What's Beyond the Garden Gate

John Bradley

Description

The book is a mystery concerning a man who did not have control of his life, and due to twists of fate encounters an explosion of deception, false imprisonment, drama, intrigue, strong women, sadness, his own weaknesses, sex, friendship and love. The story ends with a remarkable twist.

Sujets

• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 06 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781398442320
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

W hat’s B eyond t he G arden G ate
J ohn B radley
A ustin M acauley P ublishers
2023-01-06
What’s Beyond the Garden Gate About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23
About the Author
John Bradley is an author who wants his readers to enjoy his stories, thus by showing small changes in actions can both change life for both good and bad. This is true of his own life through work as a business consultant, as a career and relationships with many different people. The observations made through his life have made this story possible.
Dedication
My own life and my children of which I am truly proud have given me the general inspiration to create stories such as this book.
Copyright Information ©
John Bradley 2023
The right of John Bradley to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398434547 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398434554 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781398442320 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2023
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Chapter 1
That evening, Dave arrived home to see Janet, his wife, waiting by the door. She was made up ready for going out. She had her short leather coat, which allowed her show off her green miniskirt and tanned stockings. Her shoes were green and high-heeled; this extenuated her long shapely legs.
Though she was his wife for some years, he still fancied her and admired her looks.
Janet was annoyed, as he had disobeyed her instructions, and that was not allowed. She greeted him as he got to the door. Her long dark brown hair swishing around as her head moved up and down with frustration.
“You’re late! Don’t give me that excuse! You know I am meeting Carol. You are so selfish!” she blasted, then stopped for breath before continuing to berate him, “You will have to get the kids ready. Sarah, you know your daughter, the one that is at Guides tonight.”
She stepped out of the doorway, with the nagging continuing as she passed him, “Jimmy, your son, has his homework to do. Get the dinner ready, bye,” she snapped as she proceeded down the path, slamming the garden gate behind her. With one movement, she opened the car door and jumped in then quickly drove off in her sporty red car.
As Janet drove off, Dave forgot her tone, as he was aroused by her good figure.
“Why, she looks good.” He contemplated, “I do wish she had more time for me.” Dave sighed.
He stood at the garden gate and watched as Janet’s car disappeared around the corner. As he watched the point that she disappeared, he thought of his rough time at work and with this came the feeling which fed the doldrums of his mind, and that pointed to him the decay of his life. In this situation, he posed that the whole world was a play, and he was the only one in the audience.
With these feelings of isolation, Dave sunk back into his low mood, which had been with him for most of that day. He turned, shut the door and went into the house where his mood then become lower as he realised he would have no company again in the late evening, and lower still as he considered he would have to rush around after the kids. He remembered the hard time from his boss Leigh that occurred each day. His feelings, initially passing into a state of feeling sorry about his predicament, then secondly to an irritated state.
“She seems to have more time for her friends than me,” he stated, then firing like a pistol. “She never likes to be with me,” he declared. “If she is not going out, then she is either reading or sleeping. Just to be out of the way,” he moaned.
His irritation continued as he passed through into the narrow hallway.
“She is always passing the kids to me to look after. I have no choices! I have no life!” he muttered to himself with his feelings rising to near despair. This feeling was instantly quelled when he saw Jimmy, his ten-year-old son.
“Hi Dad,” said Jimmy, as he rattled off what he had say: “What’s for dinner? I have got loads of homework. Can you call me when it’s ready? I will be in my room.”
Dave realised Jimmy was easy-going like him and was always happy and had a great smile. Dave always felt easy with him.
As Jimmy passed, Sarah came into view, and like Jimmy, she started squeaking as she passed him: “Hi Dad, you know I have Guides at seven? Can I have fish fingers, chips and beans for dinner?”
Sarah, his nine-year-old, on the other hand was moody and quick-tempered like her mum and was always determined to get her own way.
Dave drifted into the kitchen after taking off his jacket and shoes. “Let’s see, fish fingers, chips and beans.”
Dave once again contemplated his situation regarding his life and recollected by mumbling to himself: “I have never achieved anything! I did what most people do, go to school, then got a job.” Then grumbled, as if talking to someone else when he quoted, “I was not good at anything.” But as he remembered, he announced: “I sort of liked University, because I escaped the boredom of work. It gave me a few friends, who of course, through my laziness I lost contact. Except Peter who I now work with.”
He sighed, as he clenched his fists with the lack of control he had in his life.
“The only good thing was I met Janet. She was a sexy thing, with a fantastic bum.” His mind lifting, he remembered her as she was. “We used to have a great time then.” Dave remembered in a nostalgic haze; but he stopped and questioned, “Or did we?” For at the back of his mind was a shadow.
He had now started processing the meal.
Dave shuddered as he had remembered the shadow that existed before he had married Janet. The bad memory told him of the time that he had gone around to his friend Max’s house, when walking in had seen Max and Janet. “What had they been up to the night she came out of his room?”
This remembered scene from the past brought the sickness back to his mind. “What a failure I was and am,” he stated to himself, again trying as before to hide the shadow. He stopped his thoughts from progressing for a second; but they could not wait.
“I am the most enthusiastic,” he retorted, “but Janet would turn to me and say that I should put more effort into my performance.”
Dave’s thoughts paused, before they mocked him once more, “That being on the rare occasion we make love.”
His thoughts tipped back to the past, the day of Max. “I had not told Janet of this incident with Max, because I felt that I would have lost her for good,” he continued justifying his past inaction. He continued to flagellate himself once more, “And that I would not get the one I wanted, the one thing, the good-looking, sexy one, the one I worshiped and so, I avoided going around to Max’s flat.”
He recalled the fickleness of youth for he knew that at the time, his lust for Janet was the only driver. He questioned, “It is still? What a fool I was,” mumbled Dave, as he dropped himself lower in mood.
Dave remonstrated again, by telling himself: “What an idiot! I should have done something about Max; but what? I probably would not have met anyone I felt so good about, for I was too shy at that time. I avoided the pain by pretending nothing would happen and then everything would be fine.”
Dave was now in automatic self-hate mode: “Of course, I thought I was at first, because we got married and we were happy; I think?”
Dave then recounted the time how he first met Janet for he was shy, and she had originally approached him and asked for the time. A signal that Dave thought was for him, but he found it was not; it was just a request for the time.
He however for the first time in his life used the opportunity to make a date with a gorgeous girl, and to his surprise, she had accepted.
Through the early stormy relationship, Dave was a rock of a person, dependable and loyal, something that Janet needed at the time.
“But what of now?” he questioned.
Dave moved and stood by the oven: “I cannot even remember anyone else being interested in me: so why was she?” Dave, thinking again and seeing her in his mind, was captivated again as he proposed: “She is beautiful and bewitching, I do love her.” He stopped and thought again as he emptied a tin of peas into a pan, “…or do I? Or is it just for lust?”
Dave idolised Janet, for he was taken by her self-belief, a belief that was unshakeable; for if it were July and Janet said it was snowing, it was snowing. Dave thought she had great beauty, not pretty but striking. Her skin, he pictured, was clear peach, her eyes were a deep blue, her nose was cute and as Dave thought: “…her smile could strike your heart.”
As the chips were ready, Dave once again returned to his previous low thoughts, these bubbling up from his normal sad self, for these thoughts underlined him as a person. “I wonder if she still sees Max?” Dave dismissed the thought immediately, but then continued with the same theme. “Max had loads of women, and anyway,