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In the past, holidays had been a natural occurrence - like getting drunk or arguments
- they’d just happened. Danielle would develop a plan during the year and, with no
effort required on my part, July would arrive and we would go to Heathrow. Simple.
That had all changed and it was her fault.
When she left she took all the useful items that we owned and all our friends. In
the months that followed, the lack of a meaningful life had been useful - there’d
been no temptation to go out, and I was able to spend my money on luxuries such as
furniture, kitchenware and a bed. It was the arrival of summer, and the purchase
of a two-seater sofa, that had made my monastic existence less appealing. I wasn’t
lonely: There were people at work that I talked to….by email. However, I wouldn’t
choose to go on holiday with any of them - except for one. But, the novelty of sex
with her would wear off and I would have to spend the remaining twelve days listening
to stories about her horse and her mentalist husband.
I looked back along the line of the fence towards the clematis. It was forlorn, as
if it too had chosen to holiday at home. Its foliage hung downwards, heavy in death.
On the soil around its base were the first fallen leaves. I went to it and gave it
a shake. More fell. Then, I saw another footprint. It was not as fresh as the other.
Its edges were less well defined and were beginning to crumble. How old was it? Three
days? Two days? Had he come on consecutive nights? If so, why? I went to the shed
and checked the contents. Everything of value was there – my bike, the mower and
the wheelbarrow. I hadn’t been burgled, though I almost wished I had.
The shed of a 33 year-old male shouldn’t contain a bike, a mower and a wheelbarrow.
A 33 year-old shouldn’t own a shed at all. He probably took a look and was struck
with pangs of sympathy. So, could I have invited somebody around and just forgotten
about it? No. The owner of the print had come without my knowledge or consent, and
the question was, would he come again? I rather hoped he would, and I left the shed
unlocked as an open invite to steal, then I
