Happiness

For one week only I am posting up something a bit different; a story I wrote a while ago. Any comments will be gratefully received.

Jane sat down on the park bench and cried. The miracle of life surrounding her meant nothing at that time. She was on the verge of giving up; she’d been relying on false hope, and now came the realisation it wasn’t going to happen. Days of wandering the park and the streets around her house had not been successful; it was time to give up on her quest.

It wasn’t very often Jane got so upset. She looked up at the trees through a blur of tears. She felt their loss, bare and exposed to the wild winter. There was hope for them, their leaves would return. Brownie wouldn’t return, not now, too much time had passed. Right, she thought, this is silly, she wiped the tears away and stood up. It’s not the end of the world; life goes on. Come on you stupid woman pull yourself together. I’ve still got Magic.

She felt the crunch of the frost as she walked, and the chill of the wind freeze her tears. She imagined Brownie hurt, lost, lying somewhere, cold and miserable. As she started to cross the road, a car driving much too fast sped past her, with loud, so called, music blaring out of the window. Bloody boy racers she thought, angry with their lack of responsibility driving that fast. She imagined Brownie, run over and lying dead somewhere.

Back at home, Jane went to wash her face and freshen up a bit. The strong emotions had exhausted her, so she settled down on her favourite chair. Magic jumped up on her knee; she was white with black markings, younger than Brownie. She was a playful and curious young cat. She loved exploring; she had a belief she could get anywhere she wanted to go. She would perch on the narrowest back of a chair and jump up to the top of the bookshelf. If you left a box out, or a cupboard door open, she’d be in there like a flash. She was also very loving and sociable, always acknowledging, and coming over to say hello, when anyone appeared.

Jane loved her cats, as she looked down at Magic, she began to feel better. While she stroked her, Magic closed her eyes and purred blissfully. Magic’s feelings of contentment, rubbed off on Jane, and she smiled. Her cats made her feel happy and loved. Jane talked to her cats, she could share her feelings with cats, more than she could with her husband. They wouldn’t put her down, tell her she was stupid; they would just be there for her.

She’d been married to Alan for 28 years. He was an accountant, and earned enough money, so Jane didn’t have to go out to work. Alan didn’t like deviating from his routine, and liked everything done in a particular way. He liked his tea made in a teapot, with just the right amount of milk, and exactly ¾ of a teaspoon of sugar. Jane had spent most of her life being the perfect wife. Every day she woke up before Alan, prepared his breakfast and packed lunch, woke him up with a cup of tea, and spent the rest of the day cleaning.

He would always tell her if something was wrong, and point out what needed doing around the house. He liked a tidy, organised house, after all he did work very hard to provide everything for the both of them. Jane had nothing to complain about, she had a fairly easy life; Alan looked after her. Being on her own all day she valued her cats, they were her companions, they didn’t ask for anything, she feed them and looked after them because she wanted to, not because they demanded it.

Brownie was nine, a rather chubby chocolate box brown cat. He was very affectionate with Jane, but was not a people cat like Magic. If anyone visited, he would wake up, stretch, and grudgingly climb the stairs in search of some peace and quiet. Lately, before his disappearance, he’d taken to sleeping on the toilet seat, or in the basin in the bathroom. Jane never had any children, and she felt the cats were her baby’s. She’d had Brownie since he was a kitten and she loved him dearly.

Looking up at the clock, Jane realised it was four, and she hadn’t done anything about dinner. Alan would be back soon, and he liked his dinner ready when he got in. Magic followed her to the kitchen and meowed at the back door to go out. Jane let her out, and got on with gathering her ingredients. Cottage pie tonight, she thought, comfort food. She had brought some fresh brussel sprouts, from the farm shop yesterday. They would go well with it.

Jane thought about the evening ahead. It was always the same, they would eat, Alan would sit down with his paper, while Jane cleared up in the kitchen. Then about eight they would settle down and watch countdown, which Jane taped every day. They didn’t seem to have much to talk about nowadays. Alan would talk about colleagues at the office. Jane would talk about the adventures Magic got herself into, or the new odd place Brownie had taken to sleeping. He wasn’t really too interested in the cats, and she wasn’t really interested in his work.

While she was chopping up some onions, she heard another meow, this time at the window. Washing her hands, she laughed, silly old Magic she thought she’s so scatty, she only just went out. As she opened the window, which had steamed up, she saw it wasn’t Magic. It took her a moment to register. She pulled Brownie in hugging him close to her. Brownie purred and looked up at her, his eyes seemed to say I missed you too. After a big cuddle, Brownie jumped down and made his way to the front room and settled down to sleep on the sofa. It was almost as if he hadn’t been away. The last three weeks didn’t matter now, Brownie was home. Jane was happy.

Message for my readers: I have been away for a while due to going away on a couple of holidays and writing job applications and attending job interviews. If I do end up finding work I may have to start posting articles monthly instead of fortnightly. I will of course keep you all informed.