Paranoia:
Persecutory.
Jacob Polo´s story
By Alexandra Riera
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

"I knew it!" Jacob Polo said to himself as he looked out of the window. The grocer had just waved at him from the front door of his shop from across the street. He’s spying on me Jacob thought to himself as he waved back. He didn’t really want to show the grocer that he knew that he was spying on him. Let him think I don’t know he’s spying on me, yes… He’ll see. He’s forever checking on me, the bastard. Always saying things about me behind my back; ha! He thinks I don’t know he does it, but I do, don’t I? He should be taught. How can he deal with the public if he’s forever gossiping about his clients? His goods are no good anyway, the apples I bought from him are just rotting in the fridge; it’s his fault I can’t eat them. A knock on the door brought him back down to earth and he went to open the door. It was Suszie, the cleaning girl.

"Hello Suzie, come in, come in."

"Good morning Mr Polo; how are you? Did you have a nice weekend?" she asked him with a smile as she walked in.

"Did you get the new broom?"

"Yes Mr Polo, I did; here it is, look. I bought it from the grocer’s..." She took it out of the bag and showed it to him.

Jacob’s face went red; he grabbed the broom and threw it on the floor. "Not from the grocer’s shop! Out of all the places there are to buy a broom from, why on earth did you have to buy it from the grocer?" he screamed at her.

"I bought it there so I wouldn’t have to carry it all the way in the bus; besides, he’s got good prices."

"I don’t care about his prices, he’s a no gooder, that’s what he is, he’s just conned you, he probably wanted to look up your skirt or touch you…You will not use that broom to clean my house!" He picked up the broom and hit the wall with it until the broom was left in pieces.

Suzie couldn’t figure out how the grocer could look up her skirt as she was wearing trousers or why he should try to touch her when he was behind the counter. She just shrugged it off and decided to ignore Mr Polo. She was sure he would get over it in a while. All she had to do was go about her business and not talk to him anymore. He’ll ignore her, and the sooner she finished the sooner she would leave. She went to the kitchen to clean up the dishes.

Jacob was back at the window but his mind was in the kitchen. I’m sure she’s teamed up with the grocer, she’s probably checking on what I’ve done over the weekend;, finding out if I’ve had a girl over or not, she’ll count the dishes and the cutlery in the sink. Perhaps I should have washed them before she came in. How dare she bring that broom into my house. She’s done it on purpose to annoy me. After all I pay her! How ungrateful of her! "Hey! Where are you going now?" he asked her as he saw her coming out of the kitchen.

"I’m just going to your bedroom to get all your dirty clothes so that I can wash them Mr Polo.

There she is again, he thought, now she is going to check on his underwear and see if she had soiled himself; oh, no! She’ll be checking on his bed sheets too; he had to avoid that; she will tell the grocer!" Jacob ran past her and dived onto his bed.

"Aren’t you feeling well today Mr Polo?" she asked him surprised to see him getting in bed.

"Mind your own business Suzie, go away!" he said as he pulled the sheets over himself.

Suzie ignored him once again; she quickly picked up the dirty clothes and just as she was about to get out of the room, Jacob was right behind her.

"What are you doing with those clothes?, Hein?" He asked her as he snatched the clothes from her hands.

"I was just going to put them in the washing machine Mr Polo"

"You’re a spying bitch! You were going to look into the pockets, weren’t you?"

"I usually check pockets before I put clothes in the washing machine, you might have left some money inside, or a note."

"So…. You admit you were going to steal from me then?" he said menacingly. "Thief!" He shouted. "You’re no better than the grocer! Leave my clothes alone! Get out of my room!" he shouted at her as he pushed her out of the room and closed the door.

I don’t know what’s gone into her, she usually cleans up and leaves, but today, she wants to check on everything. Maybe the grocer is paying her to spy on me. Jacob left the room and went back to the window where he could see the grocer’s shop. Just as I thought; he’s outside the shop; he’s probably waiting for a signal of some kind from that stupid girl. I’d better check on her and see what she’s doing.

Jacob found her with a spray bottle and a cloth in her hands.

"What are you doing with that?"

"I was just going to clean the bathroom mirror Mr Polo; were you going to use the bathroom now? I can do it after I’ve hovered if you like." She told him patiently.

"Yes, yes.. I was just going to use the bathroom, so please go and clean some place else." He told her as he went into the bathroom and locked himself in. Oh, what have I done? Now she’ll go to the window and tell the grocer! He got out of the bathroom and went into the dinning room. Just as I thought! She’s signalling the grocer! I’ve got to stop that! Jacob ran up to her and grabbed her hands as she was cleaning the window. He pulled her arms behind her back. She can’t signal the grocer now; no more spying on him.

Zusie fell down backwards on top of Jacob and they struggled. "No! you will not signal the grocer! No way! You’re just as bad" Jacob said screaming into her ear whilst he held onto her wrists. I’ll just tie her up and leave her in the cleaning closet; she’s a cleaning girl so that place will be ok for her. I’ll leave her there until she confesses.

Suzie was trying to wriggle out of Jacob’s grasp; she froze when she suddenly felt how the cloth she had used to clean the window was put into her mouth. She couldn’t scream anymore.

"Be quiet woman!" he screamed at her as he pushed the cloth further down into her mouth. "You’re doing it on purpose to annoy me, you spy, filthy spy; you and the grocer, you’re together in this, aren’t you?

So engrossed was Jacob pinning Suzie down on the floor that he didn’t hear the sirens outside his house nor heard how two stocky policemen pushed the door of his house down.

"That’s it Mister, leave that lady now" one of the policemen told Jacob whilst he pulled his shoulders to get him off Suzie.

Jacob struggled but in the end he was handcuffed and taken to the police station. A doctor had to be called in as Jacob suddenly went into a fit and couldn’t breathe properly.

"Oh, it’s him again," said the doctor.

"Do you know him? Asked the policeman.

"Yes, he’s a patient of mine, he’s got persecutory paranoia; he’s supposed to be on medication but he obviously hasn’t taken any in a while."

"Bloody hell! If it hadn’t been for that grocer, Mr Conrad; that girl would be dead."

"The grocer is his father."

The end
(1327 Words)
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

April´s super extra

I stumbled into this medical condition and I’ve decided to do a story for each type of paranoia.


1. Persecutory paranoia - This is the most prevalent type of paranoia, and in this patient makes himself believe that all those around him are his enemies, bent on harming him or even taking his life. In this delusion people of an aggressive temperament often turns dangerous killers.

Evidence

Evidence!
By Alexandra Riera
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

"The children can go with their father" the judge said.

"But! Haven’t you been listening to anything I said?" Rosalia aked the lady in front of her.

"I am the judge; there is no evidence." Answered the lady judge before turning around and leaving the office.

"Of course! What did you want me to do? Break in and record everything?" she shouted at her before the judge closed the door behind her. Rosalia was in tears as she watched how her children had to go back to their father.

It had been a very long month for Rosalia. Faith in the judicial system had finally left her. When she had gone to the police a week earlier she had hoped that they would do their duty; she had been told that they would go and check on the circumstances, question her estranged husband and the people he had living in the house, they would check the computer for her children’s pictures but as it was a holiday they didn’t go; probably because they were very comfortable in the office with the air conditioning turned on full blast. What they did instead was call her the following day to declare where she once more told the policewoman in front of her everything she knew. She asked Rosalia questions like.."have you a boyfriend?, do you know if he has a girlfriend? Are you angry that he didn’t pass the monthly maintenance for the children? Are you working? Why didn’t you report the abuse earlier?" Rosalia was told then that they would send the investigative police to her estranged husband’s home but they never did, did they? They asked him to come to their office to give a statement. What proof could they have then? Of course the judge had no evidence; there wasn’t a dead body to see.

Rosalia managed to get a restraining order for her estranged husband but the order was lifted a few months later when a forensic doctor determined that it wasn’t a hundred percent clear that the children had suffered any kind of abuse.

The children went back to their father for a weekend and Rosalia received a phone call.

"Mrs Garcia, this is the police. We have evidence now, one of your children has been found dead.

Rosalia´s world fell apart, she hung up and sat on the floor remembering when her children were babies and how she used to cover them up for a nap leaving their little feet outside the bed covers so she could hand hug their feet as they slept.

The end
(428 Words)
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

Mirinda 101

Mirinda 101
By Alexandra Riera© 2007 Alexandra Riera

When Ralph walked into the dinning room he found Lauren shouting at the computer. He left his keys and briefcase on the table by the door and placed himself behind his wife to hear who she was talking to although he could guess; he had already placed three calls in the afternoon demanding to have their order delivered on time.

“It should have been delivered four days ago, unless it comes this same afternoon you shall hear from my lawyers; this is the last time I call you. Do you hear me? Unless the package comes tomorrow first thing in the morning, the next call you’ll get will be from our lawyers.” She said angrily and then switched the phone off.

“I really don’t know why we chose this company; out of all the company there are we had to choose the worst one; Damn!”

“Martina recommended it to us, she said it was great, look what she got,” she said as she showed him some pictures on the computer, “it’s certainly worth the effort.”

“And the money. Oh, honey if we got something similar to that I’d be really happy, you know?”

“We should, we almost copied Martina’s order.”

That evening they watched sports on their big screen and went to bed early as they were tired, they hadn’t slept properly in four days worrying about their order. At breakfast the door bell rang and they both rushed to answer it.

“Good morning to you; Mr and Mrs Sompleton?” he asked them looking at the board he was carrying.

“Yes, we are.” They both answered expectantly

“If you’ll just sign here” he said as he handed them the board and a pen.

While they signed the form, the man went to the van and took a big box out and placed it in front of the couple. “Where shall I leave it?”

“In the dinning room,” said Ralph as he got out of the way to make room for the man to get through the front door, “just over there” he pointed.

The man left the box in the middle of the dinning room and left by himself as Lauren and Ralph were busy removing the packaging around the box, oblivious to anything else.

Lauren sliced the box with a cutter and they both gasped when they saw its contents.

“Oh, Ralph,” said Lauren in disbelief, “what’s this?”

Ralph couldn’t utter a word. He stared. Inside the box was a teenager girl with long curly hair tied back in a headband. She had the most horrible dangling earrings they had ever seen and worst of all; instead of clothes she was wearing a scruffy jacket that barely covered the bikini top that showed part of her breasts. The only good thing was that she was wearing trousers. “I’m hungry,” the girl said. “Is there anything to eat? Make me a hamburger and chips please mum. I haven’t had anything to eat in four days.”

“Yes, sure…” she said as she looked at her husband.

“You just wait here” Ralph told the girl. “We’ll make you something to eat.”

“What? In the box?”

“Oh! You can seat on the sofa if you like.” Lauren told her as she made her way towards the kitchen.

“I can come and help you if you like.” The girl offered.

“It’s alright, you just go and have a seat, you must be tired after being in a box for a while; yes, you just go and sit down, we’ll deal with the food.” Ralph told her as he rushed after his wife.

“My goodness Ralph! This is not what we ordered! We ordered a toy one, not a real one! What are we going to do?”

Ralph looked at his wife; he didn’t know what to say.

“Ralph, we’ll have to feed her, take her to school; we won’t be able to switch her off and go away for the week-end; we’ll have to take her with us! Do you hear me? What are we going to do Ralph?” she asked him as she put a hamburger in the microwave.

“We’ll return her and ask for a refund.”

“Yes, that’s right, go and get the form we signed; we’ll call the company straight away; go on, go on, the sooner we get her out of here the better.”

Ralph went out into the kitchen and into the dinning room. He found the girl sitting on an armchair browsing through an old photo album. When she saw him walking in she smiled at him.

“This house if full of antiques, I like them. My name is Mirinda 101 by the way.” She said as she got up and offered to shake hands. “Sorry I was a bit rude earlier on but I was originally told that my parents would be robots and I was surprised you were for real.”

Ralph was lost for words again. “Why would you want robot parents?”

“I could switch them off and study in peace without having them argue.”

“Oh!”



The end
(840 Words)© 2007 Alexandra Riera


April 22-31


This story is based on an advert I saw for some kitchen appliances, where instead of having appliances delivered to people, people were delivered to the appliances…

Husaam El Azzada´s Harem

Husaam El Azzada’s Harem
By Alexandra Riera© 2007 Alexandra Riera

“Salma Anvari is requested to go to the headmaster’s office please. This is a call for Salma Anvari.” The voice on the speaker could be heard throughout all the finishing school grounds. Salma was in her dormitory studying for her last exams.

“Oh, no, and what does he want now?” Said Salma as she pushed her books out of the way and got up.

“It can’t be good,” said Latifa. “have you got caught smoking?”

“No, I never get caught; I’ve been quite good lately anyway. I’d better go or I might end up being sanctioned for being late.”

Salma got out of the dormitory and walked down the corridor and as she made her way towards the headmaster’s office, all the other school girls looked at her and speculated on why she had been summoned. Salma was the heart and soul of any party that they managed to go to and she was brilliant at concocting ways to escape school unseen. She was the one with the brains out of all of them.

Salma knocked on the headmaster’s door.

“Come in Miss Anvari” said the headmaster in a dry voice. “Please take a seat; you’re going to need it.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir.” She answered meekly as she sat down in front of him.

“Miss Anvari, you are to be married to Mr Husaam El Azzada next week. Preparations have been made so that you can travel to Mr El Azzada’s harem this same afternoon. You…”

“But….” Interrupted Salma, “I just can’t be married off just like that! I want to be a mathematician.”

“That’s no problem at all Salma; you can pursue your hobbies at your own pace after you’re married. Please start packing straight away.

“But.. Bigamy is illegal” she said fighting back her tears.

“It’s not where you’re going to. Get out of my office and pack. If you do not have time to pack it all, the maids will finish the packing for you and all your things will be sent to you in due course.”

“What about my parents?”

“They have already signed the agreement. Off you go, don’t waste any more time.” He said as he got up and pointed to the door.

Salma went out of the office, not without slamming the door shut behind her. She ran to her room with tears in her eyes. When she opened the door she expected to find her friends there waiting for her but what she found instead was a man wrapped up in a tunic wearing a turban around his head.

“I’m to help you pack your things. Just tell me what to pack.” He told her as she walked in.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“I’m Ali Mahrari, your servant.”

Salma was speechless. She had to think. “Alright Ali,” she finally said, “you see that wardrobe?, Get all my things from there and also all the books on that shelf over there.”

Ali took a mobile phone out of his sleeve and made a phone call. Moments later four people carrying chests came to the room and packed everything for her.

This was no joke she thought as she was escorted outside to a silver limousine. Where was everybody? Where were her room-mates? Now she knew what had happened to the other girls at school that had disappeared out of thin air. They had been sold like cows in a market. This couldn’t be happening. It was illegal.

Selma was taken to a private airport from where she was flown away. The journey took a few hours but she decided to make the most of it since she had no other choice for the time being. If you can’t beat them, join them she resolved.

“Ali, some water please,” she asked after a while.

“Here you are.”

“Please sit down Ali and tell me about my future husband. I should like to know about him.” Since I have no other choice but to marry him or be locked up in some basement, for all I know, she thought.

Ali got up and went to a cabinet where he took a photograph and then handed it to her. Salma looked at the picture and saw a handsome man with strong features, big dark eyes and nothing else as he was wrapped up in a turban. So this was to be her husband.

On their arrival, she was ushered to a beautiful mansion where old ladies took her to her apartments. They helped her undress and sent her to a bath filled with scented water. They scrubbed her back and feet, they towel-dried her. She expected a traditional wedding gown and was very disappointed when they presented her with a dress that was made out of many layers of fine clothing in bright colours. A fine apron was tied to her waist and a shawl was put over her shoulders before she was taken to the wedding room.

Salma wanted to run; she still hadn’t been able to see a way out of this madness. She hadn’t had a word from her parents and she hadn’t even been able to get hold of a phone to call them. As she entered the room, all thoughts of escaping went out of her mind as she found the room full of people around a banquet table filled with beautiful decorated dishes. They all looked at her expectantly. The priest greeted her first and sat her at the head of the table and moments later her husband to be came into the room. He sat down next to her and didn’t look at her as the wedding ceremony was performed. Salma knew that she had no other way out for the time being so she went through the ceremony as calmly as she could.

She ate and danced with Husaam and as he held onto her she could feel his strong arms holding her and guiding her through the steps. He was a good dancer and she liked his smile. Contradicting thoughts invaded her.

At the end of the evening, they were taken by limousine to a little palace by the beach.

Before entering the outer portal of the palace they stopped to drink by a fountain at the front. He cupped water in his hands and offered it to her. Although Salma didn’t want to drink from his hands as it would show that she was submissive, she reluctantly cupped his hands into hers and drank slowly the water offered to her. When she straightened up she realised that the little palace was no little palace at all, two towers guarded by soldiers flanked the entrance door and she could see buildings within buildings, all elaborately decorated. All the windows had grids on them and at first she thought it looked quaint until she realised that this would be her jail.

As they made their way through corridors Salma´s eyes drifted towards the paintings and carpets on the floors. She suddenly went cold when she realised that all the paintings depicted sexual encounters; she realised that this was no party but her wedding night and that she had been taken to a real harem.

Husaam stopped in front of a golden door and the pair of black guards that blocked the door stood apart and opened the door for him. Golden light filled the room and Salma walked into a world of luxurious fluffy cushions and multicolour glittering veils that surrounded an enormous bed in the centre of the room.

“This is your wedding present Salma,” he said as he pointed at the bed; the bed was covered in diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

Salma was speechless, her eyes locked onto the jewels and she didn’t seem able to move.

“It’s all yours and there’ll be more.” He told her trying to get her attention back.

“Oh, sorry, sorry, thank you but…”

“But?” he questioned her, “What but?”

“What about love?”

“This is love.”

“No it’s not!” She said angrily at him.

“Yes it is. We’re already arguing, we’re the perfect couple, you’ll be my number one.” He said with a smile.

“Why should I share you?”

“You see? You’re jealous already!” he said laughing.

“No I’m not jealous! I don’t love you. I’ve been kidnapped!”

“You’ll grow to love me, you’ll see.” He said as he calmly walked out of the room and leaving her there.

Salma went after him but the door was locked before she could reach him. She kicked the door and later threw a chair at it screaming for someone to let her out. She threw herself on the bed and pushed all the precious stones onto the floor. She cried herself to sleep that night.

The following morning she was greeted by beautiful maids that gave her breakfast, bathed her and pampered her until she looked radiant. She pestered them with questions but none gave them any. She thought that Husaam would ask for her but he didn’t. She was angry with him now, she was all dressed up and she had nowhere to go; she wasn’t allowed out so she spend her day reading.

The morning after that, the maids came again with the same routine and when she realised that this was going to go on every day, she made things extra difficult for them. The maids didn’t seem to mind her temper and her tantrums, nor her throwing clothes at them or even vases; they simply took longer to have her looking beautiful but they did it nonetheless.

A month went by and just when Salma was giving up on the idea of seeing Husaam again, he just walked in half way though her bathing treatment. The maids left her immediately and Salma had to greet him from her bath.

“Pass me the towel, will you?” she told him.

“Weren’t you taught manners?” he asked her frowning.

“Sorry, I mean, please, pass me the towel. And turn around” she added as a second thought.

Husaam passed her the towel and turned around. Selma was surprised but didn’t waste any time; she quickly got out of the bath and wrapped herself with the towel and sat down on one of the fluffy armchairs.

“How do you like it here then?” he asked her as he sat on a stool.

“It’s alright I suppose but I miss having my freedom.”

“You’re free to go anywhere you like.”

“That’s not true, the door is always locked.”

“It won’t be from now on. Hey! would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

“Yes, as long as you don’t try anything funny on me.” She said.

“Well, get ready then, we’re going out tonight. Pick you up in an hours time.” He told her as he got up and left her.

Salma called her maids and they helped her get dressed and do her hair. Before the hour had elapsed she was ready and waiting impatiently for Husaam to come. Five minutes after the appointed hour a knock on the door was heard and when she went to open it she found that it was one of the eunuchs with an envelope for her. It was a note from Husaam; he had had an unexpected problem and requested that they met the following day at the same time. Salma went to bed early that night.

The following day, another note came from Husaam saying that he regretted immensely not being able to see her again on that day and as an apology he offered her a present that he hoped she would like and accept. The present was a pair of earrings and a matching necklace.

On the following morning she was woken up by Husaam himself; he had let himself in and had sat by her bed admiring her sleepy face. Not being able to resist her beauty, he traced the contours of her face with her fingers and woke her up.

“Sorry to wake you up like this, I hope I didn’t frighten you.” He said apologetically. I’m glad you didn’t run away. I thought you would run away before I could take you out.”

“It’s alright, don’t worry; I thought you did a runner and that you were teasing me, so we’re even I suppose.”

“I wouldn’t run away from you. Come on, get dressed now and let’s go.”

“Turn around then” she told him just as she was about to get out of bed.

“But, we’re married, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“No, we’re not married, well; we are but not really; just turn around please.”

“Alright.” He said as he turned around. “Please hurry up.”

Twenty minutes later they boarded a private jet and an hour later they landed at Paris Airport. By the time they landed, both of them had had a few drinks and were feeling quite merry. At the airport they took a taxi and went for a tour around the city. In the evening they went for dinner at a small café and by the end of the evening they were walking hand in hand through the streets of Paris.

Salma was happy. She could get to like this guy after all.



The end
(2204 Words)© 2007 Alexandra Riera

At the end of the rainbow

At the end of the rainbow
By Alexandra Riera
© 2007 Alexandra Riera

"Have you got everything darling?" Nadine asked her husband as she examined the packed suitcases on their king sized bed.


"Yes, I don’t need much anyway; just a couple of t-shirts, an extra pair of underpants, some trousers, a toothbrush and definitely an extra pair of boots." Justin answered her as he stuffed all the mentioned items in a little rucksack.


"You’re going to need more than that where we’re going Justin" she said huffily.


"If you’re going to take all that stuff with you, I’ll need my energy just to carry everything you’ve got there; I don’t want to waste my energy taking more things than I really need. You should just take a rucksack with you, just like me. You see?" he said as he put his rucksack on his back. "I’m ready for action my love".


Nadine decided to ignore him. Men; they never thought ahead of the day they lived, she thought. She was usually left to do all the thinking and planning. She had spent two months planning this event. They would wait for a rainy day and then they would set off. They had to have everything ready for when it started raining; that meant that she, at least, would have to have two of every item she intended to carry, one for her personal use until the big day came and another lot to take with her. The trip might end up being short or long but she wasn’t going to take any chances. Today was packing day. The day everything was supposed to be ready and stored away in an accessible place in their house just in case they had to make a run.


"Right; we should put all this in the hall, just by the door" she said as she heaved one of her suitcases onto the floor.


"In the hall?"


"Yes, it will be the easiest place for us to get our things from if we have to come home to get it all first."


"But…" Started to say Justin.


"Shhh…, just leave the planning to me darling, you know I know best. Don’t argue with me honey, it’s no use. You know you’ll do exactly as I say.., there, there", she said as she stroked his hair. On second thoughts, Nadine kissed him and pinched his bottom for good measure. How easy it was to keep him happy, she thought. "Come on; help me get all this downstairs then".


Justin helped Nadine carry all her suitcases downstairs to the hall. What she had put in there, he didn’t know but what he knew is that at least the kitchen sink wasn’t missing because he saw it when he went to make himself a cup of coffee when he finished carrying all the luggage downstairs by himself.


"I’m making some coffee, darling, would you like some?" He shouted from the kitchen a few minutes later.


"No, thank you" she shouted back, "I’ll have a freshly squeezed orange juice and some cheese on toast please… You make it so delicious." She said as she got into the kitchen. She took a little wooden stool from under the kitchen table and sat looking at her nails as Justin prepared things.


"We should get some horses, now that I think of it, Justin. They would come in useful, you know?"


"Why would we need horses if we have cars?" asked a befuddled Justin.


"What if the car doesn’t start up if we’ve got to rush?"


"Can you imagine how long we would have to have the horses here? It never rains here Nadine. What about the neighbours? I don’t think we’d be allowed to keep a horse, never mind two horses at the front of the house. Or…. Do you intend to place them in our kitchen?


"We could build some stables, or better still; we could buy the pre-made stables I saw on one of those pamphlets we get through the door. Hang on, I don’t think I’ve thrown it away.." she said as she got up, "I’m going to have a look… I think I left it by the barbecue".


Justin was usually quite good at burning toast in spite of having a digital state of the art toaster so he didn’t follow her; he was in charge of the toast, he wanted to get it right this time, he didn’t want to have her nagging at his burned out toast when she came back.


"Justin!... Justin!..... Come….. quickly!" he heard her shout from outside.


Justin left the toast and ran outside, the strong wind hit him in the face and when he regained his composure he saw that the sky was dark and was getting darker by the second. "Nadine! Are you alright?" he shouted as he made his way towards the barbecue.


"Help me Justin, my dress is caught on the barbecue and I’ll break it if I pull away…" she told him as he came close to her.


Justin untangled her dress from the barbecue and she kissed him with an unexpected fury. He wasn’t about to complain about the kiss, he liked her kisses, especially because they came in small doses and usually only after an exciting event. This was an unexpected event for her. He was sure she felt as the typical lady in distress that is rescued from danger by her handsome prince; in this case her loving husband. Never mind if the toast was burning by now; he would indulge. He kissed her back and pushed himself against her as he started lowering the straps of her dress.


"Hey! What are you doing Justin? This is no time for kissing games…. Look at all those clouds, it’s bound to rain; come on, let’s get our stuff." She told him as she pushed him away and took him by the hand.


She led the way back to the house and when they opened the door they were hit by black smoke coming out of the kitchen. Justin swallowed hard; damn, he should have turned the toaster off before going to her rescue. Flames started to come out of the toaster so Justin threw a kitchen towel over the toaster to smother the flames but it had the opposite effect, the flames grew bigger.


"Just leave that Justin, never mind the toast!" she shouted. "We have to go!" she told him as she pulled him out of the kitchen by the arm.


"The house will burn darling."


"Never mind the house, we have to go!"


When they reached the hall they found that all of their luggage was soaked as water had come into the house. It had suddenly started raining heavily and they had left the door opened.


"It’s raining! Justin, it’s raining! Finally!" she said as she jumped up and down splashing water all over. "Come on, let’s get out, quick, the suitcases...We should have left them in the car; now they’re wet." She hurriedly put her little back pack on her back and motioned for him to do the same. Water was coming into their house more fluidly now and the suitcases were wetter and heavier.

"We should leave the suitcases Nadine, they’re too heavy." He said as he picked up two suitcases.


"No, no, come on, I’ll help you." She said as she dragged one of the other suitcases outside their house. She made her way towards her car and then heaved the suitcase in the back seat.


"Hey, the suitcases go in the car boot, you’ll get the seats wet." He told her as he came after her carrying the two suitcases.


"Yes, I know but I need to get changed; I can’t go traipsing around wearing this flimsy dress. I’ll only be a minute." She said as she was already getting clothes out of her suitcase. Her little rucksack already discarded on the car floor.


An hour; is what Justin thought. She was choosing what to wear and that would take some time; then she’d probably decide to re-do her make up for the special occasion too and that would probably take another half an hour. By the time they could leave, the water will probably have reached the top of the tires. It was simply pouring down. Most unusual. He decided to go on and bring the rest of the suitcases to the car; he would take his time as she tended to take longer if she was distracted. When he finished, he went into the car and sat in the driver’s seat. She still hadn’t finished. He waited… and waited with all the patience he could arm himself with.


"You should get changed too darling", she said as she handed him some clothes. "I’ve brought you some clothes."


"I think we should just go before it gets any worse." He said as he took the clothes and left them on the dashboard.


"Why did you start the car Justin?" she suddenly said angrily. "Can’t you see I’m doing my make up?"


"I didn’t, the water is driving."


"What?"


Justin was exasperated. Why on earth did he end up with this mad woman? Why did he have to agree to this silly idea of hers? He opened the car door and got out; then he opened her door at the back and pulled her out by the arm.


"We have to get out of here you silly cow!" he shouted at her.


"Who did you call a silly cow?" she asked him as she struggled to break free of him. "How dare you?"


"I did and I’ll tell you again if you like", he answered angrily. "You…."

Just then the water moved the car a bit further and the car door almost hit Nadine. Justin pulled her away seconds before she was hit.


"I’ll forgive you anything Justin," she said as she clung onto his neck, "you’re my hero!"


This time it was him who tried to pull away from her. "Nadine, this is no time for kissing and games, we have to go" he said as he pointed at the water that was now reaching their knees.


"What about the car?..... my suitcases….. my make up?"


"Never mind all that, here, put this back pack on your back and let’s go, we’ll have to walk."


"Swimming would be better, if you ask me."


Justin led the way until Nadine overtook him, she had plunged into the water and half swam, half ran until she was in front of him. "Look, look, Justin, a newspaper," she said as she struggled to reach the floating newspaper before it went away.


Justin still couldn’t figure her out. Here they were in the middle of an unexpected flood and instead of trying to get out of it she was reaching for a newspaper as if it was the most important thing in the world. The most important thing was getting to where they were going to. But he followed her.

Aproximately an hour later, the heavy rain turned into a drizzle and clouds suddenly became lighter. The sun appeared shyly from behind the grey clouds and sent its tentacly beams towards them.



"Yeeeee haaaaa!" Nadine shouted, "The rainbow should be here any minute now." She was waiving the wet newspaper about as if to call onto the sun.



"What are you doing Nadine?"


"I’m calling the rainbow."


"What? With the newspaper?"


"Why not? I don’t have anything else at hand. Look, look it’s forming over there, let’s not waste anymore time darling, let’s follow that rainbow and find the coffer full of gold."


"Yes darling, you lead the way; I’ll just follow you." He said quietly.


Nadine waddled in the direction of the rainbow, intent on getting to the end of it but Justin simply turned around and left her to pursue that silly dream of hers. When she had told him that she wanted to go to the end of the rainbow and find that legendary chest of gold, he had thought she was speaking metaphorically and now he felt a fool. He had played along her games for so long that he had actually thought this idea was just another way of making their lives more exciting. He hadn’t realised she was actually serious about this one.


The end
(2047 Words)
© 2007 Alexandra Riera