you have to come on this journey with me to understand, actually I'm still not sure I understand everything.....or possibly, anything! I met Jayne, at work, we were just colleagues, i was 44, happilly married, she was 24. Just a workmate, but we "shared" a lot...oh no, not in THAT way...she just had an "openess'' about her...she was fun to be around....to be a friend. Anyhow, Jayne fell in love with "mr right" and because of problems with her family, who disapproved moved into rented accommodation in Albemarle Street for a few weeks before her wedding. All of us were happy for her....one or two of us were jealous of her future husband....told u, 20 years too old. Besides, he was heir to a Greek shipping fortune....daddy was extremely wealthy....at 27, he never needed or had to "work" again, unlike us other plebs at the office. Anyhow, a lot of this is heresay stuff Jayne told me after work, chilling out in the pub before i trundled on the Tube back to Watford to mrs and kids....i always had a drink before going home.....NO...not i needed one...just relax, after work, catch a later, less crowded train, and arrive home to kiss the kids goodnight and have a few hours with my wife.
Anyhow a few of us from work helped Jayne move to 23 Albermarle Street in the East End, it was a reasonably new 4 storey flat complex......i guess americans would call it apartment....but, at least it had a lift.....which made taking Jaynes "stuff" up to the third floor easier...especially as an overweight 44-yr-old broker! Anyhow, me, and a few other old guys from work helped Jayne move in...I think we were all happy for her too....perhaps some of us wished for more...lets say all of us.....!
Anyhow, Jayne told me she met a guy called John on the ground floor, he had, apparently taken the basement flat, and they met, as she was going up, and he was going down....i remember her saying, "It was really sweet, he said Fair maid, its more important you rise the the 3rd floor than me to descend to the basement, less stairs, for me"...he was SUCH a gentleman, she said. I remember saying to her, you fancy him, to be met with a laugh and "good god NO...hes in his 40s".....I can't tell you how I felt after that, but i may have had another large Whisky before going back to Watford.
Anyhow over the following few days, John took in her mail, took it up to her flat, fended off unwanted suiters from the office...lol...not me...i was on way back to Watford! She said he took in a bottle of wine for her...the lift was out of order, so the wine merchant found it easier to deliver to the basement rather than walk up 3 flights of stairs...."Jay....(sorry, thats me) you wouldn't believe it...i opened the door, it was John, with a fine brandy from my fiancee, i invited him in to share.....and u WILL never believe it...he said yes...but I will leave the door open so no-one thinks anything untoward is going on here"...my god, SO old fashioned, don't you think.....?" i think I hated john from then on....but I realise now, for the wrong reasons.


TO BE CONTINUED

M/A that actually is a good start. Looking forward to more.

Thanks for the encouragement.....must admit I'm not too sure where its going either! Part Two, next weds.

The next few days were very hectic at work. We had been taken over by a much larger rival, and although our positions were safe there was a lot of integrating their systems and ours. It was time-consuming, frustrating and brought on a few short tempers, especially from some of us that had got quite stale and comfortable with the way things were. Jayne was a god-send, she showed many of us the easy way of doing things, young mind, I think. By Wednesday I decided our new masters wouldn't mind me raiding petty cash and took everyone to dinner after work. One or two of the guys were heard to mutter "how the hell we going do do without Jayne. I know she heard because she turned quite red at one point. I wasn't going to compound her embarrassment by telling her I agreed with them. She sat opposite me and told me she was looking forward to her wedding in Paris......"On Saturday 6th September, 1988, I will be Mrs Jayne Thakadorian"....I remember asking her if she was practicing to write that, and I don't think I was surprised by "oh EVERY night, Jay," her bright blue eyes full of love. I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard "hi Jay, thought I'd find you here." It was Annie. If jayne was naive and hopeful, Annie had "lived" a bit! She was an old schoolfriend of my wife, so I guess I became friend by proxy. She sat beside me and I introduced her to the people at our table. I think Jayne was a little curious on just how 'friendly' Annie and I were but was soon enlightened when I asked "So, what brings you to London, then." As I signalled the waiter to bring more drinks Annie answered "Another bloody divorce, this time I kept his money and dumped his name" and burst out laughing. I was shocked, I didn't know she had got married, though young Jayne just looked a little bemused. "I'm plain old Annie Chapman again." she said. A colleague whispered in my ear and we both left to help an inebriated workmate to a cab. By the time i returned Annie and Jayne were deep in conversation. I was a little surprised to learn that they were going to Jayne's for brandy and I was expected to join them. Although I never said it, I thought perhaps I'll meet this John character! The flat was quite small, sparsely decorated, I suppose as it was only temporary Jayne felt no need to cover the plain walls. She poured Annie and I a large drink and I was sitting there thinking how different they both were as the girls chatted away. I declined a second drink, and before I could thank her Annie interrupted with "I'll have another, I can't afford this on my salary!" Jayne was actually aghast when she asked what she did for a living. "I read books....well proofread, edit and check that details are correct.....it can be quite interesting". By the time I put on my coat to leave they were chatting about Annies job and love-life, as I'd heard it all.....MANY times before...I yelled a goodbye and left. I was halfway to the station thinking the nights got cold when I realised I should have called on John to check him out. I was too tired to bother with going back and was pleased an hour later be home in the warm. The following day I woke with a sore throat and eyes and decided to ring in sick.....I had a good team at work....it could cope without me for a while. Jayne answered the phone, listened to my tale of woe (ok, I did exagerate a bit) and was confident she could cope, as I knew she could. She did say "You will be well enough for my leaving party tomorrow won't you." I promised I would. My wife reminded me I had to be well enough for the weekend as we had promised to take the children to her mother. The chances of me getting out of that were impossible. Friday evening we all met at the pub, I gave a small speach, told Jayne how much we would miss her and wished her all the luck in the world for the future. We gave her a small present to remember us by. As she was going, she leant across and kissed me, "thanks Jay"....."for what"......"oh Annie, of course, she's taking over my flat." I think I said 'great' or something. "Shes not had a lot of luck with men, has she...." I shook my head, smiling as she continued ...."I'll see if I can change that!" and she was gone. I quite enjoyed the weekend away, managed to shake off my cold and returned to the office on Monday. It was, yet another hectic day. By the time I got home, had tea, read the kids a story, it was gone 10 before I realised I hadn't rung Annie to wish her well in her new home. She sounded tired, I told her so...."oh Jay, its been a long day, I got a couple more pages of this damn book to read." I offered to ring off, she said "No, it can wait 'till the morning....sod it..." and laughed. I heard the muffled sound of her doorbell...."hold on Jay"....I heard her open the door.....brief mutterings and her pick up the phone "Oh Jay, that little minx has sent a bottle of brandy to John and asked him to welcome me to the block"...."be good" I said. "Do me best" she said giggling. As she put the phone down i heard her say "you pour, I'll shut the door." As I got into bed that night I smiled at the thought I felt sorry for John.

TO BE CONTINUED

It was 8.30 the next morning when I entered Annie's flat. I noticed that the walls had been decorated. I instinctively knew it was not paint. I will spare you the details, as I spared myself....I kept my eyes firmly focused about 4 feet from the carpeted floor. I had been wakened by loud knocking on my door at 6 am by two policemen. They informed me of what had happened and asked me to accompany them to London to identify the 'body'. I was numb. I was able to satisfy them that indeed it was Annie, but I was pleased I had not had breakfast. I gave them all the details I knew, which turned out to be precious little. They asked me to check out the flat with them to see if I could see anything untoward. In spite of me insisting I had only been there once, they were firm in their request. My eyes caught the edge of Annie's desk, as I walked towards it I heard one of the constables say "You must be mistaken, there is no John in this block.....and no basement flat, either." My hand reached out and turned over the last page of the book she had been editing. I heard the other policeman talking on his radio "Sarge, Annie Chapman of 23 Albemarle Street was found brutally murdered on the 8th September 1988 by persons unknown......." I was in a dream.....NO....a nightmare......because as he spoke the words I could hear, , my eyes were reading the last page of "Tales of Old London" and they leapt off the page at me....."on September 8th 1888 Annie Chapman was found brutally murdered at 23 Albemarle Street, Whitechapel, the 3rd victim of Jack the......." I think that's when I passed out.
I never told Jayne, of course. Such things couldn't happen in her world. In the early years I often blamed myself for ringing Annie that night....perhaps she would have finished the manuscript and fled the flat....or perhaps, not answer the door. I don't know, i guess I'll never know..

Anyhow dear reader, it may seem odd to retell this tale after 20 odd years but I felt if any of you buy "Tales of Old London"......the new, revised 2009 edition is out now. Chapter 13 "Gruesome Murders in Albemarle St" has been removed and replaced with a far more gruesome story from 2003. But the publishers have not removed the dedication on page 3 "dedicated to both Annie Chapman RIP" which makes no sense now the story has been removed. A good Editor like Annie wouldn't have made an error like that.would she?

THE (most definite) END

That was great MA! I really enjoyed it. xxx

Thanks Rae, whole idea of "creative writing" is feedback. I'll ignore the plagiarize hint (Collins printers and authors dictionary spelling, 1973) I would have used an "s"...lol. Posting size, imho internet generation get bored on long posts. It's nice to see book production going up in UK so there's still hope. I did cut back quite a bit.....it may have been better to expand on annies' past and Jaynes' present/future. I'll call it the Readers Digest version. First part...yes i had the end in mind....took 10 minutes.....middle took a week. It's odd what you can make up when your stuck at work on a long print job. Whole idea was trying to stay out of other forums which I feel a bit unwelcome in these days. Got a bit close with the "done this before" bit......was published poet (in a VERY small way) a lifetime ago! Annie Chapman was real tho...3rd victim of jack the ripper. Believe it, or not, a mentor at the monastery I was in in 1968 took a few of us on a "ripper" tour.....many of the places were still standing then. Then 3 of us got expelled from the monastery....i seem to remember it was due to Strongbow Cider, some interesting cigarettes and playing "America" in the style of The Nice on the church organ at 3 am. The typos...i'll put that down to time factor and this stupid qwerty keyboard....I was much better on this
http://www.linotype.20m.c[...]o1.html

Was that your 1st desk top PC ma?

Melody...thanks love. Am ashamed to say I had to google O Henry, heard of Rod Serling tho....we did get Outer Limits and Twilight Zone here...lol. Not too hot on US authors, read a little of Steinbeck, more know Poe from the Roger Corman, Hammer films of late 50s, early 60s movies. I was fortunate enough to have Gloria from this site take me to the Poe House and visit his grave 2 years ago, when in Baltimore. I did, unfortunately, let myself down when we passed the Babe Ruth museum, and asked who he was.I am sincerely sorry America, but wtf limey trannies know, eh?

rae i was very young....15...two of my poems were accepted in "anthology of modern verse" edited by roger mcgough (scaffold)...showing me age..i got automatically enrolled in writers guild because "i was published"...ten quid...i guess j k rowling earned a bit more....but at 15...shoulder-length haired guy.....was cute tranny..trust me i went along to local writers meeting..all published....and wen a 46 yr old man criticised my poetry....i was appalled..took the stuffing out of me...i think...know believe...he sold 7 copies of lace making in bedfordshire...ergo...he was better than me...i was a kid....i aint now./..lol

oh melody I remember the "tea ladies" coming around at 10 am and all the lino ops would buy a sausage roll, meat pie or cornish pastie.......you left it on the pot till 12 to warm it up.....lol
......this cold computer typesetting dont warm yer pies....does it?

not too sure I'd go into a 7-11 and ask for a babe ruth bar

dont worry about getting chucked out the monstery....that was only for life,,,,,Italy kicked me out for 10 years.."personna non grata" on me passport....i mean...i was only there 3 hours before they shot at me....i do hope that poor little policeman is ok