The
Colleague Who Came To Stay
Linda
Casper
Caribou
Coffee – bittersweet cocoa and cedar finish
It
was already the third night and I was at breaking point. She was a colleague
rather than a friend whose home was a fair distance from work and prone to
flooding. Hearing her complain about that morning’s difficult journey in
treacherous conditions, I offered a bed for the night should the weather show
no improvement.
How a
bed for the night had become half board, laundry, entertainment and free bar
with no check-out date in sight, I wasn’t quite sure. All I know is that I cooked her food, which
could have been tastier with this herb or that spice, I did her laundry, which
didn’t look as though an iron had been near it and I cleaned her room but
missed a cobweb in the corner. I even
included her in my family and social life only to hear how my best friend
looked like mutton dressed as lamb and I how I was treated like a doormat by my
family. The cheek of it!
I was
constantly checking the weather forecast, placating my family over her extended
use of our one bathroom and assuring my friends that my guest would soon be
gone. I wasn’t looking for gratitude or
reimbursement. Many guests have stayed at my home over the years and genuinely
seemed to enjoy the experience and none had got on my nerves like this
one. The looks she gave if I forgot a
condiment on the dining table or ran out of milk or biscuits. Every word she uttered was like a knife in my
gut; I was exhausted.
On the
fourth morning my husband issued an ultimatum; someone had to go and it had to
be today. Summoning up my courage and not used to duplicity but knowing it was
the only way to get my life back, I entered her office with the intention of telling
her about my mother-in-law’s imminent visit.
‘I was just about to e-mail you,’ she said. ‘I
won’t be staying at yours tonight, Alison from Accounts has offered me a room
and she has two bathrooms,’ she added smugly.
‘That’s great,’ I replied eagerly and I was just
about to add ‘you’re welcome any time’, as you would; but I didn’t.
Author Bio
Linda Casper hails from Yorkshire and, after a long career as a high
school teacher, she has recently begun to write and has had many short stories,
poems and travel articles published.
Linda has a keen interest in gardening and is a judge for Yorkshire in
Bloom.
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