An overheard conversation.
I wrote two slightly different versions of a 750 word story, one I expanded into this longer one. On the advice of a mate, I published this one. I write technical reports for a living and that suits 750 style. I like writing short, punchy stories that suit 750 words. There are more twists in this longer one than the 750 word as befits a LW story.
The Oxford English dictionaries define fiction as "Something that is invented or untrue." This is fiction.
Please do not tell me 'It would not happen like that' because you are right. It probably would not. So please do not complain it is not real. If you want realism, go and watch a documentary or the news or even the History Channel, although history is written by the winners.
It is just a story, please enjoy it.
My wife Jenny and I, my name is Dave by the way, moved into a nice cul-de-sac. A new-build set of houses on the outskirts of town about four years ago. It didn't take us long to form a clique with our neighbours. We are all about the same age. Most of the other couples have children. We do not, yet. But after watching our neighbours and seeing how having children completed a family, and our parents kept telling us now was the best time so they could enjoy the grandchildren whilst they were still fit and able. We thought about it, we were both settled at our jobs and we decided now was a good time and Jenny had come off the pill a few months ago. We were keeping this to ourselves for now, we didn't even tell the parents.
There was Jim and Linda, they were the eldest of our group of friends. They both did some sort of engineering and had two children Sean and Carrie. Then there was Deborah and Charlie, she was a school teacher and Charlie did something in finance, they had two children, twins, Freddie and Zoe. Then there was Geraldine and Frank, they had a son Mark, who was only nine months old, Geraldine didn't work. Frank did something with insurance. That left Carol and Brian, they had a daughter Felicity. Jenny worked in a bank and I was a Project Manager in a local building contractor, we had built these houses. Jen and I were the youngest of the group. We were all at Brian and Carol's place for one of Brian's fantastic BBQs. There were several other neighbours around as well, but these were our very good friends.
The men all got on together, we regularly played golf and the girls would go out on a girl's night out once or twice a month. When the girls went out the men would bundle all the children into one house and have a pleasant evening to ourselves, just shooting the breeze with a beer or two. Then around nine, we would all disperse to our own houses because the children would be tired. Even though we haven't got children yet, I was still invited anyway.
Even the children got on. It was all very civilized.
At the BBQ we gravitated to our own groups, the men standing by the BBQ so we could chat with Brian, also that is where all the drinks were. He had gone all out on the meat, there was marinated Piri Piri chicken, seasoned pork loins. Herby marinated lamb slices and smokey BBQ sauce spare ribs. The children will make a mess with those. There was even some fish for the vegetarians amongst the crowd. No burgers. Brian said they were a bit too common, but he did have some very nice pork and apple sausages with a hint of mixed herbs for the heathens.
There was a load of salad and a selection of bread rolls from the Artisan baker in town. The girls have planned to go out next Thursday and I'm pretty sure when we came around on Thursday we'd be eating the leftovers there were so much.
Carol was helping Brian by bringing him food to cook and keeping the beer topped up from the fridge for us men.
The ladies were gathered beside the garage together laughing having partaken in alcoholic beverages. Gerald, the neighbourhood lothario, left the group he was talking to and wandered across to the girls. I saw him chatting to them, he slipped an arm around Jenny. She shrugged him off and glared at him. She saw me looking and gave me a small nervous smile.
Gerlad took the hint and left to chase other prey.
We were discussing the round of golf we had played this morning, Brian had done particularly badly and we were taking the mickey out of him, then he reminded us that he had control of the food and the beer. We all laughed at that and said he was just unlucky. Brian asked me to fetch some more charcoal from the garage. He liked proper charcoal for cooking, not briquets nor gas and he kept a supply at the back of his garage.
I slid carefully past Brian's car, picked up a bag of charcoal and I noticed I could overhear what the girls were saying as the garage window was open slightly.
I heard Lin say. "So, Debs, how is it going with Ralph?"
"I'm going to dump him, he's getting too clingy and Charlie is getting suspicious. I will miss the sex though. Ralph is a bit quantity not quality, but it is exciting doing it over his desk at work."
"How about you Lin, how are you doing with the football bloke?" Debbie asked.
"He's okay, Jim is better in bed, but it's the excitement, I might have to dump him soon as well. He's not worth risking losing Jim over."
Debbie said to Gerri. "I suppose young Mark has slowed down your adventures?"
"Yeah, I'm too tired to play around, anyway Frank keeps me satisfied, well, for now." She giggled.
"Do you still hear from Harry?" Jenny asked.
"I get the odd text, he keeps asking if we can meet again? If I wasn't so tired I might."
"How is your sex life Jen?" Asked Gerri, I felt there was a giggle in her voice.
"Dave is brilliant, but he could teach my boyfriend a thing or two, like Lin says, it's the excitement."
I could only just hear Debbie when she said quietly. "Hey, just don't let Carol hear about our fun or she would drop us right in it. Lin will you be there Thursday night or you meeting your footballer?"
"I'm not sure, they've got an away match this week, he might not be available Thursday. Hey Debs, it'll give you a chance to see Ralph. Will you break up with him Thursday after a final bout?"
"No, the boys are going away for a golfing weekend next week. If one of you will babysit the twins, I'll have a last couple of days with Ralph and then knock it on the head. Jen, could you do it for me? Practise for when you have a brat of your own"
"Okay, I will, but don't you mean the last couple of nights?" Jen said, that brought out a lot of laughter.
I was having problems hanging on to the charcoal.
I made my way back outside and gave the charcoal to Brian. I suggested to the lads we join the wives to see what the laughing was all about. I had a fixed smile on my face as we walked over to them, I was trying to keep a lot of anger bottled up. I decided not to take any drinks with me, that could be dangerous.
We got there and stood next to our spouses. "What's so funny girls?" I asked.
"Nothing." said Gerri. "Just chatting."
Looking at Debbie. "Chatting about how you are going to spend a couple of nights with Ralph whilst we are away playing golf next week and then you're going to ditch him."
"What! Who is Ralph?" Debbie asked, fear on her face.