Strip Jack!A Poem by David Lewis PagetWe'd been caught out in the yacht that day, A storm blew up in the lee, The clouds had gathered at In the wake of a rising sea, 'It's looking grim,' I had said to her As we spun the bows around, And headed in to the distant shore As the first of the rain came down. The sun went in and the sky was black As I reefed the sail in short, While Linda pulled in the spinnaker, And clung to the rail's support, She made her way to the cabin then As my phone began to ring, I heard, 'It's done!' and my mind went numb, It was time to do my thing! She stood with her back toward me as I lunged with the marlin spike, She dropped like a faded butterfly In search of its last I dragged her out to the afterdeck And bound her up in the chain, Then sent her down with the anchor where She never would wake again! I cast off the anchor chain and then I retched all over the deck, It had to be done, I told myself, And I thought of her cousin, Beck, She'd done the deed we'd agreed upon, Had seen off her husband, Ben, So Beck would be mine to have and hold As I'd dreamed and I'd schemed, back when. We'd always been close, the four of us, Had holidayed in the snow, We'd sat in a dark secluded bar In the aftermath of a show, We'd played Strip Jack in the garden 'til The women were stripped to the waist, Then each of us swapped, and went to bed, And woke to a different face! We thought we could get away with it, Old friends, just casual sex, We'd been together so long, we had No clue what would happen next, I thought that Linda was furtive, Making eyes at Ben in the dark, And I was caught in a whisper then, With Beck in our local park. Then Ben and I found the silences Embarrassing, hard to bear, Where once we'd laughed and we'd joked That camaraderie wasn't there, Then Beck had told me he'd soured on her, And Linda, too, went strange, So when we swapped, we schemed and planned With our partners out of range. 'I think he's planning to murder me,' Said Beck, on a tearful night, When she curled up tight in the sheets and cried, And seemed in an awful plight, 'I wonder what they're planning now,' She said, in the early dawn, Then I thought of Linda's silences, And Ben, and I felt forlorn. Then Beck had told me she loved me so, And drove me out of my mind, I knew that I'd do most anything For the wife of my former friend, She said one day that she had a plan, To rid herself of Ben, 'But you must do what you have to do When I phone, and tell you when!' I tied the yacht to the outer Quay Drove homeward, just as we'd planned, I thought to report the following day That she'd left for another man, But when I opened the old front door I saw them sitting there, Both Ben, alive, in the dining room, And Beck with a frightened stare! 'Where's Linda?' Ben was the first to speak, And I just froze - he knew! But Beck said, 'I tried phoning her, I thought that she was with you.' And then she showed me the frosted cake She'd worked on all day through, 'It's for your anniversary, She'd planned a surprise for you!' I pulled the cell phone out, and stared, The phone had been my wife's, My own I'd left in the den downstairs, That message had cost her life. 'It's done!' meant the anniversary cake, I hadn't replied a word, Now Ben looked long and hard at me, 'Where's Linda?' - then he stared! I said that she must be out somewhere, Then opened a cask of wine, Sat back, as Ben filled the tumblers full I knew, for the final time. 'Here's to your anniversary,' He said, as we drank the toast, And I thought I could see by the window there The shape of my Linda's ghost. But Beck had choked on the wine, and gasped, Her mouth a purple hue, She stared and sighed in a faint surprise As the truth came into view. 'She's dead, my friend, did you think I'd lend My wife for the sake of yours? I knew the play and it ends today, Where's Linda - Dead? Of course!' There wasn't another word to say, We sat and drank in the dark, With Beck spread over the table like Some rag doll, left in the park. I read the anniversary card That Linda had left for me: 'To the only man I have ever loved... On our anniversary!' David Lewis Paget © 2012 David Lewis PagetFeatured Review
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