A Summer of Love and Death

8/20/2019 A Summer of Love and Death

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About the Author

Lydford Williams is the pseudonym of a retired hospital

consultant who, after retirement, followed a course on creativewriting which fired his imagination, leading to this book, his first

novel using his hospital experiences as a background. He has,though, written two medical textbooks as well as numerous

medical scientific papers.


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Dedication

The author would like to thank his family for all their support

during the writing of this novel.


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L y d f o r d W i l l i a m s

S

U M M E R O F

L O V E N D D E T H


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Copyright © Lydford Williams (2015)

The right of Lydford Williams to be identified as author of this

work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and

78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the

publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this

publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims

for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British

Library.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any

resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely

coincidental.

ISBN 978 1 78455 672 3 (paperback)978 1 78455 674 7 (hardback)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2015)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain


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ONE

Jenny, slim, long blonde hair and understatedly pretty, sat behind the cash desk at the supermarket checkout, scanning

the goods as they passed along the conveyor belt. She lookedsurreptitiously at her watch – quarter to three. Only fifteen

minutes more before her shift ended. Luckily, the customer

did not have a huge amount still to check, and Jenny pushedthe sign saying “Sorry, this checkout is now closed” at the end

of the pile of goods. She finished scanning the last item, and

turned to the customer, locking her welcoming smile back onher face.

‘That’s £38.25, please. Do you need any cash-back? Doyou have our loyalty card or any coupons, or a car park

ticket?’

The customer shook her head and reached into her purse, proffering two £20 notes. Jenny was pleased. Less time

needed to cash up. She gave the change, and closed down hertill, removed the cash box, and went upstairs to the office. She

checked the money and coupons, entered the amounts on the

tally sheet, put the float back in to the till box and took thetakings and form in to the finance office, leaving the till box

in its place in the rack. Briefly saying hi to the girl in the

office, she went through to the changing room, combed herhair, took her jacket and bag, ran down the stairs and out into

the street. It was a warm April afternoon, and she went downthe road and round the corner towards the school. School

finished at 3.15 – she would just be in time to meet her son.


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She ran the last few yards to the school gate, and as she

approached, could hear the noise of the children running

through the playground to the exit. She nodded to several ofthe mothers she knew, exchanged a few pleasantries with a

couple of others, and then saw her son, Colin, a quiet boy of

seven, coming towards her with another boy she didn’trecognise.

‘Mummy, Mummy’, Colin said, ‘this is my friend Mark.

He has asked me to come round to play and for tea. Can I,Mummy, can I? Please!’

Jenny smiled lovingly at him, and said, ‘Well, we had better find Mark’s mummy and ask her. She might not know

about this invitation.’

At that moment, a lady came up to Jenny and introducedherself as Mark’s mother, and confirmed the invitation. ‘Mark

has been talking about Colin for days now, as they sit next toeach other in class. Please let him come. We live in Cathwell

Avenue, and we will walk Colin home at, say 6.30, if that is

OK by you.’ She scrabbled in her handbag. ‘Here is ouraddress and phone number.’

Jenny agreed, to Colin’s great pleasure, and walked

slowly away, looking back at the two boys who werelaughing, jumping and chattering at great speed. She was

pleased that Colin had made a friend. He was a shy, ratherintroverted lad who was in the first year of Junior School, and

didn’t make friends easily. To see him like this was a great pleasure.

When she got home, she tidied up a few things, looked at

the post, and decided she would have a leisurely bath. It wasnot every afternoon she had a chance to do what she wanted,

alone. She ran the tub, on an impulse poured in some bubble

bath crystals that Geoff had given her for her last birthday,took off her clothes and sank gently into the foaming water.

She lay there a while, thinking of nothing in particular,

looking at the patterns on the water created by the sun comingthrough the window, and then started to wash. As she washed

between her legs, she was caught out by the sensations she


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had engendered. Smiling, she continued caressing herself.

Waves of pleasure engulfed her. She lay back, and suddenly

thought how she enjoyed sex with Geoff, a kind, caring fatherand husband. She resolved to initiate sex more often, and she

decided to ask him about starting another baby. How

wonderful, she thought. I must have bubble baths more often!At that moment she heard the front door open, and a voice

called out. ‘Hello, anyone in?’

It was Geoff, home early, and Colin was out! Now was agood time to start. Jenny called down to Geoff, ‘Darling, hi!

I’m in the bath. Come on up and join me!’

He came up the stairs, went into the bathroom, and looked

at his wife, her beautiful body lying in the bubbly water, just

her face and her nipples visible, her hair piled attractively onthe top of her head. He bent down and kissed the tip of her

nose. ‘Where’s Colin?’ he asked.

‘Oh, he was invited to tea by a school friend, and will be

back around 6.30. Come into the bedroom, there are things I

want to discuss.’ He walked out, and she got out of the bath,dried herself, draping the towel around her. In the bedroom,

she sat on the bed and patted the duvet next to her. ‘Sit down

here with me,’ she said, and as he sat down, she turned to him,hugged him, smothered him with kisses, then undid his shirt

and trousers, pushing him down on his back, her towel fallingaway.

‘What are you doing?’ he laughed.‘You’ll see,’ she said, and quickly pulled his clothes off.

She ran her finger round his tummy button, then down the line

of hair to the base of his penis. She saw it quiver, then shegently started rubbing him. She loved the result, as she saw

his penis stiffen and enlarge. She enjoyed that power in her

fingers, and also as she massaged him gently, she felt herself becoming wet. She could wait no longer, and raising herself

up, held his penis and pushed it into her, moving rapidly up

and down until with a great sigh she arched back and they both climaxed. She sat on him until she felt him become


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small, and then she rolled off and lay next to him, hugging

him tightly and kissing his face and hair.

‘Well,’ he said, looking at his wife, ‘what a lovely

homecoming. I shall have to finish work early more often,specially if Colin is out.’ He stretched, looked at the alarm

clock, then got up, and went into the bathroom. Jenny heardthe shower running. A couple of minutes later he came back

into the bedroom, Jenny took his hand and pulled him down to

her, kissing him again and again. He held her tight, kissed herlips and then moved down, sucking her nipples which stood

firm. Smiling, he pushed her back, separated her legs and

entered her, loving her passionately until they both climaxedagain. Jenny lay back and sighed with pleasure, as Geoff

kissed her lips, breasts and stomach. They lay side by side,holding hands and kissing each other. As she turned to

massage him again, Jenny noticed the alarm clock andstopped.

‘Geoff, it’s getting late. We must get dressed! Colin will

be home soon.’ She jumped up, put her clothes on and threwGeoff his discarded shirt and trousers.

Going downstairs hand in hand, they sat together on the

sofa and listened to the six o’clock news, and as the headlineswere repeating, there was a ring at the door. Geoff went to the

door, opened it, and let in Colin with Mark and his mother.

‘Daddy, Daddy!’ shouted Colin, ‘this is my friend Mark

and his Mummy.’ Geoff smiled, and introduced himself.Mark’s mother shook hands, and said, ‘I’m Carmel.

Carmel Richards. We live near here, in Cathwell Avenue, and

only moved in a few weeks ago. Colin and Mark are in thesame class, and have become firm friends, I’m pleased to say,

as Mark didn’t know anyone in this area.' Colin had

meanwhile taken Mark up to his room, and the happy noisesof boys playing with a train set could be heard. The three of

them sat and chatted, till Carmel said she had better be going

home, as her husband would be in shortly. Jenny gave Carmela card, and said, ‘Here is our address and phone number,

although of course you know where we live!’ Carmel thanked


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them, and called up to Mark, who came down asking if they

really had to go, and then off they went. Colin stood by the

open front door, waving, till they turned down the road out ofsite. He shut the door and went back into the kitchen.

‘Did you enjoy yourself, darling?’ Jenny asked.

‘Oh, yes, lots,’ said Colin. ‘They’ve asked me again.’

Geoff and Jenny looked at each other, nodding, pleased

that Colin had such a nice friend. ‘Yes, of course, darling, but

perhaps we’ll ask Mark here for tea next time. When we seehim and his mother tomorrow, we’ll fix a date.’

The next afternoon when Jenny collected Colin, she sawCarmel and arranged that Mark would come round for tea on

Tuesday of the next week, which was in five days’ time, a day

that Jenny wasn’t working. Every day for the next four daysColin pestered his parents, asking if tomorrow was the day

that Mark was coming. Finally the day arrived, and whileColin was at school, Jenny busied herself with making

sandwiches, little cakes and a large fruit salad. At 3.15 she

was outside the school, waiting for Colin and Mark, and as the bell rang, she saw them running out across the playground

towards the gate. Laughing, she scooped them in her arms,

and all holding hands they walked home. Tea was a greatsuccess, and then the boys went into the garden to play

football. After about twenty minutes, they came in and Colinasked if they might go up to his room and play with his train

set. At 6.30 Jenny went upstairs and told the boys that theyneeded to pack up, as Mark had to go home.

‘Oh Mummy, does he have to?’ wailed Colin.

‘Yes, darling,’ said Jenny, and with that waited until the boys had restored order to Colin’s room. Then they went

down, took their coats, and set off for Cathwell Avenue,

which wasn’t so far away. When they got to Mark’s house,

Carmel was waiting at the gate, she greeted them and invitedthem in. The boys rushed away to play while Jenny and

Carmel sat and enjoyed a cup of tea and Jenny told her thatMark had been a perfect gentleman. Then, repeatedly calling


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Colin, they left, with much sadness on Colin’s part, and went

back home.

Later that evening, as she and Geoff were watching

television, she told him how successful tea had been, and thatshe had arranged with Carmel that once a week the boys

would meet for tea, one week in their house and one week atCarmel’s. Geoff thought that was a splendid arrangement,

wonderful for Colin, and then told her about his work that day

in Connaughts, the factory where he was a senior designer. Hedidn’t normally talk much about his work, but he had been

asked to set up and lead a new team working on a new product

and wanted to tell Jenny all about it; he mentioned that itmight lead to promotion, if it all went well. As they sat in the

evening light, Jenny noticed that Geoff was coughing morethan usual. She asked if he was alright, but he said that he was

fine, and she thought no more about it. In bed that night, shesnuggled up to Geoff and kissed him lovingly while rubbing

his tummy then gently massaging him. As she got more and

more excited, his penis got bigger and bigger, and he beganmaking love to her. Afterwards, she lay back stroking his

penis and asked him if they could start another baby. He put

his hands behind his head on the pillow and thought for awhile, then said that he wasn’t earning quite enough for that,

as at the moment they had to count on Jenny’s wages from thesupermarket, plus the discounted prices she got, so perhaps

they could wait till the new production line, and the implied

promotion, came through. Promotion would mean asignificant pay rise, but might take a few months. Jenny had to

agree as the financial considerations were important, butconsoled herself that she would have lots of time for

spontaneous lovemaking with Geoff at odd times. Thank

goodness for the Pill! The following week she surprised himthree times, once when he came home early and she pulled

him up to their bedroom, once when he was up in the attic,

when they got extremely dusty and laughed so much it hurt,and once on Saturday afternoon in the garden shed when he

was trying to repair their mower. On this last occasion, Colinhad gone out to the nearby playing field with some friends,


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and Jenny went down to the shed in a t-shirt and shorts. When

she went into the shed, she quickly took them off, crept up

quite naked behind Geoff, and before he could say anything,she had pulled down his jeans, and made energetic love to

him, although afterwards he did say that he hoped none of the

neighbours had seen, as they’d be jealous!

A few weeks later, in bed one hot early May night, they

lay naked together, and as Jenny moved towards Geoff, she

noticed that he seemed a bit puffed, and wondered if it hadanything to do with the coughing, which was still bothering

him quite a lot. She plumped up his pillow, and snuggled up

to him, again stroking his stomach and hoping for a response.Instead, the puffing and wheezing continued, and suddenly he

pushed her away, sat up and said that he could not breathewell. She switched on the light and looked at him. His face

seemed redder than usual, his neck seemed a little swollen,and the veins rather more prominent. She was worried by this,

and asked if he would like some more pillows. He nodded,

still coughing and wheezing, so she got up and fetched acouple. With them in place, his breathing became a little

easier, but the veins were still full and his face red. She

watched over him for about ten minutes, and as he seemed no better, she picked up the phone and called their GP. When the

on-call doctor answered, Jenny described what she saw andthe symptoms, adding that the cough had been going on for

several weeks. The GP immediately said that with the history

she had given him, there was no need for him to call at theirhouse, rather she should take Geoff to the hospital at once,

and he would be expected as the GP was going to phone theappropriate team as soon as they had finished talking.

Although it was late, Jenny phoned her best friend Annie

who lived nearby, told her the situation, and asked her if shecould come over and stay so Colin would not be alone. Annie

was an old school-friend of Jenny’s, unmarried, who livednearby in a large Victorian house which had belonged to her

parents. She said she was on her way, and was as good as her

word, knocking on the door in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Jennyand Geoff had got dressed, and as soon as Annie was in and

A Summer of Love and Death

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