Trish - Her Story

By SteveO

Trish and I were next door neighbours at number 13 and number 15 Croall Avenue. Hers was the brown house, and mine the dark brown one. In fact, all the houses in Croall Avenue seemed to be some shade of brown. She was a single mum with a kid; a 6 year old boy called Alfred, and she rented her place from a guy called Mister Pilkington. She'd have been in her mid thirties, but it was hard to tell. Her dress sense consisted of unflattering track pants, although in Summer she sometimes wore shorts that were one or two sizes too small. Not a good look. Me? I was a newly divorced bloke, on the wrong side of forty, slightly balding, but still reasonably good looking. Or so I thought. I was living alone after my wife left me for a man ten years older than herself!

Trish and I exchanged the odd “hello” every so often, and I would give her a hand when she needed it. Like getting her car started or fixing up a shelf in her laundry. That sort of thing. One day she rang me – she usually popped over if she wanted something, so a phone call was a bit unusual.
“I can’t find my car keys” she says, “and I’ve got to go into town”
Without thinking I said “they’re in the freezer!”
There was a long pause, and then I could hear her in the distance opening the chest freezer, then footsteps back to the phone.
“You know, you were right. I must have dropped them in there when I put the groceries away” This was the start of our psychic relationship. More...

Julie's Story Part 1

By SteveO

“Hey Mister, take my photo” I turned to see a young kid zooming by on one of those nifty-fifty type scooters, I smiled, and gave him a little wave. He waved back. I turned back to Julie and raised the camera to my eye. “Move slightly to the left” I said. She obliged. I took the shot. And another. Before long the scooter boy was nothing but a small buzz, heading up the hill in the distance. I’d chosen this spot for the bikini shoot because (I thought) it would be secluded. We decided to move further down the beach, over by the rocks. The tide wasn’t due in for a while so we would be okay there. As we were walking, Julie told me about her boyfriend Rex. “He’s a mechanic” she said “he’s always tinkering with cars. You know what, he’s building himself a race car? He wants me to be one of the pit crew…” she sounded really enthusiastic when she spoke about Rex, and her eyes sparkled. Julie had just turned nineteen, she told me, and she wanted to work in a government science lab. She’d enrolled at Polytech and after the holidays she was heading off to the Waikato to study. A long distance relationship, I said to myself, bound to unfold. We reached the rocks and I got Julie to lie on her side on one of the bigger rocks. It was about 4 o’clock I imagined. I’d left my watch at home, hadn’t I? The sun was just to the left of me and there was a little bit of cloud about, so it was ideal for taking photos on the beach.

In the distance I could hear a truck coming down from the hills. I looked up and could almost make out one of those truck and trailer units, probably full of smelly sheep. I decided to give the driver a bit of a thrill. I asked Julie to move away from the rocks, more towards the middle of the sand. From there the driver would get a better view. I heard the changing of the gears as the truck came slowly down the hill, and could see out of the corner of my eye it getting closer and closer. Julie did some nice poses and I took a whole series of shots. As the truck wizzed past on the road beside the beach, it sounded its horn (in appreciation, I hope) but pretty soon it was quiet again.

Julie's Story Part 2

by SteveO

Wednesday was turning into one of those days you tend to forget. Breakfast, out the door just after eight, drive for about an hour, meet the client, discuss the photo shoot ideas, shake hands, and off again. Fills up the morning, I guess. I had nothing planned for the afternoon, so thought I’d drop into see my mate Reg. He’s really into his photography. Likes to take pictures of young ladies in his studio. More like soft porn if you ask me, not really my thing, doesn’t pay the bills either. But he seems happy enough. His missus left him about two years ago. I can’t understand why, because he’s actually a nice guy when you get to know him. I guess she got sick of his “hobby”.
Anyway, I called around to Reg’s place. As I was walking up the driveway I was thinking maybe I should have rung first. I knocked on the door and a young lady, say twenty, answers. “Reg in?” I enquire. She’s barefoot and wearing what looks like a robe. She smiles at me. “He’s out back in the studio” she says, pointing to the path that leads around the back to his garage cum studio. “Thanks” I’d been there many times before. In winter you have to walk through the wet grass and it messes up your shoes. The door to the studio is just your normal aluminium garage door, but the glass window has been blacked out with some sort of dark material. I call out as I open the door. The studio is the size of a double garage with all the walls painted stark white, and two enormous softboxes and flashes on tripods, mounted either side of the main studio. Reg stood towards the centre of the room, camera in hand. He gestured for me to come in.
As my eyes adjusted to the light, I could make out the figure of a young lady, sitting in the middle of the studio. I got closer and realised it was Julie from the shoot a few days ago. “Hi” I said. She looked away from Reg towards me and realised who I was. “ Hi. I’m doing this for Rex. Do you think he’ll like them?” she said. I smiled. “Of course he will”. She wasn’t wearing much.
“Let’s take a break. Julie, you go and get on those fancy knickers you were telling me about.” Said Reg” Go to the house and make yourself a coffee. Pete and I have some catching up to do. We shouldn’t be too long”
I watched Julie walk out and wondered what Rex really would think.

Reg told me to have a seat. He smiled. “You know what? A lot of guys think I’ve got a great life, photographing lovely young ladies, not having to work for a living - and getting the pension as well.”

Not many men in their seventies could say that, I thought.

“But it’s not all beer and skittles, you know. Just last week the doctor rang me up with the results of my blood tests. You’re not eating properly, the doc says.” Reg has a real Southern English drawl, he’d been in the Royal navy, and there was roughness to the way he spoke.
“Well I guess he’s right” said Reg” It’s hard when you’re living alone. I hate cooking for one, my wife used to do all that.”

“What about your housekeeper? I met her at the door” I ask.

Reg grinned.
“She’s my neighbour. Her hot water’s on the blink and she asked if she could borrow my shower”. Julie returned, coffee cup in hand, and I stood up. “I’ll leave you two to it – I’ll see you soon”
In the car on the way home I wondered if I would be seeing Julie again.

Julie's Story Part 3

By SteveO

The day of the wedding started out bright and warm, but as the day wore on it became less sunny and more overcast. The wedding itself had gone well. The bride looked amazing. We got together at my studio a few weeks back to discuss the wedding photos, with her arriving at my place in tee shirt and ripped jeans, just a hint of makeup, and looking very casual. And now here she was dressed like a princess: an amazing transformation. After we’d finished all the obligatory family and friend’s photos, the bridal party and I headed off to the park. Everyone climbed into their cars; the bride and groom had a lovingly restored 1963 Cadillac Eldorado, while the rest of the bridal party had to make do with more modern Holdens.

The park was only five minutes away, and the Holdens arrived first. But it was a good fifteen more minutes before the bride and groom turned up.

“Had to stop for some supplies” yelled the groom, holding up a Johnnie Walker bottle. The bride didn’t look too impressed.

And that’s how the rest of the photoshoot went, getting less and less wedding-like as more whiskey was consumed. Fortunately, we only had an hour allocated for these photos, so it went relatively quickly. I managed to get some pretty good shots, especially of the bride and the bridesmaids. The guys were a little worse for wear.

As we headed back to the cars, I had a quick word with the bride.

“Everything okay?” I asked

“Yeah, he always gets plastered at weddings. Why should ours be any different?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

At the reception the guests were waiting, some outside under the trees, while others were inside propping up the bar. When the bride and groom turned up, all eyes turned towards the door. There was a collective gasp. The groom, in his semi-drunken state had decided it would be a good idea to carry the bride over the threshold of the reception. Unfortunately he wasn’t as steady on his feet as he had been an hour earlier, and he struggled to maintain an even keel. Eventually they made it inside, and everyone followed them into the reception hall and proceeded to find their seat.

As you can imagine, by this stage most of the guests had had time to get to know one another, and there was quite a hubbub in the room. I stood in the corner off to one side.

A few minutes elapsed. A man, presumably the master of ceremonies, stood up and started hitting his wine glass gently with the edge of his knife. The noise in the room slowly died down.

“Thank you” he said. ”First off, I would like to welcome everyone here today, especially those who’ve travelled a fair way to be here. It’s so good so many of you could make it.”

He coughed slightly.

“We are here today to celebrate the wedding of these two young folk.”

He looked around the room.

“I ask you all to charge your glasses”

Everyone grabbed their wine glass. Even those who’d filled it with orange juice. He held his aloft.

“To the bride and groom”

And the whole room responded “to the bride and groom”

I looked around the room at the sea of faces, wondering what they all would have been doing on any other Saturday, if they weren’t at this wedding. As I glanced around, I thought I’d spied a familiar face. It looked like Julie. Everywhere I went lately, I’ve been seeing her. At Tom’s studio, at the supermarket. But that was a mistake. It turned out to be a 15 year old school girl with the same features. Easily confused from a distance, I told myself. And now, here she was, at this wedding.

Or so I thought.

After all the speeches, and there seemed to be more than usual, I photographed the lovely bride and her new husband cutting the cake. The cake was round, with 3 tiers and a lovely turquoise ribbon around the base of it. I was informed that it was chocolate mud cake, as the mother of the bride did not like fruit cake.

My role as photographer was now over, so I thought I would say hello to Julie. All the guests were being served their meals, so I approached her table. As I got closer, it was definitely Julie, I was not confused.
”Hello” I said.

She looked up, surprised to see me.

“Oh, hello. I didn’t know you were coming. Oh, yes, I suppose you’re the photographer. Of course” She seemed the confused one.

To the left of her sat a middle-aged woman, with the grey roots in her hair visible as I stood behind her. And to the right of Julie sat a young man, probably about the same age as her. I assumed this was Rex, her mechanic boyfriend. Julie stood up, took my elbow and pushed me gently towards the bar area.

“Don’t say anything. You never saw me here. And please don’t tell Rex” she said.

“But.. So who’s that?”

I pointed to the young man at the table.

“He’s my new boss. Eric. I’m here as a favour. He needed a date. Nothing else.”

She seemed quite upset.

“Your secret’s safe with me” I said.

“Thank you”

There was a sense of relief in her voice. She led me back to the table, where she sat down, and introduced me to Eric. I shook his hand, and I smiled. There was a little bit of small talk, how the bride looked lovely, the cars were really cool, that sort of thing. Then I thanked Julie and wished her a good evening and left.

As I went out the door, I looked back and saw that she was in conversation with middle-aged woman. Eric was concentrating on eating.

Julie's Story Part 4

By SteveO

It was still dark outside, and I could hear a thumping in my head. I awoke, almost, and opened my eyes ever so slightly to squint at the clock beside my bed. 6.18, far too early to get up. But the thumping was getting louder and I realised it wasn’t just in my head. I sat up on the side of the bed and took in a deep breath. It was dark and cold. I was only wearing my shorts, and I staggered to the front door half dressed. I opened the door, and there was a girl standing there. I was starting to shiver by now, and so was Julie. She was wearing an overcoat and a scarf around her neck, but she looked like she’d been out in the cold for a while. I must have looked a little taken aback, because she apologised.

“I’m so sorry, Pete. I know it’s early and it’s cold”

She could see me shaking.

“Come in. I’ll get dressed while you put the heater on over there.” I said.

She came in and I headed back to the bedroom to find something warm to put on. When I came out she was standing in the lounge in front of the heater, warming her hands. She turned around and told me why she’d woken me.

“Pete, I’m in real trouble. And I mean real trouble this time”
I couldn’t imagine it, but she made it sound like she’d been in trouble before.

“It’s Rex. I’ve left him.”

To be honest I didn’t even know she was still with him. I hadn’t seen Julie since the wedding a few months ago.

“And I’ve taken all his money.”

She made it sound like I knew what she was talking about. I nodded.

“All of it” She made sure I understood.

“He’d been secretly saving to take me on a world cruise. Over four thousand dollars. Four thousand. It was going to be like a honeymoon, he said”

“Were you two going to get married?” I asked. As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. She glared at me.

“Not likely. Not after what I did to him.”

I must have looked confused. I was. She went on to explain what had been happening. Apparently Eric, the one from the wedding, who I had thought only seemed interested in food, had made a pass at her. She wasn’t interested, so she gave him the cold shoulder. But Eric’s her boss, and he started putting pressure on her to go out with him, and not just for a meal either, she tells me. He made that clear. She tried to shrug him off with stalling tactics, which obviously didn’t work. This went on for a week or so, until eventually she decided to quit her job. Her boss was angry.

“I told Rex, and he seemed to be just as upset. Apparently, him and Eric were mates a long time ago - I didn’t even know they knew each other – and he said I must have encouraged Eric somehow…”

I sat down on the sofa. I was almost wide awake by now. More...

Julie's Story Part 5

By SteveO
contd.

“We had a bit of an argument, and Rex accused me of trying to lead Eric on.  Which of course is nonsense. And he knew all along that I’d gone to that wedding with Eric. How he found out, I’m not sure...”

She looked like she was going to cry. She sat down beside me.

“He told me to get out…” She paused and took a deep breath.

“… I didn’t know what to do so I went and stayed with my friend Sandy for the night”.

I was tempted to put an arm around her, but resisted. I suggested we have a cup of coffee instead, and got up and went into the kitchen. While the jug was boiling, I went back out to the lounge. Julie was sitting on the sofa, wiping away her tears.

“What about the money?” I asked

“Oh, yeah. The money. His money. Well, I went back to our flat the next day while Rex was at work to get some of my clothes. As I was leaving, I noticed Rex’s bank statement. I just had to have a look.”

Her eyes widened.

“He had four thousand dollars in his account. Four thousand. I always thought he had nothing. I tell you, I was shocked. And angry. Talk about him having secrets. He never bought me anything. Even on my birthday all he bought me was a cheap card from the Dollar shop. No presents.”

She was upset.

“So I thought rather than going straight back to Sandy’s I would go and see him at work, just in case he’d calmed down. I wanted him to see my side of things. Surely he must see that I wouldn’t be interested in a guy like Eric”.

I got up and headed to the kitchen to make the coffee.

“Go on, I can hear you from here..”

“So I went to his work, but he wasn’t there. Stan, the bloke he works with, told me that he’d taken an early lunch, and was probably around the corner at the local café”

I brought the two cups of coffee out to the lounge and handed one to Julie.

“Ta. As I was saying, I went around to the café and I could see Rex is there all right. But he’s not alone. He’s in the corner, sitting real close to some blonde girl. And they seemed to be real friendly. Rex was touching her hand, and looking into her eyes.” She sniffed.

“I didn’t go in. I was really upset. I didn’t know where to go…”

“Do you know who she was? Maybe it was his sister..?”I suggested.

She glared at me, as though I was an idiot.

“He doesn’t have a sister!”

I took a sip of my coffee. I could see Julie was almost on the verge of crying again.

“I walked around the block, everything churning away in my head. And then it came to me. The money. I’ll show him! I’ll make him pay…

First he accuses me of getting involved with my boss, and all the while he’s with her!

So I went back to the flat, and got on the internet.  I managed to get into his bank account, after trying to guess a few different passwords. You won’t believe it, but his password was julie. His balance was exactly four thousand, two hundred and sixty two dollars. I remember it exactly, because that’s the amount I transferred out.”

“What are you going to do with it?” I asked.

“Nothing. I didn’t transfer it to my account. That would be too obvious. I would hate the police to be knocking on my door. I’m not a thief. I wanted to teach him a lesson he won’t forget. No, I transferred it to The Save The Children charity.”

She seemed quite smug when she said that. As though she’d just accomplished something amazing.

I didn’t know what to say.

“So what’s the problem?” I asked.

Once again she looked at me as though I was an idiot.

I sipped my coffee.

“The problem is the money’s gone. Gone.”

I really was confused.

“Rex called me the next day. He was very apologetic, and he sounded like he hadn’t slept well at all. He told me he had a surprise for me, and could I meet him that lunchtime at the café. That café! He never mentioned the money, which I thought was a bit odd. Maybe he hadn’t realised it was gone.”

“Did you meet him..?”

“Part of me said no, I shouldn’t. But something inside said I should listen to what he had to say. So at midday I made my way to the café. As I reached the café door, I could see that Rex was there in the corner, and that blonde was sitting with him again. I stopped in my tracks, and took a deep breath. I told myself, you can do this. He’s going to tell me we’re through, and this is his new girlfriend. It seems ridiculous now, but that’s what I was thinking.”

“So I strode up to the table, and Rex stood up”

“”Hi Julie”, he said, and he turned to the blonde. “This is Tanya. Tanya meet Julie, my girlfriend”. I was taken aback when he said that.” Please sit down. I have something to tell you” he said. So I sat down. This will be interesting, I thought.”
””Tanya works for Harvey’s the travel agents in Lincoln Street.”he said. How nice for her, I thought. “Tanya’s here to take my deposit for our trip” he said.

“Our trip..?”

“Yes, I’ve booked us a cruise. For ten days. On the Ocean Princess. It’s four stars and everything. I’ve been planning it for ages. I really want to make it up to you. All those things I said about you and Eric were so wrong. I was way out of line. Will you forgive me? Please.”

“But how can you afford it…? I said. And I knew the answer as soon as I asked the question. I felt terrible.”

“He said he’d been saving for over two years, putting aside a few dollars every week, and being careful with his money. Like not splurging out on birthday cards for me. I had to think fast. How could I tell him about the money? How could I get him not to book the cruise?”

“Maybe I could say I got sea sick… but he knows that’s not true because we’ve been out fishing on his uncle’s boat. Or I could lie”

She paused.

“But my mouth opened and I said it. I told him the truth.”

“He just looked at me. There was a huge silence. Nobody said anything. Tanya was the first to speak. She stood up, thanked us for our time,  wished us luck, and walked out of the café”

“I looked at Rex, he looked at me. I could see he was confused and angry. I decided to leave, so I stood up, turned and walked out without saying a word”

“I spent the night again at Sandy’s, but I couldn’t sleep, I tossed and turned all night. As the sun came up, I decided I had to get up and go for a walk around the block. I walked for about an hour, that’s when I walked past your door. I must have taken a wrong turning… Oh, Pete. Thanks for listening. I needed someone to talk to. I am so sorry to have woken you.”

“It’s no problem” I said. I put an arm around her.

She looked at me.

“So what are you going to do now. You’ve no job and no boyfriend?” I asked.

“I was going to go to Auckland. I have a friend up there who has a little fashion boutique and she’s always asking me to come and work for her” She said.

“That’s great. Does this mean I won’t be able to photograph you again in the Summer? You’re one of my best models.”

She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and stood up, her coffee cup in her hand.

“Oh, that’s so nice of you” She said. “I’m sure I could make a special trip down sometime”

She walked to the kitchen, and put her coffee cup in the sink. She turned to look at me. I was still sitting on the couch.

“Thanks for listening, Pete. I’d better go and pack. I’ve got a bus to catch…”

“Do you want me to give you a lift..? “ I said hopefully.

“No, Sandy’s got it all organised for me. But thanks.” She smiled for the first time. “Well, I’d better be off now”
She started to walk towards the door. I stood up. She turned to me, and she put her arms out for me to give her a hug. I held her close, probably for too long, and then let her go. I opened the door, and as she left she turned and gave me a small smile.

I shut the door slowly, knowing I would probably never see her again.

My Father Was A Secret Agent

By SteveO

There is nothing more beautiful then the sound of a knife dragging warm butter across hot toast. This, and the smells whenever my mother was baking fudge. Most of my childhood memories revolve around food. Breakfast was always a great time of the day for me. There would be toast – white bread, of course – with a small dish in the centre of the table where my Mum had put a large dollop of warmed butter. We always had a proper butter knife, the one with the bone handle. And porridge in winter, made with real milk, on the stove. This was thick and almost glue-like and I wasn’t too keen on that. But I ate as much as I could stomach. Of course, these were the days when processed food hadn’t been thought of, and Weetbix was a luxury. Dad sat at the end of the table – the head of the household, smoking his third roll-your-own for the day. I’d heard him wake up earlier, coughing his guts out in the bathroom while he shaved. My two brothers and my sister were spread along the sides of the table. We only had four chairs, so some of us sat on a squab that Dad had built along the side of the table. Very rarely did Mum sit down with us. She spent the morning cooking toast and serving up porridge for us hungry children.

My father worked for a government department. When I was really young I thought he must be a secret agent because he was always working odd hours. I found out later he actually had three jobs. During the day he worked for the Health department, in the accounts department. He did that job for quite a number of years. But I don’t recall ever visiting Dad at work. Maybe he really was a spy?  More>>