Addicted To Greed (12 page)
Authors: Catherine Putsche
accident!”
He replied with a strong northern accent.
“It’s ok, in the past I’ve had my fair share of clumsy accidents, it
happens I guess, never had such an attractive lady knocking me
down to the floor though, I suppose I’ll have to take it as a
compliment!”
Ella tried her best to put her throbbing pain and embarrassment
aside and offered to buy him a drink. To her surprise the
stranger accepted and they finally introduced their selves, his
name turned out to Ian Dumbridge, they began talking and
immediately hit it off, he was rather humorous and she noticed
he was very handsome, looking into his big baby blue eyes and
taking in his masses of curly blonde hair, she felt an instant
attraction.
Destiny seemed satisfied they we were both ok, heading off
back to the dance floor, where she met a few of her college
friends, she seemed happy enough for Ella to spend time with
this hansom stranger, knowing if Ella was in any danger she
could signal her at anytime for assistance and she would be right
there. Destiny occasionally glanced over with her nod of
approval, she didn’t want to play gooseberry, which would have
cramped her style big time as sitting down at a table in a club
was considered to be for old timers, not the younger generations
like themselves.
After an hour or so of talking about to one another, Ella politely
excused herself. They slowly exchanged telephone numbers, so
she could return to Destiny. Last thing she wanted Destiny to
think is that she´d abandoned her for the night completely. Ian
gave Ella a long deep kiss on her lips and said goodbye, this is
when Ella noticed she was a couple of inches taller than him.
dancing in sequence with her group of friends.
Destiny raised her voice over the music as soon as she saw Ella
approach, “I want the complete low down on him, tell me
everything and don’t spare any details!”
“You’ve got it, let’s go and get some takeout and head back to
mine, I still have a few bottles of white chilling awaiting our
return!”
curiously asking a few questions on the way.
“How old is he?”
“Twenty three and he’s
just moved here from Kendal,
apparently he’s just finished his master’s degree in civil
engineering.”
Ella replied with a hint of excitement, keeping anything from
Destiny was impossible; they both knew the finest details of
each other’s lives, as they considered their selves not only the
closest of closest sisters they were also the best of friends. They
couldn’t help but giggle all the way home on how Ella’s
clumsiness had led to the exchange of numbers, they both
thought it quite cheesy really.
When two days had passed and Ian hadn’t called after their
cheesy or chance meeting, Ella began to dismiss the whole
thing, putting it down to experience, however she couldn’t get
him out of her mind, she couldn’t forget his eyes, his wonderful
playful blonde locks, even the finely tuned details of his narrow
face with sharply etched cheekbones and his broad but well
defined shoulders under his navy checked shirt. Maybe he
thought better of it; their chance meeting hadn’t been the perfect
one. Ella cursed her clumsiness at times, however in the back of
her mind grateful for it in this instance; it gave her the rear
opportunity of meeting with a handsome stranger. She called
Destiny at home and asked her for advice. Destiny knew how
she was feeling, as she couldn’t stop talking about him.
“Oh sis, I am not really the one who you should be asking for
advice, as you know I’m far too inexperienced with men, but I
think you should leave it several days and if you haven’t heard
anything from him, give him a call.”
Ella felt relieved when she spoke to Destiny as she was right if
Ian hadn’t called her in two days, she would call him, after all it
was the nineties and many women were taking the initiative
towards the opposite sex. She guessed this is where she was a
little old fashioned, as her mother has always quoted,
“If a
man’s interested in you, he will let you know. He will pursuit
you first….”
She couldn’t possibly ask her father for any advice. He would
think it very stupid that she had met a guy in a nightclub, in the
first instance and he would just simply tell her to forget about
him then he would lecture her on why it was important to avoid
such establishments as there was only riff raff to be found there.
Ella recalled that her father had high expectations of her at a
very young age and would be far stricter with her than Destiny
and Chase. She remembered her mother complaining that Ella
was only a child. At the age of seven, her father was teaching
her algebra, while her friends were all allowed to have leisure
time at weekends, she had to spend two hours with her father
learning before he would reward her with her allowance, only on
his approval that he was satisfied with her progress she was then
allowed to join her friends. Her strict father kept this up until
the age of fourteen and then he suddenly left, without a word
and she never saw him again until five very frustrating years
later.
Her mother told them he had gone to America and would be
living there for the next several years until his research came to
an end, after all he was a architect and his work often had him
travelling all over the world from time to time, but she never
forgave him for not saying goodbye and became more and more
suspicious, with his lack of communication, no telephone calls,
or letters, however Destiny, Chase and herself had more
freedom, they didn’t complain, they reveled in his absence and
so did she for a time, no more weekend learning, more
opportunities to meet up with her friends, spend her allowance
that hadn’t stopped, buy records of her choice, pop music had
become her favorite and Madonna was her idol, she was the
prettiest hottest female singer to come into the charts with a
song called “Papa don’t Preach” that hit number one in the
charts for seven weeks, she remembered sitting with her friends
in her bedroom, listening to Madonna for hours on end, dressing
up, applying makeup and imitating her until they could no
longer sing. Her mother would occasionally drop in on them,
bringing with her drink refreshments and the best fruit platters
on this planet, although she found this very embarrassing, her
friends thought it was great and always ate everything on the
plates and never complained, always very courteous and polite
with perfect manners. Her mother seemed to approve of this and
would often invite them over for dinner in the week. Ella’s
mother wasn’t strict with them like their father had been and
gave them just the right amount of privacy they needed in their
teen years. Approaching her fifteenth birthday, her father called
and asked how they all were, talking really enthusiastically
about his work, wishing her a happy birthday, saying that he had
sent her a parcel and to open it with care as it was extremely
fragile and asking her to call her mother to the phone, it was the
first time Ella have ever eavesdropped as she snooped behind
the living room door, leaving it slightly ajar and she was
shocked in what she heard.
“Wilhelm, this is madness, how do you expect me to keep this
from the children?” then silence and she could hear her mum
faintly sobbing responding with whatever her father was saying.
“I
beg you to reconsider, not for myself, but our children, they
need their father in their lives, and they’re all missing you.
Chase is only ten years old for Christ’s sake, and I cannot bear
this!”
Her mother then slammed the receiver down and broke down
into tears. Ella wondered if her father was ever coming back
home? Why had he made her mother so upset? Ella had an
overwhelming urge to enter the room and demand to know, but
she didn’t know how to approach her mother, she had never
heard her cry like this before, come to think of it the only time
she ever saw her mother cry or shed a tear was in laughter,
usually with her father when he had a tipple of whisky. She
recalled slowly approach her mother, giving her own un used
handkerchief and gently passing it to her. Ella’s mum, Jeannie
reached out for her hand and sat her down next to her putting
one arm over her shoulder. Ella sat with her for a few minutes
in silence, while she composed herself. Ella whispered, “Please
don’t be so upset I am here for you.” trying to console her in her
time of sorrow she quietly broached the subject of her father.
“Is daddy ever coming home?”
“Doesn’t he care about us anymore?”
“Yes of course he does
, he loves you, Destiny, and Chase more
than anything in this world, but your fathers work takes him
away, without his work we wouldn’t be able to live the lifestyle
we’ve all become accustomed to!”
softly “Why are you so upset?”
“I miss your father very much, just like you, Destiny and Chase
do, and I miss his company, especially when he has to work
away for a while.”
Ella sensed there was something else her mother wasn’t telling
her, to protect her, but didn’t dare to push it in case she started
crying again. Ella loved and admired her mum; she always held
it together until this outburst. Her mother stood up and said
wiping away her tears, “C’mon let’s go out to Ben & Jerry’s for
some ice-cream, can you call your brother and sister, let them
know sweetheart?” Ella jumped up in excitement and stopped as
soon as she noticed her mother standing in front of the mirror,
dabbing her sore and swollen eyes and she felt the biggest lump
in her throat.
Ella recalled her fifteen birthday that came and went, her mother
invited all her friends for a day out to Alton Towers theme park
and hired a mini bus, it was the best birthday Ella ever had,
queuing to go on the new ride The Black Hole, the new
revolutionary rollercoaster, riding in complete darkness, it was
terrifying at first, but didn’t stop them from going a second and
third time. Her father rang the same night wishing her a happy
birthday asking if she had received his parcel, she said
yes
, it
was wonderful, lying to him as it was a hideous glass monument
of his latest architectural monstrosity, a strange shaped house
made from concrete and glass. As the years began to pass the
absence of her father had become the norm, already at the age of
seventeen, he had already missed out on three very important
years of all their life’s, his architectural work over in America
became more important to him than his children and her mother,
he was becoming a big name, and very sought after architect,
designing homes for the elite and often famous people. What
upset Ella the most was the loss of not having a father around, it
clearly had an effect on Destiny and Chase to. Destiny would
soon reach her fifteenth birthday and Chase was coming close to
his thirteenth birthday, how they were all changing and in need
of a father figure.
Destiny would often ask Ella if their father was ever coming
back and Chase, was going through puberty and she knew he
had questions, that only his own father could answer, all this
made Ella so sad, but she was more sad for her mother, over
three years of her father’s absence her mother’s appearance had
changed dramatically, although still very elegant for her forty
years, her short delicate frame had become so painfully thin, her
collar bones were protruding under her blouses and small waist
had become so tiny that Ella knew she was struggling to find
clothes to fit her, all her clothes seemed to hang off her. Her
mother’s once natural blonde hair had become so dull and
lifeless, even the shape of her oval face became visibly thin and
gaunt, but her amazing shaped eyes didn’t appear to change at
all, they still remained sparkly and bright and her warm loving
smile never ceased to stop. Ella never heard her cry anymore,
since that horrible day three years ago. Her mother seemed to
follow her husband’s success with enthusiasm and excitement,
as her father would often send over the journals he appeared in
and her mother would read them all and then place them away in
his bureau, lock them away in the event of his return, of course
he never did return. Ella remembered that her mother received
the divorce papers in the post recorded delivery, the very same
day she got her a level results, and they were both sitting there
anxiously as the post man was running a little over an hour late,
eagerly awaiting. Her mother wouldn’t stop talking about how
proud her father would be of her now, she knew this was a lie,
he would only be proud if she got four grade A pluses. When
the postman finally arrived, Ella had to sign for them, her
mother was also informed that there was a letter for her that also
needed signing, once signed Ella ripped open the envelope
containing her results, she was rather shocked that had had got
three A’s and one B, really delighted she showed her mother,
her mother was so proud and embraced her tightly, not letting go
repeating.
She guided Ella in to the kitchen and handed her a set of keys
and said
“This is from daddy and me.”
Ella couldn’t contain her
excitement; her mother guided her to
the second garage, asking her to close her eyes until she gave
instructions to open them again. As soon as Ella was allowed to
open her eyes she saw a brand new spanking red Peugeot 106,
with black leather seats, she was taken back, her emotions got
the better of her and she burst into tears of joy, hugging her
mother very tightly, expressing her gratitude profusely.
Ella my dear please be careful!”