THE HAPPIEST ENDING EVER.

Recently I posted "The Second Happiest Ending Ever". This is happier... I hope...

Luke Goddard was on his way to the bridge over the big river, not to cross to the other side but to jump to his death and end it all.

It had been on his mind for ages. Life had turned several corners, and every time it did so things got worse.

It had started a year or two earlier, when the maniac who lived across the road decided to smash all of his windows because it would be fun and because he didn't like Luke's kids because they weren't little rogues like his own were and anyway they went to a posh school where only snobs went.

This cost Luke. Windows don't come cheap, and he found himself spilling several secret tears when the bill came in. That year's holiday was cancelled. It had to be.

“You can't spend the same pound twice,” he mumbled to himself.

It was then that Sylvia left him. She said she'd been thinking about it for some time but this holiday business was the last straw, and maybe she had been contemplating it, but it came as a shock none-the-less, especially as she left the kids with him and said he might as well keep them because, well, she couldn't afford it on her own and they'd be better off and happier with him.

“Anyway, kids are awkward when you're looking for a new man,” she said spitefully.

No sooner had he parted with more money than he could afford on what she said was her share of their home than he was sacked from work because of the economic depression.

“There's no work,” his boss said regretfully. “I know you're a good worker, never late, always willing to go that extra mile when it's called for, but I can't afford to pay you. Come back and see me when things get better, but as things are at the moment we're both likely to be meeting each other in the dole queue...”

And so his income slumped and the kids had to move school. Before the crash he'd managed to pay for a decent private education for them, but without the funds to pay even one term's fees in advance he had no choice.

The local state school wasn't bad �" in some respects it was better �" but because it was free he couldn't find anything but fault with it. And when Abigail came almost bottom of her class he was furious and stormed up to the school to find out why.

“She's not been here very long and, I'm afraid, started with us at a rather low point,” the teacher told him and because Abigail was bright as a button and because he'd paid all that money to the private school ever since she'd been three he blamed the state school.

They weren't doing their job, so he wrote to the papers about it and started an almighty row in which he came off very much the worse.

Then their broadband was cancelled. It had been part of a package through his old work, but that had fallen through with the collapse of the business and it suddenly stopped working. As did his telephone. And his mobile phone. And, to make matters dissolve into the crud at the bottom of his head, his digital television.

He tried to get things put straight, but it would all cost money and money was one thing that was in painfully short supply.

“You must cut your cloth according to your means,” said the telecoms man, and so Luke poked him on the end of his nose for his cheek.

This led to a court case and he was fined for assault and warned he was lucky not to receive a custodial sentence.

“We just can't go around punching telecoms personnel on their noses just because we've lost our jobs,” said the magistrate severely.

Luke started weeping, but that did no good, and when he arrived home with salty smears down his face it was to find Sylvia there, waiting for the kids.

“I can't leave them with you now that you're a criminal,” she said forcefully, “and from what I hear you've fallen to pieces...”

“It's been one thing after another...” he moaned, “all I need is a bit of time and maybe a few words of support... It's just not fair... I've put everything into feeding and clothing the kids, too, everything I ever had...”

“I can't even ring you any more, and you never answer your emails,” she said, spitefully, guessing the reason why.

So she vanished with the kids. Both of them, and the rotten thing was they seemed more than happy to go.

So he decided to end it all.

And he found himself on his way to the bridge that went across the big river.

When he got to the middle of it the weather had turned wet. And dark. It should still have been daylight, but it was murky and far from pleasant.

“I'll drown up here with all this rain, so I may as well drown down there anyway,” he mumbled to himself.

“What's that?” cane a voice.

He jumped. He'd thought he was on his own. Then he turned to see who was speaking.

He had never seen such a beautiful face in all of his life. She was about his age, which put her in her late thirties, she had wonderful wavy blonde hair, blue eyes that were full of excitement and life, and she was as wet as him. Even her brief plaid skirt was dripping. But that didn't seem to matter. She was smiling.

“Why, it's you isn't it, Luke?” she asked.

“Do I … have we met...?” he stammered.

“Of course we have!” she giggled. “Don't you remember me? I'm Marina and you were the very first man to … you know, with me, years ago in our lovely teens! What are you doing here?”

“I was going to jump,” he mumbled, more confused than ever.

“Was?” she asked, teasingly.

“Am,” he said, determined to have his own way at last.

And that's what he did. He climbed onto the low parapet of the bridge and jumped.

It seemed a long way down, to that water, and he closed his eyes and waited.

The air rushed past him, and eventually he landed with a huge splash into the racing current, and was swept along, jostled and battered and caught by the flow.

“Silly boy! Come and climb in, and I'll take you home with me,” cooed a voice, and he opened his eyes (which were still fast shut) and saw a pink and candy-striped boat bobbing along next to him, with Marina smiling at him, offering him her arm.

And not quite sure what he was doing, or why, he climbed into her boat and it surged off, borne only by the racing water and the loveliest fragrance as her mouth touched his and her sigh swept everything bad and torpid away from him, and he smiled and laughed like never before as she dragged his wet clothes from him and, laughing, told him not to be such a silly boy as she wiped his already drying tears on a firm and naked breast.