LIFE’S A BALL
Mollie sat in the chair, shaking. The envelope dropped to the floor from the fingers of her left hand. Tightly held in her right was the cheque for £40,000 from the football pools people. She read it again, her lips moved slowly with each word.
She had known nothing about this. Her husband of almost twenty-nine years had done this, this one good thing to come out of that marriage.
What to do now? He had died so suddenly without leaving any kind of life insurance policy or so she thought.
She could now pay off most of the mortgage; invest it or blow it all in one go by living the high life.
A little cosmetic surgery would go a long way.
Mollie took a deep breath, standing slowly; she caught her reflection in the mirror above the fireplace. She barely recognized her face; she looked older than her fifty-two years.
Her hand reached up and traced the lines that radiated from the end of her left eye.
Crow’s feet!
They had to go. So must she.
Sell this house of memories. Some were good, mostly in the first few years.
The children, all had gone, moved on. They had families of their own now. Lives that they lived without Mollie. She had the photographs to look at but no longer someone warm to hold close. She missed that.
~~~
Within days the “for sale” sign was up.
The house was in good condition and it did not take long to stage it for the estate agents photos. It had never looked so good, Mollie almost wanted to stay, almost but then again it was time to move on. Many came to see the house and soon an offer was made. The offer was well above the asking price which meant there was more money left over than Mollie had dreamed of. Within a few months the house was sold.
Freedom was hers!
~~~
Mollie stepped out of the air-conditioned airport terminal; the hot humid smog-laden air hit her square in the face. Not what she had expected?
Dragging her cases over to the nearby taxi rank, she stood on the edge of the sidewalk.
It was hard to get her head around the difference between here and home. Sidewalk was pavement and pavement was road. Would she ever adjust? Of course she would.
Mollie smiled to herself as the cab driver dumped her cases in the trunk.
~~~
The clinic was big and stood in its own grounds.
Briefly outside in the heat, she walked up the marble steps and entered the air-conditioned lobby.
“Hello I’m Mrs. Burgess.”
“Hi, we’ve been expecting you. Please fill in these forms. The doctor will be with your after you have settled in your room.” the receptionist said.
Mollie sat on the edge of her bed, waiting for the doctor to arrive.
He was a sweet young thing, in his thirties.
“You’re in good shape.” he said as he examined Mollie.
“I’ve spent the last three months with a personal trainer. I think it was money well spent. But I do need a little help here and there.” Mollie patted her stomach and her face.
“I’m sure you’ll look a million dollars by the time we’re done.”
Mollie smiled.
Surgery completed, Mollie hid out in a very nice hotel near to the clinic. She had never had people running after like this before. The hotel staff brought her food and anything else she needed. A nurse would come by and check her dressings. Soon the swelling would be gone. The new Mollie would be revealed.
~~~
A new wardrobe, hairstyle and with a little additional help from an H.R.T. patch, Mollie Burgess looked like she was in her late thirties again.
Now she dated men in their late twenties.
Oh what fun, to live her life again.
And she never did like football or was that soccer?
