Mrs Chorleys Chair

The story of the very pratincole Mr Chorley.

Mrs Chorley’s Chair



Mr Chorley was a practical man. He would often find himself around his friends and family’s house fixing bookshelves or oiling hinges. He himself didn’t see the use for a book shelf a*s he only owned six books. Only one of which he had bought himself, entitled A Practical Man For A Practical World. It was a guide to fixing all things in the world that could be fixed, stars, roofs chairs and even cars. Mr Chorley has spent many nights reading and rereading this book and thought that he could fix almost anything in it. The other five books were given to him by his wife, these books were always brilliant novels. Love In The Time Of Cholera, The Great Gatsby, 1984, The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and his wives all time favorite book, High Fidelity. Mr Chorley had no interest in fiction but did find use for them around the house. He used Gatsby to keep a pot of Daisies level in the garden. He used High Fidelity to keep his wives record player working. Mrs Chorley had of course noticed that he was not reading these books but hadn’t said anything.



Mr Chorley was a caring man. When he came home to find his wife crying and her favorite chair broken he quickly ran over to the chair and almost instantly began to fix it. He measured the wood and started to sand the broken bottom of the chair. Chorley had seen in his book that a wooden chair could easily be fixed if the bottom is made flat and then an extra piece of the same type of food is attached. Of course this was only if the piece of wood couldn’t be easily replaced, in this case it could not as it had been so shoddily made. It had been made by Mrs

Chorleys late father, Mr Pieterson. He was a artist by trade, he has sold many paitings throughout his life and was a bit of a cult hero by the time of his death. Of course Mr Chorley had no interest in art and had refused to have of these paintings in his house before or after the death of Mr Pieterson. The chair however had been a pet project of Mr Pieterson’s since his daughter was born. It had been a family tradition dating back to the thirteenth century that when the first child was born, the father would start to build it a chair. Just a simple wooden chair that would sit at the head of the table, with a small inscription in it. All the chairs had the same inscription, “Love is all we have in the end”. Mrs Chorley loved this sentiment and was very proud that her ancestor had penned this exact quote in one of his books. She herself had tried and failed to write book on many occasions. Mr Chorley however had never failed at anything in his life and when fixing the chair began to be somewhat of a challenge he began to mumble to himself in bed.

“Stupid chair, poorly made anyway. Don’t know why just doesn’t get a new one”, he would say this only when Mrs Chorley was asleep of course because he knew he was a caring man.



Mr Chorley was a man of habit. He would leave the house everyday at one and return home at six, he had done this everyday since his marriage had begun. In these five hours he would go around houses and fix whatever needed fixing. It was a Tuesday that he returned home at exactly six o’clock. Normally he was met by the smell of whatever Mrs Chorley was cooking. On this specific Tuesday he smelt nothing. But he did not notice, his mind was already back on to the chair and how he could fix it. He needed the right wood, the specific wood to the chair. But as he entered the kitchen his mind was on anything but the specific wood.



Mr Chorley was a broken man. He was stood with tears bleeding down his face at the funeral of Mrs Irene Chorley his beautiful and beloved wife. She had left a note and had chosen her own funeral song. She picked Dance With My Father Again by Luther Vandross. She had hung herself using her fathers chair to stand on. To fix the broken leg she had taken a trick from Mr Chorley himself, she stacked all six books that he owned to use as a substitute leg. Love In The Time Of Cholera, The Great Gatsby, 1984, The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Mr Chorleys favorite book, A Practical Man For A Practical World. Mr Chorley never fount out why his wife had killed herself, he lived a lonely and isolated life till he died at the age of eighty-four.



Mr Chorley was a decent man when I met him. Read an extract from Mrs Chorley’s diary. He has not spoken to me this last year. Not a single word, he mumbles horrible words about my chair when he thinks I can sleep. When it broke he didn’t even speak to me, he just sprinted straight over to the chair and began to work. I am more alone now then I have ever been I hope I will join him soon. Let my grave state, “Love is all we have in the end ”.