Five Fatal Tales

By Judy Bates

Five tales of people who are caught in desperate circumstances, either by choice or not, and how they decide to resolve their situations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Judy Bates
• Release date: Mar 25, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301630264

Judy Bates

My name is Judith Wysnewski. I write under the pen name Judy Bates. I live in Sarasota,Florida with my husband, Roy.

Book preview

Five Fatal Tales

By

Judy Bates

Copyright Judy Bates 2012

Published by Smashwords

Airport

Chapter 1

She slogged around the airport. This time she was at JFK. She usually went there or to Newark or LaGuardia. However, she had a whole repertoire of airports. Luckily she lived in Queens and had access to a vast array of airports in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

She spotted an inviting coffee shop and sat down with her luggage. This time she brought a medium-sized suitcase. She also varied in that. Sometimes it was a small carry-on; sometimes a huge piece. They were empty, so it didn’t matter what she had to pull along.

She started a conversation with a middle-aged couple who seemed to be eyeing the departure schedule from their table.

Where are you folks headed?

The woman spoke up, all atwitter, We’re headed for Rome. Then we’re taking a train to Paris. It is our 25th year anniversary present to ourselves.

How very lovely for you. I can almost feel your happiness.

We ARE thrilled, but we certainly weren’t prepared for the money we’d have to pay for the extra luggage.

Johanna could just imagine what they trucked along. She was amused that they hadn’t considered lugging all that stuff along on the Rome to Paris train. Well, she was making nice, so she certainly wasn’t going to get practical with them.

Rome should be beautiful this time of year – how long will you spend in each place?

Well, Rome for 3 days and Paris for 3 days. We are cramming a lot in but we had our limit money-wise and that seemed to be it what with the airfare and hotels and food.

The man spoke up, Helen, we have to go through Security now. We only have four hours to flight time.

Johanna could tell that they weren’t sophisticated travelers just by their dress and attitude. They were jumpy and nervous and dressed in the most uncomfortable way for such a long journey in a metal cylinder. Helen had on heels and a tight skirt and he actually wore a suit and tie.

As they headed for their destination, she gave them a cheery wave and thumbs up.

She drove back to Queens contemplating which airport might be her next. She never wanted to spend too much time in any one terminal as she certainly didn’t want anyone to take notice of her. She hadn’t been to the ones Connecticut for awhile, so maybe next week she’d drive over there.

Chapter 2

She hated going home to Dad. He had turned into such an old grouch. Years ago she had had modest success with a children’s book that was published and he had hopes that she would be successful at another writing attempt. Of course she did too at first, but she had given up several years back putting any effort into it.

She had told her father that she was writing a book about airport travelers and that was why she visited all the airports in the area, to strike up conversations with people going here and there. What she found out was that she LOVED hanging around airports. Something about the smell and the hustle bustle and the sometimes quiet periods. Most of all she liked talking to the people! The businessmen and