Puma

Chapter 1
In a vast town stood the insignificant flat of Tom and Miranda. Inside
the window of the fifth floor building was Miranda in her bedroom. She
sat applying her make up with the same skill you would expect to see
from an artist. She pouted her lipstick and picked up her earrings, as
she looked into the small travel mirror she saw her husband enter the
bedroom and sit behind her on the edge of the bed. The bed and the
small mirror were the only things left in the room. Everything else had
been packed into the removal van earlier that day and was on its way
north to their new house in the country. Tonight Tom and Miranda were
going to meet with friends, for a last meal in the big anonymous town.
This move had been planned for a long time. Not only would they leave
behind the city but hopefully their lifestyle.

Whilst in the cab, travelling slowly through the crowded dirty streets,
Miranda thought about her new house. She hadn't been able to think
about anything else but the move. But somehow she hadn't had time to
think about the house itself. A garden was going to be a new possession
to them both. The small window boxes where laughably minuscule when
compared to her new gardens. She imagined john mowing the lawns whilst
she tended the flowerbeds, and smiled to herself. Tom held her hand in
his and smiled, his thoughts were also on the new house. The last time
they had visited she had stood at the kitchen window and her attention
was first drawn to the rich smell of the garden. Then to the large oak
tree which stood central. It was the sort of tree she imagines everyone
had played under or in as a child. She could almost visualise Tom out
side under that old oak tree playing with their own children. They
hadn't planned having children, not just yet. Neither of them had liked
the idea of raising children in the town. Their town was no place for
raising children. It was full of fast, dangerous, dirty cars and most
of the people there resembled their cars. But the countryside brought a
lot of new prospects to both of them. Miranda would no longer have to
commute for three hours a day. She would now be working from home,
their new homely home. Which would be very convenient if any children
should arrive into their lives. Tom was to be a director of a company.
He still had to travel, but he determined his hours in work, as he
would be relatively his own boss. They had even bought a new car, a
four-wheel drive, to fit in with their new lifestyle.

The cab pulled up at the restaurant where they were to say goodbye to
their much-loved friends. Tom and Miranda were to be the first to split
from the bunch. Splitting from their colony of friends who fought hard
every day in the jungle of the town. Their friends admired their
courage, but they were addicted to the fast, dirty, dangerous lifestyle
the town offered. Tom secretly wondered if he too was addicted to this
lifestyle. The prospect of chance excited him. But the calmness of the
countryside haunted him.