What's in it for us?

Three couples, good friends, or perhaps not such good friends.

 

 

WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

 

Friday evenings was when the trio of couples generally met. Rhys was married to Bridget and they had, with much difficulty, managed to produce two children. Jonas and Mabel were partners with no children to upset their romantically idyllic lives. Brent and Selena were still at the stage when they were still working out whether or not they would stay together.

 

One particularly freezing cold evening in January the three couples met for dinner at Rhys and Bridget’s home. Their children were safely tucked up in bed and therefore would be no threat to a quiet evening. Outside the house, ice had started forming as soon as daylight had turned into night. Inside the house all was soft lights and carpeted warmth. The six had known each other for a few years but not too in depth, their relationships were in fact based on a rather superficial level. This was because all of them had issues inside their personal situation. On the other hand they got on well together. The dinner was superb as Bridget always made sure it was. Selena picked up a travel brochure that she found lying on the small table, placed strategically there by Bridget. The brochure had nothing different in it from all the other ones, photographs of white sandy beaches, beautiful unnatural blue seas, swaying palms. Selena soon tired of gazing at the pretty and dishonest pictures and put the brochure back where she had found it.

“Anything interesting in it?” Bridget asked.

“Do you mean that you haven’t looked inside yet? The same stuff as usual,” Selena replied.

“Are you already planning your summer holidays?” Mabel wanted to know. “Have you got any specific idea in mind?”

“We are just working out where we can afford to go, and we also have to take the children into account. It’s alright for those without responsibilities, but for parents it’s another story.” Rhys answered trying not to sound too special, as Jonas had once accused him of.

“Shall we play Scrabble?” suggested Brent, looking at Selena and wondering what she was thinking.

“OK,” Jonas agreed.

 

The three females weren’t all that fond of Scrabble or any other board game. The men played seriously and the women were roped in to make up numbers. At times, each one had thought why they were together as if they were joined by some invisible bond like sextuplets. The men were the real friends and the women accepted this. Somehow the women had become sort of friends, that is, they accepted each other.

 

The holiday brochure had been forgotten by everyone except Selena. She fancied a holiday away from the rut of work and home. January is the time when the majority of people are thinking of a summer holiday. In spite of having less money than at any other time of the year, after Christmas and the New Year, people’s thoughts are turning towards sunshine and beaches as far away as possible from the wind and the rain. As the others were playing Selena’s mind was busy working out how much she would have to save in order to get a decent summer holiday. Brent didn’t come into it as they were wondering whether or not to stay together any longer. She played it cool in order not to give away what she was really thinking. There was also the situation of how she would come out of her relationship with Brent if they should finish. She didn’t want to end up with less than she had had before they had set up together. And so she played on, knowing that her companions could not read minds.

 

Mabel was a simpler soul than Selena. She and Jonas had been together for a long time, and had decided before they had known each other that they didn’t want a family. This was so that they could remain in a well-heeled situation without having any dependants. The slightest hint of having to shell out to maintain a child was anathema to both. They didn’t even have a dog or a cat. Nothing was going to interfere with their ideal life. Before that evening they hadn’t given a thought about their summer holidays.

 

Rhys and Bridget were in bed. Neither was feeling sleepy. Their bedroom decoration was like a continuation of the rest of the house, cosy and comfortable. In their heads they were still mulling over what the evening had been.

“Are you all that interested in making plans for a summer holiday just yet?” Bridget asked Rhys.

“Frankly, I hadn’t given it although t till this evening when Selena picked up that brochure. Why did you bring it home?” Rhys asked his wife.

“I saw it and thought it might be a conversation starter. I didn’t realize it would have such a strange effect on Selena or anyone else for that matter.”

Rhys yawned, “I don’t think it had much effect on anyone. As good luck has it, having the children is a good put off for childless couples to join us for holidays.”

Bridget switched off the bedside table lamp and lay back on her pile of pillows and stared into the dark, wondering what her dinner guests were thinking, if anything, about holidays.

 

Jonas and Mabel were undressing for bed while Rhys and Bridget were falling asleep. Although they didn’t have children they didn’t begrudge those who did. Jonas was a reasonable man, who had never wanted to marry and had never wanted to have a family. This he had made clear to Mabel when they started going out together. Mabel agreed, as this meant she didn’t have to share him with anyone else, only his mother from time to time. Mabel was applying face cream as Jonas began talking, “ What do you make of that holiday brochure business?”

“Nothing at all. I did wonder though, if Rhys and Bridget expect us to go with them and their brood on a holiday. Although it escapes me why they should want us to go anywhere with their kids,” Mabel replied, smoothing the cream well into her skin.

Jonas went over to the window and stared out at the frozen garden. The warmth of summer was a long way off and it was hard to visualise it when every day was a battle with extreme weather. He removed his dressing-gown and got into the bed that was heated by an electric blanket. There was nothing too good for Jonas and Mabel.

“Have you thought they might want a baby sitter so that they can go out on the tiles one night?”

Mabel looked at Jonas and said, “Are you mad? I’m not going to sacrifice any of my holiday for baby sitting.”

As soon as Mabel’s head touched her pillow she was sound asleep.

 

The ones who weren’t sleeping were Brent and Selena. They were arguing, as was usual with them.

“Why do you always have to start looking for things in Rhys and Bridget’s house? It’s weird how you discover things like a travel brochure when everyone else is trying to get on well.”

“I don’t do anything weird. That brochure had been put there for a reason and that reason was for looking at it,” Selena answered.

“Was there anything of interest in that brochure you burnt your way through?” Brent asked.

“There’s a hotel with yachts and diving equipment available to the guests. It looks like fun.”

“ ‘Looks like’ doesn’t mean it is,” Brent added.

“I know, but it might be a good idea for us as we’ve had a bad time lately. Always arguing,” Selena said, peering at Brent from out of the corner of her eye.

“You’re the one who argues. Me, I’m the easygoing one,” Brent declared.

“So, I’m the instigator, am I? Forget all that. I’ll get a brochure like the one Bridget got and some others, too. We can work our holiday that way,” Selena said.

“We’ll have to be careful how we let them know when, where, and for how long we’re going. If not they’ll think we’re snubbing them.”

“What do we get out of going with them? They never leave us alone, which is what a holiday is for, isn’t it? We’re always with them. Anyone would think that you and Jonas and Rhys were triplets instead of just friends.”

“That’s just it, they are my friends,” Brent said turning off the bedroom light.

 

Six months later the six were on holiday in the Caribbean and staying at the hotel that Selena had seen in the holiday brochure. Rhys and Bridget hadn’t taken their children with them and had palmed them off to their grandmother, much to the pleasure of the childless quartet.

 

For days Rhys and Bridget had been pushing the others to go out on a boat trip, and had decided to hire a not too small boat, in order to make sure that there was no excuse for the quartet not to go.

On the morning of the excursion Rhys and Bridget rang the others in their rooms. Receiving no answer they left a message on each one’s phone. They then walked down to the jetty where the boats were for hire. A small crowd was gathered, waiting for the man who ran the office to arrive. Rhys and Bridget joined the queue, looking round to see whether or not any of their friends had turned up. 

“I hope they aren’t late, it would be such a shame to miss out on this little trip,” Bridget complained to Rhys.

Rhys replied, “We aren’t going to miss out on anything. They will be the ones to miss out, not us.”

The queue began to move and soon it was the turn of Rhys and Bridget to be shown their small vessel and given the keys. The man said to them, “If you have any trouble just give us a ring on the phone inside the small cabin beside the door. OK?”

“Yes, thank you very much. We’re expecting to be joined by friends. Is it all right for us to wait here for a few minutes?” Rhys asked the man.

“Yes, of course, but no longer than fifteen minutes. If everyone does that there won’t be any room to manoeuvre the boats.”

“Thanks. We shan’t stay longer than fifteen, or maybe even less,” Rhys and Bridget got into the boat and Rhys looked over the controls to make sure he understood them. Bridget was polishing her sunglasses. “I hope they don’t take too long, I don’t fancy sitting here in the sun till I get a headache,” Bridget said.

 

Meanwhile, back at the hotel. Brent and Selena hadn’t received Rhys’ message and were out on the tennis court. They had made the decision the night before to give the boat trip a miss, even wondering if the married couple had been serious or not. Tennis had to be played early in the morning as the heat was too much for jumping around later in the day. There were other couples playing, and Brent and Selena had managed to get a doubles going with two more guests from the hotel, unbeknown to Rhys and Bridget. As they had commented before many times, What’s in it for us? We are away on holiday and have no intention of living in our friends’ pockets. Going away all together is one thing but it doesn’t mean we have to spend every waking second together.”

 

So there they were, Rhys and Bridget, on the boat waiting for their friends, and two of them were playing tennis with two more holiday makers.

 

Jonas and Mabel were in bed. They both loved just lying there with only each other for company. The bedroom was in shadow and their phones were switched off. The atmosphere was one of somnolence and the room had the atmosphere of highly motivated sex. This was one of the reasons that Selena wanted to go to a warm and sultry climate. Cold weather is not conducive to physical relations. The pair were very keen on each other and lived well. When Rhys had made the suggestion of going out on the boat Brent had said nothing, but “Wait and see. What’s in it for us? We don’t like travelling on the sea that much, swimming and sunbathing and the occasional surfing or diving activity are fun, and so we’re happy to stay here. Anyway why do we have to go? You have each other why don’t you go by yourselves? You’ll have a better time just the two of you.”

Rhys stared and said, “We came here for a holiday with you all and enjoy things together, and now you say you don’t want to come.”

“I’m just saying that you and Bridget should be together and not with anyone else. Don’t be annoyed, we haven’t said we’ll not go. See you later for dinner.”

On their own Selena said to Brent, “I don’t like the way Rhys is trying to organize our lives. Let’s not go, I came here to be with you and for us to get things better between us again. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes, I do, and so far so good, wouldn’t you agree?” Brent said looking down on Selena’s blond head.

 

At the jetty the boatman went up to Rhys and said, “Time for you to move out. Looks like your friends have got up late, or forgotten about the trip.”

“Yes, I think you’re right,” said Rhys, starting up the engine and slowly beginning to move out of the small port and head towards the open sea.

“They don’t know what they’re missing. This is the best part of the holiday yet,” said Bridget, handing Rhys a can of ice cold beer which she had taken from the portable fridge they had taken on board, which included food for lunch and the afternoon. The boat had to be back in the port no later than eight o’clock that evening.

“Get your bikini on and we’ll go for a swim,” Rhys said.

In a short time the couple were swimming in the open sea as happy as larks. The sun shone down on them, making the drops of water on their bodies look as if they were splattered with diamonds. Bridget was getting tired and climbed up the small ladder to get back on board. Rhys clambered up behind her and they both ran laughing and giggling to their towels. They sat down and got out some of their packed lunch, and after eating lay down in the shade to sleep.

They were suddenly woken up, to see the longest streaks of bright orange lightning they had ever set eyes on. The sky was not dark but still blue, then it darkened and heavy thunder was heard. Bridget stood up as the boat began to dip and rise on the waves. She started stumbling and Rhys went to get her. “Sit down a second, then we’ll go down below. It can’t last long. It’s a summer storm.”

Bridget  turned to go towards the cabin door, but at that moment the sea became choppier and choppier. A huge wave rose over the little boat and dragged Rhys and Bridget overboard into the sea. For a few minutes more, the lightning was still visible in the sky, then the thunder departed for other parts. The empty boat bobbed around on the surface of the now gentle sea.

 

At the same time, Brent and Selena felt rather cold and there was a slight wind. “Let’s get inside, have a shower and get changed. It’s too cold to carry on playing,” Brent said to Selena, who was looking as if she had had enough. There was no sign of a storm in the resort, only a cold wind that was coming in off the sea. The lightning was far off in the distance. The two ran into the hotel and took the lift up to their room. 

 

After a long sleep Jonas and Mabel decided to get up and have lunch. The afternoon was just beginning and they had taken some books to read on their holiday. There were comfortable chairs in the room, so after a quick bite to eat they went back to their room and sat down in the comfortable chairs and began reading.

 

The boatman heard about the squall from his clients who had returned rather battered and bruised by their experience on the sea. When Rhys and Bridget didn’t show up, he rang the local coast guard to search for them.

A boat was seen bobbing about in the sea by a coast guard helicopter, and a message was sent to one of their own boats below to close in on the area.

Mark and Elaine, two expert divers and rescuers of people who found themselves in danger in the sea, were on the coast guard boat piloted by Sean that was the first to arrive at the scene. They climbed on board by the small ladder that ran up to the deck. They looked round the hired boat and saw that there was no one on board. They looked through their binoculars from the deck, and saw a body floating on the sea. They radioed Sean, their pilot, and guided him to the body, and while on his way to the site he spotted another body. Divers from the coast guard boat went down to get the two bodies out of the water. Mark and Elaine stayed on board the hired boat to take it back to the port.  

 

Both corpses were placed on the small deck and covered by a large sheet of plastic. A message was sent to the local coast guard office and to the police. The man who rented out the boats was informed and he, in turn, informed them of the identities of the deceased.

When the rescue boat arrived back at the port, there was an ambulance waiting to take the remains of Rhys and Bridget to the hospital where an autopsy was to be carried out.

A policeman went to the hotel where the unfortunate couple had been staying, to inform the four friends and the hotel management of the disaster.

 

Unfortunately, Brent and Selena had not met up with Jonas and Mabel and had lunched by themselves in the hotel. Later, Brent rang Jonas to find out where he and Mabel were. They chose to meet at a pub, before walking down to the port to meet Rhys and Bridget as they got off the boat.

 “Did you have a good game of tennis? Jonas asked Brent.

“Yes, we did actually. We were lucky to find another couple to have a doubles with. But around early afternoon, it suddenly got cold and we finished the game and went indoors, to shower and dress for lunch,”

“I suppose Rhys and Bridget will be starving after spending all day out on the high seas. They won’t want to go out anywhere tonight, will they?” Selena said.

“No, I shouldn’t think so,” Mabel said.

By this time they had arrived at the boats for hire office. The man in charge was still there. He looked up, as he saw them approaching.

“Good evening, can I help you?”

Jonas answered, “We are looking for our friends who rented a boat from you this morning for the whole day. A couple, Rhys and Bridget. Have they come back yet?”

The boat man licked his lips and swallowed, “You’d better go to the coast guard office up there and they will tell you.”

“Can’t you tell us something? Where are they? They were supposed to be back by seven or eight, but we can’t see any sign of them.” Brent remarked.

“It’s best you go to the coast guard office,” the man said again.

 

Seeing they would get no joy out of him, the quartet walked to the coast guard office. Mark and Elaine were still on duty and writing out information about the incident when the four friends entered. “Good evening, we have been sent here by the man who rents out boats. Our friends went out on one this morning and haven’t returned yet. Can you tell us anything about it?” Brent asked.

Mark and Elaine looked at the four, and Mark said, “I’m afraid we have some bad news for you. There was a sudden squall at sea and they must have been washed overboard. They are now at the hospital awaiting identification and an autopsy. We both wish we had better news for you.”

They made their farewells and started off in the direction of the hospital for the identification process.

 

The friends all looked at each other uncomfortably.

Jonas said, “We spent the day more or less in the room reading. Where were you two?”

Selena said, “We were playing tennis. We saw some lightning out at sea but it seemed far away, then it got cold and we returned to the hotel.”

Brent added, “The lightning you saw must have been the squall that upset the boat and caused our friends’ deaths. Squalls are not uncommon at this time of the year in this part of the world. I’m surprised the boat man didn’t warn them, or maybe he did and they didn’t take any notice. We’ll never know.”

 

After getting back to England, it fell upon the four of them to go together and inform the families of what had befallen both Rhys and Bridget. What none of them ever mentioned was that they had all been invited to go with them on the boat, but had simply never turned up at the jetty, preferring to do what they wanted to do. After all, what was there in it for them?