Rollercoaster

By Sheryl Chappell

For the next 3 years Sherylena finds herself in some very new, unusal and challanging situations and is forced to confront some ghosts from the past. She accepts these challanges with passion, courage and tenacity of spirit while displaying guts and perserverance as she plays the hand she is dealt, determined to find some happiness in the spaces inbetween.
So grab a coffee or a decent red and get on board for this emotional ride...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sheryl Chappell
• Release date: Sep 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466161504

Sheryl Chappell

Like you I am every woman- I laugh, I cry, I hurt, I endure. Sherylena now lives in a small country town in South West Queensland moving there for a treechange, she is a woman of substance whose vocabulary does not include the words 'I can't', she has an inquisitive and adventerous nature, refuses to conform to the norms and always challanges the expectations of others. Sherylena spent most of her working career in the Devils Playground where the broken people dwell, advocating on behalf of social justice.. she plays the hand life deals her with strength,courage and tenacity of spirit always searching for moments of contentment, however fleeting in between Her writing is real, down to earth not politically corrected or suger-coated..life is a Rollercoaster.. laugh often, love fiercely, be courageous and kind...have no regrets at the end, Strive to be happy !! Keep an eye out for her next adventure...

Book preview

ROLLERCOASTER

by

Sheryl Chappell

****

PUBLISHED BY CHARGAN AT SMASHWORDS

This book available in print from

www.chargan.com

Rollercoaster

Copyright © 2011 Sheryl Chappell

ISBN: 978-1-4661-6150-4

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Sheryl Chappell has asserted her right under the Copyright Act 1968 to be identified as the author of this work.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Contents

Foreword

1 Endings first

2 Rollercoaster

3 Meeting Mr. Right

4 New locations

5 My new mate

6 House hunting

7 Untying the ties that bind

8 Another woman’s battle

9 Selling up and selling out

10 The move

11 Neighbours

12 My son Luke

13 Unexpected visitor

14 Small town entertainment

15 No dignity in Death

16 The Iceman

17 Harry’s story

18 Exploring the orchid

19 Changing tides

20 Crossing the line

21 The impossible man

22 History repeating itself

23 Burying past love

24 Fate dealing the cards

25 Paying for the sins of the wife

26 Letting go

27 The Prodigal Daughter

28 Getting up and dusting myself off

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Foreword

Rollercoaster is a reality read based on the true story of a 52 year old, single, career woman who is confronted with the inevitable crossroads of life.

She is bored, restless and searching for adventure. Despite the best intended advice from family and friends she decided to sell her home, quit her job, desert her family and leave behind the one love of her life and go West in the pursuit of the unknown.

For the next 3 years she finds herself in some very new, unusual and challenging situations and is forced to confront some ghosts from the past. She accepts these situations with passion, courage and tenacity of spirit while displaying guts and perseverance as she plays the hand she is dealt, determined to find some joy and happiness in the spaces in-between.

So grab a coffee or decent red, find a quiet spot and get onboard for this emotional ride.

****

DESIDERATA

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste,

And remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

Be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly: and listen to others,

Even the dull and ignorant: they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;

They are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievement as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have the right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Strive to be happy.

****

1 Endings first

‘Hey Baby, I hope your visit with the family was all you hoped it would be and I am sure they were delighted to see you. I know that you will eventually check your emails so there are some things I wanted to say to you and writing them down is what I do best or perhaps I’m just a coward.’

I’m sure you have realised by now that although I can appear to be casual and at times flippant, I am also a passionate creature which I have realised so much more since spending some time with you. I have wondered whether I should keep these things to myself or express them, so here goes.

When I am with you I experience the most intoxicating ‘highs’ that I have never felt before, it is an extreme feeling of euphoria and senselessness which scares the heck out of me.

I think I could be persuaded to kill if you wanted me to.

I realise this is rather ridiculous and unsettling for me and probably for you as well, but then when I leave your company, the ‘lows’ are just as powerful.

I suppose you’re chuckling by now but Alex, I am serious.

In the natural order of things I am drawn to spending as much time with you as I can and getting to know you a little better not caring if you are sleeping with other women, and I certainly wish I was emotionally mature enough to just let it go but I’m not. I respect your beliefs and the right of you to live your life the way you want too.

On Thursday while we were having that beautiful romantic lunch on the beach at Noosaville, and you asked me if I could fall in love with you. I hesitated while wondering why you would ask me such things, I know it was probably a moment of weakness on your part, perhaps too much red wine and warm sunshine but I hesitated because I wondered where you were going with it and I didn’t want things to change between us as I suspect you are not in a place where you want a woman to love you because then things would enviably change. They always do when the word love is bandied about.

So my head tells me to get of this situation, whatever we perceive it to be, because I don’t want to get hurt again, my decision not see you is no reflection on the man you are, what you have or where you might be headed in life, however if you ever decide it’s time for you to have one woman only, I’d better be the first one you call..

As I said when leaving, Alex if you ever need anything, anything at all, even just a chat, please, please call me as I will always want to hear from you.

Cheers Darling.

Sheryl

As I tap the side of my laptop with my index finger hovering over the Send button I wonder what it is that I expect from this man?

Alex was indeed a beautiful creature but history reminds me, he is not the man for me. Since meeting him I suspected that I may not be the only woman he was entertaining. I had a gut feeling: a few little pointers here and there and I was looking for more than pleasurable weekends in a relationship.

This was the third weekend we had spent together and I had met him 4 months ago, our time together was always incredible. Perhaps what added to the pleasure was we were spending our time together in luxury hotels on the coast, this time we were on the sunny coast and it was Christmas Eve. Alex said he wanted us to wake up together on Christmas morning. A lovely sentiment I thought, and how can a girl refuse such a request?

This man really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel as though she was the only person alive. He was a real, old fashioned gentleman, kind, loving and passionate, a great lover, with attention to detail that any woman would die for.

He wasn’t afraid to spend his money on you and was never demanding, pushy or expecting. He knew how to play the game well, and one could only assume it was because he had so much experience. I suspected I wasn’t the only one he was playing with.

I wanted some sort of emotional commitment from a man. That didn’t mean moving in together and setting up house; it just meant no sleeping with other people and being emotionally available. After the tragic story with Harry over the past 14 months I had no intention of being stuffed around by another bloke. What I wanted was even clearer now in my mind.

I had left Soldier Boy, as my work mates had dubbed him, 2 days earlier to go up to Brisbane for Christmas Day with my daughter and grandson, then went back to the coast for a week’s break, not that it was relaxing. We had been experiencing the worst flooding in history in my home town and surrounding area. It was miserable on the coast too, the cyclone season was upon us. My son Luke was sending me photos via the phone about every 2 hours as the flood waters threatened to ruin the past 3 years of hard work renovating my little cottage out in Western Queensland.

So I was tired, exhausted in fact, both physically and emotionally... Physically from a few days of love making with Alex as well as driving hundreds of miles in teaming rain and emotionally because my mind was sceptical about his intentions. When I met him online, his profile said he was looking for a relationship, but a few choice words here and there from him lead me to believe otherwise.

Since I had left the coast I was staying with my girlfriend Dianne until the flood waters receded enough for me to get back home.

As I told her my thoughts about the latest man I was involved with she began lecturing me in her usual fashion about taking the moral high ground with him.

‘God, Sheryl, I don’t know why you are concerned about Alex’s intentions, all you do is talk to blokes online most of your spare time, you have 3 blokes texting you every day and you’re meeting a new guy for breakfast before you go home in the morning, what’s wrong with you?’

I guess I am a hypocrite but reminded her I wasn’t sleeping with any of them just meeting new people all the while trying to justify the thoughts running through my head about Alex.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head as she went to make us a cuppa - well that’s what friends do, they sometimes pull you into line, give you good advice and support you even when you make the wrong choices in life, and not to mention Peter was sneaking away from his new woman to come and have a visit with me before I returned home.

It was always good to see the man I almost married 12 years ago. Funny how I accepted Peter lying to his partner, sneaking away for a visit with an ex -lover, but I wouldn’t accept it from Alex and I wasn’t even sure if he was seeing other women.

I am so confused, what’s wrong with me?

Is the situation between Alex and I getting to the point where I could fall in love with him so I put my running shoes on and create some unacceptable flaw in him as an excuse to get him out of my life or are my instincts correct and he is a player?

As I stare out into the rain soaked afternoon, hoping bed time would come soon, my mind is numb.

‘Ok girl, I tell myself, just do what you always do’. I press Send and close the lid on my laptop.

Time to check the road reports and see if I can make it back to my home in the bush, back to the small country town that I now call home.

2 Rollercoaster

I had now been in Dalby for a few months after leaving Brisbane for a tree change. For a long while life in the big city was beginning to lose its lustre. I was losing patience with the ever increasing trials of city life.

Long, impersonal queues in every store, circling car parks like a hungry shark waiting for a space to open up and finally when it does, some stressed out freak zooms in before you can even change gears.

People lined up for miles to buy fuel with a four cents a litre off voucher, the generous reward you get for allowing Coles and Woollies’ to monopolise your spending power.

Maddening traffic problems before you even leave your driveway especially if you happen to live anywhere near a train station or school yard, the absolute eradication of customer service and outrageous prices for the basic necessities of life - not to mention tasteless fresh produce stored for months on end in some cold room in various parts of this vast land that is Australia.

The monotony of bored, listless check -out personnel dreaming of places they would rather be than serving you and terrifying road rage. I don’t know why motorists are so angry on the roads when everyone I seem to know are swallowing a handful of anti -depressants just to get out of bed in the morning - you would think they would be much calmer and at peace with life but there is anger and madness all around me - so much for the benefits of Prozac!

No more rat race for me. I have decided to go west young woman (well not so young) where the air is clean, you can grow your own vegies and there is an abundance of single lonely men. Word has it there are 10 men to every woman in the West and it would be nice to meet some real men. Men who know how to change a tyre or a light globe, men who get dirty working with their hands, rough sexy males in tradies uniforms and a hard hat if you’re lucky, sun tanned and skilfully weather beaten. Enough with the metro sexual, emotionally retarded, drones masquerading as single males in the city and my apologies to all the decent city men, no more of this meaningless existence for me. I’m heading out West into the wide open spaces in my pursuit of the good life, whatever that might be.

I had been in the City for more than thirty years and it had served its purpose for me. It was time to move on and experience a different way of life.

I was looking forward to my new adventure. I am 52 years old, chronically single, well educated, street smart, witty and looking for some excitement. A reason to believe life is good, a reason to tell myself I am lucky to be alive