Terror Illusion

by James R Conway

On Sunday morning, Jonathan cooked himself a leisurely breakfast at the St. Katharines flat. He had enjoyed some time to himself since Friday afternoon but now he was looking forward to having lunch with Karen. After getting showered and dressed he left the flat and walked to Tower Hill tube station to travel to Karen’s flat in Finchley, about ten miles north of central London. The journey took him just about forty five minutes and he used the map that Karen had sketched to navigate the ten minute walk to her flat. It was in a typical suburban London street with terraced houses down both sides, many of which had been converted to flats. Jonathan found Karen’s address and walked up the short path to the front door. There was a box on the wall to the right of the front door with two bell pushes. Jonathan pushed the one labelled ‘K. Wilson’ and almost immediately, a voice came out of the scratchy speaker. “Hello, this is Karen!”

  There was a click. “This is Jonathan.” There was a loud buzz from the front door and Jonathan pushed it open and stepped inside. There was a hallway with a staircase rising on the right hand side of the hallway. Jonathan saw Karen coming along the corridor from the downstairs flat, drying her hands on a tea towel.

  She threw the tea towel over her shoulder and hugged Jonathan tightly, kissing his cheek. Jonathan responded with a hug for Karen. “Jonathan, I’m so pleased you could come for lunch. Come on through to the kitchen.” Karen grabbed Jonathan’s hand and almost dragged him back along the corridor and into the kitchen, which was a bright and cheery place with a window overlooking a long but narrow back garden. “Let me take your coat,” said Karen as she helped Jonathan to pull off his overcoat. She hung it on a coat hook in the corridor.

  “Take a seat,” she said, gesturing towards a table in the corner of the kitchen with two chairs. “Can I get you a drink? I’ve just opened a bottle of Chardonnay.”

  “I’ll have the same, please.”

  Karen poured Jonathan a large glass of wine and placed on the table in front of him. “The lunch is pretty much under control. I hope you like lamb.” There was an appetizing smell of roasting lamb and rosemary starting to fill the kitchen. “Roast potatoes all right for you?”

  “All my favourites!”

  “That’s good.”

  Karen took a quick look in the oven to check everything was in order and then topped up her wine glass and came to sit at the table. “I have been so looking forward to this. Do you want to go and sit in the front room?”

  “No, thanks, I’d like to sit here in the kitchen while the lunch is cooking.”

  “How was your trip to Greenwich yesterday?”

  “I had a great time. The boat trip was a great way to see the river and The Royal Observatory was fascinating.”

  “I’ve never been there.”

  “Perhaps we could go together one day. There’s a lot of interesting things to see there.”

  “That would be nice. I think we are going to be working together quite a bit in the future.”

  “It certainly seems that way.”

  They each took a sip of their wine. “You have a nice little garden here,” said Jonathan, pointing through the kitchen window. “I would think that’s a nice place to sit out in the good weather.”

  “I love it. It’s a bit muddy and wintry at the moment. I really don’t spend enough time out there.”

  “Do you spend most of your time in London?”

  “Except when I have to go out to visit my authors or when I visit my parents and sister in Leeds. I would say I spend three weeks out of four here. I keep some stuff at my parent’s house so I can travel pretty light when I go up there.”

  “Maybe you could store a suitcase here for me so I can travel light.”

  “What a good idea. I’m sure I could find a space for it in one of my cupboards.”

  Karen stood up. “I just need to put on the veggies.” She walked across the kitchen and pulled a bag of mixed vegetables out of the freezer. “Perhaps you could lay the table.” She poured the frozen vegetables into a saucepan of boiling water.

  Jonathan hunted through the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and eventually gathered together the plates and cutlery for two place settings. Meanwhile, Karen had prepared the gravy and was now carving the lamb. She brought over a plate of the sliced lamb and then returned to the stove to get the vegetables, the gravy and the roast potatoes. Jonathan refilled the wine glasses and they both sat down to eat.

  “It’s such fun to have someone visit for Sunday lunch,” said Karen. “I usually eat on my own.”

  “No partner, Karen?”

  “No, no-one. I have a few friends around Finchley who drop in occasionally or we meet up at the local pub or wine bar, but no-one I would call a partner. Yourself?”

  “No, I don’t have a partner either. It’s taken me a long time to settle back into England and like you I have a few good friends but I just don’t seem to have met anyone special yet.”

  They ate in silence for a few minutes then Jonathan said, “This is the most delightful Sunday roast. Just wonderful.”

  “Well thank you, Jonathan. It is nice to have my cooking appreciated.”

  They both finished their meals and sat leaned back in their chairs feeling very full and very satisfied.

  “I’ve got some cheesecake for dessert if you’ve got room for it,” said Karen.

  “I’m absolutely full,” said Jonathan, patting his tummy. “Perhaps a bit later I might be able to manage a small slice.”

  “Let’s leave the dishes until later,” said Karen. “Come on through to the front room.”

  She led Jonathan by the hand once more and took him into the front room. It was a modest but comfortable room with two armchairs and a two-seater settee. There was a television in the bay window and a stereo unit in the corner to the right of the window. There was a soft instrumental piece playing on the stereo. Karen led Jonathan to the settee and Jonathan sat down. “I’ll go and get our wine,” she said. She left the room and returned a few moments later with their wine glasses and the half empty bottle of wine. She set them down on the coffee table in front of the settee and sat down next to Jonathan.

  “This is a very comfortable room,” said Jonathan.

  “Yes, I usually fall asleep in front of the television in here.”

  Jonathan laughed quietly. Karen grasped Jonathan’s hand and rested her head on his shoulder. He moved a little closer. Karen sighed softly. They listened to the music together for a while, then Karen turned her face, pursed her lips and offered Jonathan a kiss to which he responded with a gentle kiss. Karen returned to resting her head on his shoulder. “That’s the first real kiss I have had in several years,” said Jonathan quietly.

  “Me too,” said Karen. They turned towards each other and hugged.

  “I’m feeling sleepy after that lunch,” said Jonathan.

  “You can stretch out on the sofa or there’s a bed you can lie down on if you want. Personally I would recommend the bed.”

  “Are you sure?” said Jonathan.

  “Yes. Come on.” Karen stood up and pulled Jonathan up from the sofa. She led him by the hand to the bedroom. “There you go.” Jonathan kicked off his shoes and lay out on the bed on top of the duvet. Karen walked round to the other side of the bed and lay down next to him. They rolled towards each other and hugged and kissed, this time exploring each other’s mouths, rather more passionately this time. After a while, they relaxed their hold on each other and they both fell asleep. Neither of them had been accustomed to sleeping next to a nice warm body for several years.

  Jonathan awoke and looked at the clock radio on the bedside table. They had been asleep for about ninety minutes. He quietly got up from the bed and walked to the kitchen. He closed the kitchen door to avoid waking Karen, who was still sleeping, then he cleared the dirty dishes from the kitchen table and washed, rinsed and dried them. He put on a kettle of water to boil for making a pot of tea, and while the kettle was heating up, he explored the kitchen cupboards to find where to put th
e clean dishes away. While doing that he found the tea cups, sugar, teaspoons and a milk jug. He laid out a tray and made the tea in a teapot. He waited a few minutes for the tea to brew then he carefully carried the tray into the bedroom and cleared a space on the dressing table to place down the tray. Karen was still asleep. Jonathan quietly sat down on the edge of the bed, leaned over and kissed Karen on the cheek. She groaned, stretched out and opened her eyes to look up at Jonathan’s face.

  “How do you like your tea, sleepy head?”

  “You angel, you’ve made a cup of tea. I like mine with milk but no sugar.”

  Jonathan stood up and walked over to the dressing table and poured two cups of tea then brought them over to Karen, who had by now pushed herself up to a sitting position. He handed a cup to Karen.

  “Thank you so much. How long have I been asleep?”

  “Close on two hours. I only just woke up myself.”

  “You are a perfect gentleman, Jonathan.”

  Karen and Jonathan both sipped their tea.

  “I am so pleased that you came over today,” said Karen. “Do you have any plans for this evening? I would love your company. We could put on a DVD to watch and I’ve got another bottle of wine and I’ve got some cheese and biscuits to munch on.”

  “I’m not sure when the last train leaves.”

  “Don’t worry about that for now, I’ll check it later on the computer. Now it’s time for me to get up and wash the dishes.”

  Jonathan stood up and Karen handed him her cup and hauled herself off the bed. She walked to the kitchen and Jonathan followed. He put both cups down on the kitchen counter just as Karen swung round and threw her arms over his shoulders. “You absolute sweetie! You cleaned up the lunch things!”

  Jonathan smiled and they kissed.

  “Come on,” said Karen, “let’s go choose a DVD to watch.”

  Chapter 24