Doesn't any one else see this, that the little whiteboard shopping list on the cupboard door in the kitchen is alive? Or is it the magic marker pen that has a life of it's own and starts writing again as soon as the board is wiped clean. They are evil, malevolent.
I don't know I couldn't tell which is to blame because I have never actually caught them in action you see, but my money is on the board. There it is can't you see the little self satisfied glow the board positively leers at me.They are driving me slowly insane. I can't believe it that board was clear a moment ago I did a major shop yesterday.
Ah the shops! I cannot handle the noises it feels as if my brain is going to burst. The creak of the un-oiled trolley wheels. The awfully loud jarring muzak that they play especially at Christmas time. The ceaseless babble of the other people in the shop.The beeps, gurgles , whistles and humming of various bits of electronic equipment in the shop. The ka-ching of my money as it is pushed into the greedy maw of the cash register.
That's it! the sound that I hear at home! Every time another item appears on the list, I here the sad whisper of the notes as they leave my hand forever. Money barely accumulated gone wasted. There is a constant loud vibrating mix of noise in the shop. It is anything but soothing, it is irrtating at least. Everyone wants my money, the till lady, the packer, the car guard, the man controlling the entry/exit booms.
I am not made of money you know!
Do I have to provide single handedly for the welfare of the whole damn city?
God can't this family eat less. More milk,
who the hell is drinking all the milk in this house?
It becomes a surreal frightening litany of words; dog food, butter, bubble bath (is that really necessary can't you use dishwasher?), paper towelling, meat, eggs, frozen veg, shampoo..... on and on and on ad nauseum!
It never stops. I can't take it I am going crazy help me!!!..........
Later that afternoon as they all start filtering back from work and school I am earth mother welcoming her loved ones back to the fold, calm serene even relaxed. Then I hear a shriek from the kitchen "Mum come quickly"
AS I saunter nonchalantly into the kitchen they are all standing stock still, mouths opened wide in shock. Where the cupboard door used to be there is now just a jagged open hole and on the floor in the centre of the kitchen, a pile of barely cold ashes.
Soldier's Gap is a non-traditional mystery with literary elements. The high school principal is brutally murdered, but Deputy Sheriff Dave Jenkins's search for meaning and love is a much more significant theme.
"Murder isn't usually this fun
