As we mentioned last week, winners for the Crime and Intrigue Short Story Writing Competition were announced.
Michelle Moore from Winford took first place in the adult category for ‘Margaret & Me’. As promised, we’re pleased to reproduce Michelle’s winning short story below. Ed
I couldn’t believe it! James and Sharon had thrown me out. Admittedly I had ruined their brand new cream luxury carpet. Somehow I’d accidentally nudged their antique vase that was full of lilies. Pollen stains everywhere. They said I had done it on purpose and how could I expect to continue living there if this was the sort of behaviour they could expect from me.
I had only been there for four months. I was living rough on the streets but they took me in. I couldn’t believe my luck. At first they couldn’t do enough for me, but the last couple of weeks I would say they had actually begun to dislike me being around and were just waiting for an excuse to throw me out. Unfortunately I had given them one.
I hated begging on the streets, but it was the only way I was going to get any food. I went back to my old haunts hoping they’d remember me and give me some leftovers. My first stop was the sushi restaurant. I wasn’t fond of sushi particularly, but I knew the Japanese chef that worked there. He was a kind older man that didn’t speak much English. He saw me as I peered in through the open door. “Hey, long time not sees!” He said in his broken English. “You food need?” He said as he rummaged about in the fridge. “Here, all can spare, got lot people eat tonight.” He gave me a bowl of cold rice; that did me nicely. “Got go now, they wait for food creations! If need more food, come again tomorrow.”
I finished my bowl of rice in the doorway and wondered where I should sleep that night. I headed for the bridge in town. You could sleep under there quite comfortably out of the wind without being bothered. I found a bit of old cardboard and settled down on it for the night as best I could. I didn’t sleep well. It was a cold night. I could hear the distant noise of late night drunks shouting and laughing. I wish I had something to laugh about.
By morning I was stiff, tired and incredibly hungry. I wandered down to the park and saw a child feeding the ducks with bread. What a waste! The bread was soon gobbled up by the greedy ducks – not a hope of any left.
For the next couple of days I just wandered, taking food where I could get it, sometimes from cafe leftovers, sometimes from bins. Well, I had to live somehow. I spent most days in the park people watching.
One person in particular caught my attention. She was an elderly lady with silver hair, short and plump, and always looked sad. She never spoke to anyone, just sat on a bench for a while, the same time every day. Occasionally she brought a few biscuits or a sandwich which she ate slowly, and then she would get up and go home. I followed her one day. She went out of the park, turned into a little street with quaint houses and went inside one of them. She became my pastime – I’d look out for her especially.
On Monday morning I woke up starving hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since Saturday night. Even the sushi restaurant had a different chef on for the weekend and he just slammed the door in my face. I wandered around for a while and found myself in the park.
I was sitting down deep in thought, when who should come up to me, but my old lady. “Mind if I sit here?” She said. “What a morning! It’s getting a bit chilly.” She rubbed her hands together and blew on them to warm them up. She certainly wasn’t kidding! She rummaged in her bag. “My name is Margaret. I don’t suppose you’d like to share my biscuits with me?” She asked as she pulled out a packet of digestives. I have never tasted anything as wonderful as those biscuits that morning.
She didn’t stop talking for over an hour. She seemed to want someone to talk at rather than converse with. I didn’t mind, I loved listening to her. “Time I was going. Don’t tell me your name; I think I’ll call you Simon after my son that died a few years ago.” She said with tears in her eyes. She wiped them away with a handkerchief. “Well, I have enjoyed this chat with you. I’ll tell you about Simon next time we bump into each other. Thanks for your company.” With that she headed out of the park.
We continued to meet like this in the park, sharing the food she brought, and her telling me about her life. It gave me a reason to get up in the mornings. One morning, Margaret brought an unusually large bag with her. It was full of homemade sausage rolls. “Eat up!” she said as she passed me a warm one. It was the best breakfast I’d had in a long time. Margaret was so kind. “Where do you sleep at night?” she asked. I couldn’t answer; I hung my head in shame. “I thought as much. You haven’t got anywhere have you? That’s settled then, you’re coming home with me. I’ve been rattling around in my old house on my own for far too long.” I couldn’t believe my luck. Surely good people like this didn’t exist anymore.
When we arrived at her house, she took me into the kitchen and opened the back door. “It’s not a very big garden, but it does for me and my birds.” It was beautiful. “Let’s go indoors and have a spot of lunch. I’ve got a few sausage rolls left if you could manage one or two more.”
So far I had been with Margaret for three months. She sees virtually nobody else except the milkman. He seems nice, not just leaving the milk outside the door, but taking the time to knock and ask her if she’s alright every morning or if he can get anything for her.
One morning I heard Margaret get out of bed and go into the kitchen, so I go up and headed that way myself. It had been a really cold night. “Morning Simon. Cold again isn’t it?” She said. “I think the heating is broken.” She put the kettle on and then felt the radiator. “Not a sausage! No wonder. I’ll have to ring the gas board to get it fixed.” She took a couple of slices of bread, unlocked the back door and crumbled it onto the bird table. She came inside shivering.
We went for a brisk walk in the park all morning, and when we got back home I collapsed in the lounge exhausted. Margaret was just taking her coat off when she stopped suddenly. “Oh I forgot to buy another loaf of bread. I was going to do hot buttered toast for lunch. I’ll pop out now quickly before I forget. You stay there and rest; I’ll only be a few minutes.” I was quite relieved at that and soon dozed off after she had gone.
I was woken by the sound of the back door opening. “That’s strange.” I thought. “She hardly ever uses the back door. She must have forgotten her key to the front and gone round the back. I waited for her to appear in the doorway. She didn’t. I went to investigate. As I entered the kitchen, I came face to face with three thugs. “I thought she lived alone!” One of them yelled. Before I could do anything he grabbed me and pinned me to the ground where the second thug then held down my legs. The one that was left standing handed the other two a length of rope. “Tie this round his mouth to silence him!” he said. I was so shocked, I just let it happen. “What now?” One of them said. “I don’t know; tie him to a chair or something!” Obediently the other two tied me to the chair with what was left of the rope. “There wasn’t supposed to be anyone with her!” One said angrily to another. “It’s too late now. Just grab anything you can & let’s get out of here before she gets back.” With that they rampaged through the house. I listened, unable to do anything. I just prayed that Margaret wouldn’t come back before they had left.
I heard the familiar key in the front door. “Quiet, she’s back.” I heard one say from the bedroom. Margaret opened the door and walked in “I’m back Simon!” She called. “Simon??”. I heard her make her way to the kitchen. “Simon! Whatever”¦” I could see the thugs behind her. Margaret turned round mid sentence and started to scream. One of them had a brass table lamp in his hand. He raised it high and brought it down hard on Margaret’s head. My poor Margaret! I struggled but still couldn’t free myself. “Quick let’s go. We’ve got enough.” He said.
Margaret lay motionless on the floor. I was frantic with worry. As one of the thugs ran past me, he knocked the chair I was tied to. The chair tipped and the rope slipped off the end of the chair leg. My mouth was still gagged for the moment, but at least I could move. Margaret was my only concern, she still wasn’t moving.
The following afternoon, Margaret woke up in hospital. “What happened, where am I?” She asked one of the nurses. “I’ll just get a police officer to talk to you.” The nurse replied. A few minutes later a policeman appeared. “Hello Margaret, how are you feeling?” He asked her. “Muddled. What happened?” Margaret asked. “Well, you’re in hospital. Yesterday morning, three youths were caught with a lot of unusual goods so we apprehended them. After questioning they admitted to stealing them from your house. Apparently they had been watching you, waited until you had gone out and broke in to your house. It does appear that your back door was unlocked at the time and they took advantage. You must have come back and surprised them, which was when you got hit over the head. Margaret looked shocked. “You’ll be alright now though. You were unconscious on the floor all night until the milkman came this morning. He thought it was strange that you didn’t answer the door, so he went round the back and saw you on the floor. You were lucky you didn’t die of pneumonia. The temperature fell dramatically last night.” He said. “My heating isn’t working officer. I meant to ring the gas board to fix it.” Margaret said confused.
The policeman continued “In fact, the doctors said that your dog saved your life.” “Simon!! Where is he?” Margaret asked. “He’s safe; the milkman’s looking after him until you’re better. After the thieves left your house, your dog dragged a blanket from your bed and covered you up to keep you warm. He couldn’t bark to attract attention because the thieves had muzzled him with a rope. He couldn’t get out to raise the alarm because all the doors and windows were shut. When the temperature fell during the night, he laid himself on top of you and kept you warm with his body heat. You are a very lucky lady to have a faithful dog like that!” Margaret’s eyes filled with tears. “I know.” She said.
When she came out of hospital, I was so glad to see her. “Oh, Simon!” She said as she knelt down beside me and hugged me. “What would I have ever done without you!” I licked her face until it was raw and then she took me home. Back to our home, where we both belonged. Nothing was going to separate us. Ever.
Image: Wandering Thinker under CC BY 2.0
