Voice of an Angel (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the article titled “Death of a Dream” in the Toronto Sun on Apr. 10, 2008)

She lay there prone, her body broken, twisted, and bloody, face down and barely conscious on the front lawn where the group had been standing.  As if hitting her once was not enough, however, the boyfriend had then backed up over her prone body, where the tire marks of his car remained.  This is how Melody’s friends and family would remember her, as bloody pulp on a spot where the grass had once grown so green.

For as far back as Melody Davis could remember, her childhood had been filled with endless turmoil, both physical and mental, distress, and sadness.  She had been cruelly shunted around from foster home to foster home as a child, had lived with her grandmother in Windsor briefly, and finally united with her mother, Irena, and her younger brother, Johnny.  They lived together in downtown Hamilton.  To be sure, the part of town that they lived in was far from ideal, full of crack heads and hookers living in the streets.  But, they had grown used to their squalid surroundings and accepted their environment to some extent.

But, she was determined to have a better future for herself and her family.  Melody was very protective of her family, especially her younger brother, and for this reason, was resolved to get them out of this godforsaken neighbourhood, one of the toughest in Hamilton.

Melody had dreams of becoming a professional singer.  She had this incredible potential, for she had the voice of an angel.  People loved hearing her sing.  All she had ever wanted was a chance to audition for the show “Canadian Idol” after finishing her high school education.  Melody had been involved in karaoke for the past 8 years.  She loved it and was very good at it.  She had also been involved in a school musical called “Aida” last year, which had received rave reviews from the audience.  But, until recently, she had never thought that she would be able to make a career of singing professionally.  All that changed after numerous people of all ages and walks of life started telling her how wonderful she sounded and how much they enjoyed hearing her sing.

 

However, it did not help her cause that she was a rather big girl.  Because she was sometimes ridiculed due to her larger size, she had had to take on the image of teenage toughness to hide her sensitivity.  However, it was only a veneer that covered her genuinely funny and caring nature underneath.  People around the neighbourhood who knew her well and cared for her were drawn to her deeply empathic nature.  They knew what Melody was really like as a person, the ambitions she had for herself, and what she wanted to achieve in life.  And, they wanted to help her to achieve those ambitions if they could.

But, some not-so-nice people, who were also the Davis’ neighbours, had been busy creating an atmosphere of ongoing animosity, largely due to a dispute that had arisen between a woman who lived in the next building and young  Johnny Davis.  This woman, a known crack head, had previously assaulted Johnny who was only 12 at the time.  She had slapped him hard once across the face for doing something silly (picking a flower from her garden) that most people would have considered a petty thing to get upset over, but his behaviour had angered her boyfriend.  The incident had caused an ongoing feud between the woman, her live-in boyfriend, and the police who insisted on checking up on her activities regularly.  But, no legal action had ever been taken against her for the previous assault on Johnny.

 

Finally, a group of teens that had gathered at the Davis’ place decided to confront the woman themselves on the front lawn of her building.  They demanded that she and her boyfriend leave the neighbourhood for good.  This completely enraged her boyfriend.  The man then got into his car, started the engine, gunned it a few times, and then drove the car straight into the midst of the group of teens standing on the front lawn, which also included Melody and Johnny Davis.  Johnny was slightly hurt (his arm was broken), but Melody took the full brunt of the car’s impact.  Her body flew through the air and landed in a broken mass of blood and bones.  As if that weren’t enough, he backed up over her body again. This act of complete callousness would ultimately cause her untimely death. Meanwhile, Melody’s blood flowed freely, mixing in with the dark earth, making it even darker.  And, deep tire ruts on the ground had stripped the grass completely off the part of the lawn at the point of impact.  Melody’s screams kept reverberating throughout the neighbourhood, long after she had been hit, constantly reminding everyone of the violence that Melody had met with that day.  There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the woman’s boyfriend was responsible.

 

Yet, Melody Davis and her family had been so close to finally leaving this place just before her untimely death.  Just an hour previously, a moving van had been parked in front of the Davis’ building, loaded up with their meagre possessions, almost ready to take off.  Now, that move would be impossible for Melody.   Melody’s dream to become a professional singer was gone, along with her wish to live with her family peacefully elsewhere.  How could it happen that a 16 year old girl with such great vocal potential, having such great hopes for a better life elsewhere, would now never have that chance to realize her dreams?

Her friends, mourning her loss, built a shrine on the site of her death, filled with fresh field flowers, cellophane-wrapped roses, teddy bears, heartfelt cards, and candles that had burned out long ago.  This shrine kept Melody’s memory alive for those who loved her and reminded them of the tragic event that had cost Melody her young life.

The woman’s boyfriend, who was 25 years old, was arrested that same evening by police and charged with second degree murder.  Due to the fact that there were plenty of eye witnesses who were both willing and able to testify against him virtually guaranteed his conviction.  Melody’s friends and family were determined to see that her killer was apprehended and punished for his crime.  Still, that particular neighbourhood remains rough to this day, and the police visit it frequently to round up the drug users and hookers regularly.  Unfortunately, in downtown Hamilton, criminals who somehow manage to escape arrest often just change locations temporarily, and go to other nearby neighbourhoods to “hang out” until things cool down for them.  Today, as luck would have it, the criminal responsible for Melody’s death was arrested and would be punished.

As Melody’s best friend, Jenny, would sadly say:  “In downtown Hamilton, there are no ‘nice’ neighbourhoods.  They simply don’t exist.”

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

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It's a "Scam" Shame (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on an article in the Toronto Sun, July 2009)

It happens to people all the time during economic recessions, to those who are the most financially vulnerable.  They become the victims of scammers.  Why?  Because “easy offers” of money, whether they be via online, phone or mail by scammers are just as effective in modern recessionary times as they were in older times.  When people become desperate for money, scammers somehow know how to attract these people to bogus money schemes that imply that little or no work will be required in order to obtain a large amount of cash.  But, it’s actually a lot like a lottery – many people paying for tickets that usually will not be winners.  And, whoever is collecting the proceeds of the ticket sales is the grand winner.  The prize for the payee is not “the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”, but ends up being a very small or non-existent prize.  One of the most famous examples of a scam is the “Nigerian letter” scam, which “promises untold millions from an African country in exchange for some help with a few bank transactions”.  

A clever scam happened very recently to a friend of mine whose name is Bobbie.  She had been doing some research on the Internet for an online job that she could do at home to make some extra money.  She found a job ad that promised 10% of the proceeds, just for depositing some foreign money orders into her bank for an unknown person, ostensibly an investor of some sort.  I told her that I thought it might be a money-laundering operation, done by funnelling money through various bank accounts.  The innocent people being asked to deposit foreign money orders would not be told why they were being asked to do this and, therefore, would not know that they were actually handling “dirty money”. 

As it turned out, the two foreign money orders that Bobbie took to her bank to deposit could not be negotiated.  For some reason unknown to us, her bank would not accept these foreign money orders for deposit.  I thought that this was very strange, since banks everywhere deal with all kinds of foreign currencies every day.  It made me think that the bank was already aware of such money-laundering schemes and had created a policy stating that they had to be avoided.

Bobbie then wrote a short letter to the person who had sent her the foreign money orders to be deposited.  The reply she received back from him was shocking.  This so-called “investor” had been scammed himself.  His identity had been stolen and the two foreign money orders had been faked by someone else and were thus, bogus.  How Bobbie, herself, was able to avoid getting into trouble with the law over this, or lose a lot of her own money ultimately was, in my opinion, an incredible stroke of luck.

Statistics, in fact, show that “an average of 10 Canadians per month get soaked for as much as hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The usual method is via email.  One RCMP officer who works on exposing these scams says, “I’ve been with the RCMP for 21 years and I’m still looking at the same email messages and they still work.  But, letter scams are just a drop in the bucket compared to losses from identity theft and mass marketing fraud, including bogus offers from investment opportunities, [fraudulent] prizes and lottery winnings, and [bogus] insurance claims.  Due to identity theft alone, as of June 30 of this year (2009), 6,700 complained that they had lost about $5.2 million.  And, last year (2008), more than 11,000 reported more than $9.6 million in losses.”

I, myself, was a potential victim of identity theft last year.  One day, I lost my driver’s license on a TTC bus while riding the bus to work.  But, I didn’t think too much about it until, one day, I received a phone call from a branch manager of my bank, a manager with whom I had never dealt or ever met before (because I didn’t deal with his branch).  After identifying himself to me, this manager told me that, recently, an unknown woman of about my age had come into his branch and had requested access to my bank accounts.  All she had with her was my driver’s license, which she presented as her own ID; however, she had no bank access card or password.  When she was requested to produce a valid bank access card and password, she then turned around and fled the bank in a hurry, leaving my driver’s license behind.

At the time of this incident, the branch manager was informed by the teller who had dealt with the woman about this unknown woman and her actions.  However, he was not sure of exactly whose driver’s license he now had in his possession.  After some searching, he was finally able to locate my unlisted home phone number in the bank’s customer database records and call me to verify if, in fact, it was my driver’s license that he had.  I had already gotten a replacement driver’s license, but he said that he still needed to know if the one he had now was also mine.  He asked for the expiry date on my current (replacement) driver’s license that I had just obtained and it matched the expiry date of the one in his possession.  It was clear that they both belonged to me.  He then told me the whole story of how he had come to be in possession of my lost driver’s license.

This branch manager then advised me to obtain a new bank access card as soon as possible from any branch, and to change my PIN while there so that no one else could try to access my bank accounts again.  I told him that I would do as he asked, plus I asked him, in the meantime, to post a system message on my bank account (online) that anyone trying to access my bank accounts had to produce satisfactory identification and a valid bank access card first before being allowed to conduct any bank business.  All personnel in all bank branches would be able to see this system message on my account on their computers and would thus be able to prevent unauthorized access to my accounts. 

Obviously, my own ability to replace my lost driver’s license did not prevent someone else from using my lost driver’s license to try to gain unauthorized access to my bank accounts.  The only thing that had prevented the strange woman’s unauthorized access was the bank’s requirement to scan a valid bank access card at the teller’s station and enter a valid password.  When this requirement was fulfilled, the teller would then know that the customer he/she was dealing with was actually me, a legitimate customer of the bank, no matter what branch I was at or where my accounts were physically located.

I had also heard of other strangers’ attempts to try to gain access to various people’s computer accounts, at work or at home.  These are not people’s bank accounts, but they do contain the user’s private files and information.  These attempts usually involve bogus email messages, ostensibly from the network administrator, stating that there is a problem with the computer user’s account, and that this problem can only be resolved if the person provides the network administrator with his/her username and password via email.   This very thing happened to me and some of my fellow colleagues at work, but we were advised by our employer to always delete this kind of email message and never to reply with any such private information, either via email or in person.  In fact, we were specifically told that no one should ever share their username and password with anyone else, no matter who that person is.

My bank, these days, is very conscious of identity theft and its drastic consequences, including all suspicious, possibly bogus bank transactions.  All banks work hard to prevent unauthorized access to their customers’ bank accounts, which still can happen via a very subtle way of recording people’s debit card numbers and passwords, as well as their credit card numbers.  The recording of this very personal private data happens at the point of purchase with a vendor (at an ATM machine, for example).  The thieves then use these numbers to make duplicate cards to be used by scam artists for the purpose of obtaining funds from people’s bank accounts illegally.  Because of the Internet and other electronic means, it has become easier than ever for thieves to access people’s personal and financial information illegally.  Once it is in the hands of unscrupulous people, this private information can be used in some very dangerous and unpredictable ways to hurt innocent and vulnerable people. 

There’s really only one way to deal with scam artists and thieves.  You, the customer, must learn to think the way the perpetrators think so that you can protect your own personal assets and private information and thus, prevent the kind of catastrophe that is possible in this Information Age.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

Headed for Hell (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

He came hammering on her door for the second time in a week, drunk out of his mind.  The loud hammering was giving her a huge migraine and she wouldn’t answer the door.  Instead, she called the police, in grave fear for her life.  When the police arrived, they could see clearly that her husband was drunk and they decided to take him to jail for the night so that he could cool down and get sober.  They knew what he was like.  They also told her, in no uncertain terms, that she either had to have him charged with spousal assault or take out a restraining order against him.  History, they said, has a way of repeating itself.  She resolved to think seriously about it overnight, since the attitude of the police was such that they did not treat incidents of domestic violence lightly.  They as much implied that if she didn’t lay charges against him, she might find herself on her own when he came calling again.  And, he would come calling again, they said.  Their warning greatly alarmed her, as it was meant to.

It had all started when she had come into the bar on that fateful day to meet him.  She had sat down first and ordered an ice tea before saying anything to him.  Then she had said quietly to him, “I can’t stay long – I have things to do at home this weekend.”  In reality, she hadn’t been at all certain what his reaction to her news would be and she had wanted a way out, just in case he freaked out on her. 

When her drink finally arrived, she had hesitatingly told him, “I just found out that I’m pregnant – about 6 to 8 weeks along.”

Aghast, he had responded in kind, “I can’t believe it! This is the news you have for me?!”  It’s perfect! he thought. This was how he was going to finally keep her at his side and it had all worked out perfectly, without any problems!  Now, she can’t leave me, not with a child on the way.  He reflected back on how they had met so long ago, fallen in love, and eventually gotten married.

Caroline and Mark had met in high school and had gone together from Grade 10 onward.  It seemed obvious that they would get married one day and have a family.  They seemed so well suited to each other, as, they were a very loving couple.  Mark would do anything for Caroline and she, in turn, loved Mark very much.

So, when graduation day arrived a few years later, they were both full of optimism for the future.  Caroline was planning to go to McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and Mark had decided to stay here in town and attend the University of Toronto (U of T).  Caroline wanted to be a teacher more than anything and Mark was aiming to be a civil engineer.  They were attractive, bright and full of promise.  Once they had both finished university, that’s when they decided that they would make a full commitment to each other.

Caroline would commute to Toronto every other weekend to see Mark and, on alternate weekends, he would commute to Hamilton to see Caroline.  She didn’t mind commuting, as, it gave her time to reflect on her life and gave her a chance to miss Mark during the week between visits.  He, on the other hand, did not like commuting very much, as, he was already traveling a fair distance daily, just to go to school and then to his part-time job as a bartender.  He wanted her to move back to Toronto, but she really liked being in Hamilton.  She had no desire to attend U of T, like Mark.  McMaster is a very beautiful campus and it was a lot nicer living on campus there than it would have been living at home in Toronto when she didn’t really want to live with her parents full-time anymore.

Mark, for his part, was patient for a while, but because he wanted Caroline very much, he resolved over time to get her to change her mind.  The fact that she didn’t want to move back to Toronto just now to be with him disturbed him greatly.  He felt that if she really loved him as she had said she did, she should acquiesce to his request so that they could be happy together.  He felt that her goal as a teacher was less important than his own goal as an engineer.  After all, engineers make a whole lot more money than teachers ever would and he could make enough money for both of them to live on.  There were more teachers than engineers in the world anyway, so what chance did she realistically have of getting a decent job nearby?  Somehow, he couldn’t stand the idea of having her living away from him for very much longer.  He resolved to do something about the situation.

The next weekend that Caroline was in Toronto, Mark knew what he had to do.  He took her out to a very posh restaurant at the lakefront – the Harbour Castle Westin’s Lighthouse (revolving) Restaurant.  This restaurant was very expensive, but Mark wanted to set the stage properly for what he was about to suggest to Caroline.  It was a lovely place to spend an evening for dinner, as, it sat on the edge of Lake Ontario and they could see for dozens of miles over the water, even as far as Niagara Falls on a clear night.  He was intent on creating a very romantic ambience for her.

Dinner started out perfectly with wine, bread and salad and progressed to exotic filet mignon and baked potato, followed finally by a luscious dessert and coffee.  When Mark felt the mood was right, he popped the question.  Not the question that you would have thought though.  He said to her, “Caroline, come back to Toronto and move in with me. I need to have you with me.”

But she was resistant.  She replied, “I want to get married first, Mark, and I’m willing to wait for the right time for that to happen.  Besides, school’s very important to me and I want to graduate, which will only happen in two to three more years.”  In their heated discussion, she put forth her argument that it would only be a few more years of being apart and then they would both be finished school for good.  At that time, she would be more than willing to move in with him wherever they wanted to live.

Mark was starting to get very desperate.  He needed to have Caroline by his side, where he could control her movements and keep her all to himself.  School, from his perspective, was becoming secondary to his need to have Caroline.  Of course, his own schooling was going to progress as originally planned.  He just did not want Caroline to continue her own schooling in Hamilton any longer.  According to his plan, she could take her schooling anywhere else, if at all.  She could even abandon the whole idea if she wanted. 

After dinner, they retired for the night to a room that they had reserved in the hotel and spent the next few hours making passionate love there.  She was pretty tipsy with the wine she’d been drinking and he was also fairly intoxicated, but feeling frustrated at her refusal to cave in to his wishes.  But, he was determined to get what he wanted from her eventually – total capitulation.  When they left the hotel the next morning, Caroline headed for the bus depot.  She said she needed to study for an upcoming exam and he realized that there was nothing more that he could do right now.  So, he reluctantly watched her bus leave for Hamilton.  His plan to keep her at his side was not working out very well at the moment.

About two to three months later, they had been continually commuting back and forth to see each other, when Caroline called Mark up at home one night.  She said that she had something to tell him and he instantly dreaded what she might say to him.  He thought that she must have met some other guy and was going to dump him for the other guy.  He didn’t have enough faith in himself anymore to feel that she still loved him and only him.  They made arrangements to meet at an anonymous bar in downtown Toronto.  Mark arrived early so that he could have a strong drink or two before he saw her and had to face the bad news.  That’s when she dropped her bombshell – she was almost 2 months pregnant!  And, that’s when he expressed his ardent wish (again) to have her stay with him.

The discussion did not stop there, however.  She was more determined than ever to finish school in Hamilton, and to do that, she had to have an abortion.  But, Mark wouldn’t hear of it.  He wanted them to get married right away.  He assured her that she could finish school after the baby was born, but he wanted her and the baby, both.  There was no way he was going to allow her to have an abortion, if he had any say in it.  Finally, she succumbed to his wishes and agreed to marry him, only on condition that she was going to be able to finish school somewhere after the pregnancy was over.  He, desperate to settle the matter once and for all, agreed.  Later, she would see things his way and change her mind, he thought.  Finally, he had her right where he wanted her.

They were married the following weekend in Niagara Falls, Ontario, by a Justice of the Peace and stayed at a lovely little motel overlooking the falls.  Their honeymoon was spent at the falls for the weekend and then they returned to Toronto to start their lives together.  Caroline had left her education studies in Hamilton temporarily, but resolved to return there as soon as she could.  She felt that Mark loved her enough not to stand in the way of her goal to become a teacher.  After all, it was a well known fact that every modern woman these days should work on her career and not depend solely on a man, even her loving husband, to support her through life.  Having a child was a significant factor in the equation, but it did not have to become a major impediment to her future progress.  Being pregnant, in her mind, was merely a temporary setback.  She would somehow cope with having a baby, in her own way.  She knew Mark could be a loving husband and father, regardless of her goals in life.

Time passed and Mark graduated as an engineer.  Caroline had yet to graduate, however.  At home, things started happening little by little.  In fact, it was so gradual that Caroline hardly noticed the changes.  At first, Mark was very attentive and loving towards his new little family, but then she started to notice small, but subtle changes in him.  He would go for a drink after work once a week or so with his co-workers – nothing to be concerned about.  Going out for a drink once in a while is certainly not a bad thing, she thought.  But then, he started staying out later and later.  One drink turned into two, three, four, and so on.  Still, she didn’t read anything into it. 

Until one night, Mark came home at midnight, woke Caroline out of a sound sleep, and demanded angrily, “Wake up and make me my dinner right now – I’m hungry!”  This time, he was out-and-out drunk and was definitely in the mood for some kind of argument with her. 

But she, still groggy with sleep, asked him, “Don’t you think midnight is a little too late to be cooking food?” And, besides, she was way too tired from looking after the baby all day by herself to be able to get up or do anything except sleep.

Mark became enraged at her seemingly uncaring attitude.  With a vicious yank, he pulled her lovely long hair and yelled at her to get up.  She screamed and he slapped her hard across the face.  Now, she was wide-awake and suddenly terrified of her husband.  She had never seen him like this before.  It was like a demon had possessed him.  He was not going to rest (or, God forbid, pass out) until she cooked him dinner.  So, she went into the kitchen and started looking desperately through the cupboards for food.  She racked her brain trying to think of how she could stop him from beating her and demanding the impossible from her.

She cooked him his dinner in silence.  He ate it in silence and finally passed out on the living room couch.  The next day, when he had sobered up somewhat, he realized, with horror, what he had done to her and tearfully begged her to forgive him.  Because he assured her that it was an isolated incident, which would not happen again (she felt sure about that!), she forgave him.  She was not sure what was behind the incident (other than that he’d gotten drunk), but she was too frightened to think about the alternative if she didn’t forgive him this time.

However, the next week, it happened again.  This time, he came home reeking of liquor and demanded that she give him sex.  She refused because it was obvious that it was not her loving husband who was asking her for sex, but some stranger who needed to abuse her for the sake of his own pleasure.  He lost his temper and angrily threw her onto the bed, tore off her clothes and proceeded to rape her viciously.  She screamed loudly and the baby woke up too and also started crying loudly, in distress.  He then punched Caroline full in the face and gave her a black eye and a bloody nose.  She continued screaming while he raped her; he was getting more and more violent.  She was horrified at this monstrous demonstration of animalistic behaviour on the part of her husband, but she could not stop him.

The next day, when he woke up from his drunken stupor, he saw the serious damage he had caused her and again begged her for forgiveness.  But, this time, she was not about to forgive him.  She told him to move out and leave for good.   After a fervent discussion, he very reluctantly packed up his bags and left sullenly.  He yelled at her that this would not be the end of it.  She, for her part, was both relieved to see him go and yet frightened of him, for she knew that he could come back.  She was too afraid to call the police and lay charges yet, but she was determined not to forgive him.  At the moment, she did not know what else to do except throw him out of the apartment.

Finally, after months of confrontations with Mark and attempted interventions by the police, she decided that the best course of action, besides having him charged, was to leave town, change her and the baby’s identities and disappear.  It was almost like being in a witness protection program of her own making, but she did not know what else she could do to protect herself and the baby from unwanted harassment and bodily harm.  Charging him was essential, as far as the police were concerned, but would that be enough to keep him away from her for good?  Perhaps, they’d said to her, but only if he was tried and convicted and sent to prison for a good long time.  However, she did not think that would happen and even if it did, she thought that he might still find her anyway and maybe kill her.  That possibility was too terrifying to ignore.

Caroline and Cathy (a.k.a. Jessica and Janet) have had to move and are now living in a small city (name is withheld).  They had to change their identities to avoid detection.  Mark would have been able to track them down without any problem, otherwise.  They’ve had to keep to themselves as much as possible in this new place.  The police, of course, are aware of their past circumstances and have promised to protect them as much as possible.  Somehow, Caroline (now Jessica) had found the courage to testify against Mark, however, she was deathly afraid of him, especially after the trial was over.  As a result of his conviction, Mark is now serving three years in prison for spousal assault.  But, after his release, only then will she know whether and when he will track them down and take out his final deadly revenge on her.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

Sex Addict (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Joe was a very good-looking 28 year old guy, with short and wavy dark hair, a lean and muscular build and a drop-dead gorgeous smile.  He had regular facial features, which included a sensual mouth, a dark moustache, a straight and classical-looking nose, and sexy hazel eyes.  In fact, his eyes were so compelling that they could get and keep the attention of women of all ages.  It was small wonder that Joe always had at least one girlfriend at any given time.  It was generally assumed that he was considered a stud or ladies’ man, and that meant he had to be good in bed.  Women always like that about a man, even though they might deny that fact.

What wasn’t so obvious was that Joe needed sex so much that he had to have it at least three times a day and often more than that.  However, he never had to advertise the fact that he was sexually available and so, he was always able to get a date, even on short notice.  The reason Joe’s sexual appetite was not so obvious was that he never wanted to appear over-anxious to his date-of-the-moment, and thus overplay his hand, possibly frightening away his prospective date.  Rather, he wanted to appear as a low-key, shy kind of guy and he liked being that way.  It made him into a man of mystery and created even more desire in the women he met so that they just had to find out more about him.

Needless to say, Joe’s sex life was very active as a result of his constant need to pursue sexual activity and adventure with the opposite sex, and his very unique ability to create a cloud of mystery around himself.  Most women thought that because he seemed shy, he couldn’t possibly be a guy who’d had many women already, and that he could probably use a little “push” to get something sexual going between him and his soon-to-be-paramour.  If the women who were interested in him had known the truth, it might have shocked them.  But, whether it would have turned them off, it’s hard to say.  All in all, Joe’s sex life was one to be envied by most other men who weren’t nearly as successful at this very subtle seduction game that he loved to play.  They hadn’t mastered the knack of attracting women the way Joe had.  And, Joe was a master at this game.

This pattern of sexual activity continued in Joe’s life for a long time.   Still, he was incredibly lonely.  He just couldn’t seem to get close to any of the women he dated.  Perhaps it was because somehow, he knew that his dates couldn’t trust him if any of them got into a real relationship with him.  He felt that if a woman knew what he was really like – a secretly raving nymphomaniac – that, in her right mind, she would never trust him enough to be able to develop closeness and intimacy with him.  In a sense, despite having a sex life that was to be envied by most men, Joe, nevertheless, craved the closeness of having one special woman in his life.  He also knew it was a pipe dream as long as he continued to engage in promiscuous behaviour.  Not only was he a bad emotional risk, but physically he knew that he would never expose his special woman to STDs and other diseases (like HIV or AIDS) that are traditionally associated with promiscuous sexual activity.  Eventually, he knew that he needed to change his promiscuous pattern of behaviour, but didn’t know how he was supposed to go about it.

One day, he met a young woman named Jayne, aged 24, who was attractive, but not beautiful in the classical sense.  Compared to other women, however, she was considered pretty, with a good figure and everything in the right place, but there were certainly many other younger and more beautiful women around.  Still, she had a sex appeal all her own.  Thus, she didn’t stand out in a crowd and it would have been hard to see her as being a serious contender for Joe’s affections.  Jayne, for her part, found Joe very attractive, as he was accustomed to, but she would not go out with him on a date.  Instead, she wanted to get to know him as a friend.  That meant they talked a lot more than he was used to talking to any of his other dates.  She wasn’t really a “date”, per se, to him – there was no indication that she wanted any kind of physical contact with him at all.  For Joe, this was like a slap in the face, except that, strangely, he wanted very much to be with her even though he knew that sex was not likely to happen with her.  Joe was strangely drawn to Jayne though he wasn’t sure why he needed to see her.  After all, there were lots of other women who did want sex with him and he needed to oblige them.

Jayne liked Joe as a friend because she could handle him on that level.  She knew he dated other women, but was not aware of the extent to which he dated them.  She could see that he was very attractive to women and it didn’t surprise her that he always had dates.  What she didn’t know about him was that he was actually a nymphomaniac – someone who must have sex often.  That’s because Joe’s shyness made him seem relatively harmless, in the sexual sense.  Nevertheless, she liked him very much as a person and found that they had things in common – books, music and travel - and that was good enough for her.  If she had known about his secret sexual obsession, she would not have given him the time of day.  She, herself, liked sex a lot though, and had had a number of boyfriends in the past, but didn’t always feel the need to assert herself sexually.  She thought he was a relatively safe bet and wasn’t concerned about being with him physically.  She just bided her time and felt that if the time was right, she might indicate a physical interest in him.

Joe was at first content to wait for Jayne to change her mind about him, but as time went on, and she didn’t, he got really concerned.  Meanwhile, his own feelings for her were changing gradually to the point that he was developing real feelings for her.  It was becoming excruciatingly difficult to be with her platonically though he knew that’s what she wanted.  But over time, he was becoming more and more drawn to her physically and he just couldn’t understand why.  After all, he could have had any woman he wanted, except for her, any time.  The fact that he couldn’t have her drove him absolutely wild with desire.  His desire had built up so much that he physically ached for her.  Over time, he became so obsessed with her that he started to ignore other women who did want him, and he just couldn’t understand it.  It was getting to the point where someone would have to give in soon, him or her.  However, it didn’t appear that Jayne would be the one to cave in first.  She was playing it real cool and not acting like Joe meant anything important to her, and that only made him want her all the more.  It was becoming impossible for him to concentrate in his daily life and to maintain his current level of sexual activity.  He seriously started to slow down and he still didn’t understand any of it.

After two years of seeing Jayne continually as a platonic friend and practically giving up all other women, Joe thought he would go out of his mind.  He had to have Jayne, yet he couldn’t.  She was the one woman who had successfully resisted him, and he had no idea why she was doing it to him.  He thought maybe she was trying to torture him, or that she must have something terribly wrong with her, or that she must be gay, if she didn’t want him the way other women did.  All he knew was that regardless of her personal reasons for resisting him physically, he needed to have her.  He was almost afraid now that if she left him for whatever reason, he would not be able to cope with it.  He didn’t want to admit it yet, but he thought he might actually love her and it scared the crap out of him.  He knew that if he really did love her, he would be lost and for the first time in his life, a woman would have real power over his emotional well being.  It was a very scary position for him to be in and not one he was used to.

Jayne, for her part, was showing no outward signs of changing her mind about Joe and their current level of involvement.  She knew that Joe was experiencing emotional turmoil and suspected that she was the cause of it.  Even Jayne was experiencing her own emotional turmoil, but doing her best to hide it.  She had thought that the relationship between them was becoming increasingly close, which resembled a normal progression of events.  Joe seemed to want her very much, but had not made one false move during the time of their friendship.  She respected and trusted him without question because of his decent treatment of her.  It never occurred to her that his behaviour towards her was very unusual for him; she felt it was her due.  But, things were changing between them daily and she was seriously becoming very drawn to Joe.  So, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep resisting him.  She thought she might even be falling in love with him, yet did not know if he reciprocated those feelings and she was desperately afraid that if he didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to handle it.

One day, Joe had had enough of her seemingly distant attitude to him.  He resolved to say something to her, anything to arouse a reaction from her.  So, during one of their many deep conversations, he casually asked her to go away with him on a trip.  She looked extremely shocked at this suggestion, and for a moment, did not respond.  Then, she told him that she wasn’t interested in him that way and that their friendship was what mattered to her the most.  Joe was totally devastated by her answer.  He had expected her to capitulate (like all the others) and agree to be with him, at long last.  He felt that the time had arrived to “fish or cut bait”.  She had to have some kind of feelings for him, didn’t she?  And, if she did, she should do something about it, right?  But, she, quite obviously, was not going to do anything about it and it continued to drive him crazy.  He still thought he would go out of his mind if he couldn’t have her.

After that, they continued to see each other occasionally, still on a purely platonic level.  He also continued seeing other women as much as he ever had, and he presumed that she was seeing other men.  He decided not to pursue her anymore and resolved not to think of her any longer as a possible date.  In his mind, she would remain a good friend.  Eventually, he put the memory of his wild desires into the back of his mind.  While he knew he’d never ever forget her, he also knew that she was a lost cause where he was concerned.  He then decided to trim back his hectic sexual activities and look for the one special woman who would be able to take away his loneliness and with whom he could relate in a fairly normal way. 

Finally, a year later, he met her.  She was a good-looking woman named Beth and he loved her as both his best friend and his lover.  She provided him with the best of both worlds.  She was also close to his age, 27.  She had long, straight honey-blonde hair, a lovely smile, a pert up-turned nose and clear blue eyes.  Despite her features, she wasn’t a bathing beauty (any more than Jayne had been), but she was very physically attractive to him.  He gave up all of his other women and decided that Beth was worth doing this for.  He was no longer wracked with constant desire for an impossible relationship with a woman (Jayne) whom he had put up on some kind of pedestal.  He now knew that such a relationship was not worth the price he would have to pay for its fulfillment.  With Beth, he could be truly loved for himself and truly love her for herself.  He knew it was true love because he no longer felt compelled to be with any other woman.  Amazingly enough, true love had finally found its way into Joe’s heart and changed him, for good, into the kind of man who could both give and receive love, fully and completely.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

A Marriage Made in Heaven (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

Todd and Cheryl was a young married couple I met in the summer of 1995.  He was a worldly, handsome man of 35 and she was a lovely 19 year old nymphet.  Still, in every way, they seemed ideally suited to each other.  He was a professional engineer and she was a natural-born homemaker and they got along very well.  After two years of marriage, Cheryl discovered she was pregnant for the first time and, in due course, they welcomed the arrival of their first-born, a baby girl they named Janie.

          After Janie's birth, Todd continued to work very hard to support his newly-expanded family.  He was a dedicated husband and father who never missed a day of work, paid all his bills on time, and was devoted to his wife, Cheryl.  For her part, Cheryl was equally dedicated to her family, raising their adorable little girl, cleaning their large and modern home in the suburbs until it sparkled, and faithfully going to the gym three times a week.  She knew what pregnancy could do to women's bodies and she wanted to keep her body trim because she loved Todd and wanted to please him.  They were, indeed, a happy family.

          Todd, Cheryl and Janie lived near the city of Boston, Massachusetts, since Cheryl's immediate family lived in downtown Boston and she was very close to them.  Her mother, father and two brothers all thought Todd was the perfect husband.  Cheryl regularly took Janie with her to visit them, partly to show Janie off and partly to convince them that she had been right to marry at such a young age.  If they were concerned about her, it was only because they thought that Todd might be too old for her, but their concerns seemed unfounded.  It was obvious that Todd and Cheryl had a solid, loving marriage and that they considered themselves fortunate to have found each other.

          Todd's immediate family, on the other hand, was not nearly as close to him, either geographically or emotionally.  They lived in Seattle, Washington.  They liked Cheryl, however, and admired her devotion to her husband and baby but, somehow, they were not as convinced as her family about the solidity of the marriage.  After all, sixteen years separated them in age and Todd's family felt that this was no small gap.  However, none of their surmising made any difference to either Todd or Cheryl and the marriage continued on, as strong as it had ever been.  When Janie turned three, the couple decided to expand their family even further.  About a year later, Trisha was born to them and they felt that their family unit was now complete.

          As before, Cheryl stayed at home raising the girls and making a comfortable home for Todd.  But, this time, she found it more difficult to get out to the gym as often as before.  She found she was just too busy and tired to look after herself as she would have liked.  There was just no extra time to do this kind of thing for herself – not with her husband absent from home so much, working so hard.

          Todd was more ambitious than ever; in fact, his career was becoming a major focal point of his life.  Consequently, Cheryl was rapidly becoming the primary caregiver for their two daughters, a task which was very demanding on Cheryl's time and energy.  Unfortunately, Todd couldn't always be at home to give his wife a much-needed break from her demanding daily routine.

          However, life continued on for another year in this way.  Every day, Cheryl would look at herself in the mirror only to see a woman whose dull-looking hair was becoming quite brittle and falling out, whose nails were chipping and cracking, and, whose body was filling out at an alarming rate.  As a result, she became quite depressed and wondered if Todd had noticed what was happening to her, or if he even cared.  She finally decided she needed to get out of the house for a while on her own, so she phoned a babysitter who was a good friend of hers to come over one day, as she felt she just might go crazy if she stayed "cooped up" there any longer.  In fact, she considered asking Todd to hire a regular babysitter (a nanny) for that very purpose.

          Meanwhile, Todd's career was growing at an accelerated rate.  He had recently gotten a hefty raise and a promotion to plant manager in just the last six months.  Despite the fact that he was now much busier as a result and spent even longer days away from home, he enjoyed his work because of its challenges and the increased status he now enjoyed among his colleagues.  It had never once occurred to him that a large part of his present success was, no doubt, due to Cheryl's efforts at home.  Ironically, Todd did not think that he should be paying more attention to his family.  In fact, he acted as if they were becoming a relatively insignificant part of his daily life.  In addition, he was getting a lot of flirtatious attention from other women.   These developments caused him to become even more immersed in his work and less interested in his family life.  It was such a gradual process that he hardly knew how it had all happened.

          One day, while Todd was at work, Cheryl got the phone call that would change her life forever.  The woman at the other end identified herself only as Sheila.  Sheila told Cheryl that she knew Todd very well indeed, and that she felt that Todd's life and career would benefit immensely if she, Sheila, were to become a major part of it.  Cheryl innocently asked Sheila what she meant by that exactly, and Sheila said, very matter of factly, that she and Todd had been "seeing each other" for the last year, that they had a relationship.

          Cheryl was afraid to ask her to elaborate, but the damage had already been done.  Sheila said that "it only happened once", referring to a one-time physical intimacy between them.  Apparently, it had never meant more than that to Todd.  She said that she might have willingly overlooked this fact and forgiven Todd for his callousness, except that she "accidently" became pregnant with his child.  She now had a year-old baby girl to show for her one-night stand and her so-called “innocent” involvement with him.  Todd had been partly supporting them and even staying overnight on occasion when he was supposed to be out of town on business.  He knew all about what had happened and had agreed with her decision to have and raise their child.

          Cheryl, out of a morbid curiosity and a wish to know exactly what motivated this woman, asked Sheila why she wanted to break up a happy marriage that had produced two beautiful babies.  Sheila, without apology, said that she was there for Todd when he really needed someone and that their affair was “meant to be”.  According to Cheryl, this kind of comment was the product of a sick mind.  It had become obvious to Cheryl that her husband had given in to a moment of weakness, as men often do, and that Sheila hadn’t given a second thought to the devastation that she and Todd had caused his family.  Todd’s deception and betrayal of all the hopes and dreams that Cheryl had had for her family would have rivalled any affair anywhere.  And, she knew she was never going to forgive him for the deep wounds he had caused to their love and life together.

          After Cheryl heard this horrifying story from Sheila, she became so overwrought with grief, anguish and rage that all she could think about was packing up and moving herself and the girls out of the house as soon as possible.  Though she felt betrayal, she was especially angry with herself for being such a fool as to believe that hers was "a marriage made in heaven".  Now, all she wanted was for Todd to experience the kind of loneliness that she'd been experiencing herself for the past year or more because of his self-indulgence.  At this moment, she didn't know when their divorce would occur, only that their so-called "perfect marriage" was in permanent ruins.  Cheryl left Todd that very day, never telling him why and never once looking back.

          That night, Todd came home to an empty, dark house.  The moment he stepped through the door, he sensed a change for the worst.  When he discovered that Cheryl's, Janie's and Trisha's clothes and belongings were all gone, he knew she knew.  He didn't know whether to feel relief or horror.  On one hand, he felt relief that his double life was no longer a secret to be kept, yet, on the other hand, horror that Sheila had actually had the nerve to tell Cheryl about them merely to get Todd all to herself.  Unfortunately, he never once blamed himself for the situation; he was too busy blaming Cheryl for deserting him without so much as demanding an explanation.  And, he even blamed Sheila for having the gall to interfere with his first family.  Todd could not find it in himself to take any responsibility for what had happened because, in his mind, Cheryl had driven him to be attracted to other women by allowing herself to become less attractive to him than she had once been.

          Later that evening, he sat alone in the dark living room, chain-smoking, and contemplating how different life would have been if only Sheila hadn't "ruined" his life and caused Cheryl to abdicate her role as his wife.  He only knew that life without Cheryl and his beautiful girls was going to be intolerable and he wondered how he had ever let it get this far.  Todd just could not accept his own role in this scenario.  Wasn’t it an accepted fact that men who were “work-a-holics” simply had to have outlets other than a loving home, devoted wife and lovely children?  Now, he was going to have to face an ugly legal battle with Cheryl in an extremely ugly divorce proceeding and, at the same time, also deal with Sheila and the increasing demands she was about to make on him.  All Todd could think about was that he was the one who’d been deserted by Cheryl.  Yet, he would also be forced to deal with Sheila – a new challenge that might very well prove his final undoing.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.

Too Little, Too Late (from "My Short Stories (Book One)") - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

What would you say if the significant other that you had just made a major commitment to had recently been discovered to have cheated on you?  What would you do about it?  Would you wilfully blind yourself to this person’s betrayal?  Or, would you take it seriously and decide that you had just made the biggest mistake of your life in trusting him/her?

A female cousin of mine (name is withheld) had this very thing happen to her.  When did her new husband betray her?  He did it only two weeks after their marriage and he cheated on her only because he had discovered that, just prior to their engagement, she had “cheated” on him!  But, the truth is that (when I asked her about their engagement and subsequent marriage), she told me that he’d actually been ignoring her for weeks and that she had no longer thought he even wanted to be with her.  She didn’t think that he cared about her anymore.  In her mind, they had practically broken up without making it official.  After she told me this, I decided that it was a very interesting story to tell people because it was such an unlikely series of events.  It was definitely going to be a challenge for me to make her story sound credible to anyone.

Kallie (not her real name) had known Greg since just about the beginning of Grade 12 in high school.  She had just turned 17, and he was already 18 and a newcomer to the school.  The attraction between them was instantaneous and they began dating.  Kallie was unsophisticated in the ways of the world, innocent and naive, while Greg was more worldly, confident and decidedly not innocent.  In fact, he’d gotten laid for the first time by his best pal’s sister when he was 13 and she was only 12.  After that, he had capitalized on his blondish good looks to get and keep the attention of the opposite sex.  He didn’t care if they were younger or older, single or married.  He was only interested in getting women into bed by any means possible.  The women he knew were usually more than happy to accommodate him; a few even seemed grateful.  But, few could make him want to settle down. 

By the time he met Kallie, he was so used to getting his way with women that it was an almost foregone conclusion that he and Kallie would get together.  To tell the truth, there wasn’t a woman around who could, or would, resist his charms, and he could be very charming, indeed.  To him, Kallie was just another in a long series of conquests.

Kallie, for her part, hadn’t even had a steady boyfriend until she was 13.  When she met Patrick (her first steady boyfriend), she was very attracted to him, as he was to her.  He was 13, as well, and a star athlete at their elementary school.  At first, they didn’t even indulge in kissing; in fact, they were quite shy with each other.  Instead, they spent their time walking to and from school and to and from her place (or his) and talking up a storm.  Despite her natural shyness, Kallie could be a real chatterbox when she wanted to be.  And, Patrick reciprocated by being a good listener.  After they broke up, a year or so later, Kallie would often reflect on her relationship with Patrick, realizing that, over time, they might have become closer physically and that she might have stayed with him.  But, being so young and innocent in the ways of the world, it was inevitable that she would eventually meet someone like Greg down the road.  In the meantime, she casually dated other fellows that she’d met in her high school, but it was always platonic – there was no sex going on.  She was in no rush to get laid before she was ready.

When Kallie met Greg, she was still in no great rush to lose her virginity and become involved in a physically intimate relationship.  She didn’t believe that physical intimacy should happen right away between her and her boyfriend; to her, it wasn’t something that should be rushed.  What she did believe was that if her man wanted her body, he had to earn that privilege.  He shouldn’t be acting like sex was his right and that he could demand it from her.  According to her, when a woman is ready for intimacy, she will let her man know (by her body language) what she wants with him.  Meeting Greg did not change her conviction in this regard.  So, how was it that Greg was able to persuade her to succumb to his charms, finally?

The answer to that question is simple:  using the strategies that he’d always used with women that resulted in success, namely, being very charming, paying lots of attention to her, ignoring other women, constantly giving her small gifts, and taking her to places that she liked.  For him, there would be little doubt in the mind of his “woman-of-the-moment” (Kallie) who the most important woman in his life was.  A more worldly and experienced woman might have caught on to his ways of operating and seen them for what they were:  window-dressing.  After all the charm, loving attention and gifts he lavished on her, Kallie was swept off her feet (literally!) by Greg, just as he had intended.  She was in love with him.

And, it would have great if it had been real.  It certainly appeared to be real.  Greg appeared to be totally sincere in expressing his feelings for her.  He appeared to be as much in love with her as she was with him.  And, it certainly added depth to the relationship when she responded, in kind, to his overtures.  After that, it was only a matter of weeks before Greg was finally able to get Kallie into bed. 

For a while, everything seemed wonderful; Kallie really felt that she had met her “soul-mate” (if there is such a thing).  If she had known what Greg did with other women when he wasn’t with her, she would have known there is no such thing as a soul-mate.

Eventually, they got married.  It wasn’t exactly a planned thing; it just happened.  After a lull in their relationship of several weeks (when Kallie was almost sure it was over between them), she shocked him by going out with someone that she’d met recently at college.  This action shocked Greg, in turn.  But, she didn’t do it to shock him, she went out with the other guy because he paid attention to her and treated her well.  Greg, for his part, wasn’t used to “his woman” doing independent things on her own.  He always had to be in control of the relationship.  And, according to him, they were still a couple.

In fact, Kallie’s action took him so much by surprise, he became extremely jealous of her new boyfriend and reacted accordingly.  He decided to take her by surprise by suddenly proposing marriage to her.  She was so shocked, yet delighted to receive Greg’s proposal that she accepted immediately.  They got married at City Hall two weeks later.

That was seven years ago.  Recently, I ran into Kallie and she told me that her marriage to Greg had certainly had its ups and downs, mostly downs.  Now, she had gotten to the point where she wanted to leave him and get a divorce; she was just waiting for the right moment.  I asked her why she wanted out of the marriage now and she told me that when a husband cheats on his wife with strange women, that’s one thing.  But, when he cheats on her with her girlfriends who then turn around and tell her all about it, that’s the time to leave.  Kallie said she needed Greg to agree to a legal separation first (which would simplify things between them) and then, after a while, she would file for divorce.  She was just glad they’d never had any kids, so a divorce would be relatively simple for them.  She knew that he would not argue about a property settlement since there wasn’t much property to settle anyway. 

Eventually, they got separated legally and shortly after that, Kallie met a man named Phil during her separation who made her life much easier and more enjoyable.  She didn’t think it would lead to a long-term relationship yet, but she did enjoy his close friendship and his caring attitude towards her.  By now, she was experienced enough to know that “love” can be a very fleeting thing.  If it lasts between a man and a woman, it’s more of an exception than a rule in life.  Moreover, she had discovered over time that happiness in life is hardly a constant; you could measure it in “moments of time”.  Uninterrupted happiness, in her mind, did not exist. 

It’s really too bad that one has to suffer some major disappointments first in order to be able to appreciate those fleeting moments of happiness.  Kallie had certainly done just that.

As it would ultimately turn out, Greg, after marrying for the second time, and then divorcing after only two years, had begun to express a desire to have Kallie back in his life.  He had hinted at a relationship with her again, more than once.  He must have figured out what a big mistake he had made by letting Kallie go.  But, she knew that his pleas for a second chance were coming way too late.  She had suffered his constant indiscretions long enough to know that some people will never change, no matter what.

published by Authorhouse, copyright 2011, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.