Chapter Two

TWO

It’s Saturday and the sun is shining high in the ocean blue sky; the house is lit up by the suns violent rays. It is ten in the morning and Laura, Rusty’s wife is in the kitchen making breakfast. Laura has a pale complexion with green eyes and long brown hair that sits just above her waist. She is skinny with a big bust and isn’t overly pretty.

There is a knock at the front door and Laura answers it.

“Hi John, how are you?” Laura asks as she is surprised to see him.

“Yeah, I’m good.” John replies.

John is African American who has been raised in Australia since he was five years old. He has brown eyes with a bald head and a bad attitude, he is six feet tall.

“Is Rusty up yet?” John asks.

“No, can I make you a coffee?” Laura asks calmly.

“Yes please.” John replies as Laura walks away from him heading towards the kitchen.

Rusty’s house has six bedrooms with two levels to the house, as you enter through the front entrance, to your left is the lounge room, it is lined with creamy white carpet, the walls are all the same pale white colour, there are no posters or family photo’s anywhere in sight, not even a clock. The lounge room has a varnished heavy timbered fancy wall unit up against the left wall. In the middle of the wall unit is a big built in place for the television to sit and it is holding an eighteen inch plasma screen television. There is another built in part at the top for a DVD player or video player but it is holding an Austar box. On the left is a built in compartment with four shelves to put aunements on or more systems. On the top shelf is a DVD player that has a twenty gigabyte hard drive to copy movies to.

On the second shelf is a digital/ audio control centre for the twin two tower speakers, two descent sounding subwoofers, a centre twin speaker and two surround speakers. The systems sound travels a good few metres down the dirt road and the subwoofers make every wall and floor rattle. The sound system is great for watching movies, it’s like your own home cinema and the music is great sounding.

The rest of the floors in the house except the bedrooms, kitchen, toilet and shower are all varnished floorboards. On the right from the front door is a varnished wooden stair case that takes you up to the top floor. Diagonally across from the front door is the back sliding door, just in front the back sliding door on the left is the dining room and to the right is the kitchen which is formed into the shape of the number seven.

As you walk up the stair case to the top floor in front of you about five feet is the toilet, next to the toilet is the bathroom, across to the opposite side is bedroom number six, next to that bedroom is number five, across from bedroom five, on the opposite side is bedroom number two, next to bedroom two is bedroom number one. Next to bedroom one is bedroom number three and next to bedroom three is bedroom number four. The top floor is in the shape of a backwards ‘c’.

John walks from the front door to the kitchen table. John sits down at the edge of the polished marble table and starts reading his daily newspaper.

Sleeping at the foot of the double sized bed; on top of Rusty’s feet is Notches. Notches is a beautiful Alaskan malamute cross timber wolf. Notches protects those he love’s, he is loyal to his owner Rusty and is strong and energetic.

He is twenty-six inches tall and ninety-five kilos. He is gray with white and shades of brown colouring. His fur is long and harsh and has wolf-like markings.

Rusty wakes up and yawns softly. He sees Notches at the bottom of the bed on his feet.

“Hey boy. Hop down now.” Rusty says softly as he wipes his face with his right hand.

Rusty sits up as Notches jumps off the bed to the floor. Notches runs down stairs and out through the opened sliding door. Rusty pulls the silky red blanket off and slides his feet out and around to the side of the bed and places his feet on the carpet.

He looks down at the clean soft greyish blue carpet and sighs. Rusty pushes himself up from the bed to his feet and walks around the bed to the right up to the timber wardrobe which is next to the big window near the two corners where the walls join. Near the left is a small middle window on Laura’s side of the room. At the head of the bed on her side is a white painted side set of drawers with a lava night lamp resting on top of it. On Rusty’s side of the room, in the middle up against the wall is a small varnished wooden dutches. On top of the dutches are ornaments of cats and dogs, a couple of big fairies and one big one of a dolphin.

Rusty opens the cupboard door and pulls out a flannelette shirt and puts it on but leaves it unbuttoned. He walks out of the bedroom and pauses at the top of the stair case. He breathes in smelling the fresh rose incense and the smell of scrambled eggs and toast.

“Hmm.”

Rusty walks down the stair case.

“Something smells good.” Rusty says with a grin as he walks closer towards the table.

Rusty walks past the back of John’s chair and sits on the left side of John.

John looks up from his newspaper and looks left to see Rusty.

“Hey. How were the wolf records?” John asks.

“They fired me.” Rusty replies seriously.

“What!” Laura yells as she walks out of the kitchen and stands in front of the table opposite him and stares down at him.

Rusty looks up across the table at Laura, he sees her standing with a tea towel in her left hand and both hands resting angrily on her hips, he sees the angry expression on her face, it looks more than just angry, she is furious at him.

“I told you not to sing personal shit!” Laura yells.

“We were paid... I’ve got money so can we please drop it?” Rusty asks with a frown.

Laura walks back into the kitchen; Rusty watches her leave till he can’t see her anymore. He looks low at the table.

“I don’t like your dog; he keeps growling at me and staring at me with those mean eyes.” John says seriously.

Rusty looks up at John with a frown.

“What did you just say?” Rusty asks confused.

“Your dog, I don’t like him and I know he doesn’t like me.” John replies seriously.

“Don’t you dare come here telling me what you don’t like... take the time to think about what it was I didn’t like that got Ed killed.” Rusty says angrily.

“Don’t go there.” John says almost in anger.

“Don’t go there... you were the one who wouldn’t slow down!” Rusty yells in anger.

“You were the one who wouldn’t be quiet and that is why we ended up crashing.” John says angrily.

“No. You know what... just get out!” Rusty yells in anger.

Laura quickly walks out of the kitchen to the table. Rusty pushes himself up out of the chair to his feet and raises his right fist to the air but thought twice about punching John and walked around him and out through the open sliding door.

“Hey!” Laura yells.

“No. Let him go.” John says seriously.

Laura looks left and looks down at John.

“What was that about?” Laura asks confused.

“It’s nothing.” John replies seriously.

“Well then, he shouldn’t be talking to you like that if it’s nothing.” Laura says confused.

“He just needed to get the accident off his chest.” John says honestly.

“It wasn’t your fault that Ed died.” Laura says with a frown.

“You are only saying that because you blame Rusty.” John says honestly.

“So what!” Laura says.

“It wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t behind the wheel.” John says honestly.

“But he was distracting you.” Laura says honestly.

“Look... don’t worry about it.” John says seriously.

“He shouldn’t get away with the way he just spoke to you.” Laura says seriously.

Laura walks out through the opened back sliding door.

The horse is trotting around in its paddock; the grass is green, fresh and sweet. The birds are chirping away in a nearby tree. Rusty is standing at the paddock with his arms resting on the wooden paddock fence.

Laura sees Rusty standing at the paddock fence in the distance and walks up to him, she stand behind him.

“I want you to go back inside and apologise right this very minute.” Laura says seriously at his back.

Rusty turns around to face Laura; he sees her staring at him frowning.

“Yeah. Okay, I will apologise.” Rusty says with a slight tone.

Rusty walks back up to the house; through the back sliding door and sits back down in his seat; he looks up at John seriously.

“You know... what happened that night affected most of us except Laura; who seems more than happy to have you around...”

John sits still; looking at Rusty wide eyed.

“I’m not apologising for what I said here today; I’m apologising for that night because it is me who seems to be living in mourning... it wasn’t me who was driving; it wasn’t my fault, no but I seem to be the one everyone is pointing the finger at... and because of that, I’m not apologising at all as it was you who caused the accident and you should be blamed for our friend’s death... I couldn’t even go to his funeral because of you.” Rusty says seriously.

John nods and looks at Rusty smiling proudly.

“I’m glad you aren’t apologising as you made me cause the crash and now you are to blame.” John says honestly as he smiles at Rusty proudly.

Laura walks back inside and walks back into the kitchen.

“So that’s what you tell people... you’ve basically brain washed them to believe that you are mister innocent.” Rusty says seriously.

John sits there smiling at Rusty proudly.

Laura walks out of the kitchen with John’s coffee and places it on the table above his newspaper.

“Thank you.” John says with a smile as he looks up into her hazel eyes.

Rusty sits in his chair frowning as his eyes shift backwards and forwards from Laura to John and back at Laura. His eyebrows narrow tightly as he notices the both of them staring at one another smiling. It starts to make Rusty feel sick to the stomach; and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as his whole body shivers at the look of them. Rusty looks low at the table.

John skulls down his warm coffee as Laura walks back into the kitchen; John finishes his coffee and looks left at Rusty, Rusty feels his eyes watching him.

“Let’s go outside to talk.” John says seriously.

Rusty pulls himself up out of the chair and stands up straight.

“Okay.” Rusty says frowning.

Rusty and John walk out the front door; Rusty shuts the front door behind him as he stands on the cement step.

“What you want to talk about?” Rusty asks.

“Your wife.” John replies with a smile as he stands on the sweet fresh green grass.

“What about her?” Rusty asks seriously as no one is supposed to mention anything about their wives.

“Well, she and I are under the impression that you would rather work than spend time with her; she has to do everything on her own and she gets lonely, so here I am everyday supporting her, helping her with her pregnancy while you are doing nothing for her.” John says honestly.

“Wait a minute... pregnancy?” Rusty asks confused.

“Yes.” John replies.

“I know nothing about her being pregnant and besides I have to work to keep the money flowing for her.” Rusty says confused.

“She doesn’t love you.” John says seriously.

“Why wouldn’t she tell me if she is pregnant?” Rusty asks confused.

“Did you hear me?” John asks seriously.

“Yeah, she doesn’t love me... what!” Rusty looks at John with his eyebrows narrowed tightly; he is angry again.

“That’s right; she is going to leave you.” John says with a grin.

Just hearing everything John has said has made Rusty’s blood boil.

“I had sex with her two months back... she loved it.” John says laughing.

Rusty tackles John to the ground and punches a left and right. John has his arms up but isn’t stopping Rusty from hitting him, his face starts to bleed from the second punch and Rusty’s wedding ring carves the letter ‘r’ on John’s right cheek. John then grabs Rusty’s right fist in the palm of his left hand and punches Rusty in the nose with his right fist. Rusty falls backwards, an inch from the cement path. John sits up as Rusty sits up holding his nose.

“Someone needs to warn her about your temper.” John says with a grin.

John pulls out a hanky from his left pocket and wipes the blood from his face.

“Is that your best shot?” Rusty says angrily.

“No.” John replies.

“Well come on then, give me your best shot.” Rusty says angrily.

“You aren’t worth it... say goodbye to your wife for me.” John says with a smile.

Rusty rises to his feet and walks back inside and shuts the door calmly. He sighs and leans his back up against the door.

“Hey breakfast is ready... sorry it took so long.” Laura says happily.

Rusty walks to the edge of the table and sits down.

“Are you seeing anyone else behind my back?” Rusty asks as Laura walks up to the table with his breakfast. She looks into Rusty’s eyes blankly.

“No... What happened to your face?” Laura asks politely as she places his breakfast down on the table.

Rusty looks low at the table.

“Never mind my face.”

He looks back up to face her again.

“I’m asking the questions.” Rusty says seriously.

Rusty has blood running from his nose; the bridge of it is split and bruised.

“What else are you going to ask me?” Laura asks calmly as she pulls out a chair close to him on his right.

“What about you and John; are you seeing him?” Rusty asks seriously.

“No, we are just friends... what would make you think there is something going on between him and me?” Laura asks confused.

“He told me he fucked you two months ago.” Rusty replies angrily.

“Sweetie, he is just messing with your head.” Laura says calmly.

Rusty looks at her with his eyebrows narrowed tightly.

“What about you being pregnant? Is that made up too?” Rusty asks confused.

“I’m not pregnant.” Laura says calmly.

“Would you mind if I bought a pregnancy test to make sure?” Rusty asks seriously.

“I’m not pregnant.” Laura repeats.

“Well then, if you are not pregnant then you won’t have any objection to me buying one to make sure.” Rusty says seriously.

“Do what you want.” Laura says with a slight tone.

Rusty has a habit of being mislead and being accused of things he didn’t do. But this situation seems to be very complicated and strange to him. He can never tell if she is telling him the truth or if everything is made up of lies, he doesn’t even know if she actually does love him. Some thing’s come to him as a joke and those things are usually serious to him. It’s easy for everything to be blown out of proportion just like it’s easy to lie to your mates and lover.

Laura is the type of woman that makes up lies to protect herself from being in trouble. Her lies cover the truth; she is a natural born liar. And she is a woman of expensive taste; all that money Rusty made went to her to keep her happy. She has so many secrets to which Rusty knows nothing about. Laura isn’t happy in her relationship with Rusty, she has been pushing him away ever since they got married last year but still she stays like nothing’s wrong.

Rusty eats his scrambled eggs, sausages, spaghetti and toast. He washes the dishes while Laura is up stairs making their bed.

Rusty walks over to the front door and Notches follows him. Rusty turns the door handle with his right hand and opens the door wide enough so he can walk out; Rusty walks out and shuts the door behind Notches.

Rusty bends down and lifts the garage door up and walks in and steers the heavy road bike out from the garage. He stands it up and walks backwards from the bike about two steps back he pauses and looks at it properly.

“Wow.” Rusty says with a grin.

He walks back over to it and rubs his right hand over its shiny exterior.

“Smooth.” Rusty says smiling.

Rusty climbs on it and sits on the seat. He starts it up and revs it two times and rides it down the driveway and on the dirt road.