Contributions from February Workshop

Elaine Banks

Five words or phrases to incorporate into the writing: widow/widower, inquisative,secret,the wrong side of town,the missing piece of the puzzle.


Jen had been widowed after just five weeks of marriage. Eric had been seventy-three, and owned the firm she had worked for, in her first job out of university. Jen's parents had been scandalised  - they were only in their 50s themselves - but her friends hadn't been more than mildly surprised.
Jen took to widowhood with relief, and began to go through the books at the firm.  Being of an inquisitive nature, she soon started a list of discrepancies. The ten-strong workforce weren't happy, but they got used to her prowling about and questioning their work methods and checking the equipment.
It was unfortunate that the nature of the business meant that Jen didn't feel able to call in specialist accountants or bio-engineers. The whole operation was conducted with enormous discretion, even to the premises being situated in what Jen's mum called the wrong side of town - Jen herself preferred to describe the area as 'quiet' and 'isolated'.
It was only when Jen's dad foolishly dropped a cigarette one day and forget to check it was properly extinguished, that the police came round. The scent of burning cannabis plants was the final piece of the puzzle for the constabulary, the inspector said, after the fire brigade didn't return to the station and were found with the fire engine, gazing fondly at the incoming tide at the nearby beach.

A poem

Curtains   

                                               

Black-out curtains

   Keep out the light

Hospital bed curtains

   Give privacy of sight

Front-door curtains

   To keep out the draughts

Pantomime curtains

   Close with a laugh

Fire safety curtains

   Are there just in case

Fine filigree curtains

   Peep round the lace

Four poster curtains

   Make a room of a bed

But the final curtain…

   Enough said.                                                      Sarah Gibb   07/12/16

Fiona

Five words or phrases to incorporate into the writing: widow/widower, inquisative,secret,the wrong side of town,the missing piece of the puzzle. 

The Black Widow Spider was the nickname that they gave her.  She didn’t know, of course, she didn’t, too busy spinning her web of lies and deceits, too busy moving on before suspicion could rest on her. Or, that’s what she thought.

Of course, she hadn’t realised that wherever she went, the nomenclature, as well as the police followed her. She was raising inquisitive eyebrows and thoughts, as, with each successive move, with each successive husband she grew a little richer, a little more careless. 

She had thought her secrets would never be found out. She was so careful to choose her victims – carefully. Following them sometimes for days on end before arriving, glamorously, unexpectedly in a corner of their lives; but only when she was certain that, with a little extra helping of whatever medication they were on, the end would come fast and seem to be natural enough.

She had come from the wrong side of a small workless town and was damn sure she wasn’t going back there. She was right, she wasn’t. The last piece of the puzzle which put her behind bars fell into place in the hands of her last and surviving husband.

She hadn’t done her research on him thoroughly enough. She hadn’t discovered that, fifty years before she met him, he had been a private detective. 

 Dorothy King.

Five words or phrases to incorporate into the writing: widow/widower, inquisative,secret,the wrong side of town,the missing piece of the puzzle.  

Bert was a widower in his eighties. Upright in posture and with all his marbles, he had been used to looking after himself since his wife, Molly had died, suddenly, two years previously.

Everyone expected that Bert would feel Molly’s loss tremendously; after all, they had been together for 57 years but all his neighbours had been confounded in their belief. Bert and Molly had been very self-contained, so their neighbours actually knew little about them and were inquisitive about how he was managing. He didn’t welcome them in after Molly’s death, despite the cakes and casseroles they brought that they felt, rather indignantly, would provide an invitation inside, so they could pry out any secrets he was maintaining.

They noticed that he started going out every morning, taking mysterious bundles and bags with him, coming back a couple of hours later, empty-handed.

 Mrs Clark just happened to be going out at the same time one Tuesday and her direction accorded with his, so she noticed he was heading for the wrong side of town. Although it was out of her way she followed him and saw him enter a house on a very poor street. The door opened when he knocked but she couldn’t see the person inside. But as she watched, a couple appeared at the window, in an embrace! She tutted, realising she had always had suspicions about Molly’s unexpected death. Was this the final piece of the puzzle - the other woman?

DK                                                                                                                        1.2.17