2385. A couple of shipping containers

When Clint and Crystal decided to live together they thought it would be fun to create a house – all their own – out of a couple of old shipping containers. Clint had enough money to do this, and once completed and settled they could work towards being self-sufficient. They had seen television programs about people who did such things. It looked like fun and seemed to be the very thing that would bring excitement to their lives.

They ordered two shipping containers and had them delivered onto the property they had purchased next to a forest.

Of course they would rough it in an old caravan until their house was liveable. The internet was a must. How else could they find out how to do things? And they needed electricity. Both of those took months to set up, and by the time it was done Crystal had taken off to town (permanently) as she had grown tired of the isolation.

Clint started visiting the nearest pub some evenings, just for a bit of company, and that was where he met Beth. Beth was really keen to join Clint’s project even though she had never wielded a hammer or a rake in her life. After a couple of weeks she decided that the alternative lifestyle wasn’t really for her and left.

Clint still had the two shipping containers sitting on the ground not even in place. A month or so later he met Carla. Carla was a realist. She said, “You do realize just how much you’ve taken on?” But she agreed to join Clint’s project and boy! did she get things done!

These days Carla and Clint have finished their home, have two kids (four kids if you count the two goats), and are almost self-sufficient with vegetables, fruit, goats, a cow and a couple of sheep. Not to mention the three chickens.

From the outside it looked like an idyllic situation, and indeed it was. It was idyllic until Clint went off to the pub one evening and that was where he met Melinda.

2353. Inseparable Wanda and Wally

Wanda and Wally were inseparable. One would never be seen without the other. They were almost as attached to Rowena as they were to each other. Often when Wanda and Wally passed by, Rowena was never far behind.

Rowena was the village extrovert. No party was complete without Rowena. No, she wasn’t an “over the top extrovert” but she added a lovely lustre to any function. That was why Christina invited Rowena for a coffee when Christina’s dear cousin and her cousin’s boyfriend came to visit. “And what about bringing a couple of friends? The more the merrier.”

“I would like you to meet,” declared Christina when Rowena arrived along with Wanda and Wally, “I would like you to meet my dear cousin and her boyfriend from the city, Wanda and Wally.”

“Oh what gorgeous miniature poodles,” crooned Christina’s cousin to Rowena. “What are their names?”

“Ah, Um.” said Rowena not daring to say they had the same names as the guests. “Patsy and Fred.”

2019. A gaggle of gossipers

(Today’s story is the penultimate. Tomorrow’s story (Number 2020) will be the last – at least for a while. I am writing this in September so who knows! Tomorrow’s story has LOTS of links so it’s not impossible that it will automatically end up in your email trash. Just a warning!)

Monique and Marcel had known each other for years. They were good friends since university days. Now both were widowed. They usually met once or twice a month for coffee and a chat. Each found support from the other in their loss.

After some time they started to hear rumours: they were a couple, they were dating, they were inevitably going to get married… None of this was true, but rumours stick.

“Apparently they haven’t as yet moved into the same house,” said Nora Cudworthy to Mabel Johnstoneville. “You’d think they would. After all, they do everything else. They should stop pretending we don’t know and move in.”

“I heard,” said Sandy Monteverdi to Joe Devon, “that they were having an affair long before their spouses died. I’m not surprised, judging from the way they carry on these days.”

“It’s unbelievable! Unbelievable!” said Carmel Cranford to Tessa London. “They have their grandchildren come to stay and I heard that Marcel and Monique spend all their time otherwise engaged. Unbelievable!”

“Enough is enough!” declared Monique to Marcel. “Let’s add fuel to the fire. Let’s go away together in the same car to some fancy resort somewhere and leave them to chatter.”

And they did! Off they trundled ostentatiously in the car.

While they were away the nearby volcano erupted and utterly decimated the village. It was like a modern Pompeii. The whole gaggle of gossipers was gone. Of course, Monique and Marcel were safe. But there was no one left to announce their engagement to.

1607. The colours of drinks

Shona and Freddie were the life of any party. They were boyfriend and girlfriend, although they didn’t share the same address. They had this “thing”. It was always planned. Of course, it had to be planned otherwise it couldn’t have happened. Shona always wore what matched Freddie’s cocktail drink.

Shona would phone Freddie and ask what he was thinking of drinking at this particular party or on this particular outing. A Bloody Mary and Shona would wear red. And what a stunning red dress it was! Tomato was definitely Shona’s colour. A Casablanca and Shona would wear the colours of pineapple and coconut milk. She cut such a dashing figure! It wasn’t always alcoholic either. Sometimes, for example, it could be iced tea. Different colours suited Shona and browns and golds were muted, as if to say “We shall have a laidback evening in a classy restaurant.”

So it came as a bit of a shock when Freddie suggested they have a quiet evening at his place, just the two of them, and he was drinking nothing but water.