(aka Bike) Part 1023 by Angharad Copyright © 2010 Angharad
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I went to bed and actually missed Simon, the bed felt very large and lonely–damn his meeting at that wretched bank, I mean, he’s supposed to be recovering from PTSD or something. What could be so important that he’s had to go into a meeting when he’s supposed to be on sick leave?
I reached for my mobile and sent him a text. ‘Miss u, C x.’
I settled down and tried to relax but I couldn’t. Suddenly my mobile peeped indicating a text had been received. I picked it up with bated breath only to find it was from my supplier offering me cheaper calls in Europe. I deleted it in disgust and put the phone back on the bedside table.
I turned over and tried to sleep on my side but I felt my eyes getting moist and before long there were blobs of water hitting the pillow. For a moment I didn’t hear the phone beep, then I realised it had and turned back to snatch it off the table. I had to wipe my eyes before I could see it clearly enough to read.
‘Miss u 2, b bak 2moro luv u. S xxx’
Of course this caused me to cry some more and then I felt ridiculous for doing so, but at least he said he loved me. I felt embarrassed looking a total wreck while reading his text, but resisted the urge to get out of bed to comb my hair before rereading it. That would have been too much.
When I’d calmed down I did go to the loo again and cooled my eyes with some cold water, before taking Paddington to bed with me–so romantic, wearing wellies to bed!
I turned the pillow over to avoid the wet bits and amazingly I went to sleep thinking romantically about Simon–I know, I sound like a lost cause but I did miss him and he is my husband–a phrase which still feels impossible–but isn’t simply because I have a piece of paper which says I’m female.
When the alarm started the radio the next morning, I really didn’t want to get up but thankfully my sense of duty meant I rolled out of bed and was in the bathroom before I was fully cognizant of the fact. I showered and felt a little better, I combed my hair, finished drying myself, felt some blubber coming on my waist and poked out my tongue which looked rather coated.
I dressed and roused the three misskateers, then woke the boys. I also roused Julie and asked her to help. To my surprise and delight, she actually got out of bed. The boys got themselves ready except, Danny realised he hadn’t had his sports kit washed. I sent him to put it in the machine on a short cycle–not shorts cycle. Meanwhile I got the girls up and helped them shower and did their hair. Then they dressed while I went to organise breakfast.
Danny was down watching the washing machine. “How about helping me–watching that won’t make it finish any quicker you know?”
He shrugged and kept muttering that he’d be late. “And whose fault would that be?”
“The stupid machine.”
“The machine isn’t stupid, it’s programmed to do certain things, and once it’s finished we can pop your stuff in the tumble dryer and hopefully it’ll be dry enough for you to take to school. Now come on–help me lay the table.”
He grumbled, but did start fishing packets of cereal from the larder and I made some tea and some toast. I limited myself to one slice and a banana, plus the essential cup of tea–without it, I’d never manage to do anything.
The girls arrived, as did Billy, who seemed half asleep and was only up now because Julie was nagging him like crazy. He was grumbling, but she was harrying him and he didn’t retort, probably because she’s quite a bit older than he is.
I made the girl’s packed lunches–why couldn’t they have school meals like everyone else? I’d try them again, or I’d try and persuade Trish. If she had them, the other two would be a pushover and it would save me several valuable minutes in the mornings. Time is always so short before the school run. I wonder if I could teach Trish to drive–nah, she wouldn’t be able to see over the steering wheel.
Danny’s kit went into the dryer and it was still warm when he threw it into his bag–did I mention he plays football for the school? They have a tournament coming up, I must see if I can get to some of it, show him some support.
“When does it start?” I asked about the tournament.
“Today–it’s a knockout thing.”
“What time?”
“This afters.”
“Okay, I’ll come with the girls when I collect them.”
“Thanks, Mum.” I gave him a hug and he went off with his tail in the air. I gave Billy one too, so he seemed a bit happier. Funny creatures, boys.
I told the girls to remind me that we were going to watch Danny play, and they were quite excited about supporting their brother. I thought I’d better pack some warm clothes, as we seemed beset by cool breezes.
Simon got home by lunch time, I was busy making the bed when he came in and snuck up to the bedroom and goosed me while I was bent over the bed with both my hands tucking the bottom sheet in. Of course I shouted and then chased the silly galoot down the stairs.
On catching him, I hugged him until he kissed me–Julie groaned, she was doing the mountain of ironing that had accumulated and making quite a reasonable job of it. I asked Simon to make us some tea and went off to finish the bed.
I’d stripped Tom’s, too, so had enough for a load for the washer. I stuffed the linen into the machine and poured in the detergent and the softener. “I had some trouble with that the other night.”
“Oh yes, not with a certain tablecloth, was it?”
“How did you guess?”
“Shall we say my eyes still work, even if my brain doesn’t.”
“Okay, I’ll come clean–I spilt some wine on it and it wouldn’t come out.”
“It should have done, if you’d put it straight in on a cool wash.”
“Now you tell me.”
“Now you tell me, if you’d done so before...”
“Okay, I asked Stella, but she wasn’t sure, and by then I’d stuck it on a hot wash.”
“Simon, you give new meaning to the phrase helpless male.”
“Yeah okay, don’t rub it in.”
“It was a special tablecloth.”
“I know.”
“So why didn’t you say something?”
“Because I knew you’d be upset.”
“Only at the deceit you practiced.”
“Sorry, I was trying not to upset you.”
“Sure it wasn’t just saving your own embarrassment?”
“Yeah, that too.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes, poppet.”
“Did you know that Mummy was an actress?”
“Yeah, she demonstrates it most days.”
I scowled at him and he poked his tongue out at me.
“No, seriously–she played Lady Macbeth.”
“She’s just an old drama queen.”
It was a good job I wasn’t doing the ironing. He might have got himself injured.
“Here,” she shoved the sheet she’d copied from the internet of my review.
Simon took it and read it and his smile broadened. “I’ve always known she was a girl, really.”
“You’re about the only one,” I said, and he hugged me as I started to sniff in his arms.
“No, my family has always thought that of you, including my crazy sister–we have no doubts, so why do you?”
“It goes with the territory, I’m afraid.”
He hugged me and kissed me, “Never let anyone think you’re anything but a complete woman.”
“But I’m not, am I?”
“As far as I’m concerned you are–end of argument. Oh, I have something for you.” He handed me a plastic bag which, when I opened it, contained a damask tablecloth.
“You found another?”
“No, I found a specialist cleaner who has more or less restored it to its original condition–there is a very slight stain, but it hardly shows, it’s so faint.”
“Thank you.” I kissed him and hugged him with my head on his shoulder.
Comments
Sweet
Continues to be enjoyable.
Hilltopper
Binary
(2^10)-1
Lovely ending, saves all the blood and gore that some may have expected.
Topsy
Mostly Harmless
Yep, congrats on episode 1111111111 bin
Still a nice bedtime read. I can never resist checking in each evening we're at home. Fantastic effort.
Thanks Ang
Robi
All's well that ends well?
Now if Simon can only deduce that defusing Cathy merely takes a two day absence, we'd have no plot. Hang on, delete that last comment.
All's well that ends well? We are talking about the Camerons here. And what can go wrong at a school football match?
Susie
What can go wrong?
Don't you mean: what can't go wrong? :)
Murphy's Law will undoubtedly present itself during the match - and I can imagine a certain youngster itching to clear up all the grazes and bruises inflicted on the players by each other - and the ground!
-oOo-
Meanwhile, nice to see that Simon's actually done the honourable thing and managed to find someone who's more capable of stain removal than himself. Perhaps sometime Cathy can write a postcard to attach to the front of the machine giving simple instructions (e.g. the first two could be: [1] sort the washing into three piles - whites, light colours and dark colours, [2] Double and triple check the piles to ensure no dark colours are in any of the other piles).
And Julie's been lumbered with the ironing...again! Still, I suppose it's her alloted chore within the household. The three younger girls are largely responsible for internal cleaning and dusting (although Mima armed with a duster is a WMD!) while the boys are largely responsible for assisting Tom in the garden (together with Leon on Saturdays). Tom supervises in the garden, Stella (I think) supervises the cleaning and dusting (when not occupied with Puddin'), while Cathy is the overall manager - getting everyone up in the mornings and to bed in the evenings, cooking, chauffering, washing, drying, supervising everyone else - plus the occasional bit of counselling and healing.
EAFOAB Episode Summaries
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Consider a fourth...
Consider adding a fourth pile. We separate REDs (& lighter siblings) from others, as red dies have been known to blead, just like blue ones (in denim). :-) Have you ever seen what happens on a ski slope, when a novice (wearing brand new jeans) attempts her first run down the hill? If you guessed BLUE streaks in the snow where she fell and slid, you'd be right.
Anne
Lol. I'm told that I'm
Lol. I'm told that I'm rather particular about the wash. Jeans go in one load, brown, khakis, & similar in another, shirts, blouses, & tops get sorted by weight & color, whites by themselves (except fencing uniforms which should never be bleached :-) ), lingerie is separate, sometime two loads (light & dark), linens, towels, etc. get worked in, often by themselves.
A bit of work, but I never end up with odd colored or streaked clothing....
Janice
Good episode.
I like your writing style. You make the mundane interesting, especially with your sense of humor. Glad the "Tablecloth Caper" is finally solved.
Hugs,
Trish-Ann
~There is no reality, only perception~
Hugs,
Trish Ann
~There is no reality, only perception~
As usual
I caught lovestruck and head over-heels with the way you write and put things into this perfect perspective. That whole "funny creatures boys" thought just very subtly illustrates Cathy's real psyche. Whether intended as a character booster or not it's just one little bit of why we love the way you write.
Keep up the excellent works.
Bailey Summers
Bike pt 1023.
Simon is learning and he said just what his famiy knows, just as Tom about Cathy.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
As Bill would have said...
...“All’s well that ends well.â€
I had to chuckle at:
I wonder if I could teach Trish to drive—nah, she wouldn’t be able to see over the steering wheel.
Probably wouldn't reach the pedals either!
It'll be interesting to see how Danny goes with his football. Hopefully his side will do better than England did against the US of A.
Thanks A&B: as always, a riveting read.
Playing Soccer
Bike Archive
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You might want to...
Worry again, on the driving thing. I can see Trish finding a few pillows to lift her head up, and then talking either Livvy or Meems to push the pedals, while she drives. Wait, I didn't actually type that, did I? That's okay, our intrepid author team doesn't read notes very often, and even if they did see this one, they'd reject it as unbelievable... Yeah, I'm sure they would.
I agree the game could be interesting. Wonder if Simon'll go too...
Anne
Ahhh.
So, Simon's drinking wine again. Or, at least he was pouring it. And, yeah, that makes more sense than blood as the hard to clean bit. Grape Juice has that issue as well. That's why our pastor prefers white grape juice. It avoids the bad stains when he spills the juice. By the way, that's one group of men that do tend to know how to get wine/grape juice out of cloth. It goes with the territory. Priests/Pastors/Reverends/ etc... They all come in contact with the fruit of the vine, and it's staining ability.
Blood, my uncle told me how to get that out of cloth. He learned how, in med school.
But, to the story. I'm glad Simon found a miracle worker. :-)
Thanks,
Anne
Clergy-type people...
...seem to know lots of useful cleaning tips.
I can remember once being told about the best way of getting candle-wax off cloth, involving brown paper and a warm iron. Oh the perils of the job!
Oh yeah, there's also a really cool way to remove chewing gum from material or hair, using an ice cube... and I can testify that it does work well.
Purely Spotless
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Yay!
The Saga Of The Heirloom Tablecloth, resolved!
Just got back
from a few days away and thought i had better catch up with my favourite serial.
Nice to see things sorting themselves out between Cathy and Simon, And yes while he may be a thoughtless man at times, At least he has proved by his actions in trying to get the tablecloth sorted out that he knew just how much it meant to Cathy.
Loved the story about how Cathy was forced into playing Lady Macbeth, It showed even then Cathy was not afraid of standing up for herself in the face of authority.
Kirri
Flippin heirlooms.
Well at long last that's the tablecloth sorted. And nobody got hurt, thank God!
I don't do heirlooms, (but then, I didn't do parents very well either.) The only things I hold valuable are my Masters Ticket and my degrees, BSc & MSc. If the house caught fire those are the only things I'd rescue. (Oh and maybe this laptop I'm writing on.)
My wife has heirlooms and she gets annoyed if I make jokes about them; so I don't. She seems to get quite emotional about them Just like Cathy does.
I don't think holding heirlooms in reverence is a girly thing just an emotional thing if you've got memories. No memories, no emotions, ssssimple's yes! Gleeek!
Still loving it Angharad.
OXOXOX.
Beverly.
Apparently Simon is not too
Apparently Simon is not too 'brain dead' regarding Cathy's heirlooms, as he did make the attempt to clean off the wine by washing, and then when discovering that did not work, took the tablecloth to a person who specializes in 'fixing items'. Good for him. Jan
See Simon!
That wasn't too bad. Next time come clean early! Cathy bite is much worse than her bark, and she has a mean bark.
Simon did go to the pros
"she's just an old drama queen" You love sneaking these lines in, don't you Ang ?
Simon's home, the kids are going to watch Danny play in soccer game. Domestic bliss. Uh, Uh !
Cefin