THE GEEK AND HIS WIFE
BY BOB KENT

 

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A man and woman sit side by side on an old sofa in an uncluttered living room. They are watching television. The clean lines of the room are broken only by the television, the couple and a round table stacked with the used crockery of their evening meal. A small digital clock sitting on top of the television blinks the time as seven fourteen. When all is said and done the whole situation could be summed up as The Geek & His Wife enjoy another magical evening in. The man being The Geek, his wife being His Wife.

The Geek is dressed in a black suit, white shirt and black tie. His Wife in her old, rather scruffy dressing gown. She is eating cereal, milk drips down her chin.
‘The same thing every night for 1754 nights in a row.’ thinks The Geek in shades of grey. He looks blankly at the closed curtains that block the whole wide world away from them. Its sky ready to crush them beneath its flatness until they were dead. The Geek’s white face turned back to the television and flashes orange and then blue with cathode light. On the screen a lion is cleaning itself after devouring a rather stupid antelope. Blood gushes from an open wound in the antelopes outside insides.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling noise starts up and the room starts to shake slightly. The Geek and His Wife look at each other, surprise and alarm on their faces. Light flashes inside the room and the rumbling becomes more alarming. The Geek & His Wife take a second to look around the room then they turn back to each other. The Geek gives an almost imperceptible nod to His Wife and they both flee across the room and hide under the table. The cloth hangs down and blocks them off from the outside world.

Safely hidden under the table, The Geek & His Wife both look terrified, they stare at each other for comfort. Above them the table starts to shake violently, it is almost bouncing off the floor, the crockery from their evening meal clicks and rattles violently above them and eventually, a plate makes its way to the edge of the table, falls to the ground and smashes with an ear-crashing smash then, as suddenly as it started, the noise and the shaking stop. It’s dead silent.
His Wife nudges her husband with her elbow and gestures beyond the hanging table cloth towards the outside world. The Geek knows what he has to do.

The room is a mess, broken crockery litters the floor and the television lies on its side, its screen smashed into five large grey glass splinters and a thousand smaller shards. The tablecloth twitches and The Geek emerges blinking. He looks around the room in a state of shock. He slowly makes his way across the room, picking his way through the remnants of his possessions, towards the window. He very cautiously looks outside.
In the outside world all is as it was the last time he saw it. He sees nothing to alarm him.
There is a knock at the door. The Geek nearly jumps out of his skin.

The Geek nervously makes his way along the hallway towards the front door. He steps with the caution of a man who thinks he might explode with his next step. And he moves very slowly. There is another, more impatient, knock at the door and against his better judgement The Geek quickens his pace. His breathing joins in.

The Geek opens the front door. A blinding light floods into the hallway and a very, very beautiful woman is standing at the door. She is dressed in an clinging black silk evening dress with Bettie Page style hair - fringe and bangs - and a glorious smile on her face. She is surrounded by a glow of bright white light. She continues to smile at The Geek and then slowly offers him her hand.
A look of total and utter love and devotion crosses The Geek’s face and he reaches out and takes the woman’s hand. She turns and walks from the door into the night. The Geek goes with her but he knows that if she ever leaves him he’ll never be the same again. Such sadness in a moment of such joy is enough to make The Geek nearly cry but he just smiles at the woman and keeps walking.
The Geek and the beautiful woman walk off down the street and disappear.

The room is as it was when The Geek left it. Once again the tablecloth twitches and eventually His Wife emerges. She looks around for her husband, but can’t see any sign of him. She seems unconcerned. She walks over to the window and looks out.

His Wife makes her way down the hallway toward the open front door. She looks outside, turns her head looking up and down the dark deserted street. He head bobs left and right. She sees nothing. She shrugs and smiles, then closes the door with a satisfied and happy slam. He is gone. Her dreams have finally come true.

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