The phone rang; I answered it, "Hello."
It was my mother in law, Helen, "Hi Tim, it's Helen; Wendy's been trying to get hold of you."
I said, "I've had trouble with my mobile and have just got home from work."
She sounded to be in a panic and said, "It's Wendy she's in hospital."
I asked, "What happened?"
Helen replied, "I don't know all the details, but the nurse said she's been in an accident. The nurse has been trying to get hold of you for hours."
I started to panic and asked, "Yeah, I was off site and my phone is giving me trouble. How is Wendy? What happened?"
Helen said, "I know you probably can't go, so I'll go and be with her and see how she is."
We, my wife Wendy and I have been married for three years. I work as a labourer in builder's yard. I go where they send me. My wife, a sales assistant travels to see different clients.
We don't really have a lot of money; we get by from month to month just about. We cannot afford our own place hence we rent a place with a single bedroom. Not far from my in laws.
My in-laws are not well off either, but they do have their own home. My mother in law did not work and my father in law was a factory worker in a local car assembly line.
I although could not afford to, but thought I should go and be with my wife.
I said to Helen, "No it's fine, I should go."
Helen said, "I want to be with her, we'll both go."
I rang my wife Wendy to see how she was. She seemed to be okay, but needed someone to be with her for comfort. She was only going to be in hospital for three to four days and needed some change of clothing and other bits and pieces. She said that the company would pick up the medical bill and also pay for her to fly back home when she was ready.
I did not really get on well with Helen; she always thought of me as a looser and did not want her daughter Wendy marring me.
Wendy was in another state over seven hundred miles away, I had to be with her quickly, but could not afford to fly. And I knew if Helen wanted to come along as well, then I should pay. If only to show her that I was not a total looser who could not afford basic travel costs.
I knew I could not afford to fly, not both of us. But I could drive, it meant we would have to stay overnight somewhere. Since Wendy was going to be flying back on company expenses, it meant I just had to pay for mother in law and me.
I said, "Okay, I'll phone into work and let them know. If you get ready I'll pick you up in an hour."
Helen asked, "Do you think you can get the flights?"
I said, "No, I'll drive. I'll try and book a place to stay for us on the way there and back."
It was around six, so I picked Helen up an hour later and we headed off.
She asked, "So did you manage to book us a hotel?"
I said, "No, I could not get any rooms in hotels. We'll have to see what's available on route."
That was a lie; I had not rung any hotels as they would all be far too expensive.
Apart from the occasional glimpse and odd word it was a quiet and frosty journey. We had driven for four hours. I felt tiered, I'd had a long hard day and then that drive did not help. My eyes felt weary and heavy, I had to stop.
I said to Helen, "We'll stop at the next place we find."
It was not far, about three miles and there was a motel. I stopped and we both got out. Helen had to use the bathroom. And I tried to get a couple of rooms.
Helen came back and I said, "They don't have anything we'll have to move on."
Helen went up to the desk and said, "You must have a couple of room's. It's just for tonight."
The desk clerk said, "No ma'am, nothing tonight, three rooms tomorrow!"
She threw an arm up into the air and said, "We would have been fine if someone had booked a hotel."
Helen huffed, turned around and stomped back to me and said, "Let's go."
We walked back to the car and I drove on.
It was a cold evening and it felt even colder in the car with Helen.
Ten, twelve miles later, neon signs glowed in the distance, announcing that they had vacancies. Another motel and Helen said, "Stop here, they have something."
I was not asleep or blind, I did see the sign and I was going to pull in.
Again we both got out and I needed the bathroom that time while Helen went to the counter. When I came back Helen was still at the counter, seemed to be arguing with the clerk.
I got close enough to hear and heard Helen say, "The sign says vacancies! Not just a vacant room!"
Apparently only one room was available, Helen was not happy. I asked the clerk, "Does it have twin beds?"
The clerk said, "Yes."
I looked at Helen and she was not happy. I said to Helen, "We'll move on to the next one."
She looked back to the clerk and asked, "Is it clean?"
The clerk said, "It's clean to sleep in, what more do you want."
Helen shook her head and looked crossly at me, then back at the clerk and asked, "It's got twin beds?"
The clerk nodded, but did not look up from his book.
Helen shook her head again and said, "Okay, we'll take it, it's getting late."
The clerk turned around took off a key from the board behind him and gave it to Helen and said, "It's the last room down there." He pointed towards a long corridor.
I picked up our luggage and Helen led the way. Just as we got half way down the lights behind us went off in the reception area.
We found our room and Helen opened the door. She turned the light on and it was extremely dim. One bulb in the centre of the room, a very small window with no curtain on it, but it was dark outside; I didn't care about the curtains or the lack of them.
I put the bags down and I heard Helen say, "Stupid idiot."
I instantly thought she referred to me and said, "What have I done now!"
Helen threw her handbag over onto a very stark rickety chair and said, "Stupid git, he said there were twin beds in here."
I had not noticed, I looked around and only one single bed was in the room. And even for a single bed it looked small.
Helen brushed past me and rushed out through the door which I had not had a chance to shut.
I knew where she went; to complain to the clerk. But I thought it would be futile as the clerk had turned the light off in the reception area, he must have gone home.
Five minutes later she returned and said, "Idiots not there, there's no one there."
I said, "Don't worry; I'll sleep on the floor."
She said nothing and started to go through her bag, she then went into the bathroom. I sorted out my tooth brush and other bits. Then looked around to see what I could put on the floor to make my bed while I waited.
There was nothing, but there were two very thin worn blankets. I took one and threw it onto the floor. There was a rug, looked clean enough, what I could see of it anyway with the dim light. I'll have to sleep on that with the blanket over me. Only one pillow, so I made another one for me with a towel.
Helen came back out; she was dressed in a night dress. One piece, long, down to just below her knees, she looked at my effort of a bed. She said, "You sleeping down there then?"
I walked to the bathroom and said, "I suppose so."
When I came back out Helen was in the bed with the flimsy blanket on her.
She looked at me and said, "This place is shit, blankets are next to useless, the mattress may as well be made of sponge. It's crap! You wouldn't get this sort of crap in a hotel."
I walked over to the front door, I turned the light off and it really made no difference. Moonlight lit the room through the small window and the path to my bed on the floor.
I lay my head down and pulled the blanket over me. I did not have any night clothes as I usually slept with nothing on anyway, just had my boxers on. When packing, I did not think I would need anything as I thought I would be in a separate room.
Then as the nights silence grew, a knocking sound on the wall. At first I thought it was someone at the door, but then realised it was over the other side next to where Helen slept. I looked across and Helen had her back to me, she lay still.
The knocking got louder, more rhythmical, at a constant pace and then a woman's voice, "Oh yeah, fuck yeah, fuck me, fuck me, come on."
The walls seemed to be made of the thinnest paper; we could hear every sound like they were in the same room as us.
I tossed and turned, the floor was cold and hard, the blanket was as thin as the walls and the pillow towel was hard and bumpy. I could not get comfortable. The woman's voice got me aroused; it made it even more unbearable as I could not jack off.
I looked over to the bed and noticed Helen looked at me and she asked, "You okay down there?"
I looked up and said, "Yeah, I'll be fine once they've finished."
I crawled up into a ball and tried to get warm.
The sounds from next door still continued, it echoed round our room. The constant 'bang, bang' of the bed. The yelling of the woman who told her man what to do, "Yes deeper, fuck yeah, harder come on, harder."