I'd known about it for a short time - my husband's affair I mean. Oh he'd tried hard enough to hide it but men aren't too good at that kind of thing. The scent of betrayal had been cloying the air like a heavy perfume and I hadn't been able to pin down what it was.
I'd caught him once, long ago, when we were very young, watching the girl in the house opposite undressing. He'd even bought binoculars to make the experience more enjoyable. How did I know what he was up to? Ah, well I went to bed early each evening, long before him and one night I woke up suddenly and caught the scent of something unusual....an acrid sour smell infiltrating the peace of our lives....and I investigated. It took a while but I found him in our children's playroom, gawping through the window as she performed a sensual striptease, oozing out of her black undies like evil from a tube, clearly aware that she was being watched.
I forgave him that one. Any man would have been tempted was his excuse and I guess he was right. Besides I didn't want to go into the ins and outs of it. Least said soonest mended I thought.
It was years later when I found the small torn piece of wrapping paper amidst the chaos of his stationery drawer. I was searching for a label when I came across the scrap saying 'Happy Birthday' Darling' in pink letters on a background of green leaves. He hadn't given me a present wrapped in paper like that, so I asked for an explanation. Oh! Apparently I was mistaken and he had given me a present wrapped in paper like that. I had forgotten. Silly me!
It was at that point that I went to the fancy dress shop. The place smelled musty but I didn't care. I hired an 'old woman' outfit complete with grey permed wig and clompy lace ups. Then when he was setting out one day without a plausible explanation of where he was going, I told him I was going shopping, whch in a manner of speaking was the truth. At the appointed place I picked up the arranged hire car and followed him.
I watched as he picked her up in his Mercedes, followed the two of them, my husband and the blonde bitch with killer heels and a short skirt to the restaurant where they were going to eat. Luckily there was a table free nearby. I took it and toyed with a glass of mineral water while they drank each other in. I could smell the sexual magnetism between them.
I didn't wait long. I'd said I was shopping and I was. The knife I bought in the hardware shop was long-bladed and very sharp. And it smelled so sweetly of revenge.
Copyright © 2008 Rob Richardson. All Rights Reserved.