MY FRIEND

Challenge No. 45  Friday September 21st 2012

Your friend could be a him or a her. Why do you hate them? What have they done to make you feel this way? Check out the Challenges Page for more suggestions...
Sign up for RFW latest challenge! Your story. Your poem. Your way. All we ask is that you keep it under 400 words and include a romantic element.
Challenge open to all! Just write your story/poem, post to your blog, copy the DIRECT link, submit your link at the bottom of the linky.
Linky will close Sunday evening AEST time. Contact Denise at den.covey@gmail.com if you have any problems linking.
Read/comment on as many entries as you can over the weekend. Return on Wednesday for the Wrap Up post and mini critique on all entries.
Now go write!

HERE IS MY ENTRY:

MY FRIEND

We weren’t from the other sides of the tracks but were brought up in different ways

She came from a large family with brothers and sisters and a dad long gone away

We hit it off from the first moment we were introduced by our respective partners

She had her own family with two little ones running around corners and counters

I’d drop in to see you after work and you’d immediately stop your chores

We would sit at the table and chat away over the tea you had just poured

Discussions ensued about cooking the evening meals when the spouses came in

I wanted to be more adventurous so you gave me some curry paste in a tin

My job provided me with a freshly cooked lunch time meal so I started the preparation

My mother-in-law, who we lived with, followed her nose and joined me in the kitchen

She so adored eating curry having been reared in India as a young child in the 1920’s

Various improvements were suggested by her: some Vindaloo and some chopped chillies

Tears streaming down their red faces, coughing and spluttering, reaching for the tissue

I was sure I had poisoned them and vowed to never have curry again on my menu

I hated my best friend the next day when I regaled her with my embarrassing story

She laughed so much her sides were splitting, she spluttered, ‘one or the other but use sparsely’

She taught me to have fun when circumstances and money were so very tight

We played cribbage and gin rummy, backgammon and *Carrom throughout the night

I hated her when she beat me at the games; we were so competitive and loved to win

We played with gusto and spirit, laughing throughout; I loved her as a spiritual twin

I hated her for being loyal and staying with a husband who treated her like dirt

I hated her for saying ‘but he loves me’ as she washed the strange perfume out of his shirt

I hated her for following him to the other side of the country for a new start

I missed her company, her laughter, her joy in life when she had to depart

I hate the drunk driver who stopped her from living

I hate it that all these years later my heart is still aching

 Word count: 393

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrom