Ricky, Suzie and Colin

Chapter 3

Two days later they were in the lobby of Tŷ Bach, Dave, Mal, Stan and Polly. Dave introduced them all to Suzie.

Mal wasn't quite sure what to make of Suzie. She seemed, well, a little bit off. As if she was still the young married woman of all those years ago, yet also at the same time the mature woman she was today and something else, something that transcended age and normality.

Mal studied her aura and nodded to herself. Sometimes she felt guilty for possessing the ability to read auras as if it were cheating in some way.

"Hello," said Suzie. She spoke with her eyes cast down in what Mal mockingly referred to as the "Princes Di look". It's was Mal's unfortunate experience that whenever someone gave you the "Prince Di" look, when they look downward and then peer up at you at the same time, that if they shake hands with you, you'd best not bother counting your rings, you'd be better off counting your fingers!

"Can we go up and meet with Ricky, please?" asked Mal.

Suzie nodded and they took the lift to the first floor where Ricky had his room.

In an answer to an unvoiced question, Suzie said: "The army are paying for this. Oh, well, not directly. But it turned out that Colin was having sex with a nurse at the army hospital place he was at, so he got her to let him go. So as to hush up what had happened the Ministry of Defence agreed to pay a large sum of money to me to look after Ricky and his needs. It's not a large sum of money, at least, not by today's standards, but it was invested wisely and it pays for Ricky's stay here, at Tŷ Bach.

"I can't complain as the staff love him and treat him very well."

When they entered the bedroom it was all that Mal could do not to scream, she needed to hold it together.

She looked at the man who occupied the room. She'd expected to find him in a coma in bed, but he wasn't in bed, he was awake, in a way, and sitting in a comfortable armchair.

He was awake, yet he wasn't awake, it was as if a huge part of him was missing.

Mal walked up to him and took his right hand in hers. She had known it would be bad, but she wasn't quite ready for exactly how bad it would be.

Suddenly she felt that she was out of her own time, she heard music...

The DJ was playing an oldie track, Mouldy Old Dough, the novelty disco hit and shock Number 1 record of a couple of years earlier, by Lieutenant Pigeon.

Ricky had just come out from the toilets and was about to ask his wife to accompany him onto the crowded dance floor when he was approached by Colin.

"Can we go outside for a chat, please?" he said. "I think we need to talk."

Ricky nodded. He had a bad feeling about this turn of events but could not think of a reason to turn down his request.

They went out through the back door and turned the corner to where the bins were stored, next to an old World War 2 air raid shelter that was used to store props for the Church Hall pantomime that took place every Christmas.

"OK, Colin? What is it you want?"

Colin glanced furtively around and said: "It's like this, Ricky. I made a mistake not asking Suzie to marry me when I left for my basic training. But I intend to put that right, now. You should never have been on the scene, you should not have married her because Suzie is mine. She's my woman. Always has been, always will be. And I intend to take her back from you, to take her away from you. Besides, I've already had her, even though she is supposedly married to you!"

Ricky gave a nervous laugh. "That's bullshit, Colin! Suzie and I are married, we're living in a flat over a shoe shop in the High Street at the moment, but we're saving up to buy a home of our own and to start a family. Just back off!"

Colin gave Ricky a sullen, meaningful look and said: "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Without saying anything further, Colin gave Ricky a punch to the face, knocking him down to the ground.

This blindsides Ricky. He tastes blood from his lips. He tried to get up but Colin, who was the beneficiary of his army training, was much the tougher opponent.

He began kicking the shit out of Ricky who, stunned from the first blow, was unable to put up any meaningful defence.

In fact, Ricky wasn't able to land one blow against his wily and trained aggressor.

Ricky knew he was in trouble as he felt each and every new blow, as he sensed, rather than felt his bones begin to snap and break.

He tried to call out for help, but a blow to his throat had shattered his larynx.

He tried to crawl away, but Colin kept raining down blow after blow on his increasingly still and bloodied body.

His last thought was: "Suzie! Oh, God! Suzie! I love you so much! Why did you have to cheat on me with this bastard?"

Then, Ricky felt his soul leaving his body and the pain began to coalesce into one pulse of agony.

Then, no more.

Mal began to panic a little more, She know that in a part of Ricky's mind that horrible even had been playing over and over again and again and again. How many millions of times could that have been? The thought of it made her feel sick.

She knew she had to break the pattern. But how?

She said a quick prayer for help, then sent out a call for her spirit guide and her animal guide to come and help her, to give her the psychic strength and energy that she needed.

"Ricky! Ricky! Richard! It... is... time... to... wake... up! Colin... is... dead!"

The repeating scene faded and died, disappearing after many decades.

Mal shuddered, she let go of Ricky's hand and looked into his eyes, eyes that showed more life than they had when she first looked at them.

She saw his aura, undulating and shimmering. It was a little deeper, a bit improved. There were still going to be problems for him, she knew. The savage beating at the hands and feet of his wife's lover had been too much. Perhaps death would have been a better release for him? She mused. But it wasn't her call to make, thank the Lord!

Suzie spoke with Ricky, crooning to him and caressing him. "I'll be back for your teatime in a little while, Ricky. I'll just see these visitors out."

In a lounge area Suzie spoke to Mal and Polly, ignoring Stan who, as usual, was surreptitiously videoing the proceedings. Dave looked on and Mal glanced at Dave, then at Suzie, watching their auras as she did so. Yes, so, what if it were cheating? Who gave a fuck, really?

Suzie explained the events of so many years ago from her perspective. She ended by saying "...So you see, I do not have a clue as to why Colin felt he had a claim on me. We'd only ever had sex the one time, when I was sixteen, when he took my cherry. Oh, yes, I danced with him a few times down the disco, after he'd come back to town, but there was never more than that!"

They took their leave of Ricky, his wife and Dave and as they made their way back to their van Mal said: "It's a bloody good job we are with "A Medium at Large" and not the Jeremy Kyle Show!"

"What makes you say that, Mal?" asked Polly.

"Because that little minx would never have passed the bloody lie detector test! She led Colin on and did have sex with him. She must have known how unstable Colin was, yet she still put her blinded by love husband Ricky at risk from Colin. With horrible consequences for Ricky."

Polly shook her head. "Yet she can see the results of what she did, the results of her cheating on poor Ricky, even to this day!

"Still, at least she's been faithful to him since then..." Polly stopped, confused by the look that was on Mal's face. "Oh, god! Don't tell me she's still cheating on the poor fucker!"

"Yes, "answered Mal, sourly, "she is."

"Who? Who with?" shouted Polly.

"Bloody Dave!" interjected Stan.

"That's right, Stan!" said Mal. "How'd you know?"

"I didn't," he said. "But it seemed logical, now you mentioned it."

Polly shook her head. "But why would she do that?"

"It's like in the song," said Stan. "But a woman's needs are manifold, And Sue she married Ted..."

"What the fuck?" chortled Polly. What song is that?"

Stan grinned: "It's the story of Ernie, the fastest milkman in the west, by Benny Hill. It tells the tale of the rivalry for the hand of a widow called Sue, between Erie the Milkman and Ted, the baker.

"She loved Ernie, but after Ted killed him with a stale pork pie, Sue, or, by coincidence, Susie, as she is also referred to in the song, decided to marry Ted. Why? Because as the song says: "But a woman's needs are manifold, and Sue she married Ted."

Mal said: "Yet the sad thing is, I could tell from her aura that she feels guilty for causing Ricky to be so tragically injured and also she feels guilty for getting her end away with Dave, supposedly Ricky's lifelong friend.

"In all probability had Colin not came back on the scene Ricky and Suzie would have made a few years, then got divorced and moved on to other people. But because that silly little tart couldn't keep her legs together, Ricky got his life destroyed and for what? For nothing!

"There are no winners here, only various degrees of losers. Still can't figure out why I couldn't tell that Ricky was still alive and not dead? Maybe too much of him was tied to the church hall for me to get a reading on him at such a distance?

"And we have unfinished business at the old church hall. We need to do a part two, focusing on that little Victorian girl I noticed in the entrance lobby!

"God knows how Bernie and Joyce back in the office are going to edit this one and Paula who sorts out the rights issues will have kittens over some of the video footage we recorded! Oh, well, such is life! Come on, let's go out for a meal on company expenses! I feel a team building exercise coming on!"