Showdown

A woman scorned

 Brenda told the mini-movers that the door was unlocked to the Blundon house, and  to lock the door when they left. They were to be paid the following day when they returned for taking a small load from her shop to the Blundon house. As she waited for Daniel to arrive, she chatted with the locksmith, and shoe repair man who were standing outside having a smoke. 

They talked about the old days, and the weather mostly, but this day was punctuated by a rumor that claimed "a current small road was going to become a main thoroughfare" right past their shops. Brenda vowed to fight that plan if it were true. As much as she loved selling antiques,(and she had been doing it most of her life) she didn't want to be in a chaotic traffic pattern. 

The trolleys and trains never bothered her, and the Blundon house would get more than a few whistles a day, and assuredly, some through the night. But a fast highway would "ruin everything."

When Daniel drove up to park in front of Brenda's shop the two business men got back to work. They waved at Daniel, and said hello as he was walking up the steps to Brenda's soon-to-be ex apartment. He didn't need his cane any more, and his new job was a lot easier on his body than being a cop. He now had a fresh approach to "getting the bad guys."

 

Brenda carried a few boxes down to Daniel's little car, and noticed  that a black car with a young woman inside had just pulled in one space over. The woman got out, and headed to the coffee shop. Daniel was packing a few dishes into a small box, and eating some leftovers from the refrigerator. 

The apartment was already reserved for an artist named Helene Shelby who had a display gallery next to Brenda's shop. She would be moving in with her two cats, a cot, clothing, dishes, and "very little else," she said.

 

Daniel had mentioned Betty Kipman on and off during his early days with Brenda, and described her as a "kind of" fiance. When he was in the hospital, the nurses had to run Betty off several times because she wanted to make sure that Daniel and she were "still on" for getting married and that she was "there for him if he was permanently paralyzed."  Betty's father, Forrest Kipman, was a prominent brain surgeon. 

While Daniel ate at the apartment table, and packed up the last few boxes, Brenda took two small majestic lamps down the steps to place in Daniel's front seat. As she approached his car, the brunette woman was sipping a hot coffee and staring straight ahead at Brenda's shop.

Brenda listened to the driver's side door opening, and then 

heard the woman say "Um, you like to rob the cradle, I see, Grandma."  Brenda didn't pay her any mind. The placing of the lamps was far more important. 

When the woman placed her clenched hand on Brenda's right shoulder and yelled  "I SAID, YOU ARE......" 

Brenda spun around and shoved the woman away firmly with her right foot (much like Alice in Wonderland had done to the deck of cards)  until she bumped hard against her own car door. She was about to lunge at Brenda when Brenda yelled "I WILL break your neck."

 

Forty year old Daniel came out just at that moment, carrying two small boxes, and told Betty to go home, and that he would "call her later." Sixty year old Brenda returned to the apartment, retrieved the last of her possessions, and asked Ernie Locksmith to keep an eye on things. Betty had, no doubt, been doing a bit of snooping into the life of one Miss Grayson, and didn't like the harsh reality of being jilted.

When Daniel and Brenda arrived at the Blundon house, they began to set up furniture, and plug in lamps. They filled the fridge with food, and Daniel followed her upstairs to "her" room. After they had finished a lengthy emotional, and physical encounter, Brenda asked him to move in with her. He said he would love to. Brenda said they had to create a strictly platonic image to keep the nosy people out. Life was ever so sweet at this time.

C J Marks