Gary L Beer
SUZY Preview Chapter One Opening the hot oven door Suzy puts her gloves on and takes out the cooking joint of beef. Putting the hot tray onto the top of the oven Suzy turns the meat over and adds potatoes and parsnips to the tray. Putting the tray back into the oven she frowns as she stands up and thinks if all this effort is worth it; Doug, her partner had been very moody lately. Sometimes he came home with a smile, but that was rare these days. Doug's behaviour towards her recently had become nasty, aggressive and he was constantly accusing her of being unfaithful and calling her a liar. Suzy had not done anything wrong and could not understand why he had changed so much recently. Hoping that cooking his favourite roast dinner would make the evening a pleasant one Suzy lights the gas under the vegetables as she hears Doug's car pull up out front. Checking herself in the mirror Suzy shouts a cheery welcome as Doug opens the front door. Hearing no reply the frown returns to her forehead as she busies herself with getting two plates out of the cupboard. Doug slams the front door and stomps down the hall into the lounge as Suzy's stomach tightens in anxiety. Too frightened to go and talk to him she puts a knife and fork onto a tray and sits at the table and reads her book whilst the dinner cooks. “Here you are,” says Suzy as she walks into the lounge carrying Doug's dinner; “looks like you have had a hard day,” she says as she sees the frown on Doug's face. “Hard day? You don’t know the half of it,” he snaps as he stares into her eyes not attempting to take the tray from her hands. “We are not going to argue are we? Come on, I have cooked your favourite roast dinner,” Suzy replies holding the tray out towards him. Doug stands up and knocks the tray out of Suzy's hands slapping her on the face before the tray hits the floor; “What are you after?” he demands in a cruel voice. “I want a quiet evening for a change,” she screams back. Doug punches her hard on the shoulder
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