Past Judgement by Wendy Cartmell

Author:Wendy Cartmell [Cartmell, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-11-12T22:00:00+00:00

29

Joyce Harrison was in love. With her character, that was. He was a tall handsome young man, of course. Rich, successful, yet enigmatic, definitely enigmatic, Joyce decided. Her fingers flew over the keys as she described the first time her young lovers met. In her mind she could clearly see them both and hear their conversation. She wrote down the tale that was being told in her head, which was as clear as if she were watching a television programme.

Immersed as she was in her fictional world, she didn’t notice the young man standing in the garden, looking at her through the open conservatory door. It was a small cough that brought him to her attention.

‘Oh,’ Joyce’s eyes roamed around the garden, in case there was more than one man, but she couldn’t see anyone else. ‘What do you want?’

Was he a salesman? Well she certainly didn’t want to buy anything and she was annoyed at the interruption because she wanted to get back to her book. To her that was far more interesting than the stranger stood in front of her.

‘Mrs Harrison?’ he asked.

‘Yes. Who are you?’ she asked a question back.

‘Sorry, my name is Leroy. Leroy Carter. I know your daughter.’

‘And you are here because?’

Joyce’s brain kept tugging her back into her fictional world. It was if she didn’t really see Leroy Carter stood there, but her central character.

‘I know your daughter and I was just passing, so I thought I would call in. I hope you don’t mind. I’m a big fan.’

Joyce wasn’t really listening to the stranger’s mumblings, she was more concerned about the fact that he was walking into the conservatory. Walking towards her. It was then she realised that he was tall and rangy, but with a muscled body. She stood, pushing back her chair and keeping the large desk between them Joyce said, ‘A big fan? Of romance?’ The disbelief was clear in her voice and rightly so as 99% of her readers were women.

‘Oh, yes,’ Leroy said. ‘My mum read lots of romance books and I used to pinch them and read them at night in my bedroom. At first I wanted to know what was so fascinating about them. What it was about them that kept her enthralled and that’s when I realised it was all about living another life through books. A life that was so different from my own. Reading gave me a fantasy life that I could escape into.’

By now Carter was at her desk.

‘Well, it’s nice to meet you,’ Joyce said. It wasn’t, of course, but she didn’t want to antagonise him. ‘But as you can see I’m rather busy, I’m trying to finish my latest book. I’ve a deadline to meet.’

Her eyes dropped down to the mess on her desk. She was a mess herself, as well. She was wearing an old pair of trousers with a large comfy shirt over them and with slippers on her feet. She was in no fit state to receive visitors.

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