Author: Alexander Fawn

He should have foreseen how much trouble the agreement would cause.

After all, he was a business man. Naturally, his various business interests were booming. At the time he saw it as no more than a pledge to pay the debt when the time came, as promised. In business, this was being done all the time. He knew there were moral considerations, regarding the nature of it. He also understood that her moral standards were far greater than his. That was why he had kept the details of it from her. He loved her very much, but she had often questioned his judgment when discussing the ethical side of some of his business dealings. On this occasion, it had been the reason he had not allowed her to know anything about this particular contract.

That was the case before she found the signed copy of it, quite by accident, while thumbing through his section of the filing cabinet. She never did find what she was looking for.

At first there were tears and disbelief that he would get involved with something like this. However, this turned to anger as the consequences of what he had done sank in. It was the religious side of her beliefs, beyond the moral aspects of it, that had finally caused her to begin talking about her leaving him.

In the end, he agreed to see whether he could break the contract.

He’d give it a go, but Beelzebub wasn’t going to like it!

It was always all about planning.

She simply wasn’t there when he had his fall. She had left for her sister’s the day before. That’s when she left him a note. What she covertly thought of as her goodbye note. Anyway, he had obviously slipped in the shower and hit his head. This was especially upsetting for her because she had so often suggested that he get a non-slip mat. This came up several times during the interviews at the police station. Most of the time she had managed to hold back her tears. The detective with the shock of ginger hair was very understanding. She was told to take her time and given several cups of tea.

For her, the planning had been meticulous… banking all sorted, prepaid mobile phone, paid for with cash, tickets also purchased with cash, hair cropped and dyed black, a different style of clothes, recently bought for the occasion, along with a broad brimmed hat, and a pair of very dark sunglasses.

To make absolutely sure… she would just disappear.

A taxi to the airport and it would all be behind her.

She was crossing the main concourse when she suddenly stopped, rooted to the spot. The familiar, ginger-haired detective that had interviewed her was casually leaning at the end of the counter in front of her gate. He was grinning and waving her goodbye note.

What was it about the note? She had planned for everything so carefully.

The sick feeling in her stomach told her that she was about to find out…

She thought about all the other things that surrounded her on the table.

They were a pretty mixed bunch. It was all about parts, really. There was her, with her tines above her neck, and him with his blade above his bolster, always arguing about whether or not the lunar cow was one of the celebrated zodiac animals. There was her, with her lip above her handle, always going on about how cats have been known to play stringed instruments. There was him, with his rim above his belly, trying to convince the others that dogs could actually laugh. As for herself, she had always been proud, or maybe just a little vain, about the way her cheek always remained above her bottom. But, more than anything, she really admired the way he held his bowl over his shoulder.

She knew that the whole affair would wash up with them leaving the rest of them high and dry, while he and she would quietly slip away.

He dialled the number that was printed on a scrap of paper.

A recorded message started up, thanking him for his call and informing him that the company can provide home renovations, house painting, air-conditioning repairs, plumbing, hot water installations, small appliance repairs, water filtration systems, electrical repairs, gutter cleaning, roof repairs, bathroom tiling and fittings, gas appliance repairs, carpentry, cabinetry. lawn mowing, gardening, clothing alterations, bulk waste removal, fencing, carpet cleaning and graffiti removal.

When it was finished, he made his enquiry.

A voice came on.

“Thank you for your enquiry, sir, but we don’t do that sort of thing.”

Click!

There was an assortment of odd-looking people at his grandfather’s funeral.

Although the old man had worked for a major pharmaceutical company in the city, none of these looked like company people. However, he was not surprised, because he didn’t really know much about him, except that he had some funny ways. When he was a kid, he would go to his big old house with his parents. Living so far away, they’d not visited him very often. When they did, it was obvious that he was into some really weird stuff. He was a follower of some spooky occult group, he knew that much, but the old man didn’t talk about it; not to him, anyway. The truth of it was that he didn’t like him much. His sense of humour was often a bit off!

Anyway, his parents had been out to the house, on the understanding that they could take anything they wanted before arranging for the place to be sold. They suggested that he do the same, just in case there was something he was interested in.

He remembered, as a kid, how he had seen a black metal box, way up on the top of a cupboard in the cellar. When he asked about it, the old man got really grumpy and told him never to touch it, saying that it contained secret stuff. He’d said that if he ever interfered with it, he would regret it. At the time, it all seemed a bit overdramatic, but he had agreed back then that he would leave it alone.

All these years later, he saw his opportunity to see whether the box was still there. On the day, it was only his curiosity that had him take the long drive to the place. Other than this, He couldn’t imagine finding anything there that he would want.

When he arrived, he made his way directly to the cellar door. The house had always been a dim building. Now, with the electricity off, opening the door he could hardly see the steps that led down. He tried the light switch just in case, but no joy. Using the torch on his mobile phone, he descended slowly.

When he reached the basement floor, he looked back and saw that very little light was entering the room from the door above. His torch was the only thing that allowed him to look around. Moving to where he had seen the high cupboard, he held his phone as high as he could and made out the dark shape of the box, still sitting there. With more searching, he found a wooden chair that seemed strong enough to take his weight. Pulling it to the base of the cupboard, he climbed on. Phone in one hand he picked the thing up and very carefully climbed down.

Putting the metal container on the chair, he stood looking down at it, taking a breath. It was just as he remembered, it had a lid, but no visible lock. Propping the phone on the back of the chair, he needed to use both hands to prise it open. The shadow of the lid prevented him from properly seeing the rows of small glass phials that sat inside. Then, by opening the box further it caused some sort of spring mechanism to bring a heavy metal plate down, crushing the tiny bottles with a loud bang!

His phone clattered to the floor and the torch went out.

Instantly, a great waft of stinking odour hit him in the face. Grabbing a hanky to cover his face, he staggered back. With eyes watering, he could hardly breathe. The stench was overwhelming, yet reminiscent of his schooldays, when stink bombs had been all the rage.

He slammed the box shut and began searching for his phone. Eventually he found it and managed to switch the torch back on. Feeling sick, he began squinting around, trying to locate the foot of the steps.

It was when he was moving slowly to where he thought the stairs were, that he could have sworn he heard a faint giggling…

There were a dozen people in the surgery’s waiting room.

He looked around. The mother and the daughter would go in before him. Then it would be his turn. Not long now… He blew out a breath. He would try really hard to explain to the doctor what he thought was wrong with him. In fact, he wasn’t at all sure what had made him phone for an appointment in the first place. The toddler was rummaging in the toy box, finding things to play with. The mother half watched her daughter, while playing with her mobile phone. The girl found a small wind-up car. She turned the key a few times and put it down, it immediately took off across the room, as the mother was told to go in.

The car hit the leg of the table in front of him. It came to a halt, but the spring mechanism kept whirring. He sat watching the thing run down. The spring was making less noise and the key went around slower and slower.

Then, it stopped.

In that moment, he knew full well what was wrong with him!

He got up, and smiling at the receptionist, he left.

The housebreaker had been casing the street for a couple of weeks.

Most of the houses were expensive, two-story properties with fronts set back from the road and large back gardens. It was something of a burglar’s paradise! He knew the old guy in number seventeen was a serious stamp collector. He would be his favourite target. With those, he would break them up and sell most of them individually. He could do very well out of that one house, probably more profitable than the rest of the street put together. There was a problem. Whereas most of the residents went out, leaving their house empty from time to time, number seventeen didn’t; only during the day, and that had occurred only once. He had to come up with a way of getting him out, even if it was for a short time.

An idea came to him. It was pretty outrageous, but he felt it may well work. He knew he could gain access to number seventeen’s back garden. That was how he’d go in, through the back. Across the road at number eighteen there would have to be a diversion; something of interest. His plan was to wait until eighteen was empty, then start a house fire. Most people would come out into their front gardens to see what was going on, whereas the old man would probably only stand at his front door to watch, but that would be enough.

Several nights later, his patience was rewarded when the family from number eighteen went out. This was his chance. It was all very new to him, so he would take it slowly step by step. He has the materials ready; an old scarf that he could feed through the letterbox and a bottle of petrol.

When the coast was clear, dressed in dark clothing, he crept along the front of the house, staying low. At the front door, he soaked one end of the scarf and lit it.

It was at that point that things began to go horribly wrong.

He dropped the flaming material when he tried to poke it through the door. It fell against the leg of his trousers, which immediately caught fire. While trying to put it out by slapping his leg, the sleeve of his jacket caught fire! Rolling around on the front lawn, screaming and trying franticly to put himself out, brought the next-door neighbour, the man from number sixteen out. Seeing the dilemma, he rushed back in to grab a blanket. When he came back out the man was screaming even louder, with parts of his clothing still burning. Throwing the blanket over him and patting all around the man on the ground, the flames were finally extinguished.

By this time, people were in their front gardens and out on the street investigating the terrible noise. Somebody must have called an ambulance. It had to make its way through the milling onlookers before reaching the house. The attending paramedic quickly saw that the burns were sufficiently bad to need immediate hospital treatment.

Limping badly and still in pain, he made his way to the ambulance, assisted by the paramedic. As he rounded the back of the ambulance, he could see the man from seventeen was standing on his front doorstep, watching.

That’s exactly where I wanted you, he thought.

Regardless of where she was, the sun on her face and the wind ruffling her hair felt refreshing.

It was the right thing to do; the only thing. Memories kept coming back. The sound of the crash, his final breaths, the flashing lights, the hospital, the interviews, the reports, her days in recovery. All these things that had plagued her over so many days and nights she now managed to bat away. There was no point in hanging on to these. The only thought that persisted, despite her efforts, was his presence. It was as though he was there, right there with her. She could feel him standing next to her, taking in the view.

In the corner of her eye, she saw movement. She slowly turned her head. He was there! He was there looking at her with that smile she loved so much.

Then, with tears welling in his eyes, he shook his head.

Shaking and feeling weak, she turns and climbs back over the rail.

She sat fondling the list.

Outside the sun was shining and the sky was just the right shade of blue. The forecast said this was going to be another warm day with gentle breezes in the morning. She looked down at the pool. It was certainly inviting, but she had a few things to do before that. Not many, but it was important to get it right. She paused for a moment to consider the fact that this was easily the most significant to-do-list she had ever set down on paper. Her mind went back to the day before and all of the arrangements she had made; the visit to the bank, the second visit to the estate agent. Inspecting the list carefully, she confirmed that they, along with all the earlier stuff, had been properly ticked off.

She sat back with a sigh and a self-congratulatory smile. It was almost done. Only four boxes left to tick. First, she would have a light breakfast. Then, listen to the next section of the “Learn a New Language”, audio book. After that she would take a long, calming swim in the pool. After drying off and sunbathing for a spell she would come in and complete her list by ticking off the final item.

Sending him a text, letting him know that she won’t be coming back.

It was a fact that the boy could only remember stuff if it was in some way numbered.

It was all pretty weird, really. He knew he was seven, but beyond this it meant that all sorts of interesting facts without numbers just couldn’t be retained. Despite this setback, he knew that over sixty percent of the world’s lakes are in Canada, that ninety percent of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere, that Russia has eleven time zones, that the surface of the sun is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that cats sleep an average of fifteen hours a day, that the largest bowling alley in the world is in Japan and has one hundred and sixteen lanes, that the shortest war in history, the Anglo-Zanzibar war, lasted thirty-eight minutes!

He also knew that Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for seven years straight, that around eighty percent of orange cats are male, that winds on Neptune can blow faster than 1,200 miles an hour, that the sun is about four hundred times larger than the moon, that a giraffe’s tongue can be twenty inches long, that lions can sleep up to twenty-one hours in a day, and that the human circulatory system is more than 60,000 miles long.

He knew for certain that Walt Disney holds the most Academy Awards, it being a total of twenty-six, that wearing a necktie could reduce blood flow to your brain by up to seven and a half percent, that your brain alone burns around four hundred to five hundred calories each day, that approximately ten percent of people are left-handed, that your heart beats an average of 100,000 times each day, that octopuses have three hearts and that in 2004 Neil Armstrong’s hair was sold for three thousand dollars.

All this wonderful information, but there’s the rub, d’you see? It has its downside.

Like the day he got lost in the city and couldn’t remember his name. When this was asked for, by the nice policeman who found him wandering around looking lost, all he could tell him was a house number and a post code.

This whole thing is very hard to believe!