Grainne Toher
'I told you to cut your stick' Peggy's soft words came to Mairead’s ear once more like a whisper. It was eerie how that phrase kept murmuring itself to her lately, those words telling her to get herself to safety. Peggy was wise, but stubborn Mairead had not been one to listen to advice from anyone, love was blind.
As Mairead crouched down behind the rear wheel of the massive Range Rover, her boots crunched quietly on the fresh snow and gravel. As her short fast breaths hitting the air, she prayed they would not be seen by Liam. Light snow began to fall once again; it would be dark soon.
She gave her belly a little pat, it felt full, full of eggs, she was bloated with despair and hope. Mairead felt full, nauseous, sickly and instinctively more protective of herself than usual. In reality, she should have been at home resting but he had wanted her at the club for the year end and she hadn’t been up to another row.
The tyres screeched at the bottom of the road as the car swung around the roundabout. She prayed he would give up soon and go home. Gravel skidded, another screech and she sensed the vehicle approach again for the fifth time.
'Will you stop making a show of us, Mairead?' roared Liam in desperation, as the car ground to a halt several hundred meters away. Liam took a furtive look up and down the road, he was anxious to avoid their Slimming Club buddies as he yelled at her to try to get her back into the car. She hadn't opened her mouth, merely exited the car as his screaming had begun again.
She wouldn't put her head up over the bonnet, no way, he would see her. 'You're tormenting me ' screamed the ‘Man of the Year.’ The hero of the hour had earned the nickname by losing the most pounds in his category that year at the slimming club.
Her ears were still ringing from their last short journey; she just wanted to walk home in peace now and take her time. Eventually, he would grow tired of the erratic driving and screaming, he usually did.
With a chill she recalled him, lifting her off the path by the scruff of the neck some moments before and throwing her roughly into the back seat. Knowing what awaited her when they got home, she had jumped out and darted behind the Range Rover before he could see where she went.
'It's all your fault that we are childless anyway, you old cow' he had yelled recently in one of many baby rows. Mairead hadn’t bother to retort, it didn’t help, only served to prolong the chaos.
She now knew better than to mention the real cause of the infertility issues during any more dust ups: it was his lazy sperm and their preference for the backstroke.
Things had deteriorated since their Christmas turkey and ham had had to set up camp in the large fridge of his best friend's house. Their own tiny fridge was barely able to accommodate the refrigerated potions, bottles and injectables required to help her to squeeze out some sort of offspring.
The shame of admitting the infertility to his best pal had, she was sure contributed towardsthe partial deafness in her right ear, it was the ear the one closest to the driver’s seat of the car. She could only imagine how her stressed out reproductive organs were feeling, co-existing as they did inside their anxious host in this terrifying environment.
The road had finally gone quiet; The man of the year appeared to have given up for now with his reputation intact. All being well he was pulling into the driveway of their gloomy, empty house with its tiny, insulting fridge.
She gave her belly another pat. After a final check that the coast was clear, she whipped out her mobile and rang Peggy. ‘I told you I never liked him,’ started Peggy as Mairead started to sob. ‘Look come here for the night and get in out of that cold and we will figure something out’ said Peggy kindly. ‘You’re a legend Peggy,’ hiccupped Mairead through the tears. She hung up and booked a taxi to Peggy’s on the phone app.
She would be ok tonight, no more screaming, she would call in sick at work and go home to her mother for a while. Whatever about the IVF, she could not be around this abusive man around for the next part of the process anyway. He was sure to be awful with her but he had already left his specimen. Her mind went into overdrive, as she tried to stop thinking, she resolved to start praying again. She would need spiritual help, no matter what was about to happen next. 'Man of the year, my eye' thought Mairead, he wasn’t much of a man pulling me around by the scruff of the neck. For now, she would be taking Peggy’s advice and cutting her stick to take some time out to think.
Mairead was cold as she sat on the footpath waiting for the taxi. When the old Toyota finally pulled up, the taxi man reduced her to tears with his kindness. ‘There, there love, let’s get the heat into you and get you home where it’s safe and warm’ he said.
As she sat into the taxi, she shot a look at her mobile, twenty one missed calls from Liam and some abusive texts. Putting her phone on airplane mode, Mairead knew a few more ‘I told you so’s’ awaited her at Peggy’s. She would take them on the chin this time and admit defeat. Peggy’s bark was worse than her bite and she had a heart of gold. With that, they sped off through the park to warmth, safety and whatever was going to happen next.
