Teabags & Tears

by Woods, Karen

  “There’s Kevin.” Tina whispered through the side of her mouth. Sandra looked uneasy.

  “What’s he doing back? I thought he was out for the day.”

  Tina stood tall and looked directly at him as they got nearer. “I bet your mam has phoned him to tell him what’s gone on.” Sandra shook off her fear and had a stern look on her face.

  “Does this face looks like it gives a shit Tina?” Sandra stood tall as she walked to the car. She could see him shaking his head and he didn’t look happy. Tina knew they were going to have words and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Right see you later. Phone me if you need me.”

  “Yeah alright, speak soon.” As soon as Tina’s back was turned Kevin grabbed Sandra by her coat and marched her in the house. She was struggling with him and wasn’t going to let him get the better of her.

  “Get ya hands off me, you prick. Who do you think you are?” His voice was angry and his temper boiled.

  “You’re mam has just been on the phone. What the fuck do you think you’re playing at ay?” She snapped back at him.

  “I’m playing at fuck all. I’m deadly serious. Don’t think for one minute I’m gonna take anymore of your shit.” Her head fell to the side as his clenched fist pummelled into the side of her face. Closing the front door behind them his reign of terror began.

  “I’m sick of you showing me up. Look at the state of you. You’re nothing but a big, fat bastard.” His face growled down at her on the floor as his eyes peered menacingly at her face. Cowering away from him she held her hands in front of her face to try and defend herself but it was no good. Kevin dragged her hair all over the place and finally pulled her into the front room.

  “Please make him stop. Please” she whispered, but no one heard her as she felt his foot kick into the depths of her stomach.

  The beating was now over and she lay sobbing on the floor. She knew she was hurt but didn’t know where the pain was coming from, as every bone in her body was on fire. Sandra could hear Kevin’s rapid breathing nearby and heard the flickering of a lighter. The smell of tobacco now filled the air. Could she make a run for it? No, her body was too weak. Peeping through her looped arms she could see him sat smoking on the arm chair. The sound of her legs moving caused him to drop his head over the arm of the chair and look at her. Her eyes were swelled now and she was finding it hard to focus. Sandra sat up and pulled her back up against the wall. Drawing her knees up to her chest she was aware he was watching her movement, his chilling voice made her tremble inside.

  “See what ya have made me do now. It’s all you’re fucking fault. What have I told you about getting me angry?” Her face remained looking at him as her thoughts went unheard. Oh I’m gonna hurt you so bad, you bullying bastard. I’m going to ruin you and that dirty little tramp of a sister. Her face looked anxious. Kevin now spoke to her as if she was a little child.

  “So what do you have to say for yourself”? Sandra remained quiet. He picked up a nearby ash tray and launched it at the wall near her. “Don’t fucking ignore me you sad cunt,” he screamed. Her body was shaking and she knew he would hurt her further if she didn’t reply. Her mouth was dry as she swallowed. You could see her blowing breath from her mouth as she tried to speak.

  “She’s the cause of it not me. Why are you treating me like this?” His body jerked up from the chair. Pacing the floor he came to the side of her and kicked at her shins. She yelled out in pain. He knelt down now and he looked directly into her face.

  “If your Tracy would have me, I would be there in minutes you daft fat slag. But she doesn’t, so I’m stuck with your sorry arse instead aren’t I?” he ranted.

  Bastard, bastard she thought. Sandra covered her ears with her hands but he dragged them away so she could hear every word he had to say to her.

  “If you ever touch her again I’ll hurt you. Do you hear me?”

  Sandra nodded. His fingers gripped her chin as he spit into her face. “You need to remember Sandra that the women out there want me all the time. Good looking ones as well, but I choose to come home to you. Fuck knows why.” His face looked cocky as he stood shoving her head towards the wall. He walked away straightening his top. The clock on the wall was ticking loudly and it seemed forever before he sat back down. He told her to get up from the floor. She ignored him at first but as he shouted again she jumped up as if boiled water had been poured onto her.

  Sandra sat on a nearby chair and kept her hand held over the side of her face. She saw Kevin checking his watch and once he’d sent a text message on his mobile phone he stood up. Bending down to her he asked for a kiss. She hated him with every bone in her body. She cringed as he leant in to her to connect with his lips. The sound of lips smacking could be heard. The dirty twat stuck his tongue into her mouth and seemed to be turned on by the whole episode. Grabbing his keys to his pride and joy he left. He was her lord and master.

  Rocking in the chair, Sandra wanted to end her life. Her mobile phone started to ring and she could see Tina’s name flashing on the screen. Holding the phone in her hand tears fell from her eyes. Pressing the answer button she heard the voice of her friend.

  “Well what did he say about it all?”

  Sandra began to cry. Her words were muffled and hard to understand.

  “He’s just kicked fuck out of me Tina. I’m a mess.” The phone went dead and Sandra was shouting into it hoping her friend was still there. After a few minutes she gave up and fell onto the sofa. A wet patch was now visible where her tears had fallen. Sandra now lay sobbing her heart out.

  Sandra jumped up as she heard the front door open and close again. She could now hear her son Paul shouting if anyone was at home. Quickly she placed the cushions round her face and pretended she was asleep. She could hear him at the side of her and felt him gently pushing at her arm. He didn’t stay around much longer now he thought she was asleep.

  Around an hour passed and Sandra had fallen asleep. There was a knock on the front door and someone was knocking on the letter-box as if their life depended on it. Sandra rolled her bruised body from the sofa and peeped into the hall way. She could see Tina with her face squashed up against the glass. Sandra trudged to the door and opened it.

  “What the fuck” Tina screamed as she saw her friend’s face for the first time. Sandra tried covering her eyes but Tina dragged them away to get a better look. “The dirty no good bastard. You should phone the police on the wanker.” Tina was livid. Leading Sandra to the kitchen she switched the kettle on. That was the answer to a lot of problems they had and the only way Tina knew how to cope with a drama. A brew and a cig. Yeah that was the medicine her friend needed to calm her down.

  It was war now and as they sipped their cup of tea a plan unfolded between them. Tracy and Kevin would be destroyed. They both knew they would have to be cunning to go undetected. It was just a matter of time before the two of them got what was coming to them. The girls smiled as they took deep drags from their cigs as Sandra nursed her face with a cold flannel held up to her eyes.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A few weeks passed and Sandra started to plot her husband’s downfall. As she sat in work waiting for her next client she tapped her finger on her front tooth. The salon where she worked was boiling hot and the sound of the sunbed fans could be heard.

  Sandra’s table was set in the front window of the shop and she could see everyone who passed. Her black tunic felt tight round her chest and she promised herself that she was going on a strict diet as of today. Well that was after she’d eaten her sandwich and the chocolate éclair she’d just bought from the bakery next door. Kevin had been even more distant over the last few weeks and tonight was the night she had planned to follow him and see what he was really up to. A client now joined Sandra. She looked stressed.

  “Oh Sandra, sorry I’m late I missed the bus from town.” Pulling the cake from her mouth Sandra smiled and told Maxine to take a seat. Wiping the cream from the side of her mouth, Sandra searched the
drawer at the side of her for a nail file. Maxine had been her client for over a year now and had become a good friend. She made Sandra piss laughing with some of the stories she told her. In fact the tales she’d heard from behind her nail station would make anyone’s toes curl. The women saw her as some kind of therapist and never held back with their own personal problems. Maxine always had problems. She was around thirty eight years of age and was sunbed mad. Her skin looked like a rhino’s. Maxine had hammered the sunbeds over the years and she looked orange. Since she’d been taking the new tanning pill on the market she looked like an umpa- lumpa. Maxine threw her finger nails into her face.

  “My nails are minging love. I took the false ones off the other day. My fingers look as if I have picked a thousand spuds from a field.” Sandra sprayed some antiseptic over her hands and began to prepare her nails for the false tips. Maxine’s voice was quiet now. She looked around the shop with caution to make sure no one was listening. “I’ve got some dresses in my bag from Selfridges if you wanna have a look.” Sandra nodded. Maxine was a shoplifter and had been for years. Everybody knew her and what she did. These days though she had to go out of Manchester to earn her living as all the security guards knew her in most of the stores. Maxine had been to prison a few times in the past and spoke openly about her sentences. Sandra knew she’d had a hard time with her boyfriend in the past and the scars on her arm told her just how bad it had been. Sandra told her she would have a proper look at her swag later. Maxine dropped the bag at the side of her and casually spoke.

  “So what’s new with you love, any gossip for me?” Sandra was filing her nails with her head dipped. She paused and looked up in deep thought. She wanted to tell her that her husband was shagging her sister but held back as another customer walked into the shop to use the sunbeds. She watched the middle-aged woman go to the reception desk and carried on with her conversation. Sandra kept her problems to herself for now. Maxine now filled her in on the latest traumas in her life.

  “Well that wanker of a boyfriend I’ve got has been at it again. I caught the cunt bang to rights the other night” Sandra stopped filing her nails and listened with interest. Maxine didn’t care who heard her and looked angry as Sandra felt her hands tense as she continued to file her nails. Maxine spoke in a loud voice. “He told me he was going to look at a new car with his mate. I was on to him straight away. I mean I wasn’t born fucking yesterday was I?” Maxine chewed on her lip and moved closer across the table. With a giggle in her voice she whispered. “Revenge is sweet Sandra and I’ve already started to wipe the smile off his face. I’ve cut all the twats clothes up to start with. I mean I nicked most of them for him anyway and there’s no way I’m dressing the tosser up for someone else to look at.” Sandra’s eyes lit up, she wanted to know more. She didn’t realise it but she was squeezing Maxine’s hand tighter and her client had to wriggle free to get the blood flowing again. Maxine continued.

  “My mate Marcy from down our street put me on to it a few weeks ago. She said she’d seen him in the Claridon pub at the top of Monsall. You know where it is, don’t you?”

  Sandra nodded eagerly and replied. “Yeah I’ve been in there a few times with Kevin. It’s rough in there isn’t it!”

  Maxine giggled. “Oh it was rough when I went in love let me tell you.” Maxine now sat back in her chair. Her face was serious. “I stood at the door at first and didn’t want to go in. You know what it’s like don’t you love? Half of me wanted to know but the other didn’t. Anyway I thought fuck it. I needed to see it with my own two eyes.”

  Sandra started speaking now and she looked about the shop to make sure no one could hear her, after all she was at work and had to be professional. “Yeah that’s the worst thing ever. Not knowing if he’s cheating. It would drive me mad.”

  Maxine’s face looked grey as she carried on. “I couldn’t see him at first when I opened the door. But as I looked closer at a few of his mates they knew the game was over for Barry. They all sunk their heads down in shame because they all knew about his affair with her. I just followed their eyes to the corner of the pub and that’s when I saw him. Fucking Romeo and Juliet had nothing on him. Holding her hand he was, staring deep into her eyes. He didn’t even see me walk in.” Maxine’s face looked sad as she continued. “The pub was silent and I crept to his side without him batting an eyelid.” Sandra was gripped by the story, as if she watching it on TV. She would have gladly eaten a packet of crisps and sipped a Coca Cola if she had any as she hung on to Maxine’s every word.

  Maxine blew a deep breath and run her fingers through her long red hair. “He was chatting shit to her and the girl was now looking at me. He turned to see what she was looking at and nearly had a heart attack when he saw me stood there. Everyone in the pub was waiting for my next move and I didn’t disappoint them. You know what I’m like don’t you?” she said with a smirk across her face. “I jumped on him there and then. His little slapper of a girlfriend looked shocked and tried to stop me. Well that was until I jawed her.”

  Maxine was giggling and held the bottom part of her stomach as she told her the rest of the story. “I ragged Barry’s hair and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it because he was sat down. His tart was shouting at the side of him now and that’s when I told her who I was. She was a cocky little twat, I can tell you, because she didn’t believe me at first. Six months she said she’d been seeing him. Barry was now on his feet by this time and denying it all to me right in front of her face. She fucked off once she’d heard that. He was stood like a prize prick in the pub now and you could see his mates with snide smiles all across their faces. I was calm you know, when I told him I would be sorting his clothes out and I wanted him out of my life as from today. I just left the pub then. I mean there was nothing left to be said was there?”

  Sandra shook her head slowly. Maxine now looked sad. She pushed her hand back over to Sandra and you could tell she was close to tears. Sandra rubbed Maxine’s hand slowly and called her ex a no good bastard. Maxine tried to break a smile. “Oh don’t worry about me. I’ll have the last laugh, don’t you worry and he’ll pay for every tear I’ve cried. Anyway once bitten twice shy innit.” Sandra was intrigued and wanted to know more about this payback she planned for her ex-boyfriend. She’d already secretly searched on the internet and had a few revenge ideas for Kevin but Maxine looked as if she knew what she was talking about and she wanted to pick her brains. Filing her nails, she probed deeper.

  “So what have you got planned for him now then. I bet he went mad that you cut all his clothes up didn’t he?”

  Maxine looked proud. “He’s lucky I didn’t cut off his cock off the prick. Because the way I felt Sandra, I could of you know.” Sandra looked into Maxine’s eyes and she could see that she meant every word. Sticking the nail tips on her fingernails she wanted to know more. Maxine was definitely a wise head.

  The radio seemed to be playing lots of love songs. Did the radio presenter know how they both felt, because every song that played was heartbreaking. As “Where D Broken Hearts Go” By Whitney Houston played Maxine giggled. “For fuck’s sake turn this bag of shit off. I’m depressed enough without this kind of music.” Sandra needed this woman’s help and spoke in a low voice.

  “Ay Maxine I think my fella is fucking about too. What do you think I should do?”

  Maxine smiled cunningly. “Do you know what, you’re about the third person who has said that to me this week. What’s wrong with these men around here? Aren’t we enough for them?” Sandra felt embarrassed now and started to apply the clear top-coat polish to her nails. As they were placed under the dryer Maxine nodded her head as she stared at her nails. “We could set up a business you know. We could call it ‘Payback Slimey Cheating Bastards’!”

  They both were laughing out loud now but Sandra was on it and the thought of helping other women like herself appealed to her. Sandra checked her nails and looked at Maxine with a serious face. “Tell you what. If you help me catc
h this fucker of a husband I’ll set up a website for women with straying partners. We’ll show the dirty fuckers. We can catch them red- handed or even just do things to them without them knowing what’s going on.”

  Maxine’s eyes lit up. She was excited too. She searched in her bag for a pen and scribbled her mobile number down for Sandra. She told her she was busy tonight but she would gladly meet up at a later date to discuss their next move. Sandra told her they had planned to follow her husband that same night and covered her face with her hands as the thought of catching him ran through her mind. Maxine stopped her dead in her tracks.

  “Don’t do anything yet. Let’s catch him red-handed. Once you know he’s cheating, then we can start paying him back. What’s the point of letting the cat out of the bag straight away? We can ruin him and his tart big time.” Sandra agreed. She would just go tonight and see for herself what the bastard was fooling around with, and once she knew for sure the games would begin to ruin him.

  Maxine waved goodbye as she left the shop and winked at her telling her she would be in touch. Sandra now sat tapping her fingers at the table. Her husband was going to get what was coming to him and she couldn’t wait to wipe the smile from his face and her sister’s.

  Much of Sandra’s day went more or less the same. She looked as if she had something on her mind and she struggled to concentrate. Once she’d finished the last set of nails for a client, she went on the sunbed for nine minutes to try and relax. Stood inside the cubicle she started to undress. The full-length mirror stood from the wall and she couldn’t help but look at herself. Turning to the side she breathed in and pulled at her fat trying to look as thin as possible. It was no good because no matter which way she stood, she was still the fat bastard she hated. “You need to stop eating you beached whale Sandra,” she muttered. Rolling her bra down from her shoulders she threw it onto the chair and stepped inside the sunbed.