Angels & Shadows

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (Final Edit)

Ralph Robinson arrived at the family home at a little after four o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The house was empty as he had expected it to be. Jodie, his wife would be picking up the kids from their activities. He had travelled a third of the way around the world for Ben's twelfth birthday the next day and was under pain of death to be there before the kids came home. He had only just come in under the bar. His trips away were becoming more and more frequent and they were impacting heavily on his family but the situation was out of Ralph's direct control.

He eased the kitbag from his shoulder and winced at the stabbing pain in his neck that took his breath away. He heard a car outside and looked out of the window. He fully expected to see his family arriving but it was just a green sports car passing by slowly, as if looking for some elusive house number.

Ralph walked to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a large Jack Daniels then downed it in one.

"Purely medicinal." He assured himself, poured another then slumped into his La-Z-Boy recliner and was asleep in moments.

When Jodie pulled up on the drive, Elizabeth and Ben saw Ralph's Porsche and shouted in unison.

"Daddy!"

They piled out of the car, both desperate to get to him first. They burst through the front door calling him as they ran into the lounge. Ralph was already dead to the world and oblivious to the commotion going on around him, even the children kissing him and pulling at his arms made no difference.

Jodie came into the room and called them away.

"Leave him. You know what he's like when he's been away, let him sleep a while."

Jodie was cross and disappointed. It was such a let-down to them all when Ralph did this. She noticed for the first time that his hair was greying at the temples and even in relaxed sleep, his dimples were becoming deep creases in his face. The last few years had taken their toll on him, he was working too hard and she couldn't convince him to slow down.

She decided that despite the recent attrition he was still handsome and in some ways perhaps even more so. She felt momentarily cross at the unfairness of how men seem to have time on their side.

"Daddy's hurt again, look Mum" Elizabeth rolled down the neck of her father's shirt revealing a rudely tied, blood-stained bandage.

Jodie put her fingers inside the bandage revealing a deep hole at the base of Ralph's neck near his collar bone. She did the same at the back of his neck exposing the exit wound; it was still fresh and hot to touch.

"Is it bad Mummy?" Ben's hands were over his mouth and he looked frightened.

"No Ben, a lot of blood but it's just a scratch. We'd better leave him to sleep and then he'll be fine in the morning for your birthday, you'll see."

Jodie drew the curtains and they left the room. He had been shot again and Jodie wondered just how long it would be before he didn't return to them at all. A cold chill ran up her spine. The dread of how empty their lives would be without him suddenly consumed her.

Jodie knew only too well that it would be eighteen to twenty hours before Ralph would wake. It was the same every time that he was injured, some kind of shock reaction. She also knew that when he did he would be on top of the world and up for anything. It was inexplicable, even the children had grown used to this pattern and had resigned themselves to wait until he recovered before making their demands of him.

She had known for some time that Ralph was caught up in something dangerous that he wouldn't share with her. Jodie had let him get away with it so far because of her own fear of facing the truth, whatever that might be. The last bullet wound had been down-played as an accident on the ranges. She had given him the benefit of the doubt on that occasion but he invariably came home with some injury or other. The fear of losing him was suffocating her and she decided, there and then, that as soon as she got the chance she would have it out with him, once and for all.