Gingerbread Man

It is 10.53am and Jemma has The DoughMother to herself, with the exception of Lily, who is standing at the counter, having ordered a takeout coffee and Leek Pasty.

Jemma should have company but Den hasn't shown up. On the plus side it will mean another mocca coffee and gingerbread man when Den does arrive.

Just to show her anger at Den's non-arrival, Jemma bites off the head of the gingerbread man and drowns him in a mouthful of mocca.

Lily looks on as she waits for her order. The two women know one another. 'Is everything okay?' she asks.

'No, not really. I'd like my gingerbread man to have a codpiece so I can bite it off.'

Lily looks at Jemma and, with no hint of sympathy, says 'Let you down again has he? He has a lot on with his wife in hospital.'

Jemma bites back 'Well, he shouldn't be having an affair with me should he?'

Lily knows why Den's wife, Joyce, puts up with the unspoken relationship between her husband and Jemma. Probably half the estate knows. 'It keeps him off my back. I can't be doing with it any more.' Lily knows of others who tolerate affairs for much the same reason. Jemma once had a husband who lost interest. Most men who knew Jemma thought him mad, as did Den. When his job took her husband to Manchester, Jemma stayed in Beeston. That was five years ago. They haven't been in touch since.

'You could end it?'

Jemma looked at Lily. 'I don't come here for advice. I get that from my mother and daughter.'

'Your Beryl's a sensible girl. How is she doing at university? You must be proud of her, getting into Cambridge.'

'Clever kids are a pain in the arse.'

Their exchange was interrupted by the door into The DoughMother opening and in walking Den, who walked straight over to Jemma, not even bothering to acknowledge Lily, and stood before Jemma like a dark shadow, blocking out what sunlight there was. 'I'm sorry Jemma, it's over. Joyce has terminal cancer' and with those words he turned and left The DoughMother. Thirty seconds, if that.

Lily looked on. She felt more sympathy for Den than she did Jemma, who could dress up the end of the affair however she wished: that she was dumped or she let him go. Time would tell.

Lily took her coffee and Leek Pasty from the counter and said to no one in particular as she left The DoughMother 'See you.'

© Robert Howard, 3 January 2023.