That wondering simmered and fermented for a few days before producing the following - if one of my readers should turn out to be the couple I observed, please accept my apologies if I have imputed thoughts or feelings that were not truly yours. Otherwise, please enjoy.....
THE ROAD TRIP
Richard Slade
July, 2017
Liz stepped back a few paces when the young policewoman
began questioning Neville. He had his
arms folded, his shoulders back, chin up, and back straight. It was that look that she had mistaken, forty
five years ago, for manly determination and courage.
Was it that long ago?
Forty five years of of wifely duties – of raising children, hosting
dinner parties for his work colleagues, running the household (as best she
could, given Neville's tight reign on all matters financial), and supporting him
during his relentless climb up the various corporate ladders he had latched
onto.
Somehow, the forty five years did not seem as long as the
first six months of Neville's retirement.
What would two years of travelling round Australia with him feel like –
a century? It would have to be two
years, at the least. That's how long a
lease they had granted the new occupants of their lovely, tree-shaded, St Ives
home. Two years, minus the two long days
since they had driven away from it. She
could still see the smiles on the faces of their tenants, as they directed the
removalists and savoured the gardens.
Now, home was an eight metre long caravan, The caravan was luxurious, as was the brand
new Landcruiser that Neville had purchased to tow it with.
Had that policewoman noticed the way Liz's head had jerked
up, and her raised eyebrows, as Neville wove a detailed description of the fast
moving, non-descript, silver sedan that had cut in front of him, forcing the
evasive manoeuvre that had caused their sudden departure from that tight bend
in the highway? A very badly made bend,
in Neville's opinion; one that shared the blame equally, along with the
miscreant driver – now long gone from the scene of his crime – for what had
happened next.
Neville, she was sure, had not noticed anything. Chin jutting, gazing into the distance,
Neville, as ever, noticed nothing that Liz said or did. The policewoman slipped a few more glances at
Liz, even as she kept jotting Neville's utterances in her notebook. Did she suspect? What would Liz say if the constable decided to question her?
Liz rolled her eyes and looked at the caravan. It was on its side in the long grass between
the north and south-bound lanes of the highway.
The tow-truck driver had connected a steel cable somewhere under the
front of the Cruiser, which was, miraculously, still upright, though pointing
the wrong way. He had shaken his head
when Neville had declared that vehicle and van would be "right as rain in
no time at all"
The driver had tried to explain just how badly damaged both
vehicles were, but his words had fallen into the well of silence, while Neville
droned on.
He thought she had been asleep when the crash had happened,
but she had only closed her right eye.
Neville's confidence in his own driving skills was not shared by Liz,
who had, for decades, done all the driving, whether of children to sport,
school, or events, or of a tipsy Neville, coming home from another corporate
function. So Liz kept one eye open,
hoping she would see the end coming and have time to offer up one final, brief
prayer. In this case, she had time for
quite a bit of praying before the Cruiser and van finished sliding across the
wet grass, but all the came out were a handful of expletives she had not
realised she knew. Neville chastised her
for her language, several times, before the police arrived.
She smiled, just a little, and clutched her handbag tightly
to her aching ribs. It contained
something that she had never before owned; a card that gave her access to
their bank account – his account.
Neville had agreed to provide her with one just before their
departure, swayed by her vivid evocation of what might happen to him if he
suffered a medical emergency in some far outback place, and she was unable to
access the finances they might need for the provision of quality care.
She smiled again.
Taree would have the right brand of bank, and an airport, or a train
station. It might take days before
Neville realised that she was gone, and weeks more for him to believe it.
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