Childhood Dreams

"You're not going out again are you?" cried Kay. "You've only just come in from work".

"Oh don't go on woman", snapped Lloyd. "Andy and I have a rehearsal at seven. The talent competition is in two month's time and we're going to win I can feel it. Then we'll turn professional and you'll wish you hadn't nagged at me so much, won't she Andy?"

"She sure will", replied Andy, which annoyed Kay immensely, but she took no notice for she knew it was Lloyd putting words into Andy's mouth again.

Lloyd noticed the disdain on her face.

"Don't be selfish Kay, this is my childhood dream we're dealing with".

As the back door slammed, Kay was once again surrounded by silence, which only made the biological clock ticking away inside her sound louder. The tears that had been waiting in the wings until Lloyd and Andy had gone now made their entrance. She found it hard holding them back.

"And what about my childhood dream?" she sobbed, touching her stomach.

Kay almost wished Lloyd had been having an affair, at least then she could have given him an ultimatum and got on with her life, but when he brought Andy home to stay for a while and introduced him as the other half of his new comedy double act, she was speechless, not least because Andy was a student and his image didn't seem compatible with Lloyd's. Never the less, he'd spotted Andy down at the local theatre and now he was helping Lloyd live a childhood dream. At least Lloyd thought he was helping him. He wasn't, he was unwittingly making a fool of him. Lloyd was talentless when it came to entertaining, but Andy couldn't tell him, tell him that he was appalling! He wasn't natural enough. Watching him on stage was like watching him at work as an over enthusiastic sales manager, only the audience clearly didn't find this act quite so amusing. He had the gift of the gab when it came to selling electrical goods. At work he was able to pull the wool over his customer's eyes long enough to clench a sale, but selling himself was totally different. The audience couldn't take him home like a state of the arts, highly amusing but totally useless piece of electrical equipment, only to realise they'd been sucked in when it was too late. He had to prove himself there and then and he couldn't.

It was obvious to Kay that it was going to take a long time for Lloyd's dream to materialise, time which she didn't have to achieve hers.

She'd thought about it for days and she knew it was cruel, but if Lloyd wouldn't meet her needs, then it was obvious that she'd have to use Andy to get what she wanted.

.

The following day, Kay went upstairs to the spare room where Andy sat around while Lloyd was at work.

"Andy", she said in a honeyed tone. "It's not good for you to be sitting alone in your room for hours on end. I'll come in and we'll have a chat".

She knew he wouldn't reply without the boss on hand, so she opened the door without any hesitation and saw Andy sitting on the bed, a college scarf draped round his neck. He stared straight at her, his big blue boyish eyes complemented by a thick black quiff. He looked young and vulnerable, clever but naive. He looked mysterious, mesmerising, and totally submissive to knew experiences. She shuddered inside just thinking about what she was going to get him to do, but strangely enough she enjoyed the sensation. A feeling of power began to tingle and tease her nerve endings leaving her in a semi- euphoric state.

Two hours later Kay left the room with a huge grin on her face; satisfied with her afternoon's progress. She'd had doubts that she could actually do it when it came to it, apart from anything else she felt guilty, but it's amazing what someone can do when they're desperate!

The following week she took cups of tea upstairs, the week after that, strawberries and cream. Every afternoon nearly, the spare bedroom echoed with the sounds of laughter, as Kay and Andy got to know each other better.

As they only had two months, she feared it might not be long enough, but a week before the competition the signs were there, so all she had to do now was stage a little show for Lloyd.

"Kay, where are you? Where's dinner?" called Lloyd feeling uneasy. He wasn't used to being met with silence.

"We're up here darling, in the spare room". She called her heart pounding.

Lloyd ran upstairs and opened the bedroom door. He stood for a few moments just gazing at his wife and Andy completely naked together in bed.

Then Kay and Andy turned to look at each other in a loving way and Kay planted a long kiss on Andy's lips before nonchalantly drinking her cup of tea.

"Don't you think we make a good double act?" asked Andy, looking smug.

Kay sexily devoured the strawberries and cream.

"We should do, we've been practising every weekday afternoon for well over a month!" he boasted.

Lloyd looked dumbstruck. The bottom had clearly fallen out of his world.

"H..h..how the hell did you do that Kay? It takes ventriloquists years to be able to throw their voice and operate a dummy, never mind while drinking tea and eating strawberries and cream, yet the signs show you've mastered the skill already!"

He paused, agonising over the situation.

"But why? Do you want to deny me my childhood dream, is that it?" he croaked.

Kay released her fingers from the strings at the back of the little wooden figure and Andy sat propped against the wall staring blindly into space.

"No I don't", she said softly, throwing back the duvet cover and lifting her hand up to beckon Lloyd into bed.

"I could never be that selfish; could you?"

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