The Naked Shadow

CHAPTER ONE

“Do you want a cup of tea?”
Brian sat in his chair and pondered how many times he had heard that question. He lowered his newspaper, peered out of the lounge window and stared vacantly at the impeccable lawn and surrounding flower beds. His gaze flittered around the scene but didn’t register anything in his brain.
Several minutes passed before a more urgent question came from the kitchen: “Well, do you want tea or not?”
The curtness in the voice brought him back from his trance-like state and he feebly replied in the affirmative. This, he thought, was how life was going to be until it was time to meet his proverbial Maker. It wasn’t that he was dissatisfied with his lot – after all, he was fit and healthy and had a lovely wife and a job that, although not ultra-exciting, was in the main reasonably interesting. It was just that, aged forty-five years, he would have hoped to be something more dynamic than a sales engineer for an industrial-pump company. Their only child had left home six months before to live in a university hall of residence so Brian and Melanie were looking forward to just being a couple again without the shackles that go with being full-time parents. However, Brian’s life was no different now to what it had been six months before, and there didn’t seem to be any likelihood of change in the immediate future.
The cup of tea was welcome, as were the two chocolate biscuits that accompanied it. It was a typical Sunday afternoon and Brian gave thought as to how to spend the rest of the day. Should the lawn have another cut (although it was only done last week) or should he perhaps have a drive out somewhere to the countryside and a walk?
“I’m nipping over to my mother’s for an hour or so,” said a voice from the kitchen.
‘Well, that narrows my choice,’ thought Brian. ‘Grass-cutting it is, then.’
Brian enjoyed having a well-laid-out garden, but he felt slightly guilty that this was mainly down to his wife’s endeavours. His input was mainly confined to ensuring that the lawn was regularly cut.
A few pulls on the cord, a puff of smoke and the mower spluttered into life. Walking monotonously up and down with the mower, it was easy to drift into another trance-like state – something Brian found himself doing more and more recently. Like many men of his age, he felt trapped on a never-ending treadmill of work, bill-paying, wife-pleasing and sleep – although not necessarily in that order. Was this all he had to look forward to? Future events were to bring home to him how lucky he was to have such a relatively stress-free life, but at this moment in time he could only reflect on his daily boredom.
“Garden’s looking nice!” came a female voice from over the fence adjoining next door’s house.