Short story, Karma Gets ya - © copyright Rebecca Roche 2011
"I just broke up with my no-hoper of a partner."
Emma could hardly believe she'd just typed the words onto the screen. And for all intense purposes, to a complete stranger. But she was lonely and needed this time out at night when her kids were asleep to chill out and relax.
"Wow... What made him such a no-hoper?"
Maryanne might have hardly known Emma but that wouldn't stop her from prying. She was a total busy body after all. It came with the 'territory'.
"He used to just sit at the computer..." Emma typed.
"I couldn't get any sense out of him. He wouldn't help with the kids."
She paused her typing for a moment to sip her cup of tea which had now almost gone cold.
"Wow! Nasty." Maryanne replied.
"I don't have kids; been told I might not be able to but my new beau has three gorgeous daughters that I'm dying to meet. I'm moving to Morwell soon to start a new job he teed up for me so perhaps we could meet up some time?"
Emma could hardly believe she was actually going to agree to such a thing. Meeting people off the net was considered bad news by some. But she had very few people she could call friends, and she knew she would go completely insane through loneliness and boredom if she just continued on like this - staying at home with her four kids and never having adult company except when visiting with her folks or her sister.
"Sure, we could do that."
It was too late to turn back now. She'd already hit enter and it was sitting in the chat window in bold blue type.
This was how Emma found herself agreeing to meet 2 other women as well. None of the three had met before. Maryanne was moving to Morwell, the other two already lived there. But not one of them knew each other.
Emma had begun a spiritual awareness group a week earlier online. She'd hoped to talk about dreams and meditation with anyone interested in joining the group. These three woman had all found the online group on their own and requested to join it.
The first was the lady she was having this conversation with - Maryanne Preston, a thirty three year old who'd recently commenced a long distance relationship with Morwell man Les Stone.
The second was Dianna Gabrielli, a twenty nine year old single mum from Morwell and the final one was Nicola Fannon. Nicola was the youngest of the bunch. She was twenty one years old and in two words - complete nymphomaniac!
Several days past by and Emma wearily went about her usual daily routine - wake up, drink strong milky coffee with a heap teaspoon of sugar, make lunches for the kids and get them off to school and then come home and get through all the chores for the day.
Her heart was hurting over the recent bust up with her ex partner Gary Johnson who was throwing utter chaos into her life but she was handling it.
It was boring, never ending, a cycle that had been no different even when Gary had been around full time. She could almost do it with her eyes closed. It just bothered her that Gary wouldn't actually move out. He wasn't staying there all of the time but thought that it was alright to still be part of the household - his father had apparently told him so! What a loser!
The first face to face meeting took place while Emma was helping out at a working bee at the school. It was completely by chance. It had turned out that Dianna Gabrielli's son Nicholas and daughter Shinea both attended the same primary school as her own children Brandon, Sally, Jodie and Nathaniel.
"Hi!" The voice called across the schoolyard.
Emma glanced up from raking the new tan bark to catch the eye of Dianna who was stalking across the freshly mowed grass towards her. She had a ropey built boy with curly blonde hair and a little girl with long straight blonde pigtails in tow - Nicholas and Shinea she assumed.
Emma smiled and raised a hand over her forehead to shade the sun from her eyes. She recognised Dianna from her photo that she had seen online.
"Hello." She called back as Dianna got closer.
"Fancy meeting you here. What a completely chanced meeting."
Dianna smiled and the silence that followed for a moment was an awkward one.
"Yeah, fancy that." Emma giggled, actually finding her tounge.
The kids already knew one another and were wandering off to play.
"Having fun leveling out that bark?" Dianna smirked.
Emma could tell from her body language and tone of voice that she wasn't a very nice person at all. It felt like she was secretly mocking her. She seemed as though she had a holier-than-thou opinion of herself and Emma was not fond of people that presented that sort of personality.
Emma giggled, "Just doing my part to help the school."
The look on Dianna's face was priceless. Emma wished she'd had a camera handy to capture the moment.
Another awkward silence followed. Dianna smiled and stood there like she was waiting for Emma to continue to work, or to say something else, but instead Emma turned her head away and glanced over at the kids and smiled to them. Dianna looked her up and down with an almost creepy stare. Emma caught it as she turned back to face her. It was like she was expecting something - she had no clue what.
Emma looked away again, still conscious of the glare on Dianna's face and ignored her - what was the saying? First impressions last?
"Well, I better get back over to the garden and help out with the new shrubs." Dianna finally broke the silence and said coldly. "It was nice to have met you."
Emma smiled, "You too...have fun!"
'Not bloody likely!' she muttered under her breath and went back to her raking. That woman was cold as stone and right at that moment in time Emma never wanted to speak to her or see her again. Faded cargo pants, torn and tattered at the hem, a Metallica t-shirt, faded and shrunken and probably two sizes too small now, long ratty blonde ponytail that looked filthy and clearly in need of a better bra! Those knockers were as good as loose and roaming free! Add to the feral appearance that this woman had spoken like she thought she was some kind of important celebrity or something!
"Come on kids!" Dianna called as she paced toward the garden.
That night Emma was taking to Nicola Fannon in the chat room for the group and casually mentioned her oldest son Brandon was turning 11 and she was going to hold a costume party for him at the playground on the town common. This, as is so happens lead to face to face meeting number two.
Surely it couldn't hurt to tell a childless woman you don't know about a child's birthday party right? Very wrong - Nicola jumped at the opportunity and a tone of cheerfulness jumped out in her text reply on the screen.
"I'd love to meet you. Would you mind if I crash the party? I won't get in the way or eat all the food. Heck, I'll even come dressed up!"
Emma didn't know where her own silly head was at. What was she thinking even considering saying yes to this total stranger.
"Sure," she typed at rapid speed, "why not. It could be fun." What on earth am I doing? she thought.
At Brandon's birthday party most of the guests didn't come in costume even though the invitations had stated 'costume party'.
Brandon was dressed as a vampire complete with slicked back hair and red and black cape, Emma's daughter Jodie was dressed as a wicked witch complete with fake nose wart and her other two kids Sally and Nathaniel were both dressed in ratty torn clothing with their faces painted to look like undead zombies.
Emma had dolled up in her best goth get up. She wore semi-goth attire most of the time but for the party she'd gone all out - black tights, long flowing black dress with maroon velvet rose trim along the hem and long sleeves and a nice little pair of patent leather slip-on shoes with slightly chunky heels - very elegant, semi casual, semi formal and a lot suited to the party theme.
There were three kids that showed up out of the ten Brandon invited. Stephanie Richards, the rich brat from Brandon's grade at school who was wearing a white shirt, green taffeta skirt, black tights and brown cowgirl boots, Anthony Garison also from Brandon's grade who was dressed in torn jeans and a flannel shirt with his hair spiked up. It looked like he was going for the punk look but had failed. Last of all there was Joshua Martin, a mature for his age geeky kid from the grade below Brandon who was wearing all black - black t-shirt, black jeans and black shoes.
None of them were really in a costume as such and none of the other invited guests turning up kind of made Emma feel disappointed for Brandon. But he seemed pretty resilient.
Emma had almost forgotten about Nicola's self invitation when movement caught her eye and she glanced at the car park to catch sight of a woman - quite a large woman wearing a black corset, puffy sleeved red blouse, short handkerchief hem black skirt that revealed way too much leg, and fishnets with huge clunky platform Mary Jane style shoes.
Oh my God! Emma's jaw dropped - totally not appropriate attire for an 11 year old boy's birthday party - this woman looked HIDEOUS! She almost said it as Nicola approached but the words could not escape her gaping jaw. She was utterly speechless at the nerve of the woman.
What on earth? she wondered, still completely gobsmacked by what she was seeing. God I hope she doesn't bend over in that trashy get up. It so doesn't suit her and my God she's nothing like I expected!
She was so deep in thought at that moment she didn't here the verbal greeting as Nicola cheerfully said "Hi... Emma I presume?" Nicola was clomping towards her, gift in hand for Brandon.
"Hi." She replied sort of almost wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
The party went pretty well all things considered and thankfully Nicola never bent over which Emma was relieved about. After things died down and all the guests had gone home Emma thanked Nicola for coming and thanked her for the unnecessary gift she'd given to Brandon and bid her farewell.
"Who on earth was that crazy weirdo mum?" Brandon was never backward in coming forwards.
"Just a lady I know mate. She brought a present for you for which you should be thankful. She didn't have to do that you know."
Brandon just smiled and held up the book Nicola had given him about the history of dinosaurs.
As the kids were piling into Emma's 1990 model car, she lent backward against the driver's side door, took one last glance around to make sure her kids hadn't left anything behind, then burst into tears.
"Mum, what's wrong?"
Emma's nine year old daughter Jodie had wound down the window and was very concerned about her mother, confused about why she was crying.
"It's ok sweety, mum's just a little overwhelmed at the moment."
She was telling the truth. Her ex defacto, Gary had been totally useless. She'd been so frustrated with him, more so with the effort it was taking to get him to move out and she was extremely tired and confused by his constant begging to reconcile only for him to throw it back in her face by picking up some enormous, over sized skank at a bar and going home with her for a blow job, and then announcing it proudly all over the internet like it was another notch in his belt!
It was sickening to the pit of her belly and she knew that no matter how much he begged and pleaded to reconcile, his loyalties were to himself, not to the four kids and certainly not to her.
Emma took in a deep breath and slowed her breathing. She rubbed her eyes clear of tears and prepared herself to be brave. Then she got into the car and put the keys into the ignition. Her mobile phone was in the centre console and the message tone jingled. Brandon, who was sitting in the front seat picked it up and checked.
"It's Dad, mum." He announced.
"Don't..." Emma's words were interrupted.
"He says he loves you and he wants to come home!" Brandon continued.
"I was trying to tell you not to read it Bran. You don't need to be any more in the middle of the mess between your dad and me than you already are."
"Sorry mum." Brandon was genuinely sorry and disappointed that he had been so eager to read the message and not listen to the rest of what his mother had started to say. He frowned and looked down at the phone in his hand, locked the screen and replaced it to the console.
It was a quiet drive home as Emma navigated the quiet Saturday afternoon streets of Morwell. Home was only across the bridge and up the road a little. As she pulled into the driveway of her home she sensed something was very wrong. Gary's car was sitting on the front lawn where it had been for the past two weeks with a flat battery, but something about that car made her arm hairs stand on end and a shiver run down her spine.
Against her better judgement she got the kids out of the car, retrieved the left over party food from the boot and went up the front steps to the front door. She had the key looped over her finger and asked Brandon to take it and unlock the door.
Brandon opened the front door and let it swing backward with a squeak. Emma struggled inside with her arms full. The kids went tearing inside too and began jumping around in a burst of sugar driven excitement. They certainly had eaten too much sugar at the party.
Emma unloaded herself and nearly leaped out of her own skin when the telephone began to ring. She picked it up and said, "Hello." In a slightly shaken voice. There was no answer at the other end so she hung up and then took the phone off the hook. She wasn't in the mood to be disturbed that night anyway.
After she had put everything away she rounded up the kids and started the bath up so they could take turns in getting washed. After their baths, they had all calmed down a little and she was able to feed them baked beans on toast for their dinner and then finally get them to bed and put her feet up.
She slumped into the arm chair and opened the lid of her laptop that was sitting on the coffee table. She logged into the chat room for the group and found Maryanne online.
"Hi, how was your day today?" she typed.
It took Maryanne a little while to respond. So while she was waiting, Emma went and put the kettle on. As she stepped away from the kitchen bench she was startled by a shadow outside the kitchen window. She pulled down the blind and raced back into the lounge room with her heart belting inside her chest, feeling like it was going to break a rib or two. What ever was out there, she didn't want to know.
As she said back down to look at the laptop screen Maryanne's reply was sitting there on the screen.
"Hi Emma. Today was good. I moved in with Les today. His ex is pissed off with him because she doesn't like the fact that she hasn't met me. But she can't stop him from being with me. That's got nothing to do with her. How was your day?"
Emma began to type, "I met Nicola today. She came to Brandon's birthday party. She dressed up as a goth lol"
Just then the kettle began bubbling away and the automatic off switch clicked with a 'thunk' sound.
"BRB" Emma typed, which was internet short hand for be right back.
She got up and went into the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate.
As she reached for a cup, she heard noises outside the window.
scratch scratch scratch.
It must just be the shrubs brushing against the side of the house. She tried hard to convince herself of that but in the back of her mind she felt like Gary was near by and she really didn't want to think that.
She took her cup and went back into the lounge. Maryanne had almost typed an essay into the chat window.
"So I was thinking," Maryanne began, "How about we organise a day for Nicola, Dianna, me and you to meet up and do some meditation? I mean we could do a ritual as well if you get me? We could honour the fertility of the earth and dance around a bonfire with floral necklaces. It could be a lot of fun. I could host it in my back yard and you could all bring a plate of something."
Emma was horrified as she was reading this preposterous suggestion. the purpose of the group was to get together and 'talk' about things, not perform elaborate rituals. she felt like she was being sucked in over her head but she was also trying to convince herself that perhaps Maryanne was right. Perhaps it would be fun to live a little for once and do something a bit different.
" Sure, we could do that." She typed.
The conversation lasted several hours before Emma finally decided it was time to turn in for the night. Maryanne had agreed that it was late and she let her go.
Lying in bed that night, Emma tossed and turned thinking about the plans for the 'ritual'. It was to take place at Beltane and she couldn't take the kids. What do they expect me to do with them? She asked herself over and over again trying to think of who could babysit for her for just one night. Even just for a few hours.
She made a mental list of people she could ask and finally managed to get some sleep, dreaming then about a long passageway with lots of doors and she had choices to make and she had to choose the right door to go through. It was all pretty meaningless in her mind when she woke up. It wasn't until later that day when it finally dawned on her. The ritual wasn't for her.
That night when she logged into the chat room, all three of her new found friends were there talking with each other. She felt like she'd served her purpose now - helping these women to find each other.
"Hi ladies." She typed.
They all replied with a hi or a hello and the conversation moved from there.
"So, listen," Emma typed, "About that get together thing. I really don't think I can make it. I have nobody to watch the kids and I'm going through a lot at the moment with Gary causing so many problems for me. It might be best if I don't come to this one."
"Nonsense!" Maryanne typed, "Dianna has found a babysitter. Perhaps you could leave your kids with her?"
Emma was beginning to feel backed into a corner. "No, I don't think that's a good idea, Maryanne. I really don't like leaving my kids with people I don't know." She told the woman.
"You need to relax and live a little!" she typed, almost giving Emma the impression that she was ordering her to do this or else.
"Sorry guys, I can't." Emma stuck to her guns. She wasn't going to be pushed into something by three woman she barely knew.
About a week passed and none of the women were speaking to Emma. She was a little confused. But she attempted to text them from her mobile phone. She finally got a reply from Nicola that read:
Being your friend is a conflict of my interest. This spiritual stuff is what I do for a living (Emma hadn't been aware of that) and if you're not prepared to come to our get together then we don't need you.
Emma felt her stomach sink. She had made these friends in the hope of having someone to talk to and now they didn't want to talk to her because she wouldn't go to their get together.
Half an hour later her phone sounded with another message. It was from Dianna and it read:
Sorry Em. You're not at all what I thought you would be and I read tarot for a living so if you do this stuff you have to be serious about it and if you don't come to gatherings, then you're not serious. It's really a huge conflict of interest. Have a nice life.
Emma's eye began to sting. This was ridiculous! She had started the damn group with the intentions of 'talking' to like minded people and now the three hellions who had joined the group were pushing her out of her own group and taking it over to use as some weird arsed fluff bunny pagan group that only associated with people who were prepared to go to their rituals.
Emma cried herself to sleep that night. She wanted to wash her hands of everything she knew and start fresh but this was going to take time to achieve.
She woke with a start somewhere around 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. Her bed was messed up and the sheets twisted and strewn half way across the room. Wet strands of hair clung to her clammy face and she felt uncomfortable and soaked in perspiration. She decided to get up and have a shower.
After her shower she logged into the computer and loaded windows Live chat on the screen. She scrolled down to see who was online and found Jayden's name on the list.
Jayden was a guy she had been half-heartedly speaking to for a few weeks but she had kept him secret. She felt like he was becoming a true friend but in all the confusing with the hellion women she had almost forgotten to talk to him.
She double clicked his name and typed to him.
"Hi Jayden. How are you. Sorry I haven't spoken to you for a few weeks. It's been kind of hectic."
She waited for Jayden's response and while she did that she rubbed a towel through her scruffy hair.
"Hi Emma," Jayden typed back, "Yeah it's been a few weeks. I was wondering if you had forgotten about me lol."
The two got talking and Emma told him all about the problems with the hellions. He seemed genuinely concerned about her and then he told her not to worry because Karma always bites those who bite others.
Emma had never heard that as a saying before but she said the words quietly under her breath and then she repeated it. She just had a feeling that he was right.
The next day she was driving to the school to drop the kids off and there was police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck on the intersection near the school. A car accident - looked like a rather nasty one. Then Brandon yelped, "Mum that's Dianna's car and the kids are inside it too!" Three gasps from the other kids and they were all out of their seat belts and trying to pile into the passenger side of the car to get a closer look at the accident.
Emma pulled the car over onto the side of the road and got out of the car. "Stay INSIDE the car kids." she ordered as she went around to the other side of the car to get a better view.
The second car looked familiar. Emma squinted and tried to see more clearly. Then it dawned on her - Karma bites those who bite others. That was Nicola's car and it looked like Maryanne was trapped in the passenger seat. Dianna's car was a mangled twist of metal and plastic at the front but strangely the back part was unscathed and the kids looked a bit shaken but otherwise ok. Dianna on the other hand was being wheeled away on a trolley and put into the back of the ambulance and Maryanne and Nicola didn't appear to be moving.
Emma didn't want to see any more. She knew that this was their karma for treating her so badly. She got back into her car and told the kids they were having a day home from school today and then drove them to the cinema where they saw a movie and enjoyed themselves.
Karma always bites those who bite you. It was sweet justice.