alone and went back into the small kitchen. He was about to pick up the phone and call his mother to say he was coming down for the day when the phone rang.
This was ominous. His mother normally called around 4pm on a Sunday. Very few people knew the number of the phone at the flat. Most people called his Mobile.
The phone was still ringing when he picked it up.
“Hello”
“Sean. Oh, I’m so glad you are all right.”
It was Ingrid.
He put the phone down without saying another word.
It rang again. This time, he decided to let it ring.
After six rings, the answering machine switched in.
He listened to Ingrid’s plea to him.
“Sean, please pick up the phone. Don’t do anything silly. I want to talk to you. It was not a trap last night. Sean please pick up.”
Although Ingrid sounded quite desperate, he didn’t pick up the phone.
She rang off and then it rang again.
Sean thought that Ingrid was persistent if nothing else.
He picked up his coat and wallet and walked out of the flat and headed for a local pub. If nothing else, he could get some overcooked roast beef for Sunday Lunch and sink a pint or three of London Pride away from any chance of the phone interrupting his depression drinking.
Sean downed just the one pint. It just tasted funny to him that day. The beer was lovely and clear and didn’t smell yeasty at all.
When he returned home well after 3pm, there were 6 messages on the answering machine. Five were from Ingrid who was seemingly getting more and more frantic. The last was from his mother.
He picked up the phone and called her. Their weekly chats were pretty brief and non-committal but at least it was something positive for him to do.
He had almost finished dialling the number when Sean stopped what he was doing and put the phone down.
At the moment, he just couldn’t face talking to anyone.
He messed around his flat for a good hour pretending to do some dusting and tidying. The place didn’t need it by any means but he had to feel that he was ‘doing something useful’.
Eventually, he put the duster down and walked into the sitting room.
He sat down at the small table, opened up his laptop and connected to the internet. He opened up his email client and downloaded the messages waiting at his provider. Of the twenty or so messages, nearly all of them were junk.
He opened up a new mail and addressed it to his boss. Then he sat with his head in his hands for a good 10 minutes. Then he wrote.
“Dear Bill,
It is with deep regret that I have to tender my resignation, from the company with immediate effect. Please understand that this is a personal decision and I have not been approached let alone offered a position at any of the competitors to the company. I will honour the terms of my contract in every respect apart from the period of notice.
Sally Field will be an excellent choice to take over my position. She deserves it and to be honest, she should have been offered the position instead of me.
I’m sorry for dropping this onto you like this but although I really like working for you and the company, some events have happened in recent days, that have made me come to the inevitable conclusion, that I can’t continue working for the company any longer. I will be leaving London immediately.
Please send any correspondence to my mother. Her address is in my personnel file. This email address will not be used after today.
Once again, I’m sorry to have to do this and thank you for your support and encouragement in my time at the company
Best Wishes to you and everyone,
Sean Williams”
Sean sat and read the words several times. Then he hit ‘Send’. It was gone. The deed was done.
He closed the laptop, unplugged its cables and packed it into the rucksack that he used to carry it around.
Then he went into his bedroom and collected a few ‘essentials and packed them into a black holdall. He added a couple of changes of clothing and with some finality, zipped it up.
With an air of resignation, he took changed into his Motorcycle Leathers & boots.
Ten minutes later, he was in the garage at the back of the house where his flat was located and was wheeling his Ducati Motorcycle out onto the back alley. He fixed the holdall and rucksack onto the back of the bike. After closing the garage doors, he sat on the bike.
He sat for several seconds before putting on the leather gloves that matched the colours of his one-piece suit and boots. He leaned forward and gripped the handlebars. With the thumb of his right hand, he pressed the Red button. The starter motor burst into life and after a few seconds the engine fired up.
The burble of the twin cylinder V-Twin engine echoed around the garages on this late Sunday afternoon.
He pulled the clutch in with his left hand, clicked the bike into gear with his left foot. He opened the throttle and headed away from Battersea, London and into a new life.
Twenty Minutes later, he was back at his home. There were far too many loose ends to clear up. His ever practical, mind got the better of him once more.
He spent the rest of the day clearing out his flat and throwing virtually everything he owned away. That included everything that made him ‘Alexandria’. Not that much of it stayed in the communal refuse bin for long. The local kids soon ‘liberated’ anything of value. His final acts were to write a letter to his landlord giving notice and bribing his next-door neighbour to return his DJ the next day.
He spent a final night in the now almost stripped bare flat before disappearing off the radar and into a new life away from London. He’d decided to go somewhere far away and start again in the hope that no one like Ingrid would ever come into his life again.
[The End]
[Authors Note]
This was the end but in 2018, I realised that there was plenty of room for a second episode. This has been written and will appear here next week.
26 months later, September – At a bar in a small coastal town in Northern California.
The place was fairly quiet as it was early on a Monday evening. It would get quite rowdy later as the ‘Dallas Cowboys’ were playing at home that night against the 49’ers and the game would be shown on the big screen. Naturally, this being California, most of the locals supported the 49’ers.
Two people were working behind the bar preparing for the night ahead when the door opened and in walked a tall Blonde woman wearing a white blouse, black tight leather trousers and black ankle boots.
“Hello Sean. I’ll have a G & T please but hold the T.”
The barman looked up from the ‘shot’ glass he was drying and saw Ingrid standing in front of him. His face dropped. To him, she looked the spitting image of Marylin Monroe in the ‘Seven Year Itch’. Another words, totally stunning and totally out of place for the clientele of ‘Big Jake’s Famous Bar & Grill’.
“You are a really hard person to find Sean. Even your Mother does not know where you are. You should really call her you know. She worries about you as Mothers are supposed to do.”
His mouth dropped open unable to speak, unable to utter a sound.
The other barman came over.
“Sean, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
He turned to Ingrid and offered his hand over the bar.
“Hello. I’m Jake.”
She shook his hand.
“Hi Jake. I’m Ingrid. I’m his girlfriend from London.”
Sean still had not said anything.
He was standing there with his mouth still catching flies and tears streaming down his face.
Jake looked at Sean and smiled. Sean was still rooted to the spot.
“Sean, why don’t you and this young lady… get the hell out of here and get yourselves sorted out.”
“But… I have a shift?” muttered Sean as he desperately tried to find a way out of this hole he was in.
“Don’t bother with that. I’ll cover for you. You have done it a good few times for me since you came here.”
The he smiled a bit more.
“In fact, take the rest of the week off. Don’t come back until Saturday night!”
Sean looked at his boss and owner of the bar. He knew from the look on Jake’s face that his mind was made up. His first thought beyond that, was that he was done for.
Ingrid smiled and offered her hand to Sean.
“Well Sean? Shall we go?”
Slowly, Sean took off his barkeep’s apron and after giving it to Jake, he came out from behind the bar and left building with Ingrid.
“I never took you for a coward and neither did anyone else at the office. I still don’t think that.”
She stopped walking for a moment.
Sean turned to look at her.
Ingrid looked him right in the eyes and said,
“You were running away but not from me but from yourself.”
She paused for half a second to let her words sink in.
“Well, Sean? Am I right or am I right?”
She knew that she was by the way that his shoulders slumped.
Right there on the parking lot, Ingrid took him in her arms and hugged him tight. No one had ever done that to Sean. He smelt her perfume and was almost transported to a different world by its delightful smell.
“Come on Sean, what is it that you are running from? I know it isn’t just me!”
Sean looked her right in the eye and almost shouting said,
“It isn’t you. Why would I run from you? I want to be you and that is something I can never be. Got it? Now please leave me alone!”
Sean turned and headed for his decidedly tatty Ford Pickup. He’d only bought the thing because almost everyone else drove one but it was crap, total crap in his opinion.
As he walked the twenty yards to the vehicle, he wondered if there was anything he really needed at his home, a trailer just outside their small town. Then he remembered that his passport was there. He’d have to go there before skipping town. It wasn’t the first time and it looked like it wouldn’t be the last that he’d done a runner to get away from an embarrassing situation.
Then Sean wondered why Ingrid hadn’t stopped him. He turned around and saw her laughing her head off. Seeing her reaction hurt Sean even more.
In a fit of defiance, he walked back towards her and said,
“It is no laughing matter you know. You really have no idea what it is like to see people like you and know that while you want to be them wear the same clothes that you can’t ever get close to that.”
“Oh Sean… I know perfectly well what it’s like. Believe me, I know. I was once the ugly duckling of the girl’s school. All those beauties preening themselves and then taking fun at ugly Ingrid! Oh, how I wanted to be like them. To be beautiful like them. To wear lovely clothes and not ones that my older sisters didn’t want to wear any longer as they were uncool. Oh, Sean, I know what it is like to be an outsider.”
Her words stopped Sean dead.
“Didn’t you listen to one word I said? I’m a man and you are a woman. I should have been born a woman but there is no way in hell that I can ever look anything like you. Every time I see someone like you it hurts in here!”
He thumped his chest.
“Sean,” said Ingrid as she stepped closer to him.
“Have you tried? Tried to look like a woman?”
“Yes, I fucking well have and I look like a drag queen and there are plenty of them in places like Vegas so why do you head off there and find some other sucker to experiment on.” he retorted.
“Did you have any help?” asked Ingrid totally ignoring what he’d said.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said, I am not going. I am not some bit of meat to experiment on. I have made a life here can’t you understand that? Everyone keeps their business to themselves here unless THEY want to talk about it. At home I can sit of an evening outside my trailer and hear nothing but the wind and the birds and the sea. I can wear a skirt to do the chores and no one sees me and that is fine. There is no way that I’m going to get myself dolled up just so that you can take a few photos and plaster them over social media. Do you understand this?”
Ingrid didn’t reply for several seconds so Sean took the opportunity to leave her alone and almost ran to his truck.
He slammed the door behind him and prayed that the engine would fire. It did and he left the car park in a cloud of dust.
It was his home from home or had been until that day.
He collapsed onto his bed crying. He’d found a nice place to live and then she had to come back into his life.
After a while, he got up and looked around his home. Suddenly, his world seemed so small and his possessions irrelevant. With a shrug of his shoulders, he began to pack a small bag. He’d arrived in that part of the world with very little so he easily could leave it with very little. Well, at least that was what he kept telling himself as the small bag became a second much larger one.
Half an hour later, he put three bags into the back of his pickup and covered the bed with a tarp. Then he turned to look at his domain. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he climbed into his truck and started the engine.
He’d just reached the end of the dirt track that led from his home to Route 1 when a car stopped right in front of his truck blocking the way. His heart sank even further when he saw Ingrid get out of the car.
“I’ve been waiting for you. Your boss told me where you lived but this thing would not get down the road to your trailer.”
Sean cursed himself for not taking the back road to the main road. He could see himself well on the way inland and to I-5 and then to somewhere that was even further in the back of beyond than this place once was.
“Well, you found me. I’m not going with you for you to have a load of fun at my expense so there really isn’t anything more to say now is there?”
“Doesn’t the fact that I’ve come this far to find you not count for something?”
He didn’t answer.
“Oh, for heavens’ sake Sean, stop being a sourpuss. Life is too short to be on a downer all the time.”
“I was happy until earlier today,” replied Sean in a grumpy voice.
“Yeah and that’s not what your boss told me. He said that you didn’t date despite many opportunities to start a relationship you politely refused. At first, he thought that you were gay but later he realised that you had secrets and like many who travel this road, want to keep those secrets to themselves.”
Ingrid smiled.
“Your boss is a wise man.”
“So why aren’t you heading back to Frisco or wherever and your flight home?”
“What is home anyway? Just a place to sleep and live until you move on to pastures new…”
“From what Jake said, you have found more than a place to live. He said that you felt at home here and have done wonders for the bar especially the food.”
“Jake speaks a load of rubbish. I’ve done nothing.”
“Not according to him. Besides, if you had done nothing, why would he have not only covered for you tonight but given you the rest of the week off?”
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to the bar to tell Jake that, I’m done here and then I’m off and I would really appreciate it if you did not try to follow me. The last thing I need in my life is someone who looks like you. You are a magnet for all the wannabee’s for not just Eureka but everyone between here and Frisco. You really have no idea what the bar is like when the locals get paid.”
“Well then come with me and live somewhere that does not behave like this. Oh, and I can dress down you know.”
“But why?”
“Why? When I could have had just about any man from work with a click of my fingers?”
Sean nodded.
“That’s the very reason. Didn’t I say that I was once the ugly duckling and wanted to be part of the ‘In Crowd’? Well, when I… I blossomed, I soon found that it wasn’t all sweetness and light. The ‘In Crowd’ soon turned into the ‘In the Club Crowd’.”
Then I came to work at the same place as you and well… The office gossip took over and… Well, I got a bit of reputation as you know but someone said, ‘What about Sean? He’s nice and quiet.”
“Humph,” blurted Sean.
Ingrid smiled.
“It didn’t take long for me to realise that you’d run a mile so we cooked up the plan for me to be your date for the boat trip. You were the perfect Gentleman all evening then I just had to go and put my big foot right in it. I’m so sorry for trying to take advantage of you. It was wrong of me.”
Sean thought for a while.
“I… I just don’t know what to do.”
Ingrid smiled and said,
“I know. There I was all prepared to apologise… No literally grovel to you after the boat trip and then I find that you had not only resigned but done a runner from your home. I was on a downer for weeks. Then with the relocation and subsequent downsizing at the company, I had my mind made up for me. I had to find you and at the very least... At the very least, clear the air but you know what they say about ‘best laid plans’ and all that.”
Sean didn’t reply so Ingrid carried on.
“I found out where your Mother lived and spent some time with her. She had no idea where you were but she told me that this was not the first time that you had legged it when some girl took an interest in you.”
“And that didn’t make you give up?”
Ingrid smiled.
“Quite the reverse actually. I was determined to find you and apologise to you and hope that we could have a relationship. Your mother said that you’d never really had a girlfriend but you were interested in girls. Now I know why and to be honest, I don’t give a damm. Those few hours we spent together at the ball…”
Ingrid sighed.
“I just felt nice being with you. It might sound rather odd but I felt that I’d known you for years. I didn’t want the night to end and that’s why I went totally overboard and you did a runner. After you’d gone, I realised I was my actions that had driven you away.”
“Don’t I get a say in this?”
“You do but don’t you even want to try to make a go of it?”
Sean just shrugged his shoulders.
“So… we spend some time together and then you have to go back to London. I’m never going back. I’ve found some nice people here who don’t care about my backstory.”
Ingrid laughed.
“I was born in El Paso. I have dual nationality so I’d don’t have to go anywhere unless you are with me.”
“No pressure then eh?”
Ingrid laughed.
“Want to try to have a relationship?” asked Ingrid.
“Didn’t you hear what I said? Just you being here and smelling that perfume makes me…?”
Ingrid took hold if his hand. He didn’t resist.
“You want to wear it. I understand that. I’m sure that there is a way that we can have a relationship and you can be the real you. Have you ever tried that?”
Sean remained silent but slowly shook his head.
“Good. That’s progress. Small but progress nevertheless…”
He remained impassive.
She squeezed his hand.
“Come on Sean… Live a little… Are you prepared to walk on the wild side a bit with me by your side?”
After what seemed an eternity, he said almost in a whisper,
“Yes.”
Ingrid hugged Sean to sort of seal their deal.
“What do we do now?” asked Sean when they broke apart.
“Do you think I can get my rental car down that track?”
“No chance but you will get in if you use the back way though.”
“The back way?”
“Yeah. When the trailer was hauled in, there was nowhere to turn the Semi so they simply bulldozed a way out. It is longer and comes out on the road down to the next beach so I don’t use it very often.”
“Ok, then lets’ go then!”
“Those views are to die for Sean. You are so lucky to have found this place.”
“Selling my one bed flat in London paid for it outright. This and that woodland is all mine.”
Ingrid saw that Sean had let his guard down for a moment so she took the opportunity to give him a long, long kiss.
At first Sean resisted but Ingrid persisted and then he started to respond.
Then she started to undo the buttons of his shirt all the time keeping the kiss going.
One thing led to another and before long they were both naked. Ingrid walked Sean backwards to an area of grass where she sunk him to the ground and climbed on top of his fully erect penis.
They spent the rest of the afternoon making love in the shade of a Western Redwood tree. It was an afternoon that neither of them would forget.
It wasn’t until later that Sean noticed the small amount of blood on him.
“Did I cut you somewhere?”
Ingrid smiled.
“That was my first time.”
“First time wh…”
Then he realised what she meant.
“I’m sorry. I got a bit carried away.”
Ingrid grinned.
“Nothing to be sorry about. I loved every moment of it. Far better than a quickie behind the bike sheds at school eh?”
Sean knew exactly what she was referring too. He recalled the number of girls in his year at school who became pregnant and were starting to show by Christmas. The ‘mums’ club was getting larger and larger every year.
He did take her down to the beach to watch the sunset. It was so nice that they repeated it each evening. They toasted the end of the day with some wine.
By the Friday morning, there was little or no food in the trailer so they went shopping.
They’d just loaded up his pickup when the trouble started.
Brad and Bart Mortensen were the last people Sean wanted to meet on their trip to the supermarket. They were there apparently buying the stores entire supply of beer. Between the two of them, they were pushing three trolleys piled high with cases of ‘Bud’, ‘Coors’ and ‘Miller Lite’.
Sean turned a corner and almost ran into them. Ingrid was a few steps behind him.
“Well, if it isn’t that loser from the bar,” said Bart in a very loud voice.
“I heard about your visitor.”
He literally pushed Sean out of the way in order to get a better view of her.
“Well Darlin, I think you should come with me. I can give you a time that that loser can only dream about if you get my meaning!”
He made a grab at Ingrid.
Before he knew it, Bart was on his back. Ingrid had flipped him over.
“Why you little whore. I’ll get you for that,” said Bart as he got to his feet.
“No one puts Bart Mortensen on the floor and lives to see another day!”
Just then a new voice said,
“Now Bart, you don’t want to do anything rash now do you?”
That was followed by the sound of a Revolver being cocked.
Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice.
It belonged to Officer Robert (Bobby) Pearce. He was one of the local Police Officers.
“Fuck off Pinprick!” shouted Bart.
“Just because you have a fucking gun, you ain’t gonna stop me from getting my own back. That broad threw me onto the floor.”
“Yeah and I saw all of it. You made a lunge at her and she retaliated in self-defence.”
“No, she fucking didn’t,” screamed a very agitated Bart.
Then Bart heard some sniggering. It was coming from his younger brother Brad.
“As for you, I’ll whip your ass when we get outside!”
“Bart Mortensen!” said the Officer in a loud voice.
“Either shut the hell up and leave the store or I’ll arrest you!”
“Yeah… You and whose army?”
Bart did have a point. Bart was built like an American Football LineBacker. The Police officer was petite by comparison.
“Me and Mine,” said Officer Pearce.
Three more officers appeared behind him.
“I can still take all four of you down!”
As he said it, he made another grab for Ingrid.
This time Sean gave him a hefty kick behind the knee.
With a howl of anguish, Bart sank to the floor.
The officers moved in and quickly cuffed Bart.
Bobby Pearce took Ingrid and Sean to one side.
“The store owner called us when the brothers arrived. They have been banned from this and all other stores in the chain for life. There is even a court order to that effect.”
Both Sean and Ingrid breathed a sigh of relief.
“How did you know which of his knees was bad?” asked the officer.
Sean managed a smile.
“He’s been in the bar often enough telling the story of how he scored the winning touchdown and got injured at the same time. Sometimes, he would roll up his pants so that everyone could see the scar. That’s why I kicked the other one.”
“That was well done and quick thinking. I really didn’t want to put one in him but I would have done had he refused to obey my instructions.
Sean looked at the officer right in the eye. He knew that what he said was true. That sent the shivers down his spine.
The officer pulled out a card and gave it to Sean.
“If both of you could drop by the Department later today to give a statement, I’d be much obliged.”
“We will Officer and thanks!” said Ingrid.
Bart was led away still in pain and claiming that he’d been assaulted but no one was listening to him.
Brad Mortensen came over to where Ingrid and Sean were standing.
“My Brother will not let this go. You made a fool of him and we don’t like that.”
“Are you threatening us? Asked Ingrid.
“Threatening? Nah. Promising Yep.”
Then he left them alone in the store.
Sean was visibly shaking.
“Come on, we need to get out of here!” he exclaimed.
“No! I’m staying. I have every word he said recorded. Now we take it to the cops.”
“That won’t matter a bit. Once we are dead is too late to complain.”
“Oh, I think we can do better than that,” replied Ingrid in a matter of fact way.
“We can do very little until and unless they actually do something against you,” said the Police Chief.
“Ok then,” said Ingrid.
“This all goes on social media along with your words. It is election year if I’m not mistaken. How will this go down with the electorate?”
The Police Chief was not impressed.
“Don’t go threatening me young lady. You fucking brits coming over here still thinking that we are a fucking colony of yours. We ain’t and haven’t been for over two hundred years.”
Ingrid laughed.
Then she pulled out her passport from her handbag. It bore the words ‘United States of America’ on the front.
“I’m an American and have been since birth. Perhaps you would like to reconsider your words?”
“Get the hell out of my department before I have you thrown out!”
Ingrid took Sean’s hand and walked out with her head held high.
Once they’d gotten into Sean’s Pickup, he started hitting the steering wheel with clenched fists.
“Don’t you understand anything? You don’t argue with the Mortensen family. They own this town. Their Pa is Mayor. The Police Chief won’t do a thing against them especially in Election Year.”
The smile that was on Ingrid’s face disappeared in a flash.
“I didn’t know. I thought that they were just local drunks.”
“They are the local drunks who happen to be the useless sons of the man who owns most of the property in town and those sons think that they can have any woman they want and there won’t be any comeback.”
Ingrid didn’t say anything for a full minute.
“I think we need to make them less powerful around these parts…?”
Sean sank back into his seat.
“And just how do you think that you are going to do that then?”
Ingrid smiled and tapped her nose.
“Firstly, we need to go home and put all that food into the fridge. Then it is time to head for San Francisco. I need to see a man about a dog or three.”
No amount of asking would get Ingrid to reveal what she was thinking. All the way back to Sean’s trailer and then all the way down to Frisco Sean tried his hardest but Ingrid just sat there with a smug smile on her face.
They stopped for a coffee just outside of Santa Rosa. As they were taking a break Sean, booked them a hotel for two nights then he waited for Ingrid to finish powdering her nose. As she came to sit in the booth opposite Sean, she looked very pleased with herself.
“Why are you so happy?”
“I just uploaded your little encounter with Brad and Bart plus the recording of the Sheriff not wanting to take any action over the threat of violence towards you from those numpties.”
Sean’s shoulders visibly sagged.
Ingrid leaned over and took his hand.
“Don’t worry darling. That is just the first move in my grand plan to get them out of our lives.”
“Gr…Grand Plan?”
“Yes. I have an idea of how we can get them out of our lives and everyone else’s as well.”
Sean tried hard but could not help himself from laughing.
Ingrid smiled as well. Then she leaned over and kissed him.
Ingrid refused to divulge her plan even though Sean tried his hardest. In the end, he just drove and did what she told him to. She was obviously very confident that it was going to succeed but kept him in the dark.
Even as late as ten the next morning, she just smiled back at him.
Ingrid called up a ‘Uber’ on her phone. It was to take them downtown to a place called ‘Sansome Street’. The car stopped outside a huge skyscraper.
“This is us,” said Ingrid with a huge smile on her face.
Sean could see that Ingrid was enjoying this whole thing.
They travelled up to the twenty second floor with Sean still none the wiser about what was going on. Following on like some lap dog and feeling very out of place in his jeans, black ‘T’ shirt and simple jacket. Almost everyone they’d seen were compared to Sean was very expensively dressed. Ingrid was like all women, able to make herself look worth a million dollars by the addition of a scarf and a hair grip. He just sighed at that skill. He was sure that it was just something women were born with. He was so jealous of her.
Ingrid led them to an office with a nameplate on the door.
“The Law Offices of Samuel Wall and partners.”
Sean took hold of Ingrid’s arm. She stopped and turned to him.
“Isn’t it about time you came clean?”
“I’m not sure if my plan will work. Give me an hour and hopefully, I’ll have some good news for you. It all depends upon what the lawyer says.”
“Says what? Come on Ingrid. Are you so unsure that you can’t tell me what is going on?”
“Please let me have this meeting and if it goes well then I’ll tell you everything. I promise.”
“And if it does not go well?”
“I’ll still tell you and we can drown our sorrows together.”
The determined look in her eyes told him that was as good as it was going to get at that moment.
“Ok but you promised.”
She leaned over and gave him a brief kiss on his cheek. Then she walked into the office.
“Let’s go and find somewhere for lunch. Then I’ll spill the beans.”
Sean had to go along with Ingrid despite his annoyance at being left out of the discussions.
The main lunch crowd had not yet arrived at the restaurant Ingrid chose.
“A table for three please. One person will be joining us shortly.”
Sean just stood there doing an impression of a drowning fish. Nevertheless, he followed Ingrid and the waiter to a table.
As soon as they were seated, Sean asked,
“Just who is going to join us?”
Ingrid looked him in the eye before saying,
“There are some things that you need to know about me. I was waiting for a more opportune time but those two jerks have forced my hand. We are going to be joined by my half-brother Jeff.”
To say that Sean was stunned by this revelation would be an understatement.
“You…?”
“Sorry darling. I know that I should have come clean before now but we were having such a great time getting to know each other that I kept putting it off and putting it off. Then the incident with ‘Mutt and Jeff’ made me realise that something had to be done and it would need the help of my half-brother Jeff.”
“What were you talking about with that lawyer for over an hour?”
“Money. Yes, the root of all evil and the solution to our problem.”
Ingrid could see that Sean didn’t fully believe her.
“Let me start at the beginning. I told you that I was born in El Paso. That is perfectly true. My mother was working and travelling around the country on her gap year. She originally came over and worked for a couple of months as an au-pair. She had to leave that after the man where she worked got a bit too interested in her. That was up near Seattle. After she left, she came south and got another job as an au-pair down in Silicon Valley. It was there that she met my father. He was home on leave. His family lived next door to the one where she was working. One thing led to another and when he returned to his base in Texas, she went with him. By now, she was pregnant. They would have gotten married but his father, my grandfather would hear nothing of it and made all sorts of threats to Jack, my father.”
Ingrid took a sip of the water that the waiter had poured for each of them.
“He, my father that is, stood by my Mother throughout the pregnancy and was at her bedside when I was born. Six months later, my mother’s visa ran out so she left the USA and went back to the UK taking me with her. My father sent money for me whenever he could but it was difficult when he got married to a woman that his father approved of.”
The sadness in Ingrid’s voice was apparent.
“Still, I used to come over every summer as a child and spend a week with my father. We went to all sorts of places in that week. At first, it was just him and me but when Jeff was ten years old, he came along as well. It was a bit strange but we got along very well. Early last year, I was looking for you and had just missed you in Ft Myers when I received news that my father had died. His affairs were only settled a week before I found you again.”
“And the Lawyer?”
“He was my father’s lawyer. He handled the estate after he died.”
Sean had just about managed to get his brain into gear when a waiter showed Ingrid’s half-brother to the table. There was a definite resemblance between the two.
Once the introductions were done and dusted, a waiter started to hover so they ordered lunch.
While they waited for their food, Ingrid brought Jeff up to speed.
“It seems that I arrived at just the right time.”
Jeff looked Sean in the eye.
“Ingrid has told me a lot about you. If she travels thousands of miles to find someone she really likes, must be worth it. This girl is an amazing woman.”
Sean managed a smile.
“So, I’m finding out.”
“Great. I have some news hot off the press.”
Without waiting, he said,
“My company has just put in an opening offer for their property portfolio.”
Sean was lost again.
“Just a minute people. Would someone please tell me just what the fuck is going on?”
Jeff looked at Ingrid. Then he said,
“You were right when you said that the Mortensen’s own the mortgages on about half the properties in town. So far, they’ve only managed to foreclose on fifteen or so properties. Everyone else is paying their instalments on time but my people think that it is hard going for another five or six owners. The Mortensen’s have to tread carefully or the state banking people will be down on them like a ton of bricks but my people seem to think that their backers… the people who lent the Mortensen’s the money to buy the loan book might be getting a bit twitchy”
Sean started shaking his head.
“This is not what I wanted from my life.”
His words seemed to be totally at odds with what Ingrid and Jeff were talking about.
“I just wanted a quiet life. This is not it at all. I don’t want any part of this or any other scheme.”
He looked at Ingrid.
“Why didn’t you tell me all about this? I would have told you to stop right there. Instead, you led me on a merry dance down here when… when if you had just trusted me… Oh never mind. I don’t want it and that’s that.”
Then he stood up and addressed Ingrid and Jeff.
“You,”
He said quite angrily to Ingrid,
“are just like my parents. You want to run my life. They had my future all mapped out from the day I was born. I was having none of that and did my own thing until about six months before the Ball when they finally stopped telling me what to do. You would not tell me about the fact that you had a brother until you had done a deal. Why? Because you love being in control.”
Neither of them said anything.
“I’m going home and then… well, I’ll be gone. Please don’t try to find me again.”
He left them in the restaurant feeling an awful lot better with himself. Ingrid and Jeff had been acting just like his parents in that they were trying to organise his life for him.
He had hoped that Ingrid would have learned a lesson after what happened after the Summer Ball. But no, she just had to be in control and that was what Sean did not want from his life.
[to be continued]
[The final part will be posted here in a few weeks. I was editing it and realised that it wasn't very good so back to the drawing board for most of it. I now know how it should proceed.]
Summer Ball – Part 3
At long last, I got around to finishing the story.
The second part is here -->> https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/84863/summer-ball-par...
Ingrid was stunned once again by Sean’s departure. She was stunned because she had gone and done it again. She’d taken over and had been oblivious to Sean’s desires because she was having too much fun being in charge. It was as the IT geeks say, another ‘footgun moment’.
Her brother, Jeff sat back in his chair with a smug grin on his face.
“The man is an idiot to run away from you. Any fool can see that he is totally in love with you,” he pronounced.
His words brought Ingrid back to reality. She’d been deep in a zone of self-loathing.
“He is in love with wanting to be me, and I’ve stomped all over him again.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sean wants to be a woman like me and he thinks that he can never be like me.”
Ingrid felt shocked at her honesty. She had never admitted that to herself even in private before.
Jeff laughed.
“He’s a tranny? You gotta be kidding me?”
“Oh, I know that he is. I’m so stupid. He finds a nice life and I come barging in and want to take over running his life. He was right and I could not see it even though it was staring me right in the face and I was just too stupid to realise it.”
Jeff just shook his head but that didn’t stop Ingrid.
“It is all right for you Mr Happily Married with three kids and a five-million-dollar house in the burbs. Some of us are not so lucky.”
Ingrid stood up.
“Give me your car keys.”
“Why? He’s done with you.”
“Not if I can help it he isn’t. Keys?”
Reluctantly, Jeff fished the keys out of his jacket pocket.
“Where is it parked?”
“In the underground lot at the office. Second level down and turn left out of the lift. The red key fob will operate the exit gates.”
“Thanks,” said Ingrid.
“I’ll return it as soon as I can. If I leave now, I can be back at his trailer before he gets there.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I have not spent all this time, and come all this way to lose him now.”
“There are plenty of other fish out there you know… Anyone of fifty guys at my gym would give their right arm to go out with you.”
“And they would lose it in vain. The only person I’m interested in is Sean. Do you see why I have to do this?”
She grabbed the keys off the table and fled out of the restaurant before her brother could argue.
To her immense relief, Ingrid found Jeff’s car exactly where he had said it would be. For a moment, she felt a little guilty at depriving him of his wheels but she was determined to try to make things up with Sean… again.
As soon as she saw the twin towers of the Golden Gate Bridge appear in front of her, she knew that she had done the right thing.
Driving north as fast as the speed limit and traffic allowed, Ingrid kept a good lookout for Sean’s truck. At one point a similar make and colour of vehicle came roaring up behind her. She moved over and let it pass. It wasn’t Sean. It was then that she realised that she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled and felt her heart start to slow down again. She knew where he was going at least for a few hours before he did yet another runner.
Ingrid stopped just once on the journey north and that was for Gas. Jeff has left it almost empty. All the time she was pumping the gas, she kept trying to spot Sean. They’d parked well outside the city and taken the bus over the bridge and into town. He’d either have to do that in reverse or pay for an Uber but that still might not have gotten him ahead of her. She carried on driving north hoping that it was true and that Sean was behind her.
Jeff’s car was like her rental in that it would not take kindly to the rough track to Sean’s cabin from the main road. She took the back entrance and hoped for the best.
She’d only gone a few yards along the track when she stopped dead. She reversed the car and carried on down the track towards the beach. Ingrid parked the car and almost ran back to the cabin. Ingrid had realised that if Sean saw a strange car parked at the cabin when he returned, it would immediately make him suspicious. By parking away from the property, she hoped that he would just return home none the wiser. Her only other worry was that Sean would have been and gone in the short time that she’d been away.
The cabin was quiet and from the outside, it appeared that no one had been there since they’d left to go south. After taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Everything looked just as they’d left it before heading down to San Francisco.
Keeping quiet, she went into the bedroom. It seemed that all of Sean’s clothes were still there. Knowing that appearances could be misleading, she looked in his ‘sock drawer’. It was full of socks and underwear. Her heart was racing as she looked underneath them. She hoped that she’d find Sean’s Passport there. Her fingers found the slim booklet.
Ingrid pulled out the item. It was his British Passport. Then she remembered that Sean was like her and had dual nationality. She wondered if Sean would bother to return to the trailer when she heard Sean’s truck pulling up outside.
Ingrid quickly hid the passport and left the bedroom. She’d just sat down when Sean came through the door.
“Hello, Sean.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. A look of horror spread over his face.
“Wh… what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you and trying to stop you from making another big mistake.”
Sean had by now recovered from the shock of seeing Ingrid again.
“Mistake? The only mistake I made was letting you back into my life only for you to screw it up again.”
“I did nothing of the sort and you know it. Ok, I should have told you what was going on but I wanted it to be a surprise and boy… did that backfire. But, as I have said many times since I found you here, I’m here for the long run.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said back at the restaurant?”
“I did and I totally understand why you said it. I did wrong ok. I screwed up big time but at least I have got the guts to admit that I messed up big time and want to try to sort it out.”
Sean started to say something but Ingrid stopped him.
“I want to say this so please let me do it and then I’ll shut up.”
Sean relaxed a bit as Ingrid started to say what she’d rehearsed on the drive up from the City.
“Stop running away from yourself Sean. Your mother told me about some of the times you ran away when things got bad for you as a child. Don’t you think that it is time for it to stop? You have a great place here and a great life. If it is appropriate, I should be the one to leave not you. Do you understand me?”
Sean didn’t say anything. Ingrid saw a tear well up in his eyes.
She had hit a nerve, so she carried on.
“Look Sean, I am sorry for taking over again today. It was silly I know. I didn’t learn from the night of the Summer Ball. Then I put my feet right in it… again.”
Ingrid took hold of Sean’s hand and smiled.
“I’m on the naughty step again so will you give me a chance to get back in your good books?”
Sean remained impassive. His eyes were still wet.
“I think that we can be good together if I can learn to curb my enthusiasm that is. Feel free to tell me if I try to take over again, but please don’t run away. Isn’t it time to face the world as the real you?”
Once again, Sean didn’t say anything. Ingrid had one throw of the dice left.
“Besides, don’t you want to see what happens to the Mortensen’s?”
Finally, Sean reacted.
“That would be nice. Those jerks deserve to get a smackdown. They have been a right pain in the arse to this town for the best part of forty years. Jake went to school with the brothers and… well he still has the scars from the beating that they gave him on the night of the School Prom all because he dared to ask their sister to go to the Prom with him. He was lucky to get out of it alive, but the cops did nothing. Teen Spirits they called it.”
Ingrid smiled.
“That’s more like the Sean I love.”
The tiny smile that was on Sean’s face disappeared in a flash.
“Yes Sean, I love you. The time we have spent here together made me realise that I love you and want to be with you no matter where you are or who you are. It isn’t how you look but what is inside. Do you understand that?”
Sean could not look at Ingrid.
Ingrid took the opportunity and wrapped her arms around Sean. He didn’t resist and neither did the tears.
The couple spent the next two days sorting out their relationship. Ingrid had to resist taking over and Sean had to stop running away at the slightest hint of trouble. Neither of them would find it easy to change and to have someone else in their life, that depended upon them.
Their time together was not all bad. They spent a lot of time getting to know each other’s likes and dislikes in bed. Sean eventually wore the pair of stockings that Ingrid had bought for him on the night of the summer ball. He insisted that she wear some as well. Ingrid was only too happy to comply.
Eventually, Ingrid’s patience with Sean paid off and he began to recover his self-confidence. The day before the end of Sean’s now extended vacation from the bar, they travelled down to San Francisco to return Jeff’s car. Sean met his family and tried to make an effort to get to know them. After a somewhat frosty reception, Jeff warmed up and the rest of the visit was successful.
Both of them returned north knowing that the relationship between Sean and Jeff was a work in progress.
With the vacation over, Sean returned to work at the Bar. Ingrid spent some time exploring the local area as well as making subtle improvements to the backyard of Sean’s home. She cleared up all the detritus that he’d left behind after the last lot of improvements he’d made. Inevitably, she ran into one of the Mortensen brothers.
She’d just come out of the local hardware store after buying some brackets for the yard lights that Sean had bought but had never fitted when Brad Mortensen came roaring into the parking lot in his brand-new truck. The stupidly high raised suspension meant that he looked down at her from the cab.
Ingrid ignored his revving of the truck’s engine and carried on packing her purchases away.
Brad lowered the window and glared at Ingrid. She finished securing her purchases in the back of the pickup.
“Hey, little darlin’. Wanna come up here and get a great view of the world?”
Ingrid bit her lip in an attempt to show no emotion. Instead, she got in the pickup and started the engine.
As she put it into drive, Brad moved away and blocked the entrance to the parking lot. Ingrid stopped the vehicle. She took some photos of Brad and posted them on Facebook with enough text to describe the situation perfectly. She used the words ‘Ignorant Redneck’ more than once.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another customer leave the store. Ingrid thought that Brad would have to move to let them out. That would be her opportunity.
She was wrong. He moved just enough to let the other vehicle leave the parking lot but closed the gap before Ingrid could get through. That did it for her. She dialled 911.
“I’m being stopped from leaving the hardware store parking lot by Brad Mortensen,” she told the local Police.
“He’s blocking the entrance with his truck.”
“I have taken some photos. I’ve posted them on Facebook so that the world can see what a … what an unkind person he really is.”
“Thank you. I’ll sit in my pickup and wait for your officer to arrive.”
Brad was grinning at her. He kept revving the Truck’s Engine. Lots of black smoke came from the twin exhausts. Ingrid felt a bit sick but took some more pictures. Then she heard the sound of a Police Car’s siren.
It took Ingrid two hours to explain to five different Police Officers what the problem was. Three of them laughed it off. It wasn’t until the Deputy Chief arrived on the scene that her complaint was taken seriously. The pictures of Brad were forwarded to the Police but she could get no response about ‘what was going to happen next’. Brad was told to get lost or the whole matter of him harassing a woman would be reported directly to his father. Brad took the hint and left town with a lot of noise and black smoke.
It appeared that the local PD knew that taking any formal action against the Mortensen’s would probably backfire against them. They’d done it before and had their budget dramatically reduced as a result.
Both Sean and Ingrid had to bite their tongues more than once in the following days. Privately, they were both getting a bit impatient but they knew deep down that when the proverbial shit hit the fan, the whole county would know about it.
Ingrid managed to resist the temptation to call her half-brother for an update. Like most Lawyers, he was not one to break confidentialities. If there was something for them to know, he’d call her but it was very frustrating not to know what was happening.
“Patience Darling,” said Sean one evening.
“What we don’t know, we can’t blab about.”
“I know but…”
“Careless talk costs lives.”
Ingrid managed a small laugh.
“Don’t go all WW2 on me.”
“But the last thing we want is to tip off you know who. Their foreman Al Carpenter, was in the Bar earlier. He was bragging about how big his bonus was going to be at the end of the year.”
“Did he give any reason why?”
“Nah! He became very tight-lipped when Jake pressed him. Even a free beer didn’t loosen his tongue.”
“Could it be more mouth than trousers?”
Sean shook his head.
“I don’t think so. He was trying to sell his Truck to Joe Kowalski. Al said that he’d put a deposit down on a new fully loaded RAM 3500 Limited. Those monsters don’t come cheap. I think that they retail for well over seventy grand before tax. Joe was lukewarm about buying his RAM 1500 until Al said that his new truck would be delivered just before Thanksgiving.”
“That’s some bonus he’s looking at getting.”
Sean grinned.
“It would be a crying shame if his employment was suddenly cut short just before taking delivery.”
Ingrid smiled.
“Al is just a Brad wannabe but even more mouthy.”
A few days later, Ingrid was in town when she noticed a sign on the bakery door. It stopped her dead in her tracks.
“Business for Sale. Owner Retiring. Apply within.”
One of the prime reasons for Ingrid’s regular visits was to buy some of their artisan Sourdough bread. Both Sean and Ingrid liked the taste of it when compared to the tasteless pap that was called bread in the supermarket.
Ingrid took a deep breath and went into the store.
As she was being served, she asked the server,
“I saw the notice in the window.”
The assistant sighed.
“It will be a shame. We can’t compete with WallyWorld. Since they expanded our takings have been down quite a bit.”
“Your sourdough is the best for miles around.”
“Thanks for that but we need some extra… more products that will keep customers coming week after week. “
“When… when are you closing?”
“The boss says at the end of the year. We already have a lot of Christmas Orders and he does not want to let the people of the town down.”
“Good man,” said Ingrid.
She paid for the bread and some Granola Slices and left the shop. The bright start to the day had evaporated in an instant when she’d seen the notice.
Her next port of call was at the Deli/Café that was next door to the Bakery. She hoped that a nice cup of Coffee would brighten her day.
As she was paying for her Coffee, she said,
“Did you see the notice on next door?”
The young woman who was making her Latte smiled.
“It has been the subject of lots of speculation all day.”
She smiled as she handed over Ingrid’s drink.
“Going to put a bid in for it? It would be a shame to see another local business close down.”
“Me?” said Ingrid.
“I don’t have the money and I can just about knead some dough let alone make fifty or a hundred loaves every day and that is not even starting to think about the pastries.”
“Me too. I love those Granola slices,” said the assistant.
Ingrid grinned.
“Same here. I have some for later. They are very moreish.”
Ingrid took her coffee and sat down by the Window. She began to think about what the town would be like without the Mortensen and their ilk running things.
Her mind wandered all over the place. The coffee remained untouched and going cold. It was one of those days when you can’t concentrate on anything for more than half a second.
Ingrid’s daydreaming was brought to an abrupt end when someone else sat down opposite her.
“Well, hello, Darlin’. Has that nobody given you the elbow yet?”
It was Brad Mortensen.
“Get lost, bozo. I want nothing to do with numbskulls like you!”
Brad laughed.
“I don’t know what a numbskull is, but I’ll take it as a comment. Now are you going to leave that loser and come with someone with a lot more to offer than him? If ever there was a dead-end job, it was a barman in a dump like Jake’s. Never mind. In a few months that place will be history and there is not a thing that you or anyone can do about it!”
Ingrid bit her lip not once but twice before replying.
“You are full of yourself aren’t you Mr Mortensen? Never mind. Like the Holy Roman Empire didn’t last a thousand years, neither will yours.”
As Ingrid stood up, she accidentally knocked over her undrunk Latte. The liquid went all over Brad’s designer denim jeans.
He leapt to his feet knocking over the large cup of something hot that he’d brought with him to the table. This time it went over his expensively tooled cowboy boots.
Brad was not amused.
“You bitch. I’ll get you for that. Do you know how much these pants cost me?”
Ingrid grinned.
“My guess is about five dollars from a thrift shop?”
Brad made a move towards Ingrid when a deep voice said.
“Watch yourself, Brad. Attacking a lady is not something that can be made to go away.”
Everyone in the room turned towards the voice. It belonged to Brad’s father.
Brad knew who the was boss. He left the café without saying another word.
“I must apologise for my son. He had a big mouth and sometimes he is a complete fool.”
“Thank you, Mr Mortensen. Sadly, I would never date him even if he was the last man on the planet. He isn’t my type. I much prefer the quiet intelligent type.”
Before Mr Mortensen could react, Ingrid walked out the door. As she passed the counter the assistant smiled and gave her the thumbs up.
Ingrid’s euphoria didn’t last. By the time she’d reached home, she was starting to worry about how Brad would exact his revenge upon her and Sean.
[to be continued]
[The events in this part of the story take place before County Sheriff – Part 17.]
When Ingrid returned home, she had started to call Sean’s place home now, and she found him kneading some bread. Despite trying hard, she failed to stop herself from laughing.
“What’s so funny?” said Sean as he used the back of his hand to move a lock of hair from his eyes.
Ingrid put down her shopping and stepped up to Sean. She gave him a brief kiss and fixed the errant bit of hair. Then, after another kiss, she smiled and said,
“When I was in town, I bought some of that Sourdough that we like, only to find you making some bread, which is something that I’ve never seen you do before.”
Sean smiled.
“I normally do it at Jake’s place. I made the bread plait for Saturday Brunch, but the oven is being serviced today. Therefore, here I am beating the hell out of some flour, water and yeast.”
“Oh. So, my buying the bread wasn’t wasted then?”
“No, it isn’t, but I need to get this finished so that the dough can rise. Give me five minutes, and you can tell me all about town. Something happened because you have a wet patch on your pants legs.”
“Something did happen. Well, two things. I’ll put my purchases away and put the coffee on then, and I’ll tell you what happened.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Sean as he turned back to the kneading.
“Right. That dough will take an hour or so to rise,” said Sean as he covered the large bowl that contained the dough with clingfilm. Then he put it into the warming drawer of his oven.
Ingrid watched in awe. She’d wondered why Sean had such an expensive oven in his home. Now she knew. It all started to fit together. Jake had told her on that first day how Sean had changed the food that the Bar offered its clients and how it had improved takings. She knew that Sean was more skilled in the culinary arts than her, but until that day, things had not clicked.
“You like cooking, don’t you? Why didn’t you become a chef?”
“Have you seen how Gordon Ramsay treats his commis? No thanks. I could never do that.”
Ingrid managed a chuckle. Those shows had been almost compulsive viewing at times.
“Surely all chefs can’t be like that?”
“They aren’t, but you have to spend years training, and I could never last that long. I taught myself when I was a student and have carried on learning ever since.”
Ingrid knew of his distaste for things like a Big Mac or a Whopper, or any chain restaurant place. He had a reputation back in London for searching out small family-run places for lunch. She remembered hearing about a fantastic Pie and Mash shop in Spitalfields. Some of her colleagues had been and had raved about it for weeks afterwards. Ingrid had always brought a salad into work, so she wasn’t part of the ‘going out for lunch’ clique.
“There’s a notice on the door of the Bakery. The owner is retiring at the end of the year.”
Sean smiled.
“That same notice has been appearing about now for as long as I’ve been here.”
“I get the feeling that others around town think that this time he means it.”
Sean looked at Ingrid right in the eye.
“Are you suggesting that I take over the Bakery?”
“Why not? You obviously love baking, and besides, he does not run it alone. I could help out. I’m going to have to find a job sooner rather than later.”
“I don’t know. It is a big commitment and a lot of very early mornings.”
“There isn’t a rush, but I’d not leave it very long though.”
Ingrid paused. She was unsure about mentioning her encounter with Brad. In the end, she decided to tell Sean.
“After buying the bread, I went into the Café next door and ordered a Latte. I sat next to the window and was daydreaming. The next thing I knew, Brad Mortensen came and sat opposite me.”
Sean smiled.
“Let me guess, he asked you to shack up with him… again.”
“Yeah. He did. I told him no. Then I stood up and accidentally knocked over my Latte. It went all over his apparently expensive designer jeans. He was not pleased.”
“I can bet he wasn’t. Was he wearing the ones with creases down the leg?”
“Yeah, why?”
Sean giggled.
“About five months ago, I was down near Oakland with Jake, looking at a new drinks wholesaler, when we saw Brad’s truck going the other way. Jake said, ‘We are early, so why don’t we see what Brad is up to?’. I didn’t argue. Anyway, Brad went to the huge WallyWorld just off I-5. He bought six pairs of jeans, all like that. I’m sure he got his Ma to remove the WallyWorld label from the back when he got home.”
“Did he spot you guys?”
“Nah. That’s the beauty of it. He thought that he was far enough away from town that no one would spot him. About a week later, he started wearing them and telling everyone that they were expensive designer pants.”
Sean smiled.
“What did Brad do when your drink went all over him?”
“He mouthed off. Called me a bitch and then stood up, and in doing so, he knocked over his drink. That went over those tooled cowboy boots he wears. He wasn’t happy and may well have taken things further, but his Pa saved the day.”
“Good. If there is one saving grace in that family, it is that old man Mortensen respects women, unlike his sons, who seem only to want to get them into bed to prove their manhood. The old man tries hard to keep them on a short leash, but as we know, they get loose.”
“Those two need to be seen, too. Castration would calm them down. They have an excess of Testosterone that is making life hell for almost everyone in town.”
Both of them laughed. They could imagine the brothers without balls.
Ingrid then wiped the smile from her face.
“Being serious for a moment. I’m a tad worried about Brad wanting to exact revenge for his latest public humiliation. You might be in the firing line when you are working.”
Sean thought for a moment before replying.
“His bark is generally far worse than his bite, but I think that both of us need to watch out.”
[later that evening]
“Were you serious about taking over the Bakery?” asked Sean.
“It is a possibility. As I said earlier, I’ll have to find a job sooner or later, but to be honest, the first thing we need to do if we want to pursue this further is to get a look at the books. I have no idea what sort of money he’ll want for the business and how much for the goodwill.”
A smile slowly formed on Sean’s face.
“You have been thinking about this, haven’t you?”
Ingrid laughed.
“Not really. I had a summer job when I finished my A-levels with an accountant's business, and spent most of the summer working on a merger. By the end, I was almost dreaming about ‘Due Diligence’. I was totally bored by the whole thing, but it seemed to stick. The money wasn’t bad, though.”
Sean laughed.
“How many more skills do you have hidden away?”
“Hey! What about you and making bread?”
“Touché!”
After the weekend, Sean and Ingrid got down to working on the carport. In the privacy of their home, Sean let his hair down from the normal ponytail, and Ingrid styled it in a more feminine way. She saw an immediate change in Sean. His defences came down and he became a far more sympathetic and lovable person. This reminded her of the rare glimpses of his feminine character that she’d seen in London.
They’d nearly completed the work by the end of Tuesday, so they celebrated by eating on the terrace. While Ingrid was preparing the meal, Sean had changed into some much more feminine clothes. He still hadn’t decided on a female name, which caused Ingrid to taunt him from time to time, but she knew that it was all part of getting him to open up and become the real person that she knew existed.
They’d just finished eating when a voice said.
“Well, lookee here! Sean really is gay. I always thought so. Now I know it.”
The voice belonged to Brad. The smiles that had been on both Sean’s and Ingrid’s faces were now a distant memory.
“Fuck off, Brad. You are trespassing,” said a defiant Ingrid.
“Ohhhhh. I’m so scared. Look, darlin’, that queer nobody is even more of a loser than I’d ever imagined. Why not come with me and experience what a real man is like?”
“Brad, as Ingrid said, you are trespassing. This is private property and you are not welcome.”
Brad put his hands on his hips and laughed.
“Whatyagonnadoaboutithen?”
His words were slightly slurred. It was clear that he’d been drinking. He smelt like a stale brewery.
Ingrid got up from the table and calmly picked up a bow saw that they’d been using earlier.
“What am I going to do about it? How about I cut you up into little pieces and feed you piece by piece to the Sea Lions that live down at the dock? I’m sure I could even charge admission!”
Brad laughed.
“Showing some spirit! I like a feisty woman.”
Sean joined Ingrid, who was standing on the edge of the porch.
“Do you realise that every word you have said has been captured on camera? I’m sure the town would love to see Brad the toothless bully at work!” said Sean defiantly.
“Toothless! Who are you calling toothless? I’ll get you for that.”
Brad took two steps towards the two. As he did so, Sean picked up an axe that had been propped up against one of the porch supports.
Brad stopped.
“I think I kinda like Ingrid’s idea of chopping you up. If I had a gun, I could shoot you and walk free. Didn’t you see the notices? They clearly say ‘Trespassers could be shot!’”
Once again, Brad laughed.
“You don’t have the guts to take one more step.”
Brad was goading the pair.
Sean looked at Ingrid. She nodded, and together they came down the porch steps and started towards Brad.
The smirk disappeared from his face. Then he turned and fled. As he did so, he tripped over a tree root and fell flat on his face. He grunted as he picked himself up and headed up the track and back to the road.
Sean was shaking like a leaf when they sat down again. Ingrid held his hand and gently stroked the back of it. Gradually, Sean calmed down.
Then he reacted.
“Fuck! Shit!”
“Don’t get angry, my darling.”
Ingrid wrapped her arms around Sean. Then he started to cry. The adrenaline high that he’d briefly been on had worn off.
“It had to come, my dear.”
“What had to come?” he said between sobs.
“Someone from outside finding out about the real you. Isn’t it time to fight back?”
“What do you mean by to fight back? Isn’t that what we just did? Now Brad is going to broadcast this far and wide.”
“So? Why not pre-empt his tirade? Let’s get you properly dressed, and we can go into town as a couple. Then people can see the real you for the first time. That way, Brad will be shooting blanks. Besides, we have the video of him trespassing. I’ll get my brother to file suit against him.”
Sean said nothing for several minutes.
“I suppose so,” he eventually muttered.
Ingrid stood up smiling.
“Good. Now go and wash away those tears. Then we’ll fix up your makeup, get dressed and go into town. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot!”
“Red hot branding iron and aimed right at my backside!” said Sean, trying to make a joke.
It sadly went right over Ingrid’s head.
An hour later, Ingrid climbed into the driving seat of Sean’s truck. Sean, or rather Melissa as she now preferred to be called, stood outside, hesitating. Ingrid leaned over and opened the door. Reluctantly, she climbed in and fastened her seatbelt.
Ingrid took hold of Melissa’s hand. She was staring straight ahead.
“One day, we’ll look back on today and wonder what all the fuss was.”
Melissa didn’t respond, so Ingrid started the truck.
“Right,” she said.
“Jake’s place first, ok?”
Melissa managed a small nod of her head.
The short drive to Jake’s Bar was done in silence. Ingrid was hoping that a friendly face would make her companion a lot more sociable. A lot was hanging on it.
“Stay right there,” said Ingrid when she stopped the truck outside the bar.
“I’ll go and get Jake.”
Melissa remained motionless. Ingrid took a deep breath and went inside the bar. Being a Tuesday evening, it wasn’t very busy. There were only three vehicles in the car park. One belonged to Jake, one to Jo-Anne, who was tending bar that night. That left one customer.
“Hi, Jake,” said Ingrid when she saw him wiping down the bar.
“Hello, Ingrid. Sean not with you?”
“He’s in his truck. He wants to see you.”
Jake’s smile disappeared.
“Bad news?”
“It depends.”
Jake got the idea. He came around from behind the bar and walked to the door.
Ever the gentleman, he opened the door for Ingrid. Together, they walked over to where Sean’s Truck was parked.
Jake saw the new Sean and smiled. Without hesitation, he opened the passenger side door.
“At last.”
His words surprised both Ingrid and Melissa.
Melissa turned to look at Jake.
“Don’t look surprised, Sean. You have been dropping the odd hint here and there almost since you came here. I must say you are looking good. What do I call you?”
“Melissa.”
“Pleased to meet you, Melissa, but what brought this sudden change on?”
“Brad!”
Jake nodded his head.
“What happened?”
“We were sitting on the porch when he appeared. Sean was wearing some makeup and a feminine top,” replied Ingrid.
“I get it. I expect he went off to tell the world then?”
Melissa nodded.
“Where are you going next?” asked Jake.
“Into town and to the Café. I had an incident there with Brad the other day. I spilt my coffee over his so-called designer jeans.”
Jake laughed.
“He wouldn’t like that.”
“He didn’t. I was only saved by the arrival of his father.”
“You got lucky, but that was why he came visiting.”
“We got it all on CCTV,” said Melissa.
“Good for you. He needs to be taught a lesson. Mind you, he hasn’t won any encounters since this lovely lady came on the scene. He must be getting desperate.”
Then Ingrid said,
“You don’t mind the new Sean?”
Jake grinned.
“I’ve often teased Sean about the length of his hair, so no, I don’t at all. I’ll make sure that my customers don’t object. They shouldn’t have any cause for complaint thanks to the improvements in the food that Sean introduced.”
Melissa managed a small smile.
“We’d better get going if we are going to get to the Café before it closes.”
Jake leaned over and gave Melissa a brief kiss on the cheek. She went red in the face.
“You two get along now. We can manage without you until Friday.”
“But Jake?” muttered Melissa.
“No buts. Who’s the boss around here, eh?”
“Ready, my darling?” asked Ingrid.
She’d parked the truck in the slip road that ran along the front of the group of stores that included the Bakery and Coffee Shop.
“I guess so.”
“Jake was very accepting.”
“He’s a good man. Bartenders have to be good listeners.”
“I know. I had to learn that quickly. Jake is a good teacher.”
Hand in hand, the two walked into the Coffee shop. Nancy, the owner, was behind the counter. She recognised Ingrid but did a double-take on Sean.
“Sean?”
“It is Melissa from now on,” replied a very hesitant Melissa.
“What has brought this on? Please don’t tell me that it was Brad!”
Both Melissa and Ingrid nodded.
“After that episode the other day, I wondered how long it would be before he exacted revenge.”
“He trespassed onto our property and caught Melissa in the act, so to speak,” said Ingrid.
“Sounds about right for that low life.”
Nancy smiled.
“Sit yourselves down and I’ll bring over your drinks.”
Melissa was slightly reluctant, but Ingrid insisted that they sit at the table in the Window.
Nancy brought over two coffees to the couple.
“This is on the house,” she said defiantly.
“Thanks, Nancy,” replied Melissa.
Nancy disappeared into the office behind the counter.
“You did it!” said Ingrid.
“Thanks to you. I may well have never come out like this.”
“More like ‘never’ but Brad forced our hand.”
“Our hand?”
“Yes,” replied Ingrid, smiling.
“I’m now on the surface a lesbian.”
Melissa took a moment to think things through.
“I guess you are right. That will make Brad angry. He only likes women who bat for one side, so to speak.”
“Well then, I hope that he leaves me alone from now on.”
Before Melissa could answer, several more people came into the shop. They all headed for the couple sitting by the window.
“Nancy called us to say that Brad is on the warpath. We are here to support you.”
Both of them were speechless.
Over the next fifteen minutes, the shop filled up with people. All came and congratulated Melissa and also berated Brad. There was a lot of conversation, and everyone seemed happy.
That continued until the shop door opened and Chief Harrison walked in. He glared at Melissa.
“So, it is true! The faggot has come out and shown himself at last.”
There was silence in the shop.
The Police Chief sauntered over to where Melissa and Sean were sitting. He looked pleased with himself.
“I hope you two have a ride home, as that wreck of a truck has been towed. I judged that it was parked too close to a fire hydrant.”
The shop owner, Nancy, came from behind the counter. She looked angry.
“There is no fire hydrant within fifty feet of where the truck was parked, and you well know it.”
“I make the law around here, and if I say that it was parked too close, then too close it is. Judge Parker will agree with me, so if I were you, good folk, I’d get off home now before I decide that all your cars are parked too close to the same fire hydrant.”
The Police Chief hadn’t noticed that Jerry Markovitz, who was the one and only mechanic at the gas station, had been filming the whole thing on his phone.
The chief headed for the door. After opening it, he turned to address those in the shop once again.
“You have five minutes before I call the tow truck. Then it will be two hundred dollars for each of you to get your car out of the impound lot.”
He slammed the door behind him. There was silence in the Café.
Jerry was frantically working away on his phone. Then he stood up and announced.
“I recorded everything and put it up on Facebook with the hashtag PoliceCorruption. That should get some likes.”
Before anyone could respond, there was a banging on the rear door to the Café. Nancy went and opened it.
Bob Schultz, the local Tow Truck Service Owner and Operator, dashed in. He made a beeline for Melissa and Ingrid.
“The Chief made me tow your truck. It is in the back of the Church Parking Lot, well out of sight of the main road. He was with Brad and… Well, Brad was ordering him to get your truck into the Impound Lot within an hour. I was going to do it, but Brad boasted that all the cars in the Lot were being taken down to Oakland tonight for crushing. He specifically said that yours was to be amongst them. That’s all wrong, so I towed your truck, but didn’t take it to the impound yard. As I was leaving, Brad told me to come back and take all the other cars parked outside, as they were illegally parked. The Chief was putting up some ‘Parking Suspended’ notices on the street lights.”
Bob’s explanation almost caused a rush towards the exit of the customers. Many moved towards the door but sat back down again when they realised that with the Tow Truck driver in the Café, nothing was going to get towed that night.
Bob smiled.
“You look good, Sean.”
“It is Melissa from now on, but thanks, Bob. It is much appreciated.”
One of the occupants of the Café had taken a look outside and returned looking worried.
“The Chief is ticketing all the cars.”
That news did cause an exodus of people from the Café. Before they went, Bob said,
“Please take photos of where your car is and be sure to include the ticket in the photo. If you are on Facebook, then please post it. The more that we can expose their wrongdoings, the better. Eventually, someone in Sacramento will take notice.”
As the customers filed out, several could be seen preparing their phones to record the injustice that had been done to them.
Bob Schultz slipped out the back after saying that he was going to switch off his radio and phone and make himself scarce for the rest of the night.
Nancy came and sat next to the woman.
“You certainly have stirred up a hornet’s nest. What will they do next?”
Ingrid didn’t say anything, so Melissa took charge.
“The Mortensens seem to be about to do something big. I get the feeling that whatever it is, it is going to be big and affect everyone in town. Brad is a loose cannon, though.”
Ingrid added,
“I hope that you have decent insurance cover for this place. Now that they know that you are on our side, there is no telling what will happen next, and the Chief of Police will somehow ignore calls for action. He seems to be controlled by the Mortensens.”
Nancy managed a smile.
“That’s because they are family. Well, sort of. Ma Mortensen is the Chief’s Aunt. His Ma died when he was just a baby. She got drunk and went off the road one wet night. They didn’t find her for three days. Anyway, his Aunt, his Ma’s sister, brought him up. When the Chief was twelve, she married Pa Mortensen and the Chief and Brad, and his brothers and sister all lived under the same roof. Chuck only became Chief because Pa Mortensen made sure that no one would stand for election against him. Since then, the Chief’s much older brother has become Mayor, and the town is under their control. There are only a few of us store owners who don’t pay protection money to them.”
“That isn’t good,” said Ingrid.
“It is good that you got Brad really mad. He deserved the ticking off he got from Pa Mortensen the other day after pestering you and blaming you for spilling coffee over him.”
“Something has to be done about them,” said Melissa.
“True, but who? I guess that they have the squeeze over all the local Politicians that matter,” replied Nancy.
Silence fell over the Café.
After a couple of minutes, Nancy stood up and said,
“I’ll give you good folk a run down to the Church if you like. It is on my way home. I just need you to witness me locking the place up properly. I wouldn’t want anyone to come waltzing in, you understand.”
Melissa didn’t say much during the short journey to the church parking lot. Sean’s truck was right where Bob had said it would be.
“Thanks for the lift, Nancy,” said Melissa as they emerged from Nancy’s car.
“Think nothing of it. Melissa is a nice name,” said Nancy.
The comment took both Melissa and Ingrid by surprise.
“Nancy? I don’t understand. What with you having something to do with the church and all that?”
Nancy laughed.
“I only go because my dear departed Husband used to play the organ. I was young once, and back then, for a brief while, it didn’t matter what people wore, and it sure doesn’t matter to me today. I think that most people around here are pretty liberal thinkers, and the show of solidarity tonight proves that. Apart from the Mortensens and their friends, who worship at the church of money and corruption. They’ll be the ones that become friends with Satan if they haven’t done so already.”
Melissa smiled.
“Thanks, Nancy.”
“I’ll bid you good folk goodnight, but Ingrid, if you are looking for some work, then drop by. I heard from Jake that you are good with books. A lot of small businesses around here always struggle when it comes time to pay their taxes. Just having someone who can look them over would go down well.”
“Thanks, Nancy. I’ll bear that in mind.”
The drive back home was done in far better spirits than earlier.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” remarked Ingrid.
“No… but. I’m sure that Brad and the rest of the clan are thinking up more schemes to make the town bend to their wishes. I just wish ‘you know who’ would do whatever it is that they are going to do.”
“I know, darling. I’ll send an email with what happened today before we go to bed. I don’t know about you, but I sense that there is a feeling of desperation coming over the other side.”
“I hope so. When that sort of person gets desperate, they make mistakes,” replied Melissa.
Melissa stared out of the window. Ingrid took her eyes off the road just long enough to see that she was miles away.
“Penny for them?” said Ingrid.
It took a second for Melissa to respond.
“Oh… sorry. I was miles away.”
“Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Where was that ‘miles away’ place?” asked Ingrid.
Melissa smiled.
“I was thinking back to the night of the Summer Ball and how much things have changed since then.”
Ingrid laughed.
“The question is… are you happier that you are now out of the closet?”
“Yes, I am, but I also know that things won’t be plain sailing from here on in.”
“I was thinking much the same thing back at the church. I’m sure that in the end, we’ll get through it and we will be stronger for it,” said Ingrid as she turned the Truck off the main road and onto their property.
[to be continued]
Things around town were quiet for a few days after Melissa’s coming-out event. She was initially reluctant to go to work at Jake’s Bar in what Ingrid called ‘Full Warpaint’.
Despite her initial reservations, Ingrid ensured she looked the part before letting her go on her way. She waved Melissa off like a mother would do to a child going to school. For a brief moment, she felt rather proud of Melissa.
When Melissa nervously walked into the Bar, she saw Jake up a stepladder. He was fixing up a sign that read, “Insult the Bar Staff once and say sorry, then you are forgiven. Do it twice, and you are banned for life, no ifs, buts or maybes. Jake.”
Melissa wasn’t sure if that would work given some of the often very ribald comments that were passed around, especially when any Women’s Sports were featured on the main TV screens.
Sean had found some of the comments frankly insulting, but for many of the hard-core Football Fans, the only women who should be on TV were the cheerleaders. He’d just smiled, held his tongue and poured more beer.
“What do you think, Melissa?” asked Jake as he stood back and admired his handiwork.
“Not bad,” she replied and swiftly headed for the kitchen to start ‘prep’ for the lunch menu.
Word had gotten around that ‘Barman Sean’ was now ‘Barmaid Melissa’. Some of the regulars were expecting Melissa to be dressed like the Barmaids at the Roadhouse on I-5 and be wearing tight, tight hot pants, silly height heels and a skimpy top. Nothing could have been further from the truth, which dampened things down considerably, but even so, Jake had to take a few of the more vocal customers outside for a proper talking, too. Once they returned and had apologised, Jake treated them to a beer on the house. The ‘or else’ option was all too clear to one and all.
By the end of that first week, things were back to normal or as close as they’d ever be again. Melissa took to wearing an ankle-length skirt and cowboy boots with a small heel. Only one drunk had squeezed her backside. That person was ceremoniously banned for life, with the relevant Facebook and Twitter entries to back it up.
Brad had tried hard to get people to turn against Melissa, but it appeared that the trip to the Café had stopped that in its tracks. His next attempt was to bring up the question of which bathroom Melissa would use. That was an old anti-LGBT ploy. At Jake’s place, there was a separate bathroom for staff, which solved that issue, as there would never be more than three staff on duty at any one time.
Nancy’s Café responded by making their two bathrooms ‘Unisex’. Brad was not amused and made it clear on Facebook that he regarded Melissa as a sexual predator and needed to be dealt with.
Naturally, the Chief of Police could not see anything wrong with Brad’s comments and went as far as endorsing his right to free speech as per the Constitution.
Neither of them quite anticipated the responses from people in Town. They all expressed the opposite view, and it was Brad who needed to be dealt with. They all made sure that each post included the words ‘I’m expressing my right to free speech’. Several posts went as far as to refer to the tools that were used to castrate male calves.
Brad responded by taking down his post to stop any more comments.
What happened the following Sunday morning was open to some confusion. Some witnesses would swear on a stack of Bibles that the FBI raided the homes of the Mayor, the Chief of Police and all the deputies. Others would say that it was the IRS, with others swearing that it was the ATF, but in any case, all of them were led away in cuffs. Hundreds of boxes of possible evidence were also removed and taken away to somewhere for investigation.
While this was going on, the big iron gates to the Mortensen Estate remained firmly closed and padlocked. They’d either fled already or were not going to come out easily should their place be raided. The local TV station had sent a news crew to report on the raids.
Not to be outdone by the news crews, one enterprising couple sent up a drone and flew it over the Mortensen Estate. They were not very good pilots, and the thing ran out of battery power before they could get it somewhere safe to land. They’d streamed the whole thing on Facebook and had made quite a lot of money in advertising by the time the drone crashed.
The pictures showed the Mortensen clan having a BBQ as if nothing had happened. When one spotted the drone, it was a sign for some target practice to take place. The shooters were probably half drunk, and none of the shots hit the target. The whole thing trended on Facebook for well over a day, despite many attempts by some very highly-paid lawyers to get it taken down.
The States Attorney had drafted in a team of Police Officers to take over the duties of those who had been arrested for the next few weeks. There was a lot of chatter in the town about who would be taking over. After a few days, it was generally agreed that the new Police Chief had to be someone from outside the area. The view was that they’d have no cosy under-the-counter links to local families and, therefore, be less likely to be corrupt or at least in cohorts with the previous regime and the Mortensens.
For a few days, the town was quiet. There had been little more than a brief mention of the arrests on the local TV channels, but it wasn’t important enough to go state or nationwide. The gossip was that someone was singing like a canary and that a grand jury was about to be convened somewhere in the state where a load of charges would be put to the jury.
All that speculation was forgotten when a convoy of Police Cars came through the town with all lights flashing. The convoy included several vehicles with big FBI signs on the side.
To the surprise of the onlookers, they didn’t stop in town but headed through town and straight for the Mortensen Ranch.
As it happened, Melissa was heading to work when she encountered the convoy coming in the other direction. Two police cars blocked the road right outside the gates to the Ranch. Melissa had no choice but to stop and wait. She became the perfect witness to what happened next.
A Patrol car smashed through the gates and didn’t stop. The rest of the convoy followed that car, and suddenly, the road was quiet again. All that remained were the two cars blocking the road.
An officer emerged from one car and came over to Melissa’s truck.
“Good evening, Ma’am. License and Registration, please?”
Melissa was surprised by this request.
‘What’s wrong, Officer? Have I committed some offence?”
“Ma’am, as far as I know, you have not, but you could be a witness to this operation, and my orders are to find out who you are. We don’t want this to leak onto Social Media until the operation is complete. So, if you don’t mind, License and Registration, please?”
Reluctantly, Melissa leaned over to the passenger seat and pulled a wallet from her handbag.
She handed her driving license to the Officer. Then she reached up and pulled the vehicle registration from the sun visor and handed that over as well.
“Er, Miss? This license and registration is in the name of Sean Williams.”
“That is correct, Officer. I’ve just started living as a woman. I am waiting for my lawyer to prepare the paperwork to change my name.”
The Officer returned the documents to Melissa.
“Where were you going tonight?”
“I’m due at work. I work behind the bar at Jake’s Bar and Grill. It is just over a mile down the road and is just before the town limits.”
“I get the feeling that the change to living as a woman is a sudden thing?”
Melissa chuckled.
“You are very astute, Officer. Society is quite schooled at making people conform to what everyone thinks they should be. I was faced with a choice. Be exposed by Brad Mortensen, or come out of the closet. I came out.”[1]
The officer smiled.
“I think that you should get off to work, Miss Williams.”
Melissa went to start the car, but stopped herself.
“Officer, thank you. If all the Police were as courteous as you, there would be less anger directed towards many of your colleagues.”
“Thank you, Miss. Comments like that make it all worthwhile.”
The Officer moved his car and allowed Melissa to get to work.
Talk of the raid on the Mortensens was already dominating conversation at Jake’s Bar when Melissa came on duty. Even a ‘49ers vs Steelers’ game that was showing on TV was being ignored.
“This is the event of the century, if not the last one as well,” exclaimed Jake.
Melissa was not so sure. As a child, she’d been on the last day of a Holiday in New York on that infamous day in September. She and her family were on the ferry going to visit the Statue of Liberty when the first plane crashed into the tower. They had a grandstand view of that event. While the raid on the Mortensens was of huge significance to the local area, in the grand scheme of things, it was a mere blip.
Melissa was pleased as it stopped any conversation about herself dead in its tracks, but she did wonder what would happen next. With the Mortensens, the Mayor and the whole of the Police Department likely to be in custody, she wondered who was going to Police the town. While the old PD might have been 100% corrupt, it was made up of people from the local area. Who knows what the new cops would be like? Life in a semi-rural town was very different from that of an inner city.
She wasn’t the only one with those concerns. In town, a group of residents, all of whom had served at one time on the Town Council, met to discuss the same thing. Amongst them was Nancy. She said very little during the meeting other than to provide copious amounts of tea and coffee. There was a reason for her sitting quietly and observing the discussions of her fellow residents. She knew them all very well, and if there was one thing that she knew that they’d never be able to agree on, that was who was going to be the next permanent Police Chief.
Nancy’s ace that was up her sleeve was that she knew someone who might very well be ready to accept the offer of a job as Chief of Police.
She bade her time and let her neighbours rattle on for hours, and would never reach a decision about who the best candidate would be.
It was almost two weeks later that Nancy got the chance to contribute to the debate about who was going to be the next Chief of Police. Her hand was forced by the current temporary Chief leaving because his mother, who lived near San Diego, had been taken ill.
Another temporary Chief was drafted in. This one came from Eureka, so it was much more local, but he made it clear that he was only staying until the end of the year as he was due to take up a role in Sacramento.
A meeting of ‘concerned residents’ was called. They met at the Gym at the High School. After a lot of chatter, Nancy got the attention of the chairperson, Bob Schultz.
“Nancy? You wanted to say something?”
She stood up and swallowed hard.
“I sure do, Mr Chairman. I know of someone who might be open to taking the job of Police Chief permanently.”
She paused.
“Before anyone asks, the person is a woman and is a relative of mine. Like me, she comes from New York and is a former Officer in the NYPD.”
Before she could say anything else, she was interrupted by Edgar Harris, the local Undertaker.
“She? You said former NYPD officer?”
Nancy smiled.
“Chad, if you had let me finish, I would have covered all that.”
Chad sat down, and Nancy continued.
“As I said, she is a former NYPD Officer and comes from a long line of NYPD officers. She is currently a deputy with the Custer County Police. She is married to the Sheriff. He is stepping down in November. There is another deputy who is in line to be Sheriff before her. That deputy was like the current Sheriff, born and bred in the county, so she may well be looking for a new position.”
She paused for breath. As no one had interrupted, Nancy continued.
“What is good is that they have been to town before. They passed through the town on their Honeymoon, where they had an encounter with our previous PD. They had a present from the PD in the shape of a ticket for parking too close to a fire hydrant when they were outside my Café. I think we all know the situation. Many of us here tonight experienced the old PD regime and don’t want a repetition of that anytime soon.”
Nancy sat down and waited for the inevitable questions.
The first came from Bob Schultz.
“What do you propose to do? We can’t just offer her the job on your say-so? Why isn’t her Husband interested in the job?”
“Bob, on their visit here, her husband told me that he was thinking of not standing for re-election. That tells me that he’s probably done with Law Enforcement. Before he was Sheriff, he was a Military Policeman and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know from my own experience that there comes a time when you need a real change. Coming here and opening my Cafe was my big change. I suggest that I call Kelly and sound out her interest. If it is positive, then I’m sure that we can get her to come here for a formal, above-the-board, and on-the-record interview. Then, more of us can see for ourselves what we will be getting. How does that sound?”
After a few more questions, no one else had any better ideas, and the meeting broke up. As she left, Edgar Harris stopped her.
“You knew about your relative all the time, didn’t you?”
“I did, but I felt that, as a relative newcomer to town, it would be better for any other suggestions or ideas to be aired first. Then I could not be accused of ‘taking over’ the meeting.”
Edgar looked confused.
“If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then just ask your wife about the last AGM of the Bridge Club and, importantly, why they no longer meet at my Café.”
Edgar looked puzzled.
“She didn’t tell you then? To cut a long story short, I was accused of profiteering by some members and then of trying to take over the club. I never made any money from the club, as my accounts clearly showed, but that wasn’t good enough for the ruling clique. Plus, the last thing I want is more responsibility; running my Café is more than enough, so I resigned from the club and withdrew my offer of hosting their evenings.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Edgar, your wife Ellen, was not one of those who came out against me. Since that day, none of them other than Ellen and your good self has set foot in my shop. Just ask her what happened and if she felt that I was trying to take over. I’m not interested in doing anything but running my Café, especially not becoming the next Mayor. I think that you would make an excellent Mayor.”
“Why don’t you stand? I’ll support you!”
Nancy shook her head.
“I won’t do it, but you have a base here, so it would be a shoo-in.”
“I’ll think about it.”
They left it at that.
That evening, Nancy phoned Kelly.
“How’s my favourite niece?”
“Good to hear it. I’m good as well.”
Nancy took a deep breath.
“My reason for calling is that I wanted to ask, has Matt decided about standing for re-election again?”
“That’s good. If you are interested, there is a vacancy here for the Chief of Police. The old lot are in jail and are being investigated for corruption, bribery and a lot more besides.”
“Long overdue if you ask me. I thought of you. With Matt in the background, it would be a great role for you. I know you could handle it.”
Nancy listened to Kelly’s explanation as to why she was not suitable for the job.
“Don’t you worry your lovely self about those idiots back East. I have more than enough dirt on a good number of your family to send them behind bars for years, and before you ask, the statute of limitations does not apply to these cases.”
“Yes, my dear, I am serious. We both got out of that nest of thieves, vagabonds and thugs for hire. You can add to that a good number of crimes related to the ‘Troubles’[2]. The Brits don’t have this concept of wiping crimes off the books after several years, especially crimes related to supplying arms to terrorist organisations. There is evidence galore with my Lawyer. That’s why they have left me alone, and if you are here as well, then that applies to you. Our current Administration is keen to support the peace and reconciliation process and may not be too keen to block extradition. In any event, the publicity will make them very much persons not wanted in parts of NYC.”
“Are you interested?”
“Gotcha. Talk it over with Matt and let me know. Don’t take too long about it, though. The natives are getting restless. Having temporary cops running the show isn’t ideal.”
“Ok, my dear. Let me know what you decide.”
Nancy put the phone down, hoping that she’d done enough to at least get Kelly interested in the job. The town needed a level-headed Chief, and with Matt as backup, she was confident that Kelly would shine in the role.
[to be continued]
Authors note
This piece brings this tale into a sort of alignment with ‘County Sheriff - First Steps to a New Job”.
[1] The sentence that begins “Society…” was cribbed from an Angela Rasch story (on BigCloset). I hope that she does not mind. I thought that the words were very apt and appropriate for this situation.
[2] The ‘Troubles’ is a general term used to describe the conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland that ended with the Good Friday Agreement of the late 1990s. Many Irish Americans provided money and guns to organisations like the IRA and, to a lesser extent, the UDA. The US government tended to turn a blind eye to that support, but with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, that attitude changed. Nancy is referring to aid given after that time.