Ricy Suzie and Colin

My first story in a long time.

As a treat there is an anagram to be spotted and TWO jokes for those who are able to read Welsh!

How did this story come to me? I was listening to a CD of hits from the 1970s, Mouldy Old Dough came on and the story came, fully formed, into my mind.

*****

Chapter 1

It was Thursday night down the disco at the All Saints Church Hall.

Ricky and his wife of six months were there. They were dancing with their friends from the Church Youth Club. Ricky and Sue were amongst the first members of the Youth Club who had paired off and certainly the first to get married.

Ricky was 20 and had a good job working as a technician in the large foundry on the edge of town and his wife Suzie, who was 19, was working as a typist in the office of an old and well-established firm of Solicitors in the town centre.

Ricky had not been Suzie's first love. That distinction had been earned by Colin Powell, a tall and handsome boy of Welsh extraction who had broken Suzie's heart when he had joined the army at 16 and who had, it seemed, forgotten all about her.

As far as Ricky was aware he hadn't been back to town since. But now, five years later, aged 21, he was back and he was sniffing around Suzie.

Ricky resented the fact that, despite that there were lots of free and single girls who attended the Church Hall Disco, Colin kept making a b-line for his Suzie and kept asking her for dances.

His youth club friends were in two camps. The boys told him to beat the crap out of Colin and the girls told him not to be so controlling.

After all, they reasoned, it was obvious that Suzie loved Ricky, they'd only been married for six months and surely Suzie wouldn't risk their still fresh and young marriage by having a fling with a former lover. Even the one who had taken her cherry? Well. Perhaps that might be a cause for concern? But she'd not cheat on Ricky, they assured him.

It all came to a head one hot August night in 1974. The DJ was playing an oldie track, Mouldy Old Dough, the novelty disco hit and shock Number 1 record of a couple of years earlier, by Lieutenant Pigeon.

Ricky had just come out from the toilets and was about to ask his wife to accompany him onto the crowded dance floor when he was approached by Colin.

"Can we go outside for a chat, please?" he said. "I think we need to talk."

Ricky nodded. He had a bad feeling about this turn of events but could not think of a reason to turn down his request.

They went out through the back door and turned the corner to where the bins were stored, next to an old World War 2 air raid shelter that was used to store props for the Church Hall pantomime that took place every Christmas.

"OK, Colin? What is it you want?"

Colin glanced furtively around and said: "It's like this, Ricky. I made a mistake not asking Suzie to marry me when I left for my basic training. But I intend to put that right, now. You should never have been on the scene, you should not have married her because Suzie is mine. She's my woman. Always has been, always will be. And I intend to take her back from you, to take her away from you. Besides, I've already had her, even though she is supposedly married to you!"

Ricky gave a nervous laugh. "That's bullshit, Colin! Suzie and I are married, we're living in a flat over a shoe shop in the High Street at the moment, but we're saving up to buy a home of our own and to start a family. Just back off!"

Colin gave Ricky a sullen, meaningful look and said: "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Without saying anything further, Colin gave Ricky a punch to the face, knocking him down to the ground.

This blindsides Ricky. He tastes blood from his lips. He tried to get up but Colin, who was the beneficiary of his army training, was much the tougher opponent.

He began kicking the shit out of Ricky who, stunned from the first blow, was unable to put up any meaningful defence.

In fact, Ricky wasn't able to land one blow against his wily and trained aggressor.

Ricky knew he was in trouble as he felt each and every new blow, as he sensed, rather than felt his bones begin to snap and break.

He tried to call out for help, but a blow to his throat had shattered his larynx.

He tried to crawl away, but Colin kept raining down blow after blow on his increasingly still and bloodied body.

His last thought was: "Suzie! Oh, God! Suzie! I love you so much! Why did you have to cheat on me with this bastard?"

Then, Ricky felt his soul leaving his body and the pain began to coalesce into one pulse of agony.

Then, no more.

It all came to a head one hot August night in 1974. The DJ was playing Mouldy Old Dough, the novelty disco hit by Lieutenant Pigeon. Ricky had just come out from the toilet and was about to ask his wife to accompany him onto the crowded dance floor when he was approached by Colin.

"Can we go outside for a chat, please?" he said. "I think we need to talk."

Rick nodded. He had a bad feeling about this turn of events but could not think of a reason to turn down his request.

They went out through the back door and turned the corner to where the bins were stored, next to an old World War 2 air raid shelter that was used to store props for the Church Hall pantomime that took place every Christmas.

"OK, Colin? What is it you want?"

Colin glanced furtively around and said: "It's like this, Ricky. I made a mistake not asking Suzie to marry me when I left for my basic training. But I intend to put that right, now. You should never have been on the scene, you should not have married her because Suzie is mine. She's my woman. Always has been, always will be. And I intend to take her back from you, to take her away from you."

Ricky gave a nervous laugh. "That's bullshit, Colin! Suzie and I are married, we're living in a flat over a shoe shop in the High Street at the moment, but we're saving up to buy a home of our own and to start a family. Just back off!"

Colin gave Ricky a sullen, meaningful look and said: "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Without saying anything further and before Ricky could think of any reply, Colin gave Ricky a punch to the face, knocking him down to the ground.

This blindsides Ricky. He tastes blood from his smashed lips. He tries to get up but Colin, who, as the beneficiary of his army training, was much the tougher opponent.

He began kicking the shit out of Ricky who, stunned from the first blow, was unable to put up any meaningful defence.

In fact, Ricky wasn't able to land one blow against his wily and trained aggressor.

Ricky knew he was in trouble as he felt each and every new blow, as he sensed, rather than felt his bones begin to snap and break.

He tried to call out for help, but a blow to his throat had shattered his larynx.

He tried to crawl away, but Colin kept raining down blow after blow on his increasingly still and bloodied body.

His last thought was: "Suzie! Oh, God! Suzie! I love you so much! Why did you have to cheat on me with this bastard?"

Then, Ricky felt his soul leaving his body and the pain began to coalesce into one pulse of agony.

Then, no more.

Then, no more.

Then, no more.

Chapter 2

The small van bearing the slightly ironic logo of: "Massive TV" pulled up outside the former Church Hall that was boarded up and awaiting refurbishment as flats.

A tall woman who was dressed extremely theatrically as if she was auditioning for the role of a psychic medium, climbed out of the passenger side of the van and looked at the building.

Actually, Mal Talwyn wasn't auditioning for the role of a psychic medium, it was a role that her Celtic heritage had thrust upon her, unwillingly, from a very early age.

She was the medium cum-presenter for Massive TV's hit show: "A Medium at Large" which took a camera crew, with Mal as the medium, and Polly Dempster, a slightly hysterical and tiny female presenter (who was frightened of her own shadow, let alone any real psychic phenomena.) out on the road to explore evidence of any psychic phenomena at a variety of locations around the UK.

Much of the psychic phenomena that they portrayed was faked, or at the very best interpretation, either enhanced or recreated for television.

Actually, Mal had a bad feeling about this one. There was something dark and nasty brooding and lurking in the redundant Church Hall.

What was it that lurked within its Victorian façade? Murder? Oh, God, no! She hated locations where a murder had taken place! They were so draining of her psychic energies.

Stan the cameraman was already waiting, his camera and battery pack was ready, strapped to his waist.

"Action!" Shouted Polly the co-presenter and director.

"Hello, viewers. Medium at Large is here, outside a former Church Hall. We've been invited by the company that is developing the disused Church Hall to see if we can pinpoint the cause of some psychic disturbances reported within the building.

"I am here with our resident medium, Mal Talwyn, who will guide us through the building. Come on, Mal! Let's go. I have a bad feeling about this one! I think I could regret going in, here!"

As Mal followed her diminutive colleague she wondered what sense of foreboding she was experiencing. She'd never shown any similar concern, even though she was usually unnaturally nervous whilst out on a job.

They unlocked the door and entered the lobby of the building and crossed through it, walking through the double doors into the hall itself.

Mal was fondling her talisman, a smooth white, opaque stone. "We're definitely getting something, here. A child crying, might be Victorian, hard to say for sure. She's in the lobby, we'll come back to her, later. Let's go through these doors."

They entered the main hall and Polly was immediately unnerved when she realised that Mall's eyes had suddenly changed colour from their normal blue to a strange, unearthly and extremely piercing yellow-green colour.

"Oh, God!" Gasped out Mal. "The betrayal! The heartbreak! Oh, the hurt! The memories!"

Polly whimpered, but followed Mal and Stan as they traversed the building, as dust motes danced and spiralled in the air, lit by the sun from outside and from the lighting rig for Stan's camera.

"Quick! This way!" Mal made for the back door. Polly's hands fumbled as she nervously keyed the door open, using the tagged key on the bunch of keys in her hand.

Outside of the World War 2 shelter, Mal began to feel the dreadful maelstrom of psychic that whirled and whirled round and round in a circle of horror in that small courtyard.

"Oh, my god!" she shouted. "This is a dreadful, awful place! The pain! The betrayal! I feel it stronger, here!"

Mal, shattered by the psychic onslaught, led the little group back into the building, back into the main hall.

She began to speak. "I am, getting two, no, make that three people. Two boys and a girl. She is called Sue... no, Suzie. The men are Rich... no, make that Ricky. And Carl? Colin? Yes! Colin!

"Colin wanted Suzie, but he couldn't have her, as she was married to Ricky. But Colin tricked Ricky into going outside, there's a bird I am seeing, a dove. Or a Pigeon, perhaps?

"Colin is beating Ricky, without mercy. Oh, god! He isn't just beating him! He is trying to kill him! Ricky is going, fading away, but he knows the dreadful truth that his Suzie has betrayed him!"

Suddenly, Mal can take no more. She runs a corner of the room and crouches, holding her head and sobbing.

"Cut!" Shouted Polly. "That's enough video for the moment, Stan. Let's give Mal some time, eh?"

They are all surprised when a voice interrupts them. "Excuse me? The door was open, you see, so I came in. My name is Dave Burton, I have seen your show on the telly, I didn't know you were here, today. "

Mal stands up and wipes her eyes, composing herself.

"Hello, Dave," said Polly. "How can we help you?"

"Well, I think it's I that can help you, actually. I was shocked to hear Mal talking about what she was talking about. You see, I know what happened that night, back in 1974, because I was here, I witnessed most of it."

Polly nodded to Stan who surreptitiously started his camera again. There'd be time to get the rights clearance from Dave, later. Now they just needed his story.

"Dave, can you please tell us what happened?"

"Yeah, OK. We were all members of the Church Hall Youth Club. Out of our lot then, Ricky and Suzie were amongst the first to pair off and they were certainly the first to get married.

"But, of course, Ricky wasn't Suzie's first love that distinction went to Colin Powell. Although nobody knew 100% for sure, we all presumed that Colin took her virginity when they both hit 16.

"But then Colin set his heart on an army career and upped and left Suzie behind. The poor kid was devastated. Eventually she got over it and she met Ricky and they became an item. He proposed at the Valentine's Night Disco right here at the club and within six months, they were married and living in a little flat over a shoe shop in the High Street.

"They laughed about their little flat, saying it was more like a shoebox over a shoe shop, but I think they were truly happy there. In fact, Suzie still lives there, all these years on."

"What happened?" asked Mal.

"Well, it was all going well when all of a sudden, Colin came back to town. He began attending the youth club, starting making a play for Suzie, even though the bastard knew full well that she and Ricky were married.

"The trouble was, before Colin had gone into the army he'd been an insufferable prick, always so full of his own self-importance, but when he got back to town he was even worse! He could have had any girl he wanted, but he only wanted Suzie. I'm still not sure if it was because he genuinely loved her or if he just wanted to prove a point, that he could take her away from Ricky.

"Anyway, we all talked about it and we thought that Suzie was too smart to fall for Colin's line in bullshit.

"It was sort of tense up until the night when it all kicked off. We were dancing in the main hall, but it was getting a bit hot in there as it was in the middle of August. The tune Mouldy Old Dough was on. I can never hear that tune now, all those years later without my mind wandering back to that dreadful, dreadful night.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes! We were dancing when there was a terrible scream, as Suzie ran into the hall. She was hysterical! She shouted: "Please! Come quick, round the back! Colin is killing Ricky!

"We lads ran out, a couple of the girls grabbed Suzie and tried to calm her down, but she was having none of it. We went round the back by the old air raid shelter and we heard and saw the dreadful punishment that Colin was giving to Ricky.

"But Ricky, poor sod, he was out of it, on the floor, being kicked, punched and stomped by Colin.

"It was weird, eerie. The only sound was the grunts from Colin as he beat and stamped on Ricky, he was saying nothing and we felt sure poor Ricky was already dead."

Dave paused before continuing: "I cast my eyes around for something to use as a weapon, like a stick or something, but there was nothing. So I charged straight into Colin. But it had virtually no effect on him. He just sent me smashing into the wall, while he continued to hurt Ricky.

As I lay against the wall, winded, I saw a couple of the Youth Club stewards come running up. The first one was a tall chap in his early 40s, called Norris Parker. He ran right into Colin and when Colin tried to do the same move that he'd done on me, Norris grabbed him and immediately put him in a special hold that meant he could not escape.

"Norris also put Colin in a sleeper hold and Colin slumped down, unconscious. He dragged him away from Colin and he swiftly undid Colin's trousers, roughly slammed them round his ankles and removed the belt and used the belt to tie Colin's hands together.

"Soon an ambulance arrived the blue light flashing and its bell sounding, drawing up to the rear entrance to the church hall.

"It wasn't like the modern times, no farting around in the ambulance treating the patient for ages before they take them to hospital. They just quickly got Ricky in the ambulance and rushed him off to the General Hospital. Apparently he was so bad he looked like he'd been hit by a car. They had to perform a tracheotomy on his throat to help his breathing as Colin had smashed his throat.

"We'd expected the police to come for Colin, but they didn't. About ten minutes after the ambulance had taken Ricky away another vehicle turned up at the rear entry, it was a massive Vauxhall Victor car, and two Redcoats, sorry, no, Redcaps, I mean, got out. They walked over to the club steward who was holding Colin down on the ground.

The one who seemed to be in charge spoke to him: "You made the call, Redcap?"

He replied: "I did make the call, but I'm no Redcap. Leastways, not any longer!"

The Redcap answers: "Not a chance! Once a Redcap, always a Redcap! You made the right decision to call us. We've been looking for Colin Powell for several months. We'll take the little shit into custody. Many thanks for your help!"

Dave wiped his face with his hands. "It turned out that the steward had served as a Redcap, that was where he'd been taught that hold he used on Colin. A Redcap is a Royal Military Police officer, by the way.

"Anyhow, he'd guessed that Colin had been absent without leave, that he hadn't left the army. So rather than calling the police he called the Redcaps and they took him into military custody."

Mal looked at him. "So, when did Ricky die?"

Dave gave her a puzzled look. "I don't know what you mean? He didn't die then, in fact, he's still alive today, living in a special facility that looks after people with severe head traumas. It's called Tŷ Bach and it was started by a Welsh doctor who had retired here 50 years ago. Of course, the Doctor Dr. Pidyn Mawr has been dead for many years, but his legacy lives on."

Mal looked bewildered but she then nodded and said: "Oh. I'm sorry. But what with the reports of the hauntings, I'd assumed that Ricky had died!

"What we have at this old, abandoned church hall is a case of a live haunting, or astral projection.

"It's a rare event, though not unheard of. There's a case in the Shropshire town of Ludlow when a woman projects her image into the town, walking from the railway station to what had been her grandmother's house. She's been seen multiple times, sometimes even by people who know her.

"Ricky must be projecting images and thoughts into the church hall. I'd dearly love to meet Ricky. Do you think that would be possible, please?"

Dave nodded. "Yeah, probably. Though I'd have to fix it with Suzie, first. Suzie and Ricky are still married. She still works for the firm of solicitors in town, Gains Leper, in the High Street. Still lives in the pokey little flat she used to share with Ricky, but the shoe shop closed down donkeys' years ago and it's a charity shop, now.

"She works at the solicitors 9 'til 3, goes home, has a quick shower and a bite to eat and then she goes to Tŷ Bach and sits with Ricky until it is time for his bed at 10pm. Often she helps to bathe and feed him, reads to him, that kind of stuff."

He shakes his head. "Don't know if it does any good. He can function, he eats when he is given food, but he's in a sort of type of locked in syndrome, caused by the beating that Colin gave him."

"What happened to Colin?" Asked Mal.

"Colin was absent without leave from an army psychiatric assessment centre, but because of his attack on Dave (he'd done something similar in the army) they took him to the Glasshouse and gave him a court-martial. Although he got twenty years for both his attacks he was dead within the year.

"Seems he could not keep his mouth shut or his fists to himself."