The Traitor

Back in Rainham, Joyce had a look of disappointment etched across her face.

Polly’s parents were nothing like she had envisaged at all. Dickie was flash, loud and loved the sound of his own voice, and his wife Jenny was bordering on alcoholic, and was drinking her and Stanley out of house and home.

As Jenny stood up and started dancing around the room, holding her glass aloft, Stanley nudged Joyce.

‘I can’t believe you made us dress up like a pair of prized pricks to meet these two,’ he hissed.

‘I didn’t know they were going to behave like this, did I?’ Joyce hissed back.

‘I think it’s time for a toast to the happy couple. Have you got any champagne in the house?’ Dickie said in a loud, annoying voice. He didn’t just look like Boycie, he sounded like him as well.

Joyce scuttled out into the kitchen. She had been so desperate to impress the in-laws, that she’d spent over fifty quid yesterday on just two bottles of champagne.

‘Here we are,’ she said proudly, handing one to Dickie.

Dickie looked at the label on the bottle and laughed. ‘We can’t drink rubbish like this. I had to drink this shit at a party recently and it tasted like bloody antifreeze. Jenny, go to the car and get the champagne we brought out of the boot.’

Extremely drunk, Jenny picked up her husband’s keys, lost her balance and fell straight on top of the coffee table.

‘Are you OK, Mum?’ Polly asked in an unconcerned voice. She was used to her mother getting in these states. The falling over was nothing she hadn’t seen a hundred times before.

Raymond stood up. ‘Let me help you, Jenny,’ he said politely, as he picked her up off the table.

Joyce was mortified. She looked at Stanley. ‘I don’t fucking like ’em one little bit,’ she whispered.

Stanley squeezed his wife’s hand. ‘My sentiments exactly, dear.’

Less than a mile down the road from Joyce and Stanley, Frankie was unable to get off to sleep, due to the loudness of the music. She wasn’t that bothered she was just glad to be in the safety of the trailer, away from the brawling guests.

As Tammy Wynette’s, ‘Stand by your Man’ was played for about the tenth time, Frankie smiled. She had known very little about country and western music until she met Jed. ‘Stand by your Man’ was their favourite song and they’d agreed that when they finally got married, they would choose it as their first dance.

As the song came to an end once more, Frankie pulled the quilt over her head. She and Jed had certainly had their ups and downs, but she still couldn’t wait to become his wife. Frankie O’Hara had a certain ring to it, and with a bit of luck once they got married, they could buy their own place and get away from his parents.