(no subject)
"Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you'll be glad if you do,
Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare,
All it takes is tuppence from you..."
Guppy stops as the slow, progressively louder chant comes in through the window. He frowns. Who's outside making all that racket when he's just got the baby off to sleep?
He shuts the nursery door and goes into the bathroom, where he opens the window and peers out.
"Jameson, I told you I'd call the police if you came here again." he says firmly and angrily. "And I still don't know where your wife is."
"We're staging a peaceful protest." his ex-brother in law retaliates, sitting with his entire protest party of three supporters. Guppy calculates that he could probably, if necessary, take them all on at once.
"You're an idiot, bugger off." he says, closing the window and going downstairs. Slipping out of the back door, he picks up the garden hose, then goes back inside making sure to lock and secure the house again. There's no way they'd get past Atton's high tech security system.
He goes back upstairs and fixes the hose to the tap in the bathroom, then opens the window again to aim the pipe at the people sitting in his driveway on this freezing cold January afternoon.
"Guppy what are you doing?" his wife calls upstairs.
"Just taking care of some weeds in the front garden."
He looks down and is surprised to see his sister-in-law, the one whose location was the coveted information, stalking angrily down the driveway with his niece in her arms. Jameson gives a look of delight, but she goes straight past him and sits her daughter on the doorstep before turning back to him.
***
"I told you we didn't know where she was." Guppy says, encouraging Jameson to hold a clean tissue to his heavily bleeding nose.
"Yeah, well if Frances had a baby with another man, would you ever give up trying to find her?"
"I wouldn't want to give up." Guppy admits. "But Alexander is definitely mine, he has the Sandhu Hairstyle."
For the first time since they met, Jameson laughs, albeit bitterly.
"You're lucky." he says. "I loved Tanya so much that I was always afraid there would be someone else. I was possessive, suspicious. I kept checking her emails and texts and call records... don't think that I thought badly of her, but I wondered how such a beautiful woman could ever want someone... someone like me. I lost my job and couldn't get another one, so she was putting in all these extra hours and... I started following her."
Guppy nods, and sighs. There are millions of places that he would rather be right now, but he didn't feel he could leave the man bleeding all over his driveway. Tanya apparently has quite a strong punching arm.
"And one day, she really did stray. Packed her bags, disappeared, without anything more than a note telling me she'd gone where I could never find her again. I guess you can't keep a butterfly in a box."
Guppy looks at him.
"Richard, she's gone. You went too far, and she doesn't trust you any more. Now I don't know her that well, but what I do know is that the only way you can ever have a chance of her forgiving you is to stop being a crazy stalker. How do you think she feels having to hide from you all the time? How do you think Megan feels? That kid's two, man, and she's terrified of you. She calls you the 'Bad Man'. She has nightmares about you coming and taking her mummy away from her daddy, she told me so."
Jameson looks appalled. Guppy continues.
"If you really love her, accept that you smothered her and walk away. Leave her your address and phone number, and give them time. And stop pestering her relatives for information, because even if we had her address, which we don't, all you're going to do is end up with a restraining order."
There is a long and awkward pause, a muttered apology, then the man gets up and walks away down the driveway.
And you'll be glad if you do,
Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare,
All it takes is tuppence from you..."
Guppy stops as the slow, progressively louder chant comes in through the window. He frowns. Who's outside making all that racket when he's just got the baby off to sleep?
He shuts the nursery door and goes into the bathroom, where he opens the window and peers out.
"Jameson, I told you I'd call the police if you came here again." he says firmly and angrily. "And I still don't know where your wife is."
"We're staging a peaceful protest." his ex-brother in law retaliates, sitting with his entire protest party of three supporters. Guppy calculates that he could probably, if necessary, take them all on at once.
"You're an idiot, bugger off." he says, closing the window and going downstairs. Slipping out of the back door, he picks up the garden hose, then goes back inside making sure to lock and secure the house again. There's no way they'd get past Atton's high tech security system.
He goes back upstairs and fixes the hose to the tap in the bathroom, then opens the window again to aim the pipe at the people sitting in his driveway on this freezing cold January afternoon.
"Guppy what are you doing?" his wife calls upstairs.
"Just taking care of some weeds in the front garden."
He looks down and is surprised to see his sister-in-law, the one whose location was the coveted information, stalking angrily down the driveway with his niece in her arms. Jameson gives a look of delight, but she goes straight past him and sits her daughter on the doorstep before turning back to him.
***
"I told you we didn't know where she was." Guppy says, encouraging Jameson to hold a clean tissue to his heavily bleeding nose.
"Yeah, well if Frances had a baby with another man, would you ever give up trying to find her?"
"I wouldn't want to give up." Guppy admits. "But Alexander is definitely mine, he has the Sandhu Hairstyle."
For the first time since they met, Jameson laughs, albeit bitterly.
"You're lucky." he says. "I loved Tanya so much that I was always afraid there would be someone else. I was possessive, suspicious. I kept checking her emails and texts and call records... don't think that I thought badly of her, but I wondered how such a beautiful woman could ever want someone... someone like me. I lost my job and couldn't get another one, so she was putting in all these extra hours and... I started following her."
Guppy nods, and sighs. There are millions of places that he would rather be right now, but he didn't feel he could leave the man bleeding all over his driveway. Tanya apparently has quite a strong punching arm.
"And one day, she really did stray. Packed her bags, disappeared, without anything more than a note telling me she'd gone where I could never find her again. I guess you can't keep a butterfly in a box."
Guppy looks at him.
"Richard, she's gone. You went too far, and she doesn't trust you any more. Now I don't know her that well, but what I do know is that the only way you can ever have a chance of her forgiving you is to stop being a crazy stalker. How do you think she feels having to hide from you all the time? How do you think Megan feels? That kid's two, man, and she's terrified of you. She calls you the 'Bad Man'. She has nightmares about you coming and taking her mummy away from her daddy, she told me so."
Jameson looks appalled. Guppy continues.
"If you really love her, accept that you smothered her and walk away. Leave her your address and phone number, and give them time. And stop pestering her relatives for information, because even if we had her address, which we don't, all you're going to do is end up with a restraining order."
There is a long and awkward pause, a muttered apology, then the man gets up and walks away down the driveway.