The Scarlet Anniversary

155 Pages·2012·0.7 MB·English

by  Planet Lubowa M

T S A
HE CARLET NNIVERSARY

Lubowa.M.Planet
The scarlet anniversary is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and
dialogues are products of the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as
real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Lubowa.M.Planet First Printing, 2012

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or
used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
authors, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed and Published in The United States Of America.
DEDICATION

This writing is dedicated to my beautiful wife who is always supportive and
helpful in my writing and earthly endeavors.
This work is also dedicated to the fantastic writers who have given me hours and
hours of enjoyment and inspiration
Contents
DEDICATION
Acknowledgements
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
EPILOGUE
Acknowledgements

Thanks are conveyed to George for his thoughts, creativity, ideas and sleepless
nights spent for making this writing a reality. Having someone who writes and is
straight forward as a sounding board proves to be infinitely valuable.
Cover design by: Waqas Mehboob
CHAPTER ONE

‘You’re awfully quiet?’ Madeleine Francis looked at her husband with a raised
eyebrow. They had been driving for around ninety minutes and he had barely
said a word to her, in fact the most he had said had been directed towards some-
one in a van that had cut out ahead of them as they had been driving through the
city. As they had driven further into the suburbs and now the countryside her
husband had pretty much only muttered at the news report on the radio and
grunted answers to her questions. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m fine,’ he said, subconsciously pushing his glasses up his nose as he
spoke. She knew that this gesture was a sign that he was irritated and grumpy
and she sighed.
‘No you’re not,’ she looked ahead at the quiet country road that stretched out
in front of them. ‘You’ve been in a shitty mood since you picked me up David
and it’s putting me in a bad mood. So, what’s wrong?’
They drove along in silence for nearly a minute but she could see that her
husband was thinking about the best way to communicate whatever it was that
was bothering him. ‘That bastard Thompson is getting the promotion,’ he finally
said, his voice edged with anger.
‘Oh, I’m sorry David,’ she touched his arm and looked at him sympathetically.
‘I worked my arse off for that contract Maddy,’ his voice was becoming more
animated with every word. ‘He just sits in his office saying the right things to the
right people, he even plays golf with two of the managers and I do all the work,
we get the contract and he gets the damned promotion.’
‘He just knows how to play the game David,’ Maddy said, squeezing his
forearm.
‘Well, maybe I should learn how to play it too,’ he said in a quiet voice.
‘That’s not you though is it?’ she smiled a little. ‘David, you’re too sweet and
nice to walk over people and that’s not a criticism by the way that’s just a fact. I
don’t want you to change; I love you the way you are.’
‘Yeah, being a decent person doesn’t seem to be getting me anywhere at work
does it?’
‘I know,’ she looked ahead and sighed. ‘We still have some of the money your
dad left you; I think you should look into setting up on your own.’
‘Maddy, I’m nearly 45, it’s too late for me to start my own business,’ he
looked at her briefly and she could see the sadness in his eyes. ‘I don’t have the
energy or the ambition; if I had I would have done it ten years ago.’
‘Listen,’ she adopted a firm voice. ‘You are well liked by all of your clients
and I am sure that they would come with you. You have the money, you have
my support and with my salary it wouldn’t be a problem. That place has been
sucking you dry for nearly twenty years David, you still have at least twenty
years left to work and I don’t want to see you turning into one of those zombies
that just goes through the motions every day. I want you to be happy because
when you’re happy then I’m happy.’
‘It’s such a big step Maddy,’ he shrugged.
‘I’ll tell you what a bigger step is, accepting that you are going to be shit on for
the next twenty years and just putting up with it.’
He looked at her and they drove on in silence for a while, she knew that he
needed a little time to ruminate and let the concept and ideas that she had raised
bounce around his mind a little before he would reply. They had been married
for almost twenty years and she knew him almost as well as she knew herself.
He was a kind, loving and warm man but an over bearing father had left him
riddled with self-doubt and insecurities and while she did what she could to raise
his own opinion of himself it sometimes felt like trying to count grains of salt.
He had worked for the same company since he had left University and for
around ten of those years he had been happy, he was not a man with much
ambition in life, in fact he had fallen into the role as an accountant because his
father had been one and he had inherited a natural affinity with numbers.
However, a man called Graeme Thompson had joined the company and he
possessed a ruthless streak that saw him rise through the ranks like a champion
gladiator, he cut through other accountants like a machine and soon found
himself at the same level as David. What really annoyed her about Thompson
was the fact that he was not a very good accountant, he had made a myriad of
mistakes that would see lesser accountants being hung out to dry by head
management but he was an expert diplomat and arse kisser. David had rectified
so many of his mistakes that he had saved a number of accounts and kept a
number of clients on board when they would have left otherwise. However
Thompson managed to hold onto his position through a mixture of easy charm
and tenacious ruthlessness. They worked for an established family business and
there were never too many promotions above a certain level and this had meant
that both men had pretty much stagnated in the same roles for years. For
Thompson the gossip of his general ineptitude had infiltrated the industry and
this pretty much guaranteed that he would not find employment at any other
company and for David, a degree of misplaced loyalty and a larger degree of
fear had effectively chained him to the company and the position for years.
As it was an old company, and many of the senior partners had not been
blessed with children the opportunities at a higher level were becoming a little
more attainable. Retirement and death were thinning out the ranks and the
recent passing of one of the nephews had meant that there had been an opening
in the board room. David had all but been promised his time in the sun and it
had seemed certain to her that he would finally be rewarded for his decades of
loyalty and dedication, but life was never fair. Thompson had somehow
managed to ooze his way into the role, and her husband was left once more in a
state of bitter disappointment and impotent anger.
‘We should just enjoy this weekend,’ he said finally. ‘I won’t let Thompson
ruin our anniversary. I can think about it on Monday when I get back to the
office.’
‘If that’s what you want?’
‘It is,’ he smiled at her and then awarded his attention back to the road. ‘How
was your day?’
She smiled, laughing a little at this. ‘Not as much fun as going to the dentist,’
she said and he laughed along with her. ‘To be honest the only thing that has got
me through this week has been the thought of this weekend.’
Madeline had only been a teacher for four years; she had given up her old
career as a dental hygienist and had trained to teach English. On the whole it
had been something that she never regretted but there were three students that