Shoe's On The Other Foot

By Rebecca Randolph Buckley

FOUR STORIES:

SHOE'S ON THE OTHER FOOT: How many of you are afraid of the dark? No one is as afraid as Ginger.

KILLER WINE: Have you ever wished the worst for your unloving spouse? Margaret has.

TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE: Lorelei says all men are liars. Are they?

A LONG TRIP HOME: Cara was traumatized and dropped out of life when she was nineteen after her cat was mutilated and tortured and her parents were burned to death. Wouldn't you?

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. J. Buckley Publishing
• Release date: Jan 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301956906

Book preview

SHOE’S ON THE OTHER FOOT

By Rebecca Randolph Buckley

Copyright 2013 Rebecca Buckley

Smashwords Edition

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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Discover other titles by Rebecca Buckley at Smashwords.com

NOVELS - Rachel O’Neill Series

Midnight at Trafalgar

Midnight at the Eiffel

Midnight in Brussels

Midnight in Moscow

Midnight in Malibu

STORY COLLECTIONS

Love Has a Price Tag

Bits & Pieces of Me

My Dramedy

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Shoe’s On the Other Foot

Killer Wine

Takes One to Know One

A Long Trip Home

SHOE'S ON THE OTHER FOOT

Ginger parked her gray 1950 Willys Jeep in the driveway next to the new racing green Alpha Romeo belonging to her husband Carl. He always drove the new cars, she drove the clunkers. Actually, she felt that pretty much summed up her husband's opinion of women in general. Clunkers.

Carl wore designer suits, while Ginger shopped at Walmart for her clothing. They were comfortable financially, however, both worked day jobs—he a human resources person for a government contractor, she a furniture salesman. But he handled the finances, her salary went to him for household funds and he doled out the stipends.

It was a late Friday night after work and she parked the Jeep in the driveway because the garage was full of used furniture and boxes of collectibles that she sold at swap meets on weekends - her second job income she kept for her own expenditures, her clothing, etc.

It was a dark night, no stars, no moon. The only light was faint illumination behind drawn draperies of the cramped rows of cracker-box houses in the newly built neighborhood near the Air Force Base where Carl worked. The community was outside city limits, the suburbs if you will, and the developer hadn’t installed street lights.

When Ginger stepped out of the Willys the dark hair on her head and arms stiffened at the roots. Goose bumps rose. Her heart began pumping at a breakneck speed. Here it came. The fear was always there. Fear of darkness.

She ran to the front door.

Oh no!

She was so rattled she couldn’t see well enough to get the key in the keyhole. The key was upside down. She almost dropped it as she corrected her mistake. She hurried inside and turned the deadbolt lock, fastened the slide lock, and then pushed in the door knob lock as well. She still didn't feel safe. After securing the third lock, she sighed with partial relief and leaned against the door to catch her breath.

Carl, where are you? I know you’re here. Your car’s outside. With her back pressed to the door, she lifted the light switch. Nothing happened. No light. Carl, don’t do this. Please. I’m not up to it tonight, I’m tired. Come on. She felt her way through the living room to the kitchen as her heart nearly thumped out of her chest. She grasped and yanked the chain dangling from the hanging light fixture above the sink. Nothing. Carl! This is not funny! He had done this many times before, played these silly little games, thinking it was funny.

She heard a click behind her. The adrenaline zapped through her body making her dizzy. She turned. Surely her screams could be heard a block away.

Carl was crouching with a mini-flashlight shining up from under his face, producing an eerie, grotesqueness. He was contorted, making himself even more monstrous-looking and unrecognizable.

Ginger fell back against the cabinets and slid to the floor. She didn’t quite pass out, but was close to it.

You’re priceless, her buff husband exclaimed through hearty laughter while he reached up and