Writing for Fun
October 2016
The First Time She Saw Him - Bob Wendelkin
The three of them sat round the fire in Bill’s comfortable lounge discussing how they were going to set up a target to be taken to the cleaners. Josie had already found the Mark, he was a lonely man who had a very large fortune.
Josie had spotted him at the Hotel where she worked as a receptionist trying to look for those who had the right sort of vulnerability and most important the largest amount of money and were single.
The plot of the group was quite simple it was to get their Mark to fall in love with Josie then get him to marry her, then after a couple of years her friend Mary would either get him to commit adultery in fact, or she would be prepared to swear in court that they had a relationship after he had married her friend Josie. Josie would play the innocent party who was sorely hurt by her husband’s affair and that she needed a larger portion of his estate to get over her misery that he could have treated her so poorly after such a short time of marriage.
That was the plot that the three of them would enact. Bill and Josie intend to get married after they had taken a fortune off their Mark and they would live happily ever after, only now very rich.
‘I’ve found our Mark,’ said Josie to Bill.
‘What’s he like?’ was his interested reply.
‘He is single, never been married and has a considerable fortune that he inherited from an uncle. I think he is worth at least 500 million. So I reckon that a divorce settlement of between 10 and 30 million, perhaps even more is a possibility.’
‘How old is he?’ asked Bill.
‘I reckon he’s about your age.’
‘You say he’s never been married, he’s not a queer is he? Only I don’t want you wasting your time with one of those,’ said Bill.
‘No if you saw the way he looks at me you would never say that.’
‘Well where do we go from here, has he asked you out yet?’ asked Bill.
‘We go out on our first date tonight, he’s taking me up town to one of the finest hotels. He is arranging for his car to come and collect me.’
‘Do you know which Hotel so that me and Mary can bump into you by chance. You won’t fall in love with this Bloke will you because he’s got the money,’ said Bill.
‘We are going to the Grand but I’ve told you this is just business, you are my real love, I’ve told you that more than once, I love only you. When all this is over and we have got his money we will take that trip to the church or Registry Office which ever you want. It’s you I really love and only you, just remember that and if the plan works as we planned I’ll try to see as much of you as I can.’
‘Just you remember that.’
‘What are you going to wear tonight?’ asked Mary who had been listening to the conversation ‘Only I don’t want to clash and I don’t want to out-dress you as he is our Mark.’
‘I thought I’d wear that white dress with the Diamond necklace, well nearly diamond necklace,’ was Josie’s reply.
A couple of hours later the car came to pick up Josie and take her to the Grand. Half hour before the car arrived Bill and Mary had made their way to the Hotel so that they were ready to meet Josie and the Mark.
Mary and Bill arrived at the Grand and went to the bar and placed themselves in a position so they could watch the entrance to the Hotel without being too obvious. Sure enough about half hour later Josie and the Mark came into the hotel and made their way directly to the restaurant and were shown to their table.
‘Give them a few minutes and we will go into the restaurant, and show our complete surprise at seeing Josie,’ said Bill to Mary as they both finished their drinks.
When they had arrived at the Hotel Bill had booked a table close to Josie and the Mark.
Bill and Mary went into the restaurant and were shown to their Table, and surprise, surprise sitting at a table just by theirs was Josie and the Mark.
Bill, acting to Academy Standards, showed his great surprise at seeing Josie. Josie and said to her Mark how she was so surprised in meeting Bill and Mary here as they hadn’t seen one another for several years.
The Mark stood up and being a gentleman immediately invited Bill and Mary to join them at their table as his guests as he thought it would ingratiate himself with Josie.
During the meal Josie made sure that she concentrated her conversation towards the Mark, so that even though there was another man at the table there was only one man in which she was interested.
As in all these occasions the two ladies excused themselves and made their way to the powder room, leaving the two men together.
‘How long have you known Josie, or should I say Augusta Josephina von Freistadt, she is related to the Grafin von Freistadt. Of course the Austrian aristocracy really no longer exist, but I used to pull her leg about it when we first met,’ said Bill as he planted the ideas in the Mark’s mind that he was dealing with a real lady and not just an ordinary girl.
‘I booked a room in the Hotel as I was hoping that after the meal we could, you know,’ said the Mark.
‘You must be joking, how many times have you been out with her?’ asked Bill.
‘This is our first real date, I’ve spoken to her quite a few times as she is a receptionist at her hotel. I thought she was just an ordinary young lady,’ replied the Mark.
‘She may be poor but she comes from the upper crust and she has standards and I don’t think the first date is in the running for what you had planned. But the way she looks at you and I was watching her she really has some feelings towards you,’ was Bill’s reply.
Meanwhile in the Powder Room.
‘What do you think of him, do you think we can take him?’ asked Josie of her friend.
‘Well he certainly only seems to have eyes for you, although I did notice he gave me a good looking over. To be honest Josie I think he is such a nice gentleman, I don’t mean just a gentleman but a real gentle man, if you see what I mean, he may be very rich but I like him for who he is,’ was Mary’s surprising answer.
‘Don’t be silly Mary, grow up, this is business, emotions have to put to one side, we want a share in his money, I love Bill not the Mark, he is just business,’ replied Josie looking deep into Mary’s face because she was troubled by what Mary had said. ‘Let’s go back and join the Men.’
They checked their faces in the mirror to make sure nothing need repair or adjustment.
The two of them then made their way back to the restaurant where as they approached the table the two men rose to their feet and adjusted the chairs so that their ladies could sit comfortably at the table.
‘You never told me you were related to an Austrian Countess,’ said the Mark.
‘Don’t be silly who told you that?’ was Josie’s modest reply.
‘Bill told me you were,’ was his reply.
‘Well very distant, but if you look it at we all have common genes, I’m sure you’ll find we are all related to some extent to Royalty, anyway relationships don’t bring you money,’ said Josie as she looked into the Mark’s face, with an attractive smile on her lips.
‘I did book a room here for the two of us just in case we were too tired to go home. Do you and Mary want it Bill?’
Bill was taken by surprise at this offer and refused it saying that Mary and he were just good friends not lovers.
Gradually the evening wore on and drew to its natural close. The Mark offered to take Bill and Mary home in his car but as they all lived in the same house as Josie it didn’t seem appropriate if the pretence was to continue.
As in all good plans of mice and men something is bound to go wrong. In this case the fly in the ointment was Mary.
Mary had fallen in love with him the first time she saw him at the Grand Hotel. To her he seemed a kind and caring sort of man. She felt that he shouldn’t have his emotions twisted as they had planned with an expensive divorce after a couple of years of unhappy relationship.
She had made contact with the Mark and told him that he had been set up to be taken to the cleaners for quite a few million in a divorce settlement.
Things didn’t work out quite the way that Mary thought they would, she thought that once he had been told what it was all about she would leave and go on her way. The Mark didn’t see it that way he took a liking to Mary and he fell in love with her and after a year or so they married.
Of Josie and Bill, she still worked in the hotel as a receptionist and both she and Bill were looking for another Mark to take to the cleaners. However, they had learnt a serious lesson that they don’t bring a third party into any of their plans.