I woke the next morning ready to do some more writing. In my sleep I had developed an idea that I wanted to explore. It was the scenario of a bride sleeping with another man on her wedding day whilst her husband was lying next to her asleep from too much alcohol. I had been tossing and turning all night as I got the concept sorted in my mind and could not wait to get started. I looked over to the other side of the bed looking to see if my wife had gone to work but she was still fast asleep. Curiously I thought about things and then I remembered that it was Saturday and Cath would be having a lie-in. I slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom and did my ablutions.
Being as quiet as I could be I came back into the bedroom and went for my male drawers to get dressed. I slipped on a pair of socks and trunks then some black jeans and a roll neck jumper. I did my hair and applied some aftershave then went downstairs. I put the kettle on and went outside and had my first cigarette of the day. This one always tasted the best and I inhaled deeply. It hit the base of my lungs and tasted amazing. I smoked all of the cigarette and then I went back inside and made myself a pot of coffee. Knowing Cath and it being Saturday I would get through the pot of coffee before she got up for the day.
I took the pot of coffee and a mug and went into the front room. I switched on my computer and the first thing that I did was change all the passwords on all my files and made it so that some could only be accessed by a second password. It took about half an hour to do all my files and then I changed the access password to the whole computer. Although it had led to some benefits Cath catching me and reading my files I was a very private person and I was determined that would not happen again.
About an hour later I had jotted down the basics of the next scenario that I was going to write and I would start on that Monday now that I had completed all the stories that I been asked to write for people and this one was for myself. I heard Cath enter the bathroom and start running the bath. Whilst she waited for it to run she flipped the kettle on and went outside for her first cigarette of the day. After about five minutes she came into the front room. She walked over to me and gave me a kiss.
"Good morning darling." She said.
"Morning sweetheart." I replied.
Cath went back to the kitchen and made her morning coffee and brought it back into the front room. She sat herself on the sofa and flicked the television and started watching some trite cooking programme. I hated them but I put up with them for Cath. Noticing her looking at me I shut down the computer and came and sat next to her on the sofa and said.
"Penny for them."
She continued to look at me for a while and then she said.
"I think today we will go through that suitcase of yours. I am sure that it will be so out of fashion."
She drained her coffee and then she went and had her bath. I could hear her splashing about and cleansing herself and then I heard the water being drained. I imagined that she was now in the bedroom getting dressed. She was gone for about half an hour and then she came down. She was wearing some black jeans and a white blouse. I would love to have known what kind of underwear that she had on but it was not to be this morning.
We sat and chatted for a while and then she said.
"Right let's get going."
She took my hand and led me upstairs. We entered the bedroom and she said.
"Show me where the suitcase is."
I crossed the room and went to my side of the bed. I reached under the bed and pulled out this battered old suitcase and placed it on the bed.
"How long have you had that?" She asked.
"I have had it since I was nineteen and it has followed me throughout my life and it is like an old friend to me."
"Well I am not having that in my house anymore. We shall have to go and buy you a new one. In fact we could do with a shopping trip. Why do we not get ourselves organised and then we can go to a shopping centre do some shopping, have a spot of lunch, do a bit more shopping and then come home and try the clothes on and see how we look?" She said.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." I said.
We got ourselves together and then we got in the car and set off to do the shopping trip. It took us about half an hour to get to the shopping centre. It was harder for me to find a parking space. This agitated me. I hated not being able to find a parking space and it also meant that it would be busy inside. I suffered with anxiety attacks. I finally found a parking space about half a mile from the doors of the centre-or so it seemed. I parked up and took my anxiety tablets ready to face the centre. We get out of the car and walked hand and hand to the shops.
We entered the centre and I was immediately hit by the heaving crowds. I stepped outside again and lit a cigarette. I inhaled deeply and tried to control my breathing as my psychiatrist would tell me to do. It took me ten minutes and three cigarettes to compose myself. Cath waited inside knowing that I would be back before too long. I always did face my anxieties and this would be no different.
I eventually re-entered the shopping centre and took hold of Cath by the hand and said.
"Come on then darling. Lead on."
I was being stupid and thick at the same time but we will get to that later. For the first hour we just perused the shops, picking up items and admiring them. What I hadn't noticed was that Cath was checking out not only the price of them but she was also checking out the size of them. After about an hour we stopped for coffee. It took us about fifteen minutes to drink the coffee and then we hit the shops again. Further investigation was done and then we stopped for dinner. Over dinner we had an interesting conversation.
"Have you still got the royalties from the book that you sold?" She asked.
"Yes I have hardly touched them as you know." I replied.
"Good Good." She said.
"Why?" I responded.
"You will see later on." She said.
"Okay" I responded.
With that we went back to eating our dinner. We took our time in the hope that some of the crowds would disappear for lunch. It worked. By the time we had finished dinner the crowds were a lot thinner. We started shopping again but this time Cath started spending money. She went into one Department store and saw that it was rather busy. She decided to go in on her own.
"Why do you not go and have a cigarette and some fresh air for a bit?" She said.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah go on. Just give me your credit card." She replied.
I reached into my wallet and gave her my Gold Card and left her to do her shopping. I was glad to get outside to have a smoke. I waited around for about an hour and then Cath came out to join me. She was laden down with carrier bags.
"Let's go and put these in the car." She said.
"Okay" I replied.
We walked across the car park and located the car. We deposited the carrier bags in the boot of the car and then Cath said to me.
"Right we have one more shop to go to but I need your help for that one but we can go for a beer and a glass of wine first if you want?"
I readily agreed to that and followed her back into the centre. We went and found the bar. I went to the bar to order the drinks whilst Cath went to find a seat. Thankfully it was not too busy and there were seats available. I got the drinks and went to find Cath. I located her after a couple of minutes. She had found a booth in a little darkened corner of the bar. I walked up to her and handed her the drink that I had got for her and slid in next to her. We chatted for a bit and then she said.
"I have a proposition for you."
"Yeah." I replied.
"From what I gather all you like to do is dress in woman's clothes and you have no gay sexual tendencies at all. Is that correct?"