Desperate measures

Desperate measures

Megan pulled up outside the house and looked up at the front door.
There was something different about the house today but she couldn't
quite see what. As she leant over to get her handbag from the
passenger's seat, the car horn went off. She must have jumped a foot in
the air but when she realised what she had done she sank in her seat
hoping that no one had seen her. Fortunately everyone seemed to still
be at work, so breathing a sigh of relief she got out of her car and
walked to the front door.
As she approached the door she saw what was wrong. She pushed the door
further ajar and called out, there was usually someone home at this
time. Strangely no one replied, even the dog remained silent, maybe
they had taken it out for a walk. So why had no one locked the door on
their way out? What was it that had made them rush out of the house so
quickly that they didn't even worry about closing the door, let alone
locking it? Megan hoped it was something exciting rather than terrible.
She wandered around the house making sure nothing had been stolen. It
had been a while since she had had a good look around this house. She
admired the d?cor and the little ornaments that gathered in the small
alcoves and in pretty little display units. The master bedroom was so
spacious and the furniture looked as if it had always belonged there.
The wardrobe door was also ajar and through the gap Megan could see the
long blue dress with red flowers around the trim. She loved that dress,
it was so elegant. She held it up against her and smiled at her
reflection in the mirror. Dancing a slow dance the dress swayed and
glided on the air to the rhythm.
Downstairs she couldn't decide whether to watch whatever was on the
wide screen television or play some music on the new Bang &; Olufsen
stereo. It was always the best they had to have, never less. In the end
she decided to play some music on the stereo, Jazz Moods turned her
mind to the day that she had just lived through and she sighed. The
bank manager had been as forgiving as usual and it was the same old
people in the loans department that again refused her and gave her the
parting gift of that look that said, "how on earth did you get yourself
into this mess?" If she knew that, then she would have solved her
financial problems a long time ago. Her job demanded that she looked
good and not only that, when she took clients to lunch she had to
arrive in a decent car. She decided to put the dress on to cheer
herself up and she went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea.
She thought someone might have come home by now or at least phoned.
She even had her mobile with her, which made it a rare occasion, as
although she had found it useful in the past she still detested mobile
phones. How could one invention sweep the nation and suddenly become an
essential to everybody's daily life. There were so many people walking
the streets that Megan wanted to buy new shoes for, or a new suit or
even a new hairdo but despite their obvious lacking in money they all
had mobile phones! Then she laughed at herself, I mean it may have been
a while since she last looked in the mirror but she knew she had put
plenty of material things ahead of her health and her bank account.
These people were just the same as her, they wanted status and respect,
especially off strangers, and as strangers only have your appearance to
go on you make sure you look good, and own the things that
impress.
After today though Megan didn't know how much longer she could cope
with this life of hers. It was a never-ending story of red letters and
drowning her sorrows. When one hole was filled another gaping canyon
would appear. It had all come at once today, one big reminder of
everything in her life that made it a mess. Now came the tears that
weren't going to stop for at least the next hour, so now she hoped no
one came home or phoned. She didn't want anyone to be in trouble, but
if they were they were just going to have to hold out for an hour or
two. Absolutely no one could know of how much trouble she was in. She
tried to lift her head up and put things into perspective and again she
looked round at the wide screen t.v. and the most up to date stereo.
There was only one thing left for her to do. She stepped outside and
made sure that the neighbourhood was still deserted. Then she lifted
the t.v. the stereo, the antique ornaments and everything else there
was of value out of the house and into the car. Even the mirror with
the gold frame came out of the house and into the passenger's seat of
her car.
Finally she grabbed her handbag and walked out of the door leaving it
slightly ajar. She jumped into her car and started up the engine. She
drove away from the road she knew so well and headed for the nearest
junction of the motorway. Glancing over her shoulder the mirror
revealed how nice she looked in the dress. She smiled, "I always knew
it would look better then me than it did on Mary, besides what were
friends for?"