Open Writing

'And what happened to you after our divorce?' I asked. 'Oh,' she said, 'I soon found somebody else.' 'Or somebody else found you . . . you're still very -' 'Very what?'

'Never mind ... So where is he now, this new chap?' 'Playing darts at the pub.'

'Hm, you never liked it when I played darts at the pub.'

'That's because you always got blotto, didn't you?'

'No, I bloody didn't. . . Anyway, what's he like, this -?'

'Oh, the best, the very best.'

I sat down. 'And where does that leave me, then?' I said.

'Way down the league, mate.'

'And I suppose he's top of the league?'

'Yes, ten out of ten - unbeatable.'

'What's his job?'

'Well, if you must know, he's a plumber.'

'Ugh.'

'Don't go ugh like that. There's nothing wrong with being a plumber. He earns a hell of a lot more than you do teaching at that crap school no right-minded mother would want her children seen dead in.'

I stood up. 'It's just as well we didn't have any kids, then, isn't it?' I said.

'What? You mean you'd have wanted them to go to that sodding - ?'

'Of course I would . .. somebody's got to support the state system.'

'Support the state system?' she yelled. 'You couldn't even support me.'

**

To read more of Richard's fast fiction please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/fast_fiction/