Jack of All Trades Books 1-4 by DH Smith

Author:DH Smith [Smith, DH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DH Smith
Published: 2017-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

Ellie entered the staff room. As usual, she was the first. She looked at the clock. It was going to be one of those meetings. She was on time, the others were late. That always rankled. A ten o’clock meeting should start at ten o’clock. Not twenty past. Waiting made her ratty. Which was never good for the meeting, when first thing on the agenda was her harangue at why no one else could ever get here on time. She’d tried coming late herself but she simply couldn’t do it. Couldn’t be deliberately late. Felt guilty, had to try so hard to do it. Yet her sister, Cathy, was just naturally late. It was in her make up. Funny really, a mathematician who couldn’t calculate time, so was always rushing to catch up with herself. Daddy felt he could be late as he was Daddy, the boss, his privilege. And Mummy always came with Daddy, supporting his lateness.

That left her. In the room, here, on her own. As usual.

It was musty, neglected over the holidays. She flapped her arms about and bashed the cushions against the back of the soft chairs, one by one, throwing up dust. Underused over the summer. It would be busy enough in a few weeks.

When she’d belted every cushion, she went to the window, and lifted it as wide as it would go. And saw the builder, Jack of All Trades, working on the window in her classroom, at right angles to this block. She watched a little while as he hammered round the frame, smiling at the thought of a builder actually admitting his level of competence. Quite cheeky, too, when she was virtually his employer. Though whether he’ll ever get paid… Let Mummy deal with that. Jack waved with his hammer at her. She waved back. He was good looking. A builder though. Or tradesman as Daddy would say. No degree, no family. Which was rubbish of course. He meant no estate, no family money. Well, she wasn’t planning to marry him. And it would make a change from Clive and his advertising cronies. Making up jingles for chocolate bars.

They’d got bored with each other. With sex, with talking, with bumping into each other in the two-roomed flat. And then she’d become increasingly resentful at the dirty towels and sheets which she always had to wash as if she were his mother, and at the cooking she was expected to do for someone she no longer liked. They’d agreed to split up but were still living together as they had to sell the flat they’d bought jointly, and neither wanted to give it to the other, even temporarily. Both resented the debris and noise of the other, but held their ground. At one point she had considered moving back in with her parents.

And quickly rejected it.

Their house was certainly big enough but she knew she’d revert to a sulky ten year old. Daddy’s blasts, her mother’s depression. At least with Clive they were on equal terms.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.