Mrs Miller

Mrs. Miller – polite, grounded and very good with a rolling pin. She was born in Wales, but moved to York when she was five years old. Finding fame at the age of sixty-five had never crossed her mind,

September 2011, Monday.

'Welcome, Mrs. Miller,' said the young, fresh-faced apprentice hotel assistant. Mrs. Miller politely smiled and passed the young man a fresh scone that she had baked that very morning. She was shown to her room, which was next door to her best friend, Margaret, who was also her P.A. Margaret was already in her room, finalizing the interviews and other promotional work for the days ahead. As Mrs. Miller proceeded to unpack her suitcase, she saw a glimpse of an envelope on the bedside table with the heading "My darling sweetheart". It was a letter from her husband wishing her luck on her trip. She smiled with happiness as she read the letter, but shortly after had a faint sniffle as she became rather upset that she wasn't there with him. She missed him ever so much. After a much-needed sleep, Mrs. Miller woke up the next morning,Monday and the start of a busy day. She met Margaret in the restroom to go through the day's schedule. 'Good morning, Margaret,' said Mrs. Miller. 'What would you have me do today, my darling?' 'Well, first of all,’ replied Margaret, ‘we have a book signing at the Old Roast-spud Clubhouse, followed by a thirty-minute slot on cooking with custard. That’s followed by…' 'WAIT!' said Mrs. Miller. 'Slow down, dear.' Mrs. Miller wasn't very particular on being speedy and, well... particularly when it came to doing the ‘Money-making bit’ as she would say. When it came to cooking, this was her passion, and she would be at her best doing exactly that. But when it came down to interviews and meetings, she wasn't too keen. Margaret was a family friend, although not a very close relation of Mrs. Miller. However, a few years back Margret was out of work and Mrs. Miller knew Margaret had some experience of managing people's workload, so she took her on as a goodwill gesture. Some time had passed and it came to Mrs. Miller's favorite bit of the day, taking herself and Margret out for lunch. They had found a pleasant tea room to chat over coffee and cookies. Margaret was just about to go through the viewing figures from the cooking show earlier in the day when Mrs. Miller had received a call. It was York General Hospital. It was Mr. Miller,he had been taken ill whilst at work at the shoe store. As Mrs. Miller looked over to Margaret, she saw her face change from serious to slightly worried. 'Well, my dear,' said Mrs. Miller. 'It’s Seth… He has had a dizzy spell in the store and fell down the stairs.' Margaret knew Mrs. Miller idolized her husband. 'Will I book us a train back to York?' she asked. Mrs. Miller nodded, a vague, worried look etched on her face.

Five Hours Later.

After running from the taxi into the hospital, Mrs. Miller spoke rather exhaustively to the receptionist, 'Mr. Miller… Mr. Seth Miller', 'I have come to see my husband, I was told he was brought in'. She was shortly taken up to the ward to see him. As soon as she entered the ward she saw him, Instantly rushing over to see her beloved husband. 'Oh my dear… My dear Seth', 'Whatever happened?'. Seth began talking her through the highlights of his day, and how he ended up being hospitalized. Fortunately, he hadn't sustained a very bad injury, he had cut his eyebrow and bruised his back. No sooner had Mrs. Miller got to the hospital, a nurse came over to the couple and said 'OK Mr. Miller, All your test came back fine and we can get you off home in a few hours’. They (Mr. And, Mrs. Miller) both smiled at each other, and they were very thankful to the nurse for the good news. As some time passed, they were both in a taxi on the way home, Mr. Miller said to his wife 'My love, What about your work?'. Mrs. Miller replied 'Darling, my hands are not just for cooking, they are here to look after my wonderful husband'. 'I will call Margret in the morning and tell her I'm having time off'. It was the next day around 11am when Mrs. Miller got a call from Margaret…'Hello, how is Seth?' Said Margaret. 'All is well, he just needs a rest and some help around the house so I will have to cancel my jobs for this week,' said Mrs. Miller. There was then a short silence on the phone. Margret then proceeded to tell Mrs. Miller that there were some important engagements and a show for charity, and if she misses them it wouldn't look very good for her. Mrs. Miller gave it a few seconds thought and replied to Margaret 'My dear Margret, how long have you known me? I have always valued my marriage so much more highly than my work and surprising fame', 'I suppose I could do the charity show, but that's it”. So Margret got on with making phone calls and sorting out the rest of the week for Mrs. Miller.

Three Days Later, Friday.

Mr. Miller was feeling much better and was back to work at the shoes store. Meanwhile Mrs. Miller had said her goodbyes to him and was already on the way to Brighton with Margaret for her Cooking show for charity. As they arrived at the venue Margaret had realized that there was rather a lot of reporters outside. 'Oh no ...' Said Margaret. 'Oh my lord, why are they hear?' Said Mrs. Miller. Margaret knew something like this would happen, but to keep Mrs. Miller calm, she just said to Mrs. Miller 'Calm down, just take my hand and follow, I will speak for you'. It began, 'Mrs. Miller ... Mrs. Miller, why didn't you finish the book signings?' The reporters shouted. 'Why did you let people down?' Said one reporter. Mrs. Miller and Margaret both quickly got inside the building, but then Mrs. Miller broke free from Margaret's hand and stood on the steps of the entrance to the building and said, 'I'd like to say to you all, it has been a troubled time for me and my husband', 'He needed my attention and care, and I will always put my husband before my work, Always.' She then walked calmly inside as Margaret gave Mrs. Miller a kind of shocked, but not so shocked face. Finally Mrs. Miller started the show. It was a one hour cooking show for a local TV network that taught special needs adults how to cook easy meals and special puddings. Margaret looked over at Mrs. Miller as she was in her element, cooking away without a care in the world. What Mrs. Miller didn't know is that bookshops were taking her cooking books off the shelves, Margret's phone was none stop ringing from publishers and other agencies wondering why here book wasn't selling. As Mrs. Miller was just about to finish the show, Margaret had promised herself she would speak to Mrs. Miller over the weekend about the book, after all she had to say something. 'How did that go dear?' Said Mrs. Miller. Margaret gave a faint smile and replied ‘It was lovely and you seemed to have enjoyed it’. Mrs. Miller chuckled away and started to get ready to go home.

Sunday.

Mrs. Miller was up and already baking some cakes for the village fare at 7am. She already had Mr. Miller's sandwiches ready for work, and had even started writing here next cookbook for the year ahead. She suddenly received a call from Margaret. 'Mrs. Miller, I wanted to be honest with you and tell you that your book hasn't even sold half the recommended amount in sales that it should have sold ...' 'I know you missed a few dates for the book signings due to Seth being unwell, but it has affected your sales.' Mrs. Miller spoke softly over the phone saying 'I love the people who read my books, and I love the people who follow my cookery, but If I don't sell another book then so be it …’ 'The only time I will be finished is if my kitchen is taken away and my hands fall off dear.' Margaret left it at that, and started to make inquiries on how to sort out the fall in sales. Margaret knew Mrs. Miller didn't really care about sales of books or any part of being well-known, as in famous, but Margret really wanted to give Mrs. Miller a legacy to be proud off. It was 9am and Mr. Miller was ready for work. He walked over to Mrs. Miller and gave her a kiss goodbye and said 'See you later, darling.' Mrs. Miller smiled back in a romantic and caring way and said 'My Seth, I love you.' Mrs. Miller rarely spoke about her work with her husband as she thought it was unimportant in a marriage. Who really wants to be talking about work work half their married life? I suppose that's why she had Margret, so she could have it taken care of without it affecting one's relationship with Mr. Miller. It was just after Lunchtime and Mrs. Miller felt her head pounding and she was about to go for a lie down on her bed, but before she did that, she went to open the mail. A letter on top was addressed to Mrs. Miller it looked all official. She opened it excitedly, and as her eyes peered into the text of the letter, she realized it was a letter from H.R of Buckingham palace. Mrs. Miller gasped for breath as she continued to read on. She had been awarded an MBE for hospitality. She was stunned, but then remembering she had that terrible headache, she thought to herself 'I will tell everyone after my nap.' Mrs. Miller put the letter in her pocket and went up to the bedroom to lie down. It was around 4 pm when Mr. Miller got home. He shouted for Mrs. Miller, but there was no answer. Thinking his wife was out with Margaret, he sat down after making tea to watch the news. Some time after he received a call from Margaret wondering where Mrs. Miller was. 'Is she not with you?' Said Mr. Miller. Margret replied 'No ...' 'I have been trying to call her for an hour, to tell her the great news about her cooking book.' Mr. Miller told Margaret he would call her back after seeing if she was upstairs. Mr. Miller walked upstairs quietly calling out 'Mary', 'Mary, my darling.' He entered the bedroom and there was Mrs. Miller. He took a quick look and then stood closer … Seeing she had blood coming from her nose. 'Mary …' 'Mary, my sweet.' Mrs. Miller didn't wake up. Mr. Miller quickly realized she had passed away. There was a glare over his eyes of tears … He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He picked up her hand and felt her icy-cold skin. She had gone. Mr. Miller instead of calling an ambulance, or calling Margret, he knew in his heart she had gone and would not be saved, so he lied next to her and held her for a while, sharing the last few moments with her, and thinking of their time together.

The End.

Author's Note

This is my first short story and as such is a learning curve,

Reviews

[alanwgraham]

Good work here Carl, particularly for a first time. A couple of things you might work on is the story line and picking up on mistakes. Work hard on the the story line - is it dramatic enough, is it believable, etc. Proof reading is very important and it is something I spend a lot of time on. Things like spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc. Finding all these yourself is difficult and its great if someone else can help. Personally I think aiming for shorter paragraphs helps with readability. A couple of slips I've noticed are - hear should be here and fare should be fair.
Good luck,
Have a look at one of my stories and you'll find mistakes too!
All the best,
Alan