Friday Fright Night
Tonight's installment comes from my book of short stories called Mental
Lovely Nights
by Glynis Rankin
“Isn’t it a lovely
night, Richard?”
Julie asks sitting peacefully on their veranda, sewing. The moon
shinned brightly on this mid-summer night, casting long indistinct shadows on the
open field from the thick forest. Their
cottage home was the only dwelling within a hundred miles. She often called
their home her peaceful woodland heaven. However, Richard her husband of
fifteen-years, saw it only as a place where they could raise a few animals and
grow a fine crop of corn to provide for them in this tough economy.
Julie loved this place and spent her evenings siting on the veranda
enjoying nature while she sewed or read a good book. The homesome peace allowed her mind
to wander and she often imaged all kinds of wonderful things happening within
the forest, magical things like those she read in her books.
Richard, on the other hand, having worked all day in the field
and in the barn with the animals found his serenity in the muddling’s within the
40 inch flat screen television that took up an entire wall. Mindless
entertainment often held him enthralled for hours. Reality shows, sports,
dramas, whatever caught his eye; he would sit in his recliner mesmerized with
his HD programing.
The white noise, from
the goggle-box she called it, streamed from the inside to slice into her peace
outside, but it has never intruded on her tranquil universe. They’ve always
been this way, opposites, separate, but in love until.
Recently Julie had
notice that Richard’s attentions have gone …wayward. The television no longer
held him enthralled though out his evenings. That honor was taken by a sandy
brown hair girl name Susan Ann. Julie wasn’t concern with his infatuation, not
at first. But when Richard started spending more time in town than at home, she
got suspicious and followed him. That’s when she found them together at a hotel
under his as husband and wife. She wasn’t upset, that he had found someone else,
just disappointed. She never spoke about
his infidelity, and never will.
Characteristically,
watching television Richard had ignored Julie’s comment as usual. Therefore, she put down her sewing to walk
inside. She wore a pleasant smile on her face when she stood in front of him to
ask.
“Should I change the channel?”
Richard mumbles, furiously. However, as much as he tried, he couldn’t uttered a single word because
Julie had sutured his lips closed. She had also penned his eyes opened with thick safety pens and stitched securely into
his favorite recliner. Comfortably, imprison for the night, Julie had inscured that Richard would enjoy his goggle-box.
“Here, let me moisten those eyes.” She said smiling.
Julie simply loves these
lovely peaceful nights at home alone.
.
Copyright © 2013 Glynis Rankin
