WAITING FOR NEWS.

As Anne sat at Adam’s bedside waiting for news. She wondered how she would contemplate the future without him if she had to.

Anne was eventually persuaded to leave Adam’s side and go home. She had been there since the crash that had put him in a coma and only agreed to go now since she desperately needed sleep and was reassured by kindly Doctor Barnes that he would let her know should there be any change.

Anne sat in her now empty home. With no children to comfort her and Adam’s family dead she had nobody in the world to turn to except talkative Mrs. Higgins who would soon be round once she got wind that Anne had returned. That was the last thing she wanted since this woman though very well meaning talked and talked and yet said little of consequence. Anne found it hard to cope with her at the best of times and yet managed when times were better to be kindly and full of charity towards her but this was certainly not the best of times – Far from it. She made and drank tea, dusted and hoovered and polished till the place shone. She sat for long hours staring into the distance till her eyes ached just willing the phone to ring till eventually she dozed off in a chair.

“Oh Anne. You look so lovely tonight”, Adam had said as he whirrled her round the floor. She glowed like every person who had ever been in love. This was her knight in shining armour – The one who would rescue her from her empty single life. At first she hadn’t liked him, thinking him arrogant and loud but he persisted in his attempts to woo her and eventually as he always did, got what he wanted and Anne was all he had ever wanted. They had now been married for thirty years and had a son Brian who had been killed while working abroad. That though seemed to be the only big sorrowful event to take place in an otherwise happy life and marriage. Now came more sorrow – With Adam lying so critically ill in a hospital while his wife waited at home for the news she so longed for but dreaded at the same time. If the phone didn’t ring soon she would have to return to the hospital and wait there. She knew she could do nothing but somehow she felt less helpless, the nearer she was to him.

They were pillars of the community, Anne and Adam. She made jams for the local jumble sales and fetes and Adam collected for Guide Dogs in his local community. There was even talk of them puppy walking them but Anne knew that when the time came to part with them so they could go onto their training she wouldn’t be able to bear to do so. Life was predictable, controllable. When you went out it was when you expected to go and you returned when you expected to. Surely that wasn’t all about to change? Surely life wouldn’t deal her another cruel blow after the first when she lost her only son? The thought of Adam, so strong and hearty being snuffed out like some spent match was unthinkable. That sort of thing should only happen to the wicked and not the good who beneath all the bluster and assumed arrogance, put others first.

The jarring of the phone roused Anne from her sleep. She woke to the news that Adam was dead.

From the moment of his death until after the funeral, Mrs. Higgins was at Anne’s side like a conjoined twin. She never left her side for a moment. She organised, chattered and cried, consoled comforted and above all made Anne’s head ache. However she couldn’t do without her at present and was strangely grateful for the other’s presence. The funeral was a blur. All Anne saw, besides the many boquets from people who had come to pay their last respects, was Adam’s face. All she heard inside her head was Adam’s voice. Then a man stepped forward to speak to her. “I’m so sorry”, he said to her. “I know how you feel. It’s been a year since Sylvia’s death”. He took her hands in his and noticed she was trembling. “I still can’t believe she’s gone you know”. Anne thought she would faint but knew if she did that he would be there – Strong and supportive as always. You could always depend on Nigel. Nigel and Adam were friends from university. He had been there for them when Brian died and they for him when Sylvia died. They were an inseparable foursome – Devoted to their partners and loyal to the others in the group – Almost like an extended family you might say.

It had been a beautiful service. Many had come and all had cried while outside the sun still shone and as they all stepped out into the street afterwards Anne wondered how this could be. How could the callous and indifferent world be going about its business as normal when her world had been turned upside down and inside out just because some man had jumped out in front of Adam’s car, causing it to swerve on the blind bend just before he reached home?

When she finally shook Mrs. Higgins off she crawled into bed and thankfully fell into an exhausted sleep. Her dreams contained visions of Adam and she as they once were – Together and happy and in some she saw him as he now was – A corpse, mangled and lifeless. Sometimes he would appear to her as a ghastly fiend – A spectre displaying blackened teeth and grinning from ear to ear. Surely these hateful visions couldn’t go on haunting her but they did so for many months to come – All in vivid kaleidoscopic colour. Still she went on waiting – Waiting for news, news of the culmination of their wicked plan. Would it never come?

Suddenly Nigel was on her doorstep. “What are you doing here”? Anne said. “People will talk”. Anne was aghast. “Never”! Nigel comforted her. “I was Adam’s best friend remember. Surely people won’t think anything of my coming to see you”. “No I suppose not”, Anne agreed. “You cannot lock yourself up here indefinitely without seeing anyone Anne. Besides I have to discuss the travel arrangements with you. Remember we never made any before did we”? “No. Well it seemed like tempting fate didn’t it”? She said. “Yes it did rather. Have you been playing the grieving widow to the hilt”? “But of course”, she smiled. “That’s my girl.” He said as he smiled at her. He embraced her fiercely once no eyes observed them. “I still can’t believe that both of them are dead”, said Anne. “That you managed to pull it off both times without arousing suspicion. Sometimes even I forget that Sylvia’s death wasn’t suicide and that it wasn’t a horrific accident she had when she drove that car over the cliffs. How you got the police to believe it was still mystifies me”. “Well she was a depressive and all I had to do was tamper with the brakes so that after a while they would stop working”. “Nobody thought it odd that she should want to drive round the Cornish cliffs in winter either”, Anne said. “No. Well people do funny things when depressed do they not”? Nigel observed. Not for the first time Anne marvelled at his ingenuity. She had been in love with him for years and knew she had made a terrible mistake in marrying Adam but having done so, thought it better to follow the conventions. Besides Nigel had shown no interest in her till about two years ago.

“How does it feel to be married again”? Nigel asked her as they strolled hand in hand along the beach. “Oh fine. Just fine”, Anne said, breezily. “I’ve never been happier either. Oh I was happy-ish with Sylvia but you know once she was diagnosed with depression and I had to give up my business to look after her after she had her breakdown things went down hill rapidly. We suffered a cut in finances and a drop in life style and I wasn’t used to that. I often envied you and Adam because you seemed to have it all what with him being such a successful businessman”. “I’m just glad you never got yourself killed jumping out in front of his car like that. You could have you know”, Anne said as a shiver ran down her back at the thought of the loss of both of them. She realised that had she lost Nigel too she would have been without the others who had been her support for years. “It was a risk I grant you. Still he knew it was me and wondered what the hell I was doing and did all he could to swerve to avoid me – Nicely hitting that tree. Soon we’ll be going home but one day we’ll retire here Anne. What with your money and what I had when I sold my business. We’ll be happy. Just you wait and see”. They prepared to enjoy their last day as tomorrow they’d be going home.

Anne closed her eyes and dozed as the plane began to lose height. Suddenly it juddered, shook and was blown to pieces following the bombing. Terrorists had sabotaged it. It was all over the newspapers and on the t.v. Mrs. Higgins was talking about it in the local shops and hoping desperately that this wasn’t the plane that poor Anne was on with her new husband. It was of course.

Like four grinning, dancing spectres, they whirl together through the universe. Bound inexorably and permanently by one act of supreme evil which countered all the others. Terrorists had put an end to the plans which the last two in this foursome had concocted and their plans were surely evil enough. Be careful what you do today won’t you! Whatever you plan may be undone by someone else’s tomorrow.