ALL CHANGE FOR MARSHA

copyright@gerryrose

  Marsha kept being drawn back to the events of the weekend that Gordon and Sandra stayed. Her last interaction with Bob had been far from satisfactory, he had been so agitated and anxious to blow poor Jenny out of the water. She had felt sorry for Jenny and felt she had acted in good faith by enabling Jenny to get a foot hold on her new career with a good review.  Marsha had not felt as enraged as Bob had felt about Jenny’s snooping. Marsha had told him that she wasn’t going to cook supper because they had eaten far too much. She said they had plenty of leftovers and Bob could write his review and come down when he felt hungry. Now she felt guilty and kept regretting this decision. If only she had cooked a meal and had called him down to eat it. She had felt the need for a large glass of wine and time watching something inane on the TV. She didn’t eat and fell asleep on the sofa. When she woke up she checked her phone and was amazed that it was 1am. She went into the kitchen to put her glass in the dishwasher and was surprised to see that there was no evidence of Bob having come down to eat anything. Bob usually left a mess on the counter when he served himself and it was pristine. She went up to bed and thought it was odd that Bob wasn’t in bed either. She went to see if he was still writing his ghastly review. When she opened the office door she almost collapsed.

 Now she couldn’t get the image of Bob slumped over his keyboard out of her head. She knew he was dead. When she touched him he was cold and where his head had rested was now all mottled and purple. She had no idea of what he had written and now was not the time to find out. She had been worried about him over the weekend and rightly so.

 She rang 999 and the rest was a blur. She could recall the police and the ambulance arriving and she remembers letting them in. She recalls that they asked her if there was someone they could call who could come over and be with her. She remembers telling the young officer that there was no one. She told him that Bob had a son who needed to be informed. The officer said that they would assign a liaison officer to support her. Marsha can remember wondering how she had found herself in a situation where she didn’t have a close friend to support her. She realised that she used to have close friends, but once she had met Bob she had neglected them. She had invested her time in her relationship with Bob. As you sow so shall you reap and she realised that all she had now was acquaintances like the people in her book club. She had thought that Bob was enough. Now it seemed that perhaps she had been pretty stupid. She thought about Jenny who lived close by but realised that there was no way that she could expect Jenny to come over. She didn’t have the energy at first to read Bob’s review. When she did read it she felt she should contact Jenny.

 Marsha knew that once Bob’s death was made public, things would escalate quite quickly and the spotlight was going to be on their lifestyle. She decided that she had to get away from Hove and lie low for a while. She didn’t know where to go and as she had not had children and was an only child she had very few relatives. She had never been close to her family and did not feel now was a good time to attempt to reconcile with any of them. She thought long and hard about where she could escape to. She did have very fond memories of her time at University. She did not really have somewhere that she could say was her ‘happy place’ but this city would be the closest and she could rebuild a new life for herself.

 One thing that she knew was that Bob’s death would have been captured on their camera in the study. She didn’t want to see it but felt she should. Her liaison officer Tara was so supportive.

 As Bob lived so he died. The film showed him sitting at his computer typing his review of Jenny’s company. He was clearly wound up and the film revealed how florid he was. It was obvious that he was irate when writing his review. His rate of breathing had increased and he was sweating profusely. Marsha was shocked to see that Bob had obviously become aroused and had taken a break to go to the red room. He changes into his red corset and pleasures himself. Marsha felt sorry for Tara who had to witness this but it was obvious that Tara had seen far worse things in her career. At least he was dressed in his ordinary clothes at the time of his death. He died with some dignity at least.

 Marsha could see that once he returned to the computer and posted his review that he seemed a little calmer. Then she saw him scrolling and reading the feedback to his post which caused him to emit a lot of expletives. At one point she could see him take a really sharp intake of breath and he appeared to be in shock. He then seemed to look completely stunned. His breathing became erratic and he clutched his chest. Marsha will never forget the look on his face as he seemed to realise that something dreadful was about to happen. He then just slumped over the keyboard and this was of course how she had found him about 8 hours later. Marsha can remember Tara calling her G.P. who prescribed some Valium which Tara collected and administered.

 The next few days were like living in a nightmare. A few days later she got on a train to Victoria with a suitcase which contained just her essential items. Once she got to London she travelled the short distance to Paddington where she took a train to Bristol. She had always received a generous monthly allowance from Bob which she could rely on for the short-term. She had no idea what was in Bob’s Will. She suspected that Bob would have prioritised his son’s needs above hers. It began to dawn on Marsha that Bob’s needs had always come first.

 When she got to Bristol she was surprised to find that it was not the place that she remembered. She took a taxi to her hotel, which she had booked for 7 nights. She needed time to reflect and contemplate what she could do with the rest of her life. She certainly needed to work out her finances. She would ring Bob’s solicitor in the morning and try and get some information about the will. She knew that she would probably need a solicitor too. She hadn’t given any thought to Bob’s funeral which of course would probably be down to her to organise. She knew that she should have called Bob’s son but her relationship with him had never been easy. Guilt got the better of her and she texted Bob’s son Perry.

 His reply set the tone for their future relationship.

 Marsha don’t even bother to pretend that you have any empathy for me! All you were to my father was a vacuous pretty older woman who was prepared to go along with his kinky stuff because it gave you a lifestyle which you could never have afforded yourself. Well bitch that has now ended. My dad was always very keen to tell me that you were just a gold digger!

 Marsha went down to the bar at the hotel and decided to try every cocktail on their list. She glanced around the bar and even though she was a mature woman she still felt that she could attract another man. She had always used her assets and why should she change the habits of a lifetime? She spotted a man who like her was sitting alone. Marsha locked eyes with him and gave him what she felt was a seductive smile. He looked about 58 and was obviously a businessman. He smiled back and raised his glass to her. Marsha waited for what would happen next and she didn’t have long to wait.