I don’t know how long I stood there looking down at her body, the sledgehammer held high over my head. Long enough for the muscles in my arms to start telling me to either damn well do something or put it down. I do know that.
I remember more than once determining to go through with it and making that little movement backwards with my hands that would start the swing downwards.
And really it was only the newspaper that stopped me. There, stacked in the recycling box catching my eye, was our over-excitable local rag. I saw myself in a week’s time pigeon-holed in a punning headline and unflattering photograph.
‘Jealous wife’s revenge!’, ‘Years of neglect led to moment of madness.’
I thought of staring up at a legion of rabbits’ and cats’ behinds; being wrapped around Lord knows what; sniggered at by those half-wits at the book club.
And after all, was it really fair to take it out on this particular model? Why should she suffer because she was the most recent in a long, long line?
To read the rest of the story, please click here
The story was included in the anthology ‘The Booklovers’ Appreciation Society’ published by Orion Books and sold to support the charity, Breast Cancer Care.
I have had some interesting feedback about One Careful Owner – usually from women. They tell me about their own husband or partner’s obsessions. These range from golf and football to garden sheds. I think I touched a nerve.
