Writing for Fun
January 2015
Life Is . . . - Diane Silverston
'An absolute disaster!' shouted Dominic, hitting his head with his hand. 'Unbelievable . . . What a mess. An absolute disaster!'
'Calm down, Dom,' Josephine yelled back at him. 'It can't be that bad. Calm down. Take a deep breath.' She started taking in great gulps of air to encourage him.
'You just don't understand,' he shouted staring right at her, 'everything has gone wrong, nothing can be done now. It's too late.'
'You need to calm down,' she repeated, 'before you make yourself ill. Think things through calmly and carefully. I'm sure you'll be able to sort it all out. But please sit down and calm down.' She was right in front of him, pushing him towards the settee.
Dominic collapsed into the brown leather settee, put his head into his hands and groaned loudly. 'I can't think straight, everything is going round and round in my mind. I just can't believe what has happened, how did it get to this?'
'How did what get to this?' asked Jo. 'I don't understand any of this. What has happened? You need to explain to me what you are so upset about.'
'I don't know where to start,' Dom whispered.
'At the beginning would seem a good place.' said Jo. 'Start at the beginning.'
'Do you remember some time ago I told you that my friend Alec gave me a chance to invest in an opportunity to start a music venue in Suffolk?'
'Yes I remember. I told you not to get involved with anything Alec was doing, it was too risky,' Jo replied 'Surely you didn't? You've too much sense for that Dom.'
'Not at first I didn't but then Alec told me how well the venture was going. I thought it would be a way to enhance the money Gran left me.'
'You haven't invested all that money in this musical venture? You know Alec isn't a trustworthy person. Think of all the times he's let you down before.'
'I know, I know.' Dom stuttered, 'but this time he wasn't in charge, he was working with a group of businessmen.'
'So what happened next?' asked Jo.
'Last month Alec phoned to say everything was on track. They had the site and the large barn was being refurbished and sound – proofed.'
'That sounds good, so what happened?'
'Last Monday I had another call from Alec saying we each needed to put in another £1000 as a back up for the concert they had set up to take place next weekend.'
'Where on Earth were you going to get £1000 from?' asked Jo.
'I used my student grant.'
'Oh Dom, you fool. But what has made you so angry?'
'I phoned the number Alec gave me, to check things. It's meant to be the office for the venture.'
'And . . .?' asked Jo.
'They had never heard of Alec and knew nothing about a music venue in Suffolk. Yesterday I asked Jonnie to go to the site and see what was happening there.'
'What did he find out?' Jo was now sure it wasn't going to be good news.
'There was a field and a large barn where Alec had said, but it was derelict, no work has been done on it for years.' Dominic was getting angry again, 'Alec has made a fool of me once more.'
'Where is Alec now?'
'No-one knows. I phoned everyone I can think of. No-one has seen or heard from him for days. Some of them have also been involved in this venture.'
'So who was on the phone to you just now?' Jo asked nervously.
'That was the police, they have found out that several people, myself included, have been conned out of money by a group pretending to be concert organisers.'
'Oh Dom, does that mean you have lost all that money? 'Jo was almost crying, 'What are you going to do?'
'I don't know. The police say they have caught one of the group, and they are questioning him. I will probably be needed as a witness.'
'I hope they can do something to help you Dom. How are you going to explain all this to Dad? He'll be furious.' Jo sounded really concerned.
'That's what's worrying me. It's all such a mess. At the moment my life is an absolute disaster.' Dominic put his head back into his hands. 'An absolute disaster,' he groaned.