Deceit. [COMPLETED.]

Chapter 11

"Quasimodo."
[KIRK ATTWOOD]

'I saw you using your mobile. How can you just stand there and blatantly lie!'

'I beg your pardon?'

'You were using your mobile. I saw you!'

My wife's face was a picture of pure rage.

She turned towards me. 'Are you going to allow this? Are you just gonna stand there and do nothing?'

To be quite honest I did not know what I was going to allow or do. An hour from London, for what should have been the highlight of the last few days and here we were stuck on the side of the road involved in a car accident.

'Kirk !'

Cheryl had been thrown heavily against her seat belt and was in no mood for any polite conversation.

'Do something. Say something!'

The other driver, a solid man in his late twenties was tall and athletically built wearing white trousers and a light blue T-shirt with the words Lady Killer emblazoned across his chest. He had jumped out of his car the moment we had come to a halt and was not the kind of man you would argue with.

He turned to me.

'You need to shut that one up mate,' he growled, 'before someone gets hurt.'

I knew what he meant; lesser words had started wars, only he had lit the fuse to my darling wife's temper and there was no stopping her.

'Shut me up! Did you just say that my husband should shut me up? You arrogant little prick. Who the hell do you think you are telling me to shut up standing there next to your nice new shiny Mercedes? We weren't the ones driving at a hundred miles an hour trying to sneak in at the last minute. We weren't the ones with a mobile phone stuck to our ear. You should be arrested. That's what you should be. You should be locked up.'

Steam billowed out from our damaged radiator in great plumes of smoke while the continuous noise of passing traffic filled my ears.

'Arrested? Did you just say I should be arrested?'

I asked Cheryl to move up the embankment out of harm's way not just from the traffic but from my friend who now only stood a few feet away. I suggested she phone for a recovery truck and then promised I would deal with the situation though what I was going to do or say to this guy I had no idea. I watched hesitantly as my wife moved away aware that the other guy was following her every move.

We all had our traits; good or bad, only I liked to think my good side always triumphed and the same went for my wife. Her heart was as big as the famous Grand Canyon from America but when she wanted to, her mouth was unfortunately could be just as big.

I faced the man with the Mercedes and hefted a shoulder in way of an apology.

It didn't work. The man scowled. He pointed to my wife.

'That one needs to be kept on leash, I'm telling you, and a slap wouldn't do her any harm either.'

The sudden braking and resultant impact against his car had given me the onset of a vicious headache. It felt as if someone was pressing their thumbs against the sides of my temples and it didn't help that the sun was mid-way in the sky. It was bright and the glare had no trouble penetrating into the back of my skull.

I tried to appeal to the man's own sense of understanding at what had happened.

'At least we are all okay,' I started. 'That's the main thing. No broken bones eh?'