MY WEIRD STORIES 2.
A SHOCKING DIVORCE. Copyright P. Audcent 2014
This happened to a colleague of mine years ago so I have adapted it slightly, well alright I have added a great deal, but the outcome was the same!
Thomas Newell was a very good accountant, he was an only son and an orphan. His parents had left him their house and a little money to finish off his exam finals. He was a very generous man always willing to help people, like his neighbours with their tax returns, but he had always been in inordinately shy. Because he was a brilliant mathematician he found a job soon after without any real effort on his part. One of his neighbours put his name forward with a business he worked for and he was snapped up.
He had, since his parents had died, been rather lonely and felt embarrassed to speak about general matters. During his work hours facts and figures from the company accounts absorbed his time and he was quite able to speak on the accounting side of the business but he would hide in his shell if another subject was broached to him. He would just flush and stutter a 'thank you' or 'do you think that' and hide away into his little world.
He thought he would get a dog or a cat at home but he never actually got the urge to visit the cattery or the dogs home. He mentioned this one day to Sally Newell his cousin and she said she would go with him to the dogs home and they both would look for a suitable companion for him.
They drove to the dogs home and found exactly what they were looking for, a small Scotty terrier. It was so quick and both were delighted with the small bitch, and she took a shine to Thomas immediately. As he cuddled her in his arms the lady attendant took his details and his money. She told them that a house and garden visit was the associations rule before any dog or bitch could be handed over, so Thomas made arrangements for the lady to visit, and he handed over the little terrier to be put back into the kennel.
On their way home he turned to his cousin to thank her for coming with him.
“I shall call her Lady.”
“Do you want me me to come over to your home when that Miss Brumer calls to see if its suitable?”
“No I shall be alright but I do have that lovely garden that Dad put in years ago and I think there should be no problem.”
So a week latter Miss Brumer came to visit with her check list.
“My” she said, “what a lovely house and the garden is just perfect, you could have had any of our larger dogs, now you will have to train your little Scotty not to dig into those lovely plant and bushes.”
“Train?” Thomas stammered.
“Yes all dogs need training especially terriers otherwise they would be off on their own, I see your fences are very low.”
“Yes, Dad liked people to see over and enjoy the colour of the plants.”
“Your dad and mum are still alive?”
“Alas no that's why I wanted a little company.”
“But that lady who came with you was not your wife or girlfriend?”
“No she is my cousin, I live alone.”
“Well I could train your terrier if you wanted.”
“I could pay you.”
“I'm sure you could but you seem such a nice man, and yes I am approving your ownership of this little bitch, have you thought of a name?”
“Oh yes” Thomas brightened up at the thought, “Its Lady.”
“Well I will bring Lady to you tomorrow and each Saturday I will come and help train her, if that's fine with you?”
Thomas nodded his thanks and showed her out.
Next Saturday Miss Brumer arrived with Lady in a special carry cage and when she was released she immediately hurtled over to Thomas who picked her up and gently patted her. Miss Brumer then indicated that they should go into the garden as let her do her business and explore her new surroundings.
Now Thomas may have been born shy but he admired Miss Brumer and her obvious talent and knowledge of animals, and indeed his little Lady, nose twitching and running here and there eventually did her business and returned to Thomas who was sitting on the bench next to Miss Brumer. And there they sat for over an hour talking quietly with Lady curled up close to Thomas's feet. There was no training of the bitch but several glasses of wine later, Thomas asked Miss Brumer out for a date.
Three months later they were married in a local church and three months after that Mrs Newell nee Brumer went to her solicitor and put in for a divorce.
“We are incompatible” she said to Thomas.
“But but b..” stammered Thomas, “We were so happy especially in are little paradise.”
“The one your parents made, well I am demanding half of everything including Lady!”
“Lady is mine and so is the house and garden.”
“Well take your pick, which do you want!” and with that his new wife packed her bags and left to stay with her old boy friend.
“Will we get the half?” said her boy friend in his flat.
“Well yes its the law here, but I don't want that Scotty bitch, I'll let Thomas keep her, after all you cannot divide an animal, and then you and I can go away as we planned. I suppose the money will make it worth while, the very thought of having his thin hands all over me. Come to think of it, you are a real cad Angus, so don't you forget this, it may have been your plan but my body, so its my money.”
Well with the one hundred thousand, the funds left over, did actually buy Thomas a tiny ground floor apartment and it did come with a small back yard, he and Lady were very happy together but whether his little Scotty was worth loosing his parents home and garden to a conniving pair of fraudsters was a mute point.
xxx