What do you think you’re doing?

By Alexandra Riera

© 2009 Alexandra Riera

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Peeved would be the last word she’d think of right now as she was more than peeved off, she was actually fucked off by this.  She couldn’t understand it, she thought they had reached an agreement, no more phone talking when they were out enjoying the precious little time they had together.  If they lived together and worked together and were together twenty four hours a week, seven days of the week, she could understand it, but they only saw each other once a week.  That was it, there was no excuse.  This was the last straw.

“Excuse me for a moment”, Martina told him as she got up.  

Francois just nodded at her as she left the table of the restaurant.  His eyes followed her as she went to the bathroom and he relaxed a little more, he leaned back on the chair and carried on talking on the phone while he played with his food.  He knew she would take a while.  That really peeved him off, it was always the same with her, always going to the bathroom half way through their meals to re-do her make up.  He wondered what he saw in her apart from the beautiful body she was lucky to have and him lucky to possess at least once a week.  One of these days he’d do something about it like fuck it for a whole week.

Minutes later, a waiter came up to Francois and told him he had a call on the restaurant’s land line.  Just as he was getting up, Martina arrived.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a call.”

“Right.”

She sat down at the table and noticed that his jacket was hung at the back of his chair.  She changed seats.  She searched his pockets and when she found his wallet, she took it together with his keys.  “That should do the trick” she thought. She got up and left the restaurant.  

Francois returned to the table only to find her gone once more.  He decided not to wait for her to come back from the bathroom; he ordered the table to be cleared and deserts to be brought to them.  “She won’t mind, she hardly eats, anyway,” he thought as he waited for the deserts.      When the desserts came he was back on the phone and when he finished he dug into his chocolate volcano wondering why Martina was taking so long this time.  He asked the waiter to check the ladies.  “There might be something wrong with her, she never takes that long”, he told the waiter.

The waiter came back and told him that there was no one in the bathroom and that one of the sommeliers had seen his date leaving the restaurant earlier.

Francois was stunned.  She had left him there, “but why? What was wrong?  She could have told him something”.  He asked for the bill and when he went to get his wallet he realised that it wasn’t in his pocket; in any of his pockets for that matter, and his keys were missing too.  He panicked. “Was he going to have to do the washing up?”  Then, the phone rang.

“I want to fuck you; I want to fuck you now.”

“Where are you?  Where’s my wallet? …. And my keys?” he asked into the receiver.

The waiter, who had just brought the bill, turned around and went to look for the manager who called the police.

“I want to fuck you now” Martina told him on the phone and then hung up.

The waiter came back to the table accompanied by the manger, a sombre looking man who didn’t look happy at all.  “You seem to have a slight problem, sir.” The manager told him.

“Well, yes… hummm, let me explain…” The phone rang again and he picked it up.  “Excuse me a minute please”, he told the manager.  “Yes!” he shouted into the phone.  “Martina!  That’s enough! …. Oh, sorry, sorry, Tom, I thought you were Martina…. No… I mean… yes.. I was supposed to be with her but…”  The manager took hold of Francois phone and spoke into the receiver.  “I’m afraid that your friend here is a little busy and can’t answer the phone.”

Francois tried to take the phone back but the manager pocked it.  “So, how are we going to solve this little problem sir?” the manager asked him as the waiter put himself behind Francois to make sure he didn’t leave the restaurant.

Just then, a pizza delivery man entered the restaurant.  “Mr Francois Hummont?” 

“What?” asked the manager?

“I’m Francois Hummont.”

“I’ve got a delivery for you. You said the food here sucks and wanted to show this place what real food was. Here’s your pizza, sir.”

Francois didn’t have time to answer; another delivery man had just come in, this time, carrying boxes of Chinese food.  “A delivery for Mr Hummont!”

 Francois was sweating now; everybody was staring at him and at the delivery men.  The phone rang again.. Francois made to pick it up but couldn’t, he didn’t have it.  “Please, let me answer that call.” He begged.

“No.” said the manager with a smile on his face.  “How are you going to pay for all this?”

“I don’t know!  Please let me use the phone…”

“A phone call for a Mr Hummont” shouted a sommelier.  

Francois looked at the manager with tears in his eyes.  “Please…..”

“Oh, alright…”

Francois ran to the restaurant’s phone.  “Yes!”

“I want to fuck you.”

“Yes.. me too… ok. Enough… enough… come back… I won’t pick up the phone anymore.  I promise!”

“Excuse me, Sir.”

Francoise turned white when he saw that a policeman was just interrupting his call.   “Martina?  Are you there?  I’ve got to hang up, I’ll call you as soon as I can.”  He turned around a little bit, put his hand over his mouth, “…and I want to fuck you right now”, he said softly into the phone.  He put the phone down and faced the policeman.

“I’m really sorry about all this confusion. It’s all my fault.”

“Well, yes, of course it is..” said the manager.  

“So.. what’s going on then?” asked the policeman.

Just then the restaurant phone rang.  “A call for Francois Hummont, again.” Said the cashier. 

“Tell whoever called that I can’t take the call.” Said Francois.

The cashier went back to the phone and spoke into it.  Two minutes later, she came to the manager and told him something in private.

“Your bill has been paid together with the deliveries.  You can go now but never come back here again,” said the manger.

Francois went to get his jacket and as he was leaving the restaurant, the manger handed him back his phone.  “Thank you,” Francois said as he put it in his jacket.

As the door of the restaurant closed behind him, a taxi arrived.  “Hey! Fancy a fuck?”

“Most definitely!  In the taxi?”

“And… why not?”

“Just one thing….” He said as he got inside.  “Let me turn this damned phone off first.”

The end

(1189 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

March 2nd -  2009

Red Ocean

By Alexandra Riera

© 2009 Alexandra Riera

There’s no blood in the ocean of your love; only a storm in the caress of the wind that brings your kisses to me.

The end

(24 Words)

© 2009 Alexandra Riera

March 2nd -  2009

(back to action)

One-Hundred-in-

One-Mirror

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Natalie was as vain as any young woman could be in public although she took things to the extreme sometimes.  Whenever she passed a shop window she would look at her reflection and immediately afterwards, she would readjust her hair or her coat.  At home it was a little worse, according to her friends, of course.  According to her, it was perfectly normal to have the house filled with mirrors in every single wall and even behind doors.  Her excuse was that she had to look good at all times, not for anyone in particular, as you will surely understand, but for her sake as she didn’t have a boyfriend or anyone who was after her.  What she did have were girlfriends and with them she shared make up tips and exchanged fashion news on a regular basis.

One day she complained that none of her mirrors showed her true self so her friends advised her to place an advert in e-bay for the “ultimate mirror” and see what she found.  They assured her that that site had almost anything anyone could possibly want or not want and so, without any more delay, she went onto the computer and placed an add.   Natalie wasn’t surprised at the responses she got but was surprised by the amount of different mirrors that were out there in the world.  Someone offered her “The-one-hundred-in-one-mirror” and without giving it much more thought she went for it.  She didn’t pay much for it; in fact, she had only paid what she would have paid for a bubble gum at the kiosk. 

The mirror was delivered within a week.  The mirror was much more than what she had expected although on first looking at it she had thought that it was just a plain and ordinary mirror.  The mirror was as tall as her and it was supported by a wooden stand at the back attached to a beautifully carved wooden frame.  She didn’t care about the frame, she was more interested in the little wheels the mirror had on its base.   She pushed the mirror about and tested its stability and when she was happy with the mobility the wheels provided she stood in front of the mirror.  What she saw scared her at first; she saw herself haggard looking and her hair in a mess and that threw her back a little bit.    She then started thinking that perhaps she should go to the bathroom and do her hair a little bit to see if that way she would look better and to her surprise she saw herself with her hair all done up and with the headband she had wanted to buy for the past week. 

Nalalie stared at the mirror and then placed her hands on her hair; perhaps she had been doing her hair distractedly whilst looking at herself in the mirror.  “But the headband?” she wondered.  “Where had it come from?”   Confused, Natalie went to the other side of the room to check on one of her mirrors and she saw herself with her hair in a mess.  She turned back to the new mirror and when she looked in she saw herself with her hair looking beautiful.    She went to the rest of the mirrors in her house and she found that in all of them she looked tired and that her hair was in a mess.

She decided then that she had been right all that time and that her mirrors were not accurate.  She took them all off the walls and threw them all into the rubbish container that was outside her house. 

Natalie spent her time looking at herself in the mirror; whenever she changed rooms, she took the mirror along with her.  Her friends called her but she told them she was busy so in the end they came up to her house to see what was up with her.

The girls liked Natalie’s mirror at first as they also looked beautiful, well, more beautiful than what they really were and had fun changing sizes, hair colours and clothes for a whole afternoon.  The mirror seemed to echo their thoughts and however they wanted to see themselves as, the mirror provided the image.  Natalie was the most excited of them all as she kept on saying that she had finally found a mirror that was accurate.  On leaving, her friends commented among them that that mirror was a bit eerie and that they didn’t really feel comfortable with that mirror and in consequence they stopped going to Natalie’s house.

Natalie, on the other hand, felt very comfortable with her new acquisition; she no longer felt she had to go to the hairdresser’s to have her hair changed; the mirror did it for her.  She no longer had to go to the shops to buy clothes either, the mirror provided her with clothes and showed her looking radiant at all times. What surprised her most was that she no longer needed to prepare food or go to the shops to buy provisions either.  The mirror showed her in the kitchen preparing the most succulent lunches and dinners and best of all, Natalie enjoyed her meals thoroughly. 

A few months later, Natalie’s friends, who had stopped going to her house, got together one afternoon at a café for their usual afternoon chat and in their conversation, Natalie came up as a subject.   All of them were concerned about their common friend; they hadn’t heard a thing from her in a long time and wondered if perhaps they shouldn’t just pop in for a quick visit.    It was agreed after a heated debate that they would all go together to Natalie’s house and check on her but that under no circumstances at all they were to step into her house.

Before knocking on the door, they checked to see if they could see their friend through a window and were shocked at what they saw.   There, in front of the mirror, sat Natalie on the floor, moving her arms about and talking to herself.  She had lost a lot of weight, so much so that they could see the bones protruding through a dirty dress she was wearing that hung loose all about her.  Her hair looked as if it hadn’t been brushed in months. 

The girls backed off from the window and huddled together.  A little while later one of them went to the front door and knocked on it. 

“I’m busy”, came a weak voice from inside.

“It’s me.  Open up Natalie!  I need to talk to you.” Mary shouted through the door in the hope that her friend would open the door and that their plan would work. 

“I’m busy, come back tomorrow” replied Natalie.

Georgina, who was biting her nails, suddenly pulled Mary back from the door.  “Tell her there’s a fire.”

“Fire!” shouted Kate muffling her voice with a handkerchief on her mouth. 

Goergina and Mary looked at Kate in wonder.   “What was that for?” whispered Mary, but before Kate could answer, the door was flung open and Natalie made her way out with difficulty as as she was pushing the mirror outside her house with all her might. 

The three girls went straight to Natalie, they had to hold her up as she seemed to be about to faint.  One of them, Mary, held onto the mirror and kicked it.  Natalie suddenly straightened up, freed herself from the embrace of the other girls, punched Mary and then fell onto the floor not once letting go of the mirror.    Mary recovered her composure, she hadn’t really been hurt but she was shocked that Natalie had such a crush on the mirror.  “That mirror is no good, Natalie,” She said and then addressing the other two girls she told them that they had to throw the mirror in the bin.

Natalie started screaming as the girls took the mirror off her hands.  Kate pulled hard on the frame and the frame started coming off the mirror.  Natalie’s nose started bleeding but no one noticed; they were busy trying to break the mirror.  Georgina took hold of the back stand of the mirror and started pulling it off,  when she did so, Natalie’s screams got louder as her foot was starting to twist in a disgusting angle. 

“Stop!  Stop!” Shouted Mary as she pulled the other two girls off the mirror.   “They’re linked!”

Georgina and Kate looked at Natalie aghast; she was writhing on the floor in pain and trying to get to her mirror at the same time.  It was a poor sight but most of all it was a frightening site. “We can’t destroy the mirror,” said Kate with a sense of defeat.  For a moment the three girls just stood there watching Natalie crying on the floor and keeping an eye on the mirror just in case it did something to them.  Kate looked at the mirror for a bit longer and she saw that everything seemed to be alright; there they were sitting on the floor playing cards, Natalie was alright, no one was hurt and she looked just fine.  She went to have a closer view and stood right in front of it.  

“There’s nothing wrong with this mirror.” She said to her friends.  “She’s just imagining things, look”, she said as she pointed at the mirror for her friends to look at.  

Mary was the first one to get to Kate and between her and Kate they pulled her away from the mirror.   Mary wanted to kick the mirror again but thought better of it; she just took her jumper off and put it over the mirror whilst Georgina held onto Kate; she then told Georgina to take her jumper off too and when she did, they covered the whole mirror up.  Immediately after, Natalie seemed to feel better if not look better.  Kate just looked a little anxious but she seemed fine.

“Right,” said Kate decisively, “let’s take her inside and call a doctor.  Me….. I’m going to sell this thing in e-bay right now.  It’s obviously no good.”   Mary and Georgina looked at Kate and then at each other. 

“Ok,” said Georgina, “you two take her inside and I’ll hide this mirror from view.” And then, just as Kate was beginning to help Natalie up, she got closer to Mary and whispered to her to make sure that Kate posted the advert in e-bay. 

“Alright, alright,” said Mary, “let’s get on, let’s get on.”

Kate and Mary took Natalie inside and sat her on the sofa.  “Get on with that advert Kate, I’ll call the doctor.”  

Georgina was still busy at the back of the house covering the mirror with blankets and sleeping bags she had found in the garden shed when she heard a car stop at the house.  She went to the front to see who it was and saw a young man with a briefcase getting out of the car.

“You must be the doctor.” She told him.

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

Georgina thought for a bit; she didn’t want to have to explain about the mirror so she just told him that her friend was anorexic and that she need help.  The doctor mumbled something to himself and then asked her to take her to see the patient. 

On entering the house, the doctor was shocked about the mess and on seeing Natalie on the sofa he went immediately to her; that girl looked like a skeleton.  He opened his briefcase and started getting medical instruments out.  “Please leave us alone, if you don’t mind.” He told the girls. “She’ll probably have to go to hospital.” He said to no one in particular.

Mary and Georgina went to Natalie’s computer with Kate to make sure the advert was placed.    “Right, all we have to do now is wait for someone to ask for it,” said Mary.

“That could take ages!” Said Georgina. 

“hummmm… Maybe the doctor would like a mirror” said Mary with a naughty smile.

“Yes... Specially if we give it to him for free.” Said Kate.

Whilst the doctor was attending to Natalie, the girls went to the garden shed, got the mirror out and took it back to the front of the house, just by the doctor’s car.  “We mustn’t look at it, alright? Said Mary.    

“I’ve just left your friend in bed, she’s sleeping now, she should stay there for a while.  She’s going to need someone to look after her for a while; to feed her and wash her and all that.  She won’t need to go to hospital unless she gets worse.  Has she got anyone?” he asked the girls who were surprised to see him outside the house.

“Yes.. yes.. we’ll take turns looking after her,” Mary told him as she looked at the other girls for their support.  They nodded in agreement.   

Kate came forwards, “how would you like a lovely mirror?”  She asked the doctor.

“A mirror?”

“Yes, we’d like to give you a mirror as a present, the truth is that we don’t need it anymore so perhaps you’d like to have it.”

“I don’t need a mirror” the doctor said.

“Well, you could just give it to someone who needs a mirror then.” Said Georgina.

The doctor looked puzzled.   Mary went to the back of the mirror and gestured for the girls to do the same.   Slowly and carefully, Mary uncovered the mirror for the doctor to see it.

“What a beautiful mirror,” he said as he went to touch it.  He passed his fingers on the beautifully carved frame and then stood back to admire it.  “It certainly is a beautiful mirror, why don’t you want it?”

The girls stood quiet looking for a decent answer; they hadn’t planned on that question.  “hem.. hem…” began Mary.

“It’s too bulky” blurted out Kate before Mary could tell the truth.

“It will certainly look good in my private surgery” replied the doctor. 

“It’s for you then” Said Mary and then covered up the mirror again.

“Hey, but you’re going to need those blankets!” he told them as he went to take them off.

“The blankets come with the mirror; you might scratch it in your car without them.”

The girls helped the doctor getting the mirror into his car and were relieved when the doctor was out of sight.  They went back into the house, sat by Natalies’s bed and cried.

The doctor, Mr Nazran drove to his surgery and carefully took the mirror up the stairs all the way to his consulting room.  He removed the blankets on the mirror and stood looking at it.  He then decided on a good corner for the mirror and left it there; he didn’t bother to check himself in the mirror, he wasn’t interested, he was a busy man trying to climb up the ladder of success by combining government health care work with his private surgery. 

When he next came to his surgery, he had a queue of about ten people waiting to be seen.  He quickly changed into his doctor’s clothes and one by one he called his patients.  He found that most of his patients remarked on the mirror and went to look at themselves in it.  He found that some of them, after looking at themselves in the mirror told him that there was nothing wrong with them, that they felt better and left his surgery.  This surprised and worried Mr Nazran to say the least as the patients who said that felt better were the ones that were actually the most ill.   One afternoon, he went to look at the mirror and stared at it for a long time wondering what was wrong with the mirror but he couldn’t find a fault with it.  How was he going to be successful if most of his patients went away? He wondered.

The end

(2658 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

October 3^rd & 4th    - 2008

I might continue this….

Family Lunch

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

“Oh, I remember that day as clearly as it was yesterday” said Bettie as she showed her sister Claire an old photograph from a bunch of photos that were on her lap.  

“Oh, no you don’t Bettie; you’re as senile as me” laughed Claire as she took the picture from Bettie’s hand.

Claire remembered that day clearly.  She pointed to a sour lady at the far left of the picture.  “That’s grandma,” she said putting her finger onto the lady. Then she moved her finger to the lady beside her, “and that’s mum.”

“Clever girl!” said Bettie sarcastically to her sister.  “But I bet you don’t know why she looking at dad there.”

Claire looked alarmed for a moment.  She concentrated on the picture and touched the edges.  “Hu?” she said as she gave the picture back to her sister confounded by the question.

Her sister Claire thought she was senile but perhaps it was best if her sister believed her to be senile.  Perhaps some things were best left unsaid.  That day, had been Bettie’s birthday and they were supposed to have had a private family dinner at home and she was supposed to have had a present but instead, her father, who was sitting right next to Bettie’s mum had invited his brother Anthony together with his wife, the insufferable aunty Charlotte who thought she was god’s gift to women.  She was forever insinuating herself to her, and Bettie hated her with all her might.  One day, Charlotte had actually gone to her room and offered to rub her feet after a long walk in the woods.  Bettie, who didn’t think there was anything wrong with that let her in her room and bared her feet to her only to see that Charlotte who had originally started with her feet, was suddenly travelling her way upwards to her thighs and private parts.  Although Bettie had liked the sensation she felt revolted by the thought that a woman should have any physical contact with another woman, after all, that was not natural, it wasn’t in the bible, was it?    

That day; the day the picture was taken, Juliet, her elder sister was taking the picture with her husband from the head of the table.  She didn’t know anything about those machines but she liked to pretend she was important.  Bettie thought that perhaps Juliet was playing games with Charlotte and knew what Charlotte was all about.  Why, if not was Charlotte making eyes at Juliet in the picture?    Madelaine was lusting after George, Juliet’s husband, as usual; her eyes were always on George. Bettie was sure that the child Madelaine had had was George’s in spite of all her sister denying it after the child was born.  Now that she thought about it, Juliet had never had any children and wondered if that was why she and George dotted on Madelaine’s child as if he was their own.  Madelaine was another loose stone in the family; unmarried and with a child, a shame on the family.

That day her father had also invited Hazel, their next door neighbour who according to everyone was a very marriable man; young, healthy, hard worker, well mannered and  most importantly, he was well off.  Her father had intended him for her sister Claire who was the apple of his eye but Claire was so busy doing her impersonation of a good shy girl that she never once looked at Hazel in the eyes during that dinner, she kept her eyes on their mother for any hint on what she should do but her mother never paid Claire any attention during that dinner; she was looking at her husband Alfred.  She suspected him of being involved in his brother’s seedy business and since the two brothers were sitting together, she had probably wanted to hear everything they had to say. 

Bettie was almost left out of the picture, only part of her showed on the picture but she was glad about it as she remembered clearly that that day she had a pimple right at the top of her lip; it was better to be remembered as half a Bettie than as Bettie with a pimple.  

Bettie was still looking at the picture, remembering all these things when Claire took the picture off her hands. “I know why she’s looking at dad!” she told her sister.

“Oh yes?”

“He was supposed to make an announcement that day…” Claire stopped; she clearly couldn’t remember what announcement her father had been about to make at that dinner and started fiddling with the picture.

Just then, a lady came into the room where they were both sitting.  “Hello Bettie, hello Claire, how are you today?” she greeted them.  “Oh, what’s this?” she asked them as she took the photographs from Bettie’s lap.

“Oh, just pictures.” Said Bettie quietly.

“Yes, just pictures.” Echoed Claire.

The lady looked at them sternly.  You’ve been in my office again ladies, that’s very naughty of you.  I know these are your pictures but you know perfectly well that you only have to ask to be given your things and that you can walk anywhere in the residence except the offices.  You can not just go and get.  It’s against the rules.” She scolded them.

Bettie and Claire looked afraid of the nurse but waited for their punishment in resignation.  It was usually a no desert for a week type of thing so although they were worried about it, they knew it wasn’t serious.

The lady straightened up as she gathered the pictures close to her.  “You will not be allowed any television for a whole week, you’ll have to go on walkabouts!” she said and then she turned around to leave. 

“Yooohoooo!” Said Bettie. “Walkabouts!” she cried as soon as the lady was out of the room.

“Why are you so happy about walkabouts?”

“We’ll be able to smoke and not one nurse will see us when we’re walkabouts in the garden!”

The end

(1000 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

August 4th  - 2008

100 words Rebellious Story

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

John and Linda were at her bedside; they had only come because they had been summoned and in a way it was a way to pay their last respects to their mother who was finally dying. 

“Why? You ask me why I’ve always been so rebellious?” their mother coughed out as she spoke from her sick bed.  

“I gave you life, didn’t I?” she asked them in scorn.    “Alright, so you were born at home and don’t have a chip; so what?”  

She coughed again, this time she coughed blood.  “You’re free!” she told them just before life departed her.

The end

(100 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

September 4th - 2008

True love is…

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Roger Baynes sat facing the window, his hand holding the phone against his ear, his face growing red by the second as he shuffled some papers on his lap.  “Yes, I know we have to do better…. mmmm mmmm. Alright!” he shouted as he got up, “I will do better, much better than that!  And now you can fuck off!” he shouted into the phone.  He didn’t wait for an answer he slammed the phone down and threw the papers in the bin.  Roger was having a hard day, well, in fact he was having a hard year and that phone call was just the thing that tipped the balance.  He had been thinking for a while about his job, his life and especially his love life which was supposedly inexistent in the eyes of his family. Up until now he had done everything that had been expected of him except marrying. He had never liked the idea of getting married, he would have to change his habits; no more shopping sprees for expensive clothes, no more playing loud music on his stereo and fancying himself a top D.J.  He’d have to explain his absences every time he went away to the country with his friend Robert.  He’d have to explain Robert.   He took a lighter out from his pocked and set the bin on fire.  The fire alarms went off.

The door to his office opened and Robert came in.   “Fire!” he shouted in a panic, “the building is on fire!”.  Then he realised that the fire was only the burning bin.   Roger was now sitting on top of his desk, holding the phone by the receiver and directing it towards the flames.

“”What are you doing?” Asked Roger distracted for a moment. .

“Well, perhaps I should ask you what you’re doing Roger. The bin is on fire.” He said calmly as he went towards the vase of flowers on his desk.

“I’m going to do much better Robert, he’ll see.”

Robert poured the water from the flowers onto the burning bin and the flames died down.  “Now, why don’t we go out and have a coffee or something?” He asked Roger as he took him by the arm.  “Then you can tell me what’s happened and what we’re going to do about it.”

Roger went along with Robert but only because he trusted him completely.  Roger and Robert had known each other for many years; in fact they were friends as kids, grew up together, in the same neighbourhood; they had gone to the same school and even to university together.  They were both very clever men and very able but Roger was a born leader whereas Robert was a neat follower.  Together they made a perfect team at work and they had both climbed high in their positions.  They always worked together.  Now they were both working for an insurance company at a very high level and in order to avoid malicious gossip they made sure they kept their friendship a secret. 

They left the building together with the rest of the staff and went to a quiet café in the corner.  The sound of the fire engines going past couldn’t be heard from the café and Roger was grateful for that.  Robert was grateful that the café was empty; everybody had gone out to see what had happened.  He wanted to know what had made Roger set the bin on fire; he was usually quite calm in the most incredible crisis. 

It was only after drinking his coffee that Roger started telling Robert about his telephone conversation with the top man.  “I’m not going to do it Robert; I’m not going to go for it. I’m not going to get the salesmen to harass widows at their husband’s funeral so that they buy extra insurance.  No way.  That’s below the belt!” 

Just when Robert was about to say something a group of people dressed in saffron robes came in the café.  They were singing “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare hare!” They danced and played their tambourine.  Roger gave them some money and so did Robert and then they left.  Roger followed them with his eyes until he lost them out of sight.

“So what are you going to do then?” Asked Robert when Roger started fiddling with his empty cup.

“I’m going with them.  I’ve had enough of all this rush, achieve, get, go! Go! Go! Thing.”

Robert stared at his best friend; he knew there was more to this burst of temper than just sales pressure.  He had never seen Roger loose it before.  He decided to go along with him.  Robert thought that Roger was obviously going through a mid life crisis of some sort and he knew that if it got his best friend, it wouldn’t be long till it got him too, after all, they were of the same age. 

After a while Roger got up and went out.  Robert paid hurriedly and followed his friend into the street.  For a moment he had thought that Roger was going to just go with them and leave him behind and was relieved when he saw that the Hare Krishna people were nowhere to be seen.   “Where are you going now?”

“I’m going home.” Answered Roger.

“Alright, see you tomorrow morning then.”  He said as he waved goodbye.  Robert went back to the office.

The following morning Roger hadn’t turned up at work and Robert was worried, he called Roger at home and got no answer so he decided to pay his friend a visit to check on him.   When he got there he found that all the shutters were down and there was a note on the door addressed to him.

Don’t worry, I’m alright.  I’m gone. 

I’ll be in touch.

Roger

Robert did his best to carry on without Roger although he found it difficult.  He realised he was actually dependant on Roger for everything.  At work he did his best to show he was not affected by his friend’s sabbatical which is how he had to explain Robert’s absence.  In private, Robert carried on doing the usual things he did but without the spark that usually drove him; life without Roger was dull to him so he grew quieter and little by little he drew out of social life.  Robert woke up one morning and realised that he actually missed his friend.  He wondered if perhaps he shouldn’t have stayed the night at his friend’s house the day before he disappeared as he had done some other times, perhaps if he had done so Roger would still be with him, they would still be together. 

Three months later, Robert received a letter from Roger.  Before opening the letter, many thoughts raced in his head; his friend had only been away for three months and he had taken over his job.  What will his friend think of him for doing that?  He consoled himself by reminding himself that he had only taken over Roger’s job in order to cover for him for the few days he had originally thought he would be away sorting himself out.  Suddenly he found himself filled with happiness at the thought of his friend coming back but that feeling soon died for when he opened the letter he read that Roger was happy being a Buddhist. Roger explained in his letter that he had gone to the Himalayas to see what it would be like to abandon all material life and pressures and at the same time sort himself out as he needed time to think about his life.      He included a picture of him wearing a saffron robe standing next to a young Buddhist at the top of some mountain.  He hardly recognised his friend, his hair was all shaved off and he was suntanned.  There was a note at the bottom of the picture:  True love is born from understanding.  Understanding what? Thought Robert.  For a moment he felt guilty, perhaps he should have gone to the Himalayas with Roger, perhaps if he had gone with him he would be as happy as he was and most important of all, they would be together, as they had always been.   Was it too late now? He wondered.   A knock on the door brought him back to work instantly.  “Come in Mary” he said to his secretary.

The door opened and Robert turned white.  There in front of him stood a suntanned Roger wearing an Armani suit.  “I’m back!” He said as he closed the door behind him.

“I thought you turned Buddhist? I just received this today.” Robert told him as he showed him the letter that was still in his hand.

“Oh!  So you didn’t get my other letter then! Hahahaha” he laughed.  “That is my first letter you’re holding there!”

Robert was in shock, he didn’t know what to say, he went over and hugged his friend. He was happy to see his friend back.  “Where is the funny robe then?” he said as he brushed the lapel of his suit with his fingertips.

“I’m not a Buddhist anymore, relax!” Said Roger whilst holding his friend in his arms.

“But, why not? I thought you were happy…” he said.

“Yes but I missed my stereo, can’t have Heavy Metal music blaring through speakers when you’re a Buddhist monk hahahahahahah” he laughed.  “You can only chant, chant, chant and chant all day.  I’d rather have the Go! Go! Go! Chant.  And you” he added. “I’ve missed you Robert.”

The end

(1596 words)

(originally 1184 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

August 28th - 2008

True love is different for everybody

In & Out

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

You’re not in

Not in your house

You’re out

Out of your house

You’re in

You’re in my thoughts

You’re not out

Out of my thoughts

You’re not there

I can’t feel your breath

You’re not back

I can’t hear you laugh

You’re out

I can’t feel you in

You’re not in

I can’t bear it

You’re in

I can feel my heart

You’re all over

I can feel my thoughts

The end

(71 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

August 23^rd 2008

They’re getting longer…. But longer doesn’t mean better, just longer!

More than cakes

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Great balls of fire

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

“Right, that’s it.  I’ve had enough.” Dorothy said as she slammed her desk with her fist tipping over the bottle of tipex on top of her carefully finished CV.  “Damn! And now this!” she swore as she got up from her seat at the same time as she took her sheets of paper and tried to get the typex off.  “Five hours to sort it and get it all done by hand and now this!” she mutered.  “I wonder why they ask for a handwritten CV; can’t they just make do with a typed one?” She complained. 

The tipex wouldn’t come off and now Dorothy was getting a little bit more frustrated.  “Sod it.  I’ll give them a typed CV; if they like it fine, if not, well, they can just sod off.” She said as she crumbled up her CV and threw it in the bin and sat back on her swivel chair and faced her computer so that she could print the CV she had previously done.  A dialogue box appeared on her screen:  You are out of ink.  “What?”  She asked the computer.  “Oh, never mind, I’ll just stick this dammed CV in that pen drive and take to be printed before going for the interview in the morning.” She told herself as she started switching her computer off.

The following morning, Dorothy was running late and just as she was about to leave her flat, she remembered her CV.  She quickly went back to her computer, turned it on; swore whilst it got started and then copied all of her documents into the pen drive, she didn’t want to check on where exactly that document was, she was in a rush. When all was copied she dashed out of the house and she was in time to catch the bus to the city centre.

The building was impressive, seventeen floors in all with an exterior lift.  She decided to take the lift.  She was surprised to see a lift man inside it.  “Good morning.” She said.

“Have you got authorisation for the use of this lift?” Asked the man.

“I’ve come for an interview.”

“That’s through the main entrance.” He told her as he pointed to the side of the building.

Dorothy left and went toward the entrance of the building.  As she passed the doors, an alarm rang and she froze.  A security guard came towards her.  “Will you please empty your pockets?” 

“What? Hem.. I mean, sorry?” she said baffled.

“Will you please empty your pockets and put it in the basket over here for inspection please?  Oh, and your bag too.”

“Oh, oh, I see” she said.  Dorothy suddenly felt uncomfortable.  She didn’t like the idea of a strange man having a look at her pockets, never mind the contents of her bag.  The things she carried in there! but nonetheless she did as she was told.  As she emptied her pockets she could see the security man looking at every item with interest: key ring, mobile phone, a packet of chewing gum, a pen, a bit of crumpled paper and a cuddly mini teddy bear.  She then deposited the bag in the basket and hoped that would be it.  She looked at the security man and he signalled for her to turn her bag upside down.

“What?  You want the inside of my bag too?”

“Yes please, would you please empty the contents in the basket?”

Dorothy was beginning to sweat.  A packet of condoms came out, together with a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, then the pen drive, some make up, a pair of eyelashes curlers, a diary, five pens, a camera, some papers, a necklace, a bottle of perfume and a pair of tights.  Then from another compartment she dug out her purse, her driving license, some more papers and two packets of bubble gum together with two packets of tobacco and two lighters.  The basket was full.

“Is that all?” asked the security man sarcastically.

“Yes. That’s all.”

“Alright.  Now, if you’d please come through the metal detector..” he said as he gestured a gate.

Doroty followed the man’s gaze and went towards it, “my things…” she said.

“They’re safe, don’t worry; now if you please.”

Dorothy went through the gate and a red light started flashing as an alarm went off again.

“Damn! And now what?” she shouted at the security man.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to remove your belt and go through the gate again.”

“I’ve only come for an interview.”

“Oops!”

“What oops? Is your job on the line now?  Maybe you shouldn’t have made me go through all this then..” she told the security man with a grin on her face.

“It means that you’ll have to go through a medical too after the detector.”

“A medical?”

“Yes.”

Dorothy didn’t move.  She couldn’t believe it, “all this for a sodding interview!” she screamed at him.  “Never mind, never mind, I’ll take my belt off and since I’m at it, I’ll take all my clothes off too, how’s that?” she asked him as she started to remove the belt of her trousers.  The security guard stared at her as she then removed her jacket and dropped it on the floor.

“You can do that in the medical” he said as he went towards her.  “Please just go through the gate.” He told her as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Dorothy went through the gate and this time no bells or alarms rang.  “Can I get my things now?  They’re mine, you know’”

“Yes, of course.” 

Dorothy went to put her things back in her bag and her pockets and as she did so, the security guard came to her with a clipboard.  “Here, fill in this form and hand it to the medical department.  That’s just that door over there on the left.”

“Yes, well, bloody thank you!” she said as she took the form from him and made her way to the medical.  After her ordeal, she had expected the form to be full of questions but she only had to fill in her name, surname, telephone, reason of visit and tick on whether she had any infectious disease or not.  “What a surprise!” 

Before she could knock on the door, the door was opened for her and a dishevelled man came out talking on his mobile phone and held the door for her to walk in.

The room was not at all what she had expected.  There was a table with a lace tablecloth and some chairs arranged neatly around it.  At the end of the room there was a bar and an array of bottles were on display.

“What will you have?”

Dorothy  turned around to see the security guard, now dressed up as a waiter.

“Please take a seat” he said as he gestured for her to choose a chair.

“But… but…. The medical?”

“Yes, yes… the medical” he said as he pulled a chair out for her to sit on.

Dorothy sat on the chair and felt uneasy.  This wasn’t what she had expected.  “Thank you, but what about the interview?”

“What interview?” asked the waiter surprised.

“Oh my goodness, this is a joke, right?  I’m on candid camera or something like that.  Come on, tell me it’s a joke.”

“It’s a joke” the waiter said seriously.

“See?  I knew it!” she said as she jumped out of the chair.  “Where is the camera?”

“What camera?”

“The camera! I’m being filmed, right?  It’s a joke, right?”

“If you say so.” Said the waiter.  “Now; are you going to order?”

Dorothy looked at the waiter in the eyes and after a moment she said.  “I’ll have some mineral water please, and make it snappy!”

As the waiter went to get her drink, Dorothy got up and went to the door she had got in only to find that the door was locked.  “Hey!” she shouted, “It’s locked!”

“Please sit down.” He told her, “I can’t bring you your drink unless you’re sitting down, those are the regulations.”

Dorothy sat down; this was a mad place, she thought.  The waiter brought her a bottle of water and a cold glass.  He poured some water in the glass and then sat down in front of her.  “Drink up, it’s closing time” he told her.

As she started drinking she heard thunder outside.  She looked for the windows but there were none.  “There’s a storm outside” she said. 

“Yes.  Would you like to see it?  I love storms.”

“Yes, please.”

The waiter clapped his hands and the walls turned into glass panes.  She could see a black sky and rain beating down on the windows, she could see a beautiful tree in the middle of what seemed an enormous garden.  Lightening struck and it hit the tree, setting it on fire.

“Hang on,” she said, “there’s isn’t a single tree here, we’re in the middle of the city here.  Who do you think you’re trying to fool?”

“Ah!” The waiter said.  “I knew you were the right girl for this job.  Now, just to make sure; did you bring your handwritten CV?”

“What?”

“Did you bring your handwritten CV?” he said almost spelling the words out for her.

“No, of course I didn’t bring my handwritten CV, it’s in my pen drive and you can sod off if you don’t like it!”

“Perfect!  Dorothy, may I congratulate you?   You’ve got the job.”

“What?”

“I hope that is not the extension of your vocabulary” he told her sternly.

“So, I’ve got the job?  Really?  But why?  I didn’t do anything special.”

“Here at the tax office we need patient people to deal with complaints and you’ve been very patient, you could have told us to sod off, using your own words, but you didn’t.  You put up with this silly thing so you’ve got the job.   Congratulations.

“Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!” she screamed as she jumped off the chair to hug the waiter.

The end

(1672 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

August 18th  - 2008

One go!  Catching up, catching up!

This one is weird! hahaha

One, Two, Three,

Four, Five, Six,

Seven.

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

He heard her boots thumping on the pavement before he saw Kira.  He wondered why he had fallen in love with this mad woman but he was so glad he had.  His life had changed for the best, now he had an occupation apart from being at home playing video games on his computer.  Pembroke was now forty-nine years old and felt that life was finally bringing him the things he deserved.  He had originally spotted this girl in a shop the previous year when she had been working as a shop assistant selling men’s underwear.   He had bought many items from her until she changed jobs and went to work for a hamburger fast food restaurant.  Then, Pembroke put on a lot of weight as he was there on all her shifts; he only managed to loose weight when the girl moved into a different job as an aerobic instructor.  Kira had a busy life; after work, she’d go to dance lessons and after that she’d go to private singing lessons.  Pembroke always followed her around, he usually offered to carry her bags and she always accepted gracefully.  They never talked on their way; he walked quietly beside her, happy to be with her. 

Pembroke had been waiting for her to get out of her singing lessons that day and was surprised to see her coming from up the road.  She was supposed to be in the house having her singing lesson.  “Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked her.

“Mind your own business.” She had answered as she went past him.

Stunned, Pembroke followed her down the street.  Kira had never answered like this before; she had always been amicable even if they didn’t speak much, just the hello, bye, and thank you.      Kira went into a sex shop and Pembroke paused at the entrance, unsure of what to do, Kira had never done this before.  He went in and saw Kira talking to a man behind the counter.  The man gave her a parcel and then Kira turned around in her boots to leave.  She didn’t even see Pembroke on her way out.  Pembroke left the shop straight after her and followed her to a bus stop. 

At the bus stop, he waited from a distance and when the bus came, he jumped into it after she had gone in and sat right next to her.  Kira was absorbed in her own thoughts and was fiddling with the parcel in her hands.  She never noticed how Pembroke looked at her and he quickly looked the other way round every time he felt like addressing her.  Pembroke was desperate to talk to his girl but didn’t dare after she had told him to mind his own business.  He considered Kira his girl even if he hadn’t actually told her.  He loved her and now he was worried about her.  

A little while later, Kira got off the bus and Pembroke followed her to a building.  He was surprised as he had never seen her going there before.    She took a key out of her bag, opened the door and disappeared out of sight.  Pembroke sat on the pavement wondering what to do.  Hours went by and Pembroke didn’t move from the spot he had right by the door of the building.  She had to come out eventually, he thought.  Then, she heard Kira’s boots thumping down the pavement again.  Pembroke turned into the direction of the sound and saw Kira coming straight at him.  “Hello” he said as she pressed one of the buzzers in the building. 

“Kira!” he said to her.  “what……”

Before he could finish his sentence, she went into the building and disappeared.  Moments later, he saw Kira again coming the same way.  “Kira, Kira…”

The girl looked at him in disdain, threw a coin at him and then went into the building. Pembroke sat on the pavement again.  Surely there was something wrong there. Suddenly, he started pressing all the buzzers and he was finally buzzed in.    The building had a lift and a staircase.  He could knock on every single door of the building until she found her, he thought.  For a moment he was tempted to go and knock on all the doors but then he thought better of it; it was a bit late and somebody would probably call the police on him.  He checked the letter boxes for Kira’s name on it but none of the letter boxes had names written on them.  In despair he sat on the stairs and eventually fell asleep.

The following morning, he was woken up by a woman who was shooing him with her broom.  “Hey, get out of here or I’ll call the police!” she said as she pushed him with her broom.

Pembroke’s neck was hurting and he had difficulty in standing up.  “Sorry, I was waiting for Kira.”

“Get out of here!” she shouted.  “I’m cleaning!”

Pembroke left the building and wondered whether he should just stay by the door and wait for Kira to come out or go to the gym where Kira worked and wait for her there; after all he didn’t know if she had already left the building.  He wondered about all the other Kiras he had seen.  As he pondered on this outside the building, the lady came out with her broom in hand and threatened him with it.  Pembroke left.  He took the bus and went to the gym where Kira worked.  He went into the gym and saw that she wasn’t there.  He asked at the reception desk about her and was told that she no longer worked there.   Pembroke almost broke in tears.  He went to her house to see if perhaps she was there and this time, he was told by the girl that shared flat with her that she had moved. 

Pembroke got on the bus and went back to the building where he had seen his beloved Kira going in.  He pressed all the buzzers.  “The postman” he shouted when someone asked who it was.  Pembroke went inside and walked to the first floor.  There were five doors.  He knocked on door number one.  A woman wearing a dirty apron over a dirty dress opened the door for him. “What do you want?” she asked him. 

“I’m looking for Kira” he said hesitantly.

The woman smiled at him…”I’m Kira.”  What do you want?

“No, you’re not Kira….” answered Pembroke in shock. 

The lady grinned and showed a row of black teeth, “you’re a funny one….” she laughed, “now, you’re going to tell me I don’t have four daughters too, right?”

“You have four daughters?” He said before he could stop himself.

“Why don’t you come inside?  I’ll show you.” The woman opened the door wide and gestured for him to go in.  “It’s in a bit of a mess today but it’s alright, you are not here to look at my house but at my daughters, right?” she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled Pembroke inside her home.

Pembroke followed the woman and looked around the flat.  The floor was covered in clothes, books and boxes and he had to step over them so as not to trip.  “Why all the boxes?” he asked her.

“It’s taken me ages, you know, to get them all together, like.  So now I have this mess.  Don’t worry about it, it’s all for the best.” She removed a thick quilt from an armchair, threw it on the floor and told Pembroke to sit there and wait for her.  “I’ll make us a cup of coffee, alright?  You like coffee, don’t you?” and before Pembroke could answer, she turned and went into the kitchen.    Pembroke felt uncomfortable on the armchair so he got up and started rummaging through the books.  As he inspected them he started pilling them up in different piles according to themes and before he knew it, he had tidied the room of books.  He had put them all against a wall in neat piles and just as he was starting to think about doing the same thing with the clothes, the lady came back into the room holding a tray in her hands with two mugs of coffee and a packet of biscuits.

“Oh, thank you so much, you’re so kind.” She told him as she beamed at him and took the whole room in.   “Come on, let’s have some coffee. And I’ll show you the pictures afterwards.

As they sat having their coffee, the lady told him that she had had four daughters by four different men and that they were all called Kira, just like herself.  

“Where are they?” Pembroke asked her.

“They live in this building now.  That’s why I told you it had taken me ages to get them altogether; one by one had been in care ever since they were little and it’s only now that I’ve managed to make some serious money that I’ve been able to get them back.  I’m so happy!  Now I’ll be able to look after them properly.”

“But, surely, they’re old enough to look after themselves, right?”

“Yes, they all are, but isn’t it nice to have them altogether in one place?” the lady paused. “Oh, you don’t have children, I’m sorry.”

Pembroke didn’t know what to say to that, he remained on the armchair and looked around the room.  “Shall I help you tidy up?”  He said at last.  

“Great! That would be great!”

Pembroke and Kira started clearing the room and then moved on to the other rooms tidying and putting things in neat piles.  They didn’t rush about, they did things slowly and stopped for lunch and only had a rest after dinner when they played some music and played a game of backgammon.   At the end of the evening, Kira offered him a bed and he stayed the night in a spare room.  

A few weeks later, Pembroke was sharing Kira’s bed and was happy about the whole arrangement until Kira told him she was pregnant.   Suddenly Pembroke started thinking about the responsibilities of bringing a child up and he grew cold towards her. 

“Don’t worry about it Pembroke, darling.  All I need is your surname, and then I can call her Kira like my other four daughters.”

“What if it’s a boy?” he asked.

“It won’t.”

A few years later, Kira sat happily at the front porche of her new house looking at her daughter Kira stroking a little horse she had just bought for her.   Now she had five Kiras.  She needed a couple more to make it seven; one for each day of the week.  She wondered how she was going to get another Kira when she remembered that her roof was slightly broken.  She got up and went into the house, took a hammer out and climbed the stairs and then up a ladder all the way to the roof and started smashing the roof.   A while later she was on the phone calling a repair man.

The end

(1849 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

August 18th  - 2008

Blanket

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Wrap me up in your arms

make me feel

the prettiest girl in the lands

Let me breathe

your soul from within

Let me spread my blanket

for you to lay upon

and find the peace

we both long for

The end

(40 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

July 22nd  2008

I’m into poetry, or so it seems now..

Lightening

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Beautiful lightening kindles my sombre soul

That longs for your gentle touch

Roaring thunder livens up my sleepy head

That is still dreaming of you

Pounding rain washes my playful thoughts

Sending chills through my slumbering body

That aches for your soft embrace

Storm that brings smiles to my eager heart

That travels among the spongy clouds

Gales of wind soaring in the dusky sky

Follow my reveries to your window

The end

(71 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

July 16th  - 2008

With the aid to Thesaurus (god number 2.  God number 1 is google!)

For John

Sea Creatures

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

My yellow painted toe nails sink in the golden sand

Whilst your hairy legs brush against my skin

Not caring, you softly take my hand

And into the sea you lead me in

My yellow painted nails float in the foam

Held firmly by your caring hand

And I’m suddenly dancing among the waves,

Making friends with the eels.

The end

(59 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

July 16th  - 2008

For John

Yours sincerely

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Yours sincerely

Such a short sentence

       With so much meaning

                  Used here and there

                              To fill the last gap

                                          In daily correspondence

Yours sincerely

            Are the words

                        That lovers word

                                     Aware of their meaning.

I’m yours,

In mind, heart and soul,

Yours sincerely

The end

(45 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

June 17th  - 2008

The Present

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Elena was so worried her husband would stop loving her that she made sure she was the most devoted wife to him.  She would encourage him whenever he was just a tiny weenie down and boost his ego or would praise his jokes when no one else would find them funny.  She looked at him with loving eyes whatever he did or said.  No one doubted Elena loved her husband and no one questioned his love for her or his devotion.  He took her out on a regular basis whether to enjoy each other’s company or to business dinners or lunches, Elena was the perfect hostess and companion.  She always said the right word and knew how to keep secrets; she wasn’t the gossipy type of wife for which he was grateful.  When they had married thirty years ago they had both been young and in perfect shape, especially Elena who was then envied by all the other young girls and admired by all the men.   He had felt really lucky then to have a perfect trophy wife and he felt even luckier now that he realised that his original trophy wife was now a real trophy.  She was the perfect wife and he loved her.  He didn’t mind her getting old at all, in fact, the wrinkles had given her that special authority that was needed in a woman in her position; the wife of the owner of a huge corporation.  It’s not that she was very wrinkly, Elena did look after herself constantly; creams, massages and visits to spas where a regular thing with her as she was worried about the passing of time, and most of all, she was worried about keeping her husband’s love and attention.  Elena wasn’t really a jealous person; long time ago, she had decided that she didn’t care what her husband did as long as he came back to her and he was hers, she basically loved him so much, she didn’t care if he had a temporary mistress or two, she just simply didn’t care.  They had never broached the subject and as far as she knew, he didn’t have a mistress. 

James had grown a little restless in her eyes lately and for the first time, Elena got seriously worried.  Their wedding anniversary was coming up and she racked her brains for a present that would make her husband happy.  He had everything he could possibly want or need; if she gave him a Rolex, he’d just have another one.  If she gave him a new set of golf clubs, they would end up sitting in one of their houses.  A boat?  They had three boats moored in different ports.  A holiday? That was totally out of the question, a busy man like himself couldn’t just go on holiday at the crack of his fingers even if people thought he could.  

Two weeks later, on the day of their anniversary, Elena made sure she looked radiant for her husband when he came back.  She had already told him in the morning that she had prepared a surprise present for him and that he would see it when he came back in the evening.   He had checked with his secretary on arrival at the office but was told that no arrangement had been made with their help.  James was intrigued.  Elena had looked different that morning; she had had a kind of naughty smile on her, quite different from her usual pleasing smile.   James put it all out of his head and carried on his “business as usual” attitude till he could make it back home, a bit later than what had been expected.

When he arrived home, Elena opened the door for him with a bright smile.  James guessed he had given all the servants the day off.  “So, dear Elena, where are we going for dinner?” he asked her pleasantly as he took her hand, kissed it and then kissed her on the cheek.  

“We’re staying in.”

“Oh!” James was all excited; Elena had cooked for him, he thought.  “So, what are we having?” he asked her with a smile.  He knew Elena couldn’t cook, but decided to play along and pretend; she had probably ordered some catering to be delivered, he thought, he didn’t care. 

“Let me show you your surprise, darling.” She told him as she took him by the hand and took him upstairs to one of the bedrooms.

“What is it? A stuffed bear?”  In a room?” he asked her.

“Just open the door, you will see, darling.”

James obliged.  “Oh, who is she?” he asked Elena when he saw a girl on the bed.  Surely she must have got the wrong door. The girl was wearing a short sleeve black dress and was fast asleep, James couldn’t see the smile on her sleepy face as she was facing the other way but he could tell the girl was sleeping complacently.   

“It’s your present, a girl for you.”

“A girl?”

“Yes, darling.” She said calmly. “You have everything any man could possibly want. You don’t have a lover, you just have me and we hardly have sex anymore….”

“But, Elena… I love you, I don’t need a lover, I need you,” he interrupted.

“You might not need one now but I’ve seen you restless, changed a bit and I want you to be happy.  This is just a toy for you.”

“But, Elena….” He said, where did you get her from? How did you get her here?”

“I have ways… but don’t worry; she knows it’s a game.”

James was going to say something but the girl stirred on the bed.  Elena backed away as James went towards the bed.  He wanted to check that the girl was alright.  As he bent down to see her face, the girl opened her eyes… “Arthur?” she said.

“Oh my god!” Said James.

“What’s wrong, James” Elena asked him from the door.

James straightened up and went towards the door. “James?  What are you doing here, Arthur?…” called out the woman from the bed as James tried to get Elena out of the room.

“I see” said Elena.  “I’m sorry.  I thought you loved me.” She told James as she started going down the stairs.

James followed her. He didn’t know how this could have happened.   “I love you” he shouted at her.  “She is nothing.”

“She called you Arthur.”

“Arthur!” called the girl from upstairs.

James reached Elena’s side at the bottom of the stairs and turned her to face him. “Let’s sit down, darling.  I’ll explain.”  The girl called him Arthur again and James turned around, “You either shut up or you’re fired!” he shouted at the girl upstairs.

Elena stiffened.  “Right, explain.” She said as she went to one of the chairs.  

“She works for me; she’s new and I was spying on her, I think she’s from the competition, so I was introduced to her as Arthur.  How did you get her here?” 

“I placed an advert in the paper and she was the best looking one.”

“An Advert?”

“Yes, an advert, I had checked out escort agencies but they were all very tarty so I placed an advert.  “Temporary lover needed”. And she called.”

“Damn, we’re in trouble.” He said as thoughts raced through his head.

“I’m sorry James; I thought it would be a good idea. What are we going to do now?”

“We pretend I’m Arthur.”

“Alright.  You know best, dear.  I’m sorry.”

“You go to the drawing room and wait for me there.  I’ll be there in a little while.” He told her.

Elena did as she was told but before she went she kissed him on the lips.  “I’ll know if you’ve kissed her.” She had told him.

James went upstairs and opened the bedroom door.  Half a grin spread on his face as the girl greeted him with open arms.  “I can’t kiss you today.”

The end

(1327 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

May 15th  - 2008

Let's Play!

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

The small protuberances in her body had turned into some perfectly formed little mounds. Magdalena looked at herself in the mirror as she posed in a purple lacy bra, happy to see that her nipples were wrinkled and pointing upwards and not downwards as they used to only a month ago.   She looked at her pink watch and gasped, she only had 5 minutes left.  She quickly took the short dress she had prepared before she had started admiring her new lovely bumps and put it on, grabbed her little bag and ran out of the door.  She caught the bus just in time.  She attached a little butterfly clip to her hair, put on her rings and  retouched her lipstick on the bus as a man sitting next to her looked at her admiringly.   Magdalena felt good, the dress showed her cleavage at its best and she was revelling in the attention she was getting as not only she was being looked upon by men but by women too.  She felt naughty.  She felt like being naughty, so she smiled at a couple that were sitting right in front of her and directed her eyes to the man, “good morning there; isn’t it hot?” she said in her sexiest possible voice.  

The man wiped his forehead whilst his wife, or girlfriend; Magdalena didn’t care, frowned at him.  “Yes, it’s hot,” the lady answered for him.  “I think it’s our stop.” She said as she got up to press the button for the bus to stop.  The lady grabbed hold of her husband’s hand and practically dragged him out of the way.

“Are you a stirrer?” asked the man sitting next to her as their companion were getting off the bus.

“No.” She answered flatly and for a moment she thought she’d leave it at that but she still felt like being really naughty, “I’m a prostitute” she added as an afterthought. 

“How much?” asked the man.

Magdalena had expected the man to be shocked, she hadn’t expected an indecent proposal at all, but since she had started the game she decided to see how far the man would go.  “It depends on what you want and where you want it.”

“Hummmm” muttered the man.  “How much for a kiss?”

Magdalena tried to get her thoughts together; she could have some serious fun here.  “Well, it depends if it’s with lipstick or not, and again, it depends on where you’d like to be kissed.” She said.  “You mean here on the bus, right?”

The man thought for a little while.  “Yes; here on the bus and with lipstick.  How much would that be?”

“Well, it would depend if you’d like it with tongue or not.  Do you want me to bite your lips too?  How about sucking your tongue, would you like me to suck your tongue and pass my tongue around your teeth?” she said as she passed her tongue over her own lips.

The man was doing his best to breathe steadily.  The middle part of his trousers had started moving on his own accord.  “Yes,” he breathed as he got close to her and faced her. He put his arms around her shoulder.

“Hold it there!” she said as she moved back from him, “touching me is going to cost you more.” She said sternly as she sensually opened her mouth to form a perfect “ O “ with her lips and removed his arm from her shoulder.  

“How much, how much,” asked the man.

“I don’t think you’ve got enough cash on you here,” she said smiling at him.

“Let’s get off at the next bus stop; I’ll go to a cash point if I have to.  Just tell me how much.”

“Well, prices change if it’s not on the bus.”

“I don’t care.” The man said.  “Come with me.  I’ll pay,” he said as he got up to press the stop button.  

“I want upfront payment,” she told him as she lowered the opening of her dress, pretending to adjust it and revealing the lace of her bra.

“Yes. Upfront, anything you want.”

The bus stopped and both of them got off.  The man was beginning to sweat.  Magdalena looked as fresh as a rose.

“Did you know that I’ve forgotten to put my knickers on?” she told him.” She said as she passed her hands over her hips.  “I wouldn’t charge you the fee for taking my knickers off, you know. So you might be saving some money there.  Oh, sorry, we were just talking about a kiss.”

“Right, let’s get to a cash point.” He said as he started looking around for one. Impatience burning in him.

“I’ll have to charge you more for making me walk in my high heels.”

“I don’t care, I’ve got plenty.”

“What? Monopoly money?” she giggled.  “What’s your name?”

“John.” He answered curtly.

“Come on!, John Doe?” she laughed.  “Come on, I’ll give you my name if you give me yours, no charge.”

“Nicolas.  What’s yours?’”

“Cupcake.” She said with a smile.  “That’s what everybody calls me, my name is Magdalena.”

“Pleased to meet you Cupcake.”   They shook hands.  “Look, there’s a cash point,” he suddenly broke off.  “Right, let’s go.” He said as he started walking towards the cash point at the end of the street.   “You still haven’t told me how much.”

“I want to see your money first.” She said as they reached the cash point.   Nicolas took his credit card out of the breast pocket of his jacket, inserted it in the machine and started punching the secret numbers.  Seconds later, his hands were full of bills.  Magdalena smiled at him and swallowed.  This was fun, she thought.

“How much?”  he asked again as he pressed himself against her.

Magdalena, pushed him back.  “Tell me what you want.”

“Five thousand euros worth of fun.” He said.

Magdalena looked pensive for a moment; she then grabbed his hand and walked until she reached a nearby park. She had been to this park before and knew that it had a few secluded areas.  When she found the bench she was looking for, she pushed him onto the bench and then sat on him, facing him.  “Let me see your money,” she told him as she wriggled on his lap, her mouth very close to his.  Nicolas felt the soft skin of her legs and had trouble trying to get his money out of his wallet. He moaned, he put his wallet back in his pocket and then pressed his lips onto hers.  One of his arms grabbed hold of her hair whilst the other hand searched under her dress for the little hairy mound.  She started rocking backwards and forwards and hurriedly undid the buttons of his trousers as he was kissing and sucking onto her new protuberances. 

“Hey!”   Shouted a man’s voice from behind the bench.  “It’s you again!”

Magdalena and Nicolas stopped immediately their busy activity and looked at the park carer.  “You!” shouted Nicolas as Magdalena got off him and re-adjusted her dress.   “I’ve had enough of you, you sicko!” shouted Nicolas at the man as he went towards him.

“This time I’ll call the police, you two.   “I’ve had enough of you two coming here to this park to play, day in and day out!  I’ve had enough!” he said as he took his mobile phone out of his little bag.

“Come on, Mr Wreink, we haven’t been here for a whole month!” Pleaded Magdalena with him.

Mr Wreink rolled his eyes.  “I thought you’d found a new place.”

“No, I had my boobs done.  Look!” she said as she showed him her new protuberances.

“I give up with you two!” said the care taker.

The end

(1294 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

May 13th  - 2008

Neighbours

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Entwined Souls

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Entwined souls,

Hungry and aching

Drift in a sea of dreams

Searching, seeking

Dreams of hope,

Hope that brings a smile,

A smile that brings desire,

Desire that brings a path,

A path that brings a dream,

A dream that touches the soul

And makes dreams come true

The end

(48 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

April 25th  - 2008

For me again

Malta & Gozo

First Impressions

By Alexandra Riera

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

Perhaps I should have read a bit more about Malta and her little sister islands Gozo and Comino before going over but in a way I think I did right as I went without preconceived ideas of what the place would be like or how the people are.

The first impression, on seeing the islands from up above on a plane was that it looked like a bit of floating cork that had been roughly cut at the edges.  It looked cute and interesting, a bit like the Dover cliffs but not as good.  At the airport I tried to breathe in the place’s smell but I could not smell anything different, like strong scented spices or even flowers or lawn, not even car fumes which surprised me as after all I was at the airport and my nose was clean. 

At the airport I was met by two people, one of them was the driver; a lady driver who could easily qualify for the Paris Dakar Rally and actually win the race.  She was an expert at reversing, changing directions and squeezing past cars in narrow roads without a scratch to her car whilst chatting and explaining things to me.    She took a couple of wrong turnings on the way but it worked out for the best as I got to see the country side on the way to the ferry to Gozo, which was by the way, at the other end of the island of Malta.  What I found pretty was the amount of yellow daises that were about; it created an illusion of floating in a pool of gold. 

The ferry was something that I liked; it wasn’t abnormal or normal, it was just alright, a big ship that carries people from “a” to “b” that has a bar.  The queuing system for getting off the ferry was what I found very Spanish, so although it made me feel at home it made me think of another place where the word “queue” is almost a sacred word.  For the first time I had the opportunity to taste the famous Cisk beer which is quite refreshing and light whilst I admired the view from the window.  We went past Comino, the little island and soon afterwards we arrived in Gozo.    

Gozo was a beautiful sight, I could see some tall churches at the far end and the port itself was filled with little boats which gave it a lively atmosphere. 

The ride to my friend’s house was an adventure in itself, the car is an absolute beauty, an antique, to be exact; but it had to tackle the potholes and unevenness of the roads by going left and right and changing lanes more frequently that a girl changes her clothes before going out.   We drove; well, he drove, all the way to his place: Xaghra, it’s pronounced something like “shara”.  At first I thought it all looked quaint but on our way to his house I found that all the houses were built the same way; they all had the typical bricks that look like the ones in the castles of fairy tales, they all had the same arches and arched windows, they all had the same colour: yellowish beige.  In the event of being dropped off at any point in the little town, the only way to find your way around would be by memorising the different sculptures or images of the Virgin Mary or of Jesus Christ himself that are set in a small built-in altar at the entrance of many houses.  Some of these mini altars even have little lights to keep them warm at night or perhaps to guide lost tourists.    After all, this is a very religious country.  I even had the delightful surprise to see how a priest came to bless my friend’s house.  This is usually done in all catholic towns: the priests goes around and splashes blessed water all over the house as he blesses and prays for the wellbeing of the house and it occupants.  The priest came with a little, and very quiet, altar boy, all dressed in black and with some white frilly apron on top.  

My friend’s house was luckily one house I would eventually find in the event of getting lost.  It has beautiful red windows and a beautiful red door.  Although the house is a bit rundown and not properly looked after, the house retains the feel of happy passed times as it is full of knicks and knacks from one place or the other, giving it an air of worldwide travel and knowledge.     The garden is full of flowers, especially geraniums of different colours and some sort of orange daises and there are even a couple of rose bushes that are quite healthy.     I was impressed by a well that is used to water the plants with in case of need.  

I remembered the word “children” so as I went about here and there I actually searched and looked up and down streets to see if I could see signs of children but I didn’t.   Altogether I counted about seventeen children from Saturday to Tuesday and that was including a bus full of boy scouts where at least fourteen of those seventeen that I had counted altogether must have been there.    I didn’t hear the typical laughter or shouts of children at play either in none of the streets.  Perhaps children in Gozo deserve a worldwide award of some kind for being the quietest and the most inconspicuous kids in the whole world.   I’m sure many parents around the globe would like to know the trick for that.

There were mainly men sitting at bars or female tourists in some cases accompanied by their spouses or boyfriends or friends.  I didn’t see many ladies sitting down for a coffee and a chat and that made me think that perhaps women in Gozo are too busy looking after their houses and cleaning them to go out and chat.  There aren’t many shops and the ones that are there are small but well endowed sort to speak.  They have all your basic needs sorted; spices, chocolates, biscuits, wines, spirits, beer, toilet paper, and even fresh local vegetables.  What you don’t get is four different brands for each product.    If you’re a shopacholic, this is the ideal place to come to either detox or start a new sport: climbing walls.

There was another house that caught my eye; it had a blue balcony made with recycled bed stands with empty flower pots in them, also in blue.  The walls of the house are almost like the rest but with the difference that there is some sort of rock on it on some parts which makes it a bit different.  The inside of the house, however gave me hope.  Designed in a modern and at the same time old fashioned way, the house retains the original and traditional farm house look and at the same time gives you the impression of being in a totally different world.    The building is not finished yet, but it won’t take long.

On the touristy side, there’s plenty to see but sadly I didn’t have the time to visit all the places at length.  The places I visited were absolutely breathtaking and spectacular, huge churches, towers and beautiful domes; again all in the same colour.  The sea has a dark blue and light blue tone to it.  The darker side is caused by rocks that live underwater, so be careful when swimming or diving.   There are some good diving points where some crazy youths, like all youths are, go diving but as the temperatures weren’t warm enough none where there.  

I visited the Citadel and I even sat on one of the cannons that were probably originally pointing at some pirate ship that roamed the sea, hungry of gold, slaves and fun.  It’s a great place to go to as you can see the whole island from there.

The way back to the airport was the scariest and the most delightful thing in the whole world.  We took a bus.  One whole bus and only four people in it: a Swedish girl who was going back to work in Brussels after visiting her boyfriend from Gozo, my friend, me and the bus driver.   Now, if the girl who drove us from the airport to catch the ferry to Gozo deserves ten points for driving, this bus driver deserves ten points for having a strong will.  After only ten minutes of driving, the bus driver got hot and decided to take his sweater off.  Nothing strange there, is there? Well, this bus driver took his jumper off, pulled it over his head, got one of his sleeves untangled whilst driving the bus with his thoughts or his will at god knows what speed with a roundabout coming up and managed to stop the bus right at the roundabout.  

The ride was a bumpy one, as the bus sped though those little roads as if they were motorways but apart from making it safely all the way to the airport it was an excellent way of seeing Malta from one end to the other.  I recommend the bus ride to anyone, especially if you have children.  They’ll think they’re at the funfair.

The people in Gozo were absolutely wonderful, very friendly and always with a smile on their face; perhaps it’s because the tourist trade as such is not a huge thing there and the place is quite unspoilt by greedy developers and perhaps, and more likely the reason to be is that they’re friendly because it’s in their nature, they’re noble.  

I will go back not only to Malta  but specially to Gozo as I feel I’ve only seen very little and I’ve got the impression I’ve missed out on quite a few things. 

The end

(1652 Words)

© 2008 Alexandra Riera

April 16th  - 2008

Visit 12-15 april 2008.