Fiction

After fifteen years of marriage Ann was finding Robert hard work to be with – and now they’d had an awful argument

ANN thrust her arms into her jacket, grabbed her handbag and stormed down the hallway.

“Ann, wait a minute!” Robert called from the kitchen. “I didn’t mean to upset you. All I said was that I didn’t want to go because-” Ann turned, her face full of thunder. “I’m going for a walk, Robert,” she told him, her eyes burning. “And I don’t know when I’m coming back!”

After fifteen years of marriage, she was finding Robert increasingly hard work to be with.

It was hard to say exactly when things had started going wrong. But if Ann had to guess she’d say it was around the time he’d started his new job. Since then he’d become obsessed with detail to a level that Ann was finding difficult to cope with. His obsession with detail was necessary, even welcomed, in his work as an architect but he now brought that obsession home. And it seemed as if he never switched off. He’d become critical too, shouting at the television news, even disagreeing with the weather presenter. And at the odd moments when Ann thought things were going smoothly, Robert began to worry long and loudly whether teabags had been in the teapot long enough, or whether they were watering their house plants enough.

Robert really was driving her to distraction over day-to-day tasks. And now, here she was, striding down their street, breathing in the fresh air, trying to calm herself. What on earth was she to do?

SHE’D tried talking to Robert about his behaviour as they’d prepared Sunday lunch one day. Ann noticed him staring out the kitchen window. He’d paused while peeling potatoes – the peeler in his right hand, a large potato in his left – and was just standing there, lost in thought. “You all right, love?” she’d asked. Robert had come to, eventually, as if from a dream and carried on peeling the potatoes. He’d then obsessively sculpted each of the potatoes exactly the same. But when she’d tried to ask again if he felt all right, he’d refused to open up. He’d retreated to the living room, opened his laptop and said he had reports to read before work the next day.

Ann knew she had to find out what was going on. Robert’s behaviour was nothing short of bizarre. But first she had to walk off the tension after their exchange of words.

She walked for half an hour, to the outskirts of their suburb where a funfair had been set up days earlier. The funfair had been the cause of their argument. Ann wanted to visit it but, as had become the way with Robert lately, he’d said he didn’t want to go but wouldn’t say why.

Ann walked into the field where the fair was set up, smiling at a woman in a black shawl who offered to tell her fortune. She headed to the back of the field where an old-fashioned Ferris wheel stood with its wooden seats painted bright red and yellow. The whole thing didn’t reach higher than the roof of her house – the house where Robert would be doing heaven knows what while she was out.

A handful of people waited in the queue and Ann decided to join them for a spin. Each time a seat with passengers on it came down to ground level, the wheel paused, just long enough to let the passengers off and new riders jump on. Each seat held two passengers and by the time it was Ann’s turn to jump into a red seat, quite a queue had built up.

“Roll up! Roll up! Two passengers in every seat!” called the man collecting the money. Ann got into the seat and as she fastened the belt around her waist, she felt the bulk of another person beside her. She turned to see an older man in a

thick black coat and a matching flat cap.

“I haven’t been on one of these in years,” he said, holding on to his hat.

“It’s a lovely old thing, isn’t it?” Ann replied. Slowly, the wheel turned until the seat Ann was in was at the very top of the wheel.

“You can see my house from up here,” Ann told the man, pointing down.

“I’m not from round here,” the man told Ann. “I just thought I’d treat myself to a day out at the fair. Riding one of these old Ferris wheels is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do.”

After a few seconds more of sitting at the top of the wheel, Ann said, “I wonder what’s stopping us from moving?”

“Maybe there are more people down there getting on?” the man suggested.

Ann glanced down at the ground then shook her head.

“I can only see the chap who collected our money,” she said. “Oh, hang on, he doesn’t look very happy.”

“Ladies and gentlemen!” the man roared up to everyone on the wheel. “We’ve got a problem with the mechanics but we’ll have you on the move soon!”

“Looks like we’re stuck,” Ann said with a laugh.

The man looked at Ann and she noticed a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Well,” he declared. “I never thought I’d end up getting stuck at the top of a Ferris wheel today. That’s another one I can tick off my list.” “What list?” asked Ann, intrigued. “My bucket list,” he said. “I made it after my wife Sarah passed away last year. There’s not a day goes by when I don’t miss her. And I’ve decided that before my time’s up too, I’m going to do all the things I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Do you mean going swimming with dolphins, that sort of thing?” Ann asked, intrigued. The man shook his head. “First on my list was to have this ride on a Ferris wheel,” he said. “I’m still thinking about all the other adventures to have. Mind you, it won’t be the same without Sarah. I wish I’d made the list decades ago and the two of us could have enjoyed things together.”

“Were you married long, before your wife died?” Ann asked gently.

“Forty-two years,” he replied, his eyes glistening. “It wasn’t always easy, our marriage, I mean. But I miss her, you know, every day.”

“No,” Ann replied, thinking about Robert. “It’s really not easy at times.”

“You’ve got to make the most of what you’ve got,” he continued. “Couples become close and take each other for granted. Two people living together under the same roof, some days are fine and other days . . . well. I’d give anything to have any of our days back, good or bad. But Sarah’s gone now and all I’ve got left is my bucket list of adventures to keep my dreams alive.”

Just then, their seat jerked forward. A cry came up from below.

“Sorry for the wait, folks! We’ve got you moving now!”

THE wheel started turning, moving slowly, pausing to let everyone off as each seat reached the ground. When the time came for Ann and her fellow passenger to leave the wheel, the man stepped out of the seat first. He offered his hand to Ann to help her out of the seat. “Thank you,” she told him. “It’s just a hand,” he smiled. “I’m oldfashioned like that.”

But it wasn’t his kind gesture that Ann was thanking him for. His words had struck a chord in her heart.

“I thought you’d never come down,” Ann heard a voice say. She spun round to find Robert standing behind her. She grabbed him towards her in a bear hug, breathing in the smell of his hair, his skin.

“Did you follow me here?” she asked after she released him from her arms.

“I couldn’t just let you disappear,” he replied. “Look, I know I’ve been a bit difficult lately.”

Ann felt the prick of tears behind her eyes.

“And it’s about time I explained what’s going on.”

Robert let his gaze drop. “It’s the new job, Ann. I’ve been struggling there, really struggling. But I didn’t want you to think I couldn’t cope so I’ve been keeping it all to myself.” Just then a cry went up. “Ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up! The wheel’s back in action now!”

Ann took Robert’s hand and led him towards a painted red seat.

“Come on,” she said. “We need to talk and I know the perfect place.”

She’d tried to ask him if he felt all right but he’d refused to open up