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The Games of Life: A Collection of Short Stories
The Games of Life: A Collection of Short Stories
The Games of Life: A Collection of Short Stories
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The Games of Life: A Collection of Short Stories

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A collection of short stories written for a period of four and a half years. Different stories, different adventures meant to intrigue and entertain readers.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 7, 2013
ISBN9781481783682
The Games of Life: A Collection of Short Stories
Author

Tony Coles

Tony Coles is a seventy-year-old first-time author who always had a connection with books. He has been an avid reader ever since he can remember.

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    The Games of Life - Tony Coles

    © 2013 by Tony Coles. All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

    Published by AuthorHouse 02/04/2013

    ISBN: 978-1-4817-8367-5 (sc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4817-8368-2 (e)

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    CONTENTS

    ASPECTS OF MURDER

    CREATION AND DESTRUCTION

    THE GAMES OF LIFE

    THE MISSION

    THE MISSION CONTINUES

    TIMELOOP

    WAITING AT THE BUS STOP

    THE HOUSE

    THE FINAL JUDGEMENT

    ASPECTS OF MURDER

    1. WRONG NUMBER?

    The word murder generally conjures up visions of violence, blood and mayhem. It doesn’t have to be like that though. Some murders are meticulously planned, involve no physical violence and may never be reported to the authorities and, therefore, not even investigated as a murder. In most instances the victim is taken by surprise, sometimes it is the murderer and sometimes . . . , well, take the case of Mike and Sandy Erasmus, as an example of what I mean.

    After many months of thinking about it, Mike finally made up his mind. Sandy had to go! They had been married for thirty years and, as marriages go, it hadn’t really been a bad one. There were no children and both were professional people. Sandy was an attorney and Mike was a researcher in a large pharmaceutical company.

    Their professions took up most of their time and, as the years passed, they became comfortable in their relationship which, in time, became one of mutual convenience and then eventually took second place to their busy work schedules. They lived in the same house, slept in the same bed, had sex occasionally and sometimes even sat down together for a meal.

    Many marriages survive this routine and so probably would theirs have, if things hadn’t started to develop between Mike and his assistant, Paula. Mike was never really sure who made the first move to change their working relationship into a more intimate one.

    At first, it was purely sexual but then, as they came to know more about each other, love came into the picture, for Mike that is. Then there was the financial aspect.

    Mike had spent quite a lot on Paula, for gifts, trysts at hotels and, on more than one occasion, he had taken her with him on business trips, for which he had, of course paid. The final straw was an expensive sports car, which had put his finances under severe strain.

    Mike was besotted with Paula, but she, on the other hand, was on a golden ride and meant to take full advantage of every cent it produced. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Mike, but love wasn’t in her frame of reference.

    Mike would have been prepared to continue with his lifestyle, a sort of have his cake and eat it situation, if it hadn’t been for his now precarious financial position. It was while trying to find a solution that he remembered the policies that Sandy and he had taken out on each others lives, some ten years ago, a whopping R1, 000,000 per policy! That was when he made the decision to kill Sandy.

    He couldn’t believe how, once he had made the decision, everything seemed to slip into place. Being a research chemist, he had been involved in many projects which had to be abandoned, because of some intrinsic flaw in the process. Just a week ago, such an event had occurred with a project to develop a new medication to control irregular heartbeats.

    The problem they couldn’t get around was that this particular formula would cause the heart to beat faster and faster until, after about five minutes, a massive heart attack would occur and the patient would die. Well, the laboratory rats died, it had never been tested on humans.

    Not one of his most memorable projects and so it was scrapped and the team moved on to something else.

    It might not have been successful for sufferers of irregular heart beats, but it was exactly what Mike needed, to solve his problem. The beauty of this chemical, was that it was a colourless, tasteless, odourless liquid and only a few drops would do the trick. Best of all, it would not show up in the body in the event of an autopsy, because it was made of natural substances, all of which were present in the body whenever a heart attack occurred and best of all, Mike had access to the last undestroyed phial! All that was now necessary was to enter into the lab records, that this last drop of chemical had been destroyed and, of course, to plan how and when to do the deed.

    After much thought, Mike decided that the coming Saturday evening would be perfect. Sandy and he would sometimes sit down for a glass of wine, before having supper. Neither of them was going out that night and this suited Mike perfectly, as it would give him time to set the scene after the deed was done and then to phone for the ambulance.

    He could not afford any slip-ups. He pocketed the phial, took it home and hid it in the drawer, with his medications, where Sandy would never look. That was on the Wednesday, only three days to go to change his whole life!

    It was usually a pleasant time, sharing drinks and conversation with Sandy; in fact, it was just about the only time in the week that they made an effort to really talk to each other. It was a time when tensions relaxed and their tenuous relationship was shored up for another week. On this Saturday, however, Mike had to fight hard to control his excitement and keep Sandy from sensing his tension.

    He seemed to be doing alright though, because Sandy looked relaxed and the atmosphere was pleasant.

    When it became time to re-fill their glasses for the usual second drink, Mike collected them and, as nonchalantly as possible, sauntered inside to the bar. This time, however he tipped the contents of the phial into Sandy’s glass and stirred it well. Then, trying to look calm and normal, he went back, handed the contaminated drink to Sandy, took a swig from his own refill and began to discuss next weeks cocktail party, to be given by his company, which they were both morally obliged to attend. Much as he tried, he found it difficult to keep his eyes off Sandy’s glass—when was she going to take the first sip!

    Suddenly the telephone inside the house rang. Mike nearly jumped out of his skin and, to cover his reaction, got up immediately, saying over his shoulder, Damn! Who could that be? I’ll get it. After a very short while he came back, looking puzzled.

    Who was it Mike? asked Sandy.

    Must have been a wrong number, there was nobody there. With that he sat down again. Immediately his eyes shifted to Sandy’s glass and a wave of excitement swept over him, Sandy had taken a large gulp of her drink while he had been out of the room. It was going to work, nothing could stop it now! In just under five minutes Sandy would start to die! Without thinking Mike picked up his drink and uncharacteristically, downed the lot. Looking directly at Mike, Sandy said in a conversational voice; How are things with Paula these days?

    It was just as well Mike had swallowed what was in his mouth, or he would have spluttered it all out. As it was, the shocked expression on his face must have been obvious to Sandy. Without giving him a chance to say anything, she continued;

    Oh, don’t look so surprised, Mike. You have really become incredibly careless lately. The occasional small lipstick stains of colours I don’t wear, on your shirts and handkerchiefs, theatre ticket stubs for two people, in your jacket pocket, a credit card slip, in the bin in your study, for an expensive piece of jewellery, which I certainly never got. So, I had you investigated and I now know the whole sordid mess you are in. At first I was prepared to let it go. After all, we don’t have much of a marriage, but it is comfortable and it gives me a certain sense of security. I therefore decided to keep a close eye on you and, if your relationship with Paula remained reasonably discreet, I would continue to pretend ignorance.

    By this time Mike had paled and his mouth hung open, like a beached fish gasping for air. He gathered his wits sufficiently to stutter; Now look here . . . I . . . you’ve got it all wrong, Paula is just my secretary and . . .

    Sandy held up her hand and he stuttered into a shocked silence. He had always been the dominant partner and Sandy’s present attitude scared him.

    As I said, Sandy continued, if you maintained discretion; but I don’t consider a threat to my life to be discrete!

    Mike was on his feet, his face red and his eyes bulging. What the hell are you talking about!? Who is threatening your life! he yelled at her, are you accusing me of . . . of . . . threatening your life? Why, I’ve never heard such nonsense . . . ! With that, Mike slumped back in his chair as the realisation hit him. Why was he defending himself? Sandy would be dead in a few minutes. He allowed a small smile to touch his lips as he continued to look at his wife.

    Oh yes Mike, You definitely plan to kill me. I found the phial among your medications. I had no idea what it was, but my sixth sense put me on red alert.

    By now Mike was in full control of himself and with a smirk on his face he said; Well it’s too late now Sandy, the deed has been done. By my reckoning you have about two minutes to live. In a way, I’m sorry it had to end like this, but from the time Paula and I fell in love, it was inevitable.

    Sandy smiled and continued; When I found the phial, I removed the liquid, replaced it with water containing bitters and put it back in your drawer. I transferred the contents of your phial, into a phial of my own and then I waited for you to make a move.

    Sandy leaned forward and placed her cell phone on the table. That wrong number just now, was from my cell phone. I had had a suspicion you might try something tonight and so, before I came out here, I dialled our home number and put the phone in my pocket. All that was necessary was to press the right button and, voila! When you went inside to answer the phone, I sniffed my drink and what do you think I found? No prizes for guessing, it smelled of bitters! So, while you were in the house, I poured the poison I had removed from your phial, into your drink.

    Mike’s face was frozen in horror. This was not how it was supposed to be! How could this have happened? He had planned so carefully! He opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, his heart began to speed up and thump in his chest and he was overwhelmed by the most excruciating pain imaginable. Just before he died, Sandy said; To quote you Mike, ‘From the time you met Paula, it was inevitable.’

    As they say, there is many a slip twixt cup and lip. It would be interesting to know how things would have turned out, had Mike been successful in killing Sandy. Who knows, maybe after he realised that Paula had no intention of marrying him and that her sole purpose was to squeeze him dry financially, another murder might have been in the offing. After all, as the saying goes, it is always easier the second time around!

    2. THE HAND OF FATE

    Of course, murder can be unplanned and messy. Committing a murder could even kill you, if there was a death penalty, that is. There is no doubt though, that murder will change the life of the perpetrator for ever.

    Take the case

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