Love's Revenge

A tale of revenge that isn't what is expected.

Every b*****d will have his day, and every b***h will pay, Ada thought, breathing in deeply as the whalebone corset dug tightly into her waist, and today is the day. 

 

Murky pools wore a brown coat of algae that climbed the steep banks several feet from the water’s edge.  She had been careful not to get too close.  Even though the winter rains had failed this year, the pools were deep and most of the people who’d drowned here had done so in similar conditions. They’d simply fallen in and found the banks too steep and slippery to climb out, eventually giving in to a watery grave. 

 

Ada tucked John’s blanket tight around his chin and checked that the pram was steady, gently humming a lullaby as he slept and watching the tree line for the b***h to show.  She’d better bloody come, she thought.  She adjusted her shawl about her body and crouched down to avoid the light sprinkle of rain that now blew among the green poplars.  Something moved among the leaves.  It was her.

 

The sight of her perfect skin and youthful body angered her.  Ada knew in her heart of hearts that Bill still loved her, but she, who had given birth to six healthy babies, no longer had the exuberance or the lithe frame that he so desperately craved.  He, who had once promised in the sight of the Lord to love, cherish, and protect her, had given in to the temptation of the flesh with this harlot who dared call herself a Christian woman.  The Bible said to love thy neighbour, but Bill had taken that commandment too literally.

 

“Good morning,” Alice said as she approached, awkwardly curtsying, “I got your letter.” 

“I am glad you did,” Ada said as she stood. 

“What is it you want with me?”  

 

Ada had rehearsed this moment so many times over the last month but she still wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say.  She had imagined herself grabbing Alice by the back of her head and smashing her delicate adulterous face into a rock to destroy what Bill loved in her.  She contemplated thrusting a rusty old knife through her corseted bodice, ripping out her womb and feeding it to Bill. 

You want to be inside her.  Now she will be inside you. 

She had laughed when she thought of that one.  

Finally, she decided on a cruel trick that was so much worse for everyone. 

 

“I want you to admit that you’ve been sleeping with my husband.”

Alice’s face whitened and she suddenly averted her eyes and looked to her feet. 

“You didn’t think I’d find out that my husband has been sleeping with my next door neighbour?”  Ada shrieked, “You think that I am that stupid?” 

Alice shrunk back a little towards the bank as Ada stepped towards her, scooping John out of the pram before lunging forward. 

“Please, let me go, and I will make sure to end it.” 

“Oh, it is going to end right now!”

Alice turned to run but it was too late.  The river would claim another victim today. 

 

Ada screamed as she fell down the slippery sides of the bank, knocking herself unconscious as John’s two month old body fell into the dark pool with a splash.  On the bank, Alice stood staring in disbelief �" had she really thrown herself in?  Blood bathed the heavy loam bank and Ada’s body floated on its back, her eyes gazing up to the sky with her mouth locked in a twisted smile. 

 

On the other side of town, the Chief Inspector of Police at Goulburn Station opened a grey envelope and pulled out a carefully folded letter that had been hand delivered to him by Mrs Ada Johns earlier that morning.  He read the accusations about Bill Johns and the next door neighbour’s daughter, and paused at the end before he reached one hastily scribbled line -  they know that I know, and I overheard them saying they plan to drown me.  Please help.