Blindingly Obvious

“Blindingly Obvious”

Sandra loved her hairdressing job and a good gossip with her colleagues, but sometimes she felt she wanted to run away. She wished she could walk out the door and start her life all over again. She was uneasy but couldn’t figure out why she felt this way since Mick moved into her life.

“How did I get myself into this mess?” she’d often ask her bedroom wall.

“I don’t deserve this,” she would endlessly remind the wall how unfair life was.

“Sandra, you’ve cut my hair unevenly. It’s a mess,” Mrs Jones rounded on Sandra.

Sandra snapped out of her daydream and stared at Mrs. Jones’s grey brittle mop sprouting from her rather fat head like a stiff yard brush.

“Oh dear, dear me, Mrs. Jones,” Sandra started apologetically “I don’t know what happened there!”

“I’ll tell you what happened,” bellowed Mrs. Jones “you’ve been thinking about that good-for-nothing lazy Mick Parry again. Why don’t you get rid, he’s not good for you. He can’t pull the wool over your lads’ eyes much longer. They know he’s a lazy selfish man with no intention of getting a job while you’re out earning.”

“I’m really so sorry,” mumbled Sandra embarrassingly “I’ll sort it out and I’ll give you a discount.”

Sandra’s long slender arms moved swiftly as she deftly patched up the damage she’d done to her customer’s hair and tried to smooth the muddy waters. She’d have to face her boss, Eileen, and explain away the discount she’d given Mrs. Jones.

“Oh, Lord,” thought Sandra “I can’t believe what it’s come to. I work hard, look after the lads and make sure Mick’s well fed and has money for a beer. I know he can be selfish to me but even the customers are starting to tell me he’s no good for me.”

“How can I get myself back to that happy-go-lucky girl I once was before I got mixed up with Mick?”

Sandra chewed over the how the ambience in her home in the last few months had changed so drastically but Mick Parry was like a drug she couldn’t do without.

The younger Sandra courted her sweetheart, Ted and married him, producing three lovely boys in quick succession. They were ever so happy as the boys started growing and going to school and starting to show signs of some independence. The Smith boys, as they were referred by the teachers, were aged five, six and seven and a credit to their parents.

What a shock, was waiting in the wings for Sandra, when a knock on her door resulted in her life and her sons’ lives changing forever as they knew. 

“The ice on the road,” she heard in the distance as she nearly blacked out “a lorry skidding into the path of your husband’s car. He was killed outright. He didn’t suffer,” continued the police liaison officer.

“How can I tell our boys they’ve lost their dad?” Sandra whispered through a tear-stained face.

“How can I go on living?” she continued “I don’t want to live without my Ted,” she said hoarsely.

Somehow and with vast amount of support and love of her close family, she helped her boys during the loss of their father and told them how much he loved them and how proud he was to be their dad. She also told them he’d asked that the boys look after their mother and this they did with great dedication as best as any five, six and seven-year old could do.

Time as always was the healer and Sandra slowly weaved a life for her and her boys and actually started laughing again and enjoying life after returning to her hairdressing job.

“Come on Sandra,” pleaded her workmate “it’s time to dust down those dancing shoes and paint the town red. We’re off to the Pally on Saturday and it’s a great disco, you can let your hair down.”

"Oh O.K. if Mum can look after the boys,” she replied, “they’re getting older now and not an ounce of trouble.

“Right, it’s sorted. I’ll pick you up at eight on the dot,” replied friend Sue.

That was the beginning of the end of Sandra’s life as she knew it for her and her boys. She met Mick Parry that same night and fell for him hook, line and sinker. No amount of subtle innuendos from family and friends, or blunt hints from Sue would change her mind. She had fallen for Mick and within a month he was ensconced in the Smith’s life and in their home.

How could things change so quickly and so drastically? No sooner had Mick moved in when he started throwing his weight around with the lads, shoving them, pushing them and, unknown to Sandra sending them to bed without food when she worked late at the salon.

Sandra got uneasy when he pressured her to spend her hard-earned cash on booze and fags to keep him good-humoured when, in fact, the boys needed new trousers for school. She couldn’t see what was before her eyes and didn’t listen to the well-meant hints from family and friends that all was not well in the Smith household.

Mick spun a web of lies and deceit, always promising to get off benefits and get a job so he could help her with the finances and take them away on holiday abroad.

“Now, darling,” Mick would start “you know how much I want to help with the finances and I don’t enjoy not working. I want a job but it has to be the right one for me. I’m not just doing any job or working for any old company, I’ll wait till the right job comes along,” he finished.

“I suppose you’re right,” Sandra would reply “often hearing her voice in disbelief at what was coming out of her mouth.

She didn’t want to face up to her fears and the little hints her lads were giving that all was not well with Mick, were dismissed as their comparing Mick with their beloved Dad.

Nothing seemed to change, her boys appeared to be doing alright at school, although they were quiet and subdued sometimes, and looked thinner but that’s down to their growing so fast she’d reminded herself.

Shock, shook Sandra into reality when school rung and asked her to see the Headmaster.

“Mrs. Smith, I don’t know just how much you are aware of the situation at home but your eldest boy has just snapped in school. He’s had a breakdown and he’s absolutely terrified of your finding out what he has said to the school nurse.”

“I don’t understand,” started Sandra “there’s nothing wrong at home. Why has he started saying these things?”

“I would say, Mrs. Smith, this is serious stuff and I’ve had to involve the Safeguarding team at school,” replied the Head.

Sandra sat motionless, whilst her head spun as she took in the Headmaster’s words. Her world was about to fall apart yet again.

“Mrs Smith, your boys have been mistreated by your partner, Mick. Justin tried to shield you from the truth because he knew you were happy with Mick, but he’s just had enough. Mick sends them to bed when you are working late at the salon. He beats them up, keeps them short of food and threatens he’ll kill you if they tell you what he’s done,” reported the Headmaster.

“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Smith, you’ve had your hard times losing your dear husband, but you have to face up to what your lads are saying and what can’t speak can’t lie,” continued the Headmaster “look at your sons’ gaunt faces?”

Sandra urged to see her boys and was led to the nurse’s room. For the first time in a long time, she looked deeply at her three boys and saw her three, unhappy, thin sons with tears rolling down their faces. She had to face up to it. Mick had to go.  The game was up and he couldn’t deny what she could see with her own eyes once the veil had been lifted.

All the times, she’d connived with Mick, saying that maybe the boys were getting too cocky and they couldn’t have pocket money until Mick got a job. She’d become estranged from her family as they’d stopped coming round because Mick always seemed to be picking an argument or making them feel uncomfortable. How could she have been so blind and so stupid? It was there facing her all the time, Mick was a lazy, selfish scrounger and she’d fell for his charms. She had dismissed the truth that he was cruel when he knocked her about from time to time because he was in a bad mood.

“Well, this is the end-of-the-line and a big, wake-up call,” she said “I don’t want my lads taken off me.”

“I’m really sorry, boys, I didn’t see it. I’m so sorry, I’ll make it up to you all I promise,” she finished quietly.

“We’re going home now, and Mick is leaving the house tonight. I’m going to be strong and we’ll be the happy family we were before Mick moved in. I’ll make it up to you all. I promise.

She gathered up her three boys, and with the Headmaster’s permission, out she walked with a spring in her step.   

1564 Words