The Consultation and support

The fish in the aquarium looked as if they wanted to get out of their tank. Listening to the Consultant I wondered if she understood depression at all. Freda needed support not put-downs. I held her hand trying to give her the support she needed as she opened up about how she had been feeling. I did not feel that a prescription for Citalopram and “ahh chin up, you will be okay”, was good enough.

Telling myself we were going to complain on the way out I stayed quiet. For those that don’t know our story, Freda was found unconscious in her ground floor flat after drinking too much whisky. We are musician’s, singing and playing the piano in pubs, Freda has now joined me. She plays the piano, while I sing. Music for me is great for lifting the spirits, watching her play the piano I can see she is smiling and hear her joy as her fingers fly up and down the keys. Music for me is a good healing therapy, giving support and emotional wellbeing. I feel any tension leave my body as I sing.

Trying to listen to Miss Jones, sitting there cross-legged she looked like she had just left school. I know that I should not judge but Freda and I are now in our early thirties and some of our experiences I’m sure would scare her.

Yes, this woman has the qualifications but we have lived more. I may sound ignorant but when I take advice from someone they will usually be older than me, often with grey hair. Her support today was straight out of a textbook and Freda was appearing confused and squeezing my hand.

Feedback

The consultation was now drawing to a close and we were handed a feedback form and envelope on the way out. We both politely thanked her and said goodbye.
“Ruby do you have a pen?” I reached into my bag and we sat again in the waiting room.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t think she gave you much support at all.  She was nice, but her questions were straight from a textbook.”

“Do I put that on the form?”
“Do you feel like you got anything out of today’s session?”
“No, not really.”
“Then write that on the form. There’s no point coming if you are getting nothing out of it.”
“Okay, I’ll write that.”

She completed the form and we put it in the envelope and sealed it. Now, giving it to the receptionist, we hoped that she would not open it as soon as we left. I’m sure feedback is supposed to be anonymous.

Time away

Getting into my car, we had decided that we needed some time out and get away, not quite ‘Thelma and Louise’, but a break.  For some reason, we had agreed to go camping. We hadn’t done this in years, but the car was already packed.  From the mental health assessment, we had collected Rex, Freda’s Labrador. His tail was wagging hard with excitement as if he knew he was about to go on holiday.

We are now doing 70mph down the carriageway. Time in the country, time away from the people we both know. Only for the weekend, but we knew it would do us both good. Freda needed my support and I knew this could help her.  After two rest stops at service stations, coffee and toilets, we arrived at our campsite. Now in the New Forest, we had expected it to be quiet, we were surprised to see the entertainment barn on site.
“Do you think they need two musicians? Freda asked.
“They just might let’s set up and then think about it. We are supposed to be on holiday and we have Rex.”

“Rex is generally good though, he will probably just lie down and listen or go to sleep.” I looked in my rearview mirror at the Labrador, he looked back at me and appeared to be smiling. Do dogs smile? I told myself I was imagining it.

Camping

Unloading the car we rapidly assembled the tent. The poles and canvas always confuse me but Freda had it sorted. Within an hour we were sat on our camping chairs outside the tent, boiling water on the camp stove. All I wanted now was a mug of tea and rest after the drive.

Freda and Rex were running around, playing with a stick. I looked at the other campers, mainly older couples, people our age will often have children at school. I hadn’t met the right man yet and Freda has just come out of a two-year relationship. After seeing the pain that Freda has experienced I am fearful of trusting anyone. She was thinking of marriage and children until John announced that he had been seeing weird Wilma. We are not sure what he sees in Wilma. Hair cut into a straight short bob and dyed blue and purple. She wears ‘Deirdre Barlow’ style glasses and her fashion sense is out of the seventies. However, I’m sure she has an amazing, fun personality. Freda is worth more than John. We both are, but how do you know that you can trust someone with your heart? Woken from my thoughts, Freda said,

Tea

“Where’s the tea, Ruby?”
“Sorry, I was thinking, will do it now.” Freda ran off again with Rex bouncing at her side. Thinking about the support that Rex gives to both of us I made the tea.

Freda came running back and picked up her mug, gratefully. Thirsty now she drank it straight down, Rex lay with a bowl of water by his side, happy to be with his two favourite girls.
Breathing in deeply, I was happy to be out of the city. Away from the cars and fumes. Surrounded by woodland it was nice to get away.
“Come on Ruby, let’s go and see if they have a piano and need entertainment.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yes, come on and then we can take Rex for a short walk.”
Reluctantly I stood up and stretched. I knew I had to move my lazy behind but I am tired. Finishing my tea, I put the stove and mugs inside the tent and grabbed Rex’s lead and passed it to Freda.

The entertainment barn

“Let’s go.” We now started walking towards the entertainment barn. Hearing the sound of the jukebox playing ‘David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust’. We both noticed the stage, old piano, and karaoke machine.
“Hello, ladies, how can I help?” We turned to see a young man with long brown hair in a ponytail, wearing blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt.
“Hi, we are Ruby and Freda, we are wondering if you are needing musicians this weekend.”
“We only have a piano and microphone so, you will need your own instruments”.
“That’s all we need, has the piano been tuned?” Freda asked.
“It was tuned a month ago but it is rarely used.”

“When do you want us?”
“I can’t pay you much, but we rarely have musical acts, your support would be good. It would be nice to hear live music in here. You can come tonight If you like, about 7 pm if you can.”
“We will see you later, sorry what’s your name?” I said.
“I’m Mark.”
“We will see you in a couple of hours.” I was happy to be singing but had been looking forward to a break. However, from looking at Freda’s eager face I could see that she needed it.

A walk

Walking now through the beautiful woodland I now felt more relaxed. Nature is all around us, Rex walking beside us with his tongue hanging out. We saw grey squirrels jumping through the trees and the leaves crackled under our feet. Rex pulled on his lead as a rabbit crossed our path. Seeing us it ran in the other direction, Bobtail bobbing as it disappeared into the hedgerow.

We all enjoyed the walk and were soon back at the tent heating sausages for dinner. Drinking more tea I wondered what the night had in store for us. Freda finished cooking the sausages and I drowned mine in barbecue sauce. Rex stood enjoying his and then lapped up his water noisily.
“I do hope he behaves tonight Freda.”
“He will don’t worry, all will be fine, you will see.”

Later we all walked across the field to the barn. As we entered we could see it was busy. The room wasn’t full of elderly people either it appeared that locals came here as well as campers.  Mark led us to the stage and fetched some water for Rex and coca-cola for us. Rex lay still as we hoped, head on his paws watching us.

Music

Freda sat down at the piano and proceeded to press keys whilst I checked the microphone. When we were ready to go, I checked on Freda and suggested we start with ‘Abba – Summer Night City’.
“Good evening everyone, we are Ruby and Freda, I’m Ruby and on the piano is Freda. How are you all tonight?”
There were a few “okays” from our audience. Rex now looked bored.

“We are going to start with music from ‘Abba’ I hope you enjoy it.”
As I started I could feel all the faces looking up at me. I then noticed Mark, stood there with his mouth open. As I sang I wondered how old he was. Then told myself to stop and concentrate.  An hour later when we finished, Mark came up to me,
“Wow, you are amazing.”
“Thank you, Mark, I do try.”
“Would you like to stay and have a drink with me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m here with my friend and we need to get back to our tent and rest.”

Missing

It was then that a woman came up to us with tears streaming down her face, sobbing hard she said,
“My three-year-old, he’s missing.”
I looked at Freda and Rex. “Maybe we can help,” I said.

Mark looked at me, “you will come back won’t you?” I glanced up at him, under his mop of brown hair, he was actually quite handsome.
“We will pop in tomorrow. Now I’m going to find my friend, her dog and help find the missing boy”.
I was hoping that Rex might be able to sniff him out. After all, he is a Labrador retriever, so surely finding a small child would be easy.

Taking the sobbing woman’s arm I led her to Freda, and then explained what had happened and our evenings mission and that she needed our support. She appeared concerned but I was sure that Rex could do this, he is a great dog and he would deserve a reward after this, maybe another sausage.

Written for Grammys Grid – 1st sentence-  The fish in the aquarium looked as if they..

For more see, Summer breeze and a need for music – Ruby and Freda – part one

Playing the piano and feeling fulfilled – Ruby and Freda – part two

The beautiful Amazon Rainforest

The birds were singing and the breeze was blowing through the trees, the crocodiles were sat in the river. Sounds of the Amazon Rainforest were all around us. I am Matt, myself and my friend Billy have always wanted to travel, to see the world. With a keen interest in rainforests, we were now exploring. It had been an interesting expedition up till now. We had planned a quiet trip, we had our notebooks and had worked out our route.

Taking the helicopter from the city airport we had both felt the trepidation as we saw the river below us. Had we known what was ahead of us, we would have been too scared to leave our homes. Walking along the banks of the river we became aware that we were not alone. There were plenty of wild creatures but these were human voices.
The men were talking in hushed tones. We now strained to hear them.
“Where we putting her?”
“Wouldn’t ‘ere be a good place? Forever with the crocs in the rainforest.” His friend laughed nastily.
They proceeded to dig a hole, then we watched them throw her into it. We both stood frozen, not sure what to do now. My heart was racing so fast that I felt sick. Who was the dead woman? What was going on here?

* * * *

Caroline

Crime and greed, the two go together. So, what had happened? Running a crime syndicate required muscle and control. Those who didn’t obey were dealt with severely. On this day mad George had been watching creepy Caroline. Her actions did not seem to match her intentions. He knew that if something was not done soon they risked losing everything.
Caroline had always been an attractive woman and had always got what she wanted. Always trusting her own abilities, she never imagined that George would turn against her. He was supposed to love her. This day had been unexpected, promises of a romantic holiday had ended now in the Amazon Rainforest.

She knew something was wrong when they had got in a helicopter from the airport. Then meeting Wild Roger, she had started to feel dread. Their first night there in the stinky smelly hut had been hell, no washing or toilet facilities, this was certainly not a romantic holiday. Catching the two men discussing the cash had been her final downfall. She hadn’t noticed the dagger until it was in Roger’s hand and pressed up against her chest.

Misery

Spending the rest of the day bound and gagged, trapped in her own misery, in the heat of the rainforest in her toilet stained trousers, she knew this was the end. The men wanted the money for themselves. She had sat wondering if George might turn on Roger. Hoping that maybe he would save her, but also knowing that was unlikely.

If Creepy Caroline had been aware of the two explorers she might have tried making a noise, but she sat quietly. Imagining an empty desolate forest, what really was the point in trying to make noise? Especially with the gag in her mouth. Sitting plotting her revenge on Wild Roger, she would need to somehow get the dagger of him. She could see the shock on his face as she got the better of him.

The men return

After sitting alone all day, they now returned. Straining against the gag, Roger now took it off her. Staring into his cold blue eyes, she could see the meanness and evil, maybe even the face of a psycho. Looking up she looked at George and pleaded and stammered,
“Please, can we go home now?” he stood quietly looking at her. He knew she would do or say anything to get out of this, she could not be trusted.

They could have been together if it wasn’t for the sake of Roger and a few million pounds. However, how could anyone really love this scheming manipulative bitch? He thought of the people she had hurt and now saw her on the floor, vulnerable and smelling of her own stale urine. Searching in his pocket he found his small handgun. Wouldn’t take much to blow her head off. Maybe later he would do the same to Roger. The money would then be all his.

George’s decision

Thinking it through again, he knew he had his chance. She still trusted him, so would not expect this he thought. Putting his hand around the metal, he felt for the trigger. Already loaded he would just need to point and fire. Shaking now he found himself doing it. A romantic liaison had turned into ‘Murder in the rainforest?’ It took one sudden sweep from his pocket to pulling the trigger. He felt the gun ricochet and saw her shock as she went from conscious to dead.
“Whew, good one mate. Didn’t think you had that in you.”
“No neither did I.” Stood in shock, he had actually killed someone. He had killed the woman who two days ago he had discussed a romantic break with. What sort of person was he? He didn’t know.

* * * *

Captured

It was now late afternoon, we had hoped the men had gone. Though we hadn’t heard a helicopter, we had decided that they must have caught it a little way away. We had not lit a fire this evening because if the men were still around we did not want to alert them. We had been talking quietly, both thinking of stopping our adventure early. It was Monday today, we had been here since Saturday. Due to being collected the following Saturday we now wondered whether to light a flare in hope of going home early.

We had come to explore the rainforest though, and if the gangsters really had gone, then one dead woman shouldn’t stop our fun. Kidding ourselves that all was okay, the sudden feeling of cold metal on my neck made my stomach turn over. I’m sure my heart stopped beating through fear. As the man pulled me up I grabbed my backpack. Thankfully the man was too stupid to question this. Looking over at Billy, I could see that he was being dragged along too,

The hut

“Where you taking us?” I asked.
“Somewhere you can’t talk,” said the cruel tall looking man. Stumbling through the forest, this really was it. I could see that Billy was scared too. He hadn’t said a word, but I could hear him whimpering. I thought about the flare, I just needed to set if off and try and get help.

We reached the little hut in the rainforest and were pushed inside. Straight away we could smell urine and the dark mustiness. Cobwebs and scary giant spiders.
“What we doing with them?” said the shorter weasley looking man.
“Tie ‘em up, they mighta seen something. We need time to getaway. They can rot here, no one will know where they are.” His friend laughed an evil cackling roar.

We allowed ourselves to be tied, as long as I still had my backpack I knew we would be fine. I had dropped it in the dank corner, hoping the men would forget about it. All they seemed concerned with was binding and gagging us.

“Right come on man, don’t want more problems.” Said the tall cruel-looking man. Giving us both a quick kick in the shins and chest they now left.

Tied up

The ropes were tight and the gag tasted disgusting. I wondered if mine had previously been in the ladies mouth and shuddered. Now wriggling across the room as best I could, I eventually reached my backpack. Manipulating it with my head, I managed to turn it over and relieved when it’s contents spilled over the floor.

Hands tied behind me I now wriggled around to find my knife. Feeling for it I was glad when the sharp blade touched my hand. I had seen this in films, I now had to somehow cut through the rope without cutting my wrists. Working at the rope I managed to loosen it a little which enabled me to get the sharp blade to cut through the knots binding me. Now free I pulled out my gag and cut through the rope around my feet. I then helped Billy and we were now free.

“Matt, what now? What if they come back?
“We need to get out of here and then set off the flare. We need to get away from this hut and report what we have seen and heard”.
“Why didn’t those men kill us, Matt?
“Don’t know mate, but seriously we just need to get away from here”.

Escape

Limping a little, feeling the wounds on our legs and wrists we walked away from the hut back in the rainforest. Hoping that we were not about to walk into the men. Hearing a helicopter we now hid back in the trees, not wanting to be seen. It was not one we recognised from the Manaus City. There was no company name emblazoned down the side. These men must have had a third accomplice and why come to the Amazon Rainforest with their dirty deals.

Now watching them disappear into the distance, we waited till we could no longer see them. Unpacking my backpack again, I found my flare. We had abandoned our belongings, for now, we just needed to get help. Setting it off, we wondered how long we would have to wait. About an hour later we heard a rumble. Both of us felt a wave of relief when we recognised the city helicopter, with ‘Amazon Rainforest Choppers’ written down its side. Knowing that we were safe, we walked out into the clearing and explained to the pilot about the two men and the woman. He now talked into his radio.

Rescue

A little while later we heard more helicopters. Black, blue and white this time, the Amazon Rainforest police. They took statements from both of us and wanted to know where the lady was buried. Nervously we led them to her shallow grave. Digging her up. she was recognised immediately. Caroline Waters, she’s wanted for quite a few crimes in these parts.
“Would you two mind accompanying us to the police station? We need you to identify the men who tied you up. We think you have come across a major crime syndicate here.”
“Yes, of course” I said.
“Can we please collect our belongings?” said Billy.
“Yes, Fred, could you go with the lads and help them. Meanwhile, we will send Caroline back to the city.”

Things went smoothly from here. Fred helped us to take down our campsite and we were soon at the Manaus City police station. The men were George Miller and Roger Willis, wanted for money laundering, burglary, assault, and fraud. It was a few weeks later that we heard that they had found George Miller, alone hiding in a dark hotel room. A few days later they had found Roger’s dead body with a bullet wound in his chest. There was no sign of their other accomplice who flew the helicopter, we wondered who he was and the police are still investigating.

Crime and greed

All because of greed a man and a woman are dead. If they had to commit the crime surely a few million was enough to split three ways. Billy and I would have been happy with one million as a reward. We were mentioned in the newspaper and awarded for our bravery. This was enough, it had been a terrifying ordeal and we were relieved that they had not killed us when they could have done.

We were lucky that they had not checked my backpack. The knife had cut our ropes and the flare had got us home sooner. So, where are we travelling to next? Certainly not to a rainforest, maybe we will find an empty bleak mountain to explore, surely we can’t find trouble there? Or can we?

Written for Write the Story – Writers Unite

For more see, The New York ‘Street End Cafe’