Gods and Monsters

Ep.4: The Widows (No.11)

Episode 4: The Widows (No.11)

Written by Danny Richards

Produced by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson, Luca Limoncelli and Joanna Holland

Edited by Corey Smith and Matthew Anderson

Created and developed by Danny Richards

Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire

"Okay, another one; The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?" Charlie quizzically asked Peggy as part of his 'get to know each other better' game.

"Really, Charlie? How many of these questions do you have?" Peggy replied as she drove through the tranquil village, looking at the ducks chasing one another in the local pond. It was a truly lovely day although Peggy wasn't quite sure how she had been roped into spending her day off with Charlie visiting his parents. If anything, it would at least keep her away from the pills for a little while as she tried to kick this annoying habit. She stewed over her answer a little longer as saying both hadn't gone down too well when asked who she preferred between Oasis and Blur.

"The Stones; Paint It Black, Brown Sugar, they've just got better songs. Plus, they're still performing and making music today."

"Yes, well The Beatles would find it a little more challenging to do that now, wouldn't they?" Charlie mockingly replied, "And how can you say they've got better songs; Hey Jude, Twist and Shout. Hell, Helter Skelter basically invented heavy metal music." He let out a tut and continued muttering his disdain for Peggy's preference although she sustained her smile as they drove up the steep hill, now not too far away from Charlie's parents' home.

Whilst it had been a bit bizarre, Peggy had to admit that getting to know each other had been rather beneficial. They'd been working together for a few months now and besides some details here and there, Charlie had been a bit of a man of mystery before then. Then again, Peggy hadn't exactly been too forthcoming about her history and Charlie wasn't one to pry when he knew it wouldn't be welcomed. Still, they now knew they had a shared interest in films from the 1980s, a shared dislike of mushrooms and Charlie preferred football whereas Peggy was a rugby gal. Only trivial stuff, but still nice to know considering their working relationship.

Suddenly Charlie exploded in laughter as he looked at his phone. Peggy tried to have a look herself but daren't take her eyes off the road, especially with Charlie present.

"What're you looking at?" She instead resorted to asking.

Charlie wiped away the tears and attempted to respond, but found himself stuck in a fit of laughter, the kind where something is so funny, the laughter is made inaudible. Instead, he held up the phone and Peggy managed to catch a glimpse of a looping video which had a cat falling off of a bookshelf. Enough to raise a smile, but not the kind of laughter that was coming from Charlie; maybe that was just her sense of humour though. Still, another thing learned, Charlie liked cat videos whereas Peggy was largely indifferent. She noticed that the video had been sent by Rachel, and she and Charlie had been spending a fair amount of time together recently. "You and the good doctor are getting along well, aren't you?" Peggy said to Charlie.

Charlie smiled at this. "Dr Darby is a very lovely lady. We have a lot in common."

"Have you thought about asking her out? I mean you even own a pub, get her to pop over for a drink."

"Please, Peggy, I think you're reading into this a tad too much. We're just friends." Peggy gave him a look which said 'sure you are', but like Charlie, knew when not to press too much.

Peggy pulled up in the driveway of Mr and Mrs Quinn's house behind their silver Mercedes and approached the house with Charlie. Charlie hadn't said much about his parents other than he used to travel with them and Mary when they were children. She expected his parents to be these really cool people who, despite their age, would have all sorts of tattoos over their body and wacky hairstyles or something to make them appear really different, but when they opened the door, Peggy was met with a rather ordinary looking couple.

"Hello Charles, this must be your friend, Peggy? What a beautiful girl she is." Gushed Mrs Quinn, a rather small lady who wore a beautiful rose red dress and a matching jacket, her dark hair neatly tied up, and just a small dashing of natural looking makeup which helped amplify her soft blue eyes and sharp cheekbones.

"Yes, she's lovely. Charles, I can't believe you wouldn't at least shave before coming over, you know your mother hates beards." Added Mr Quinn, a man much taller than his wife and still in pretty good shape despite a slightly protruding gut. His hair had long since greyed and his face had a few more wrinkles than his wife's which was rather clear. Mr Quinn had no visible tattoos and the leather jacket Peggy had imagined was actually a rather nice blue shirt and a pair of beige trousers. The two were welcomed inside and Peggy was directed to the living room where she sat with Mr Quinn as Mrs Quinn continued to work on the group's lunch and Charlie went to make a cup of tea.

The living room was large and the cream walls were covered with a variety of paintings and pictures from a large assortment of artists and locations respectively. Peggy saw a lot of pictures of Charlie and Mary alongside their parents when they were younger, in locations all over the world. One had the family outside the Colosseum in Rome, another in front of the pyramids in Egypt. Peggy could see where Charlie had got his love of travel from as some of the locations he had been to were absolutely stunning.

One picture that caught Peggy's eye was a rather old one. A group of three men and a woman sat around a wooden table playing some sort of card game. Peggy presumed that this was a young Mr Quinn, who had now obviously caught her staring at the picture.

"May 27th, 1941 if I remember correctly. The day the Bismarck was sunk."

"Sorry, Mr Quinn?" Peggy replied.

"Please, call me Reggie. My wife is Abigail. Charlie is rubbish at sharing these details." He let out a hearty chuckle which Peggy joined in with. "Anyway, the day the picture was taken, May 27th, 1941, fortunately I wasn't involved in that battle, but my squad was still kept busy, that's for sure."

Peggy was now rather interested although couldn't quite believe that Reggie was old enough to have been in World War II; he only looked like he was in his early seventies, but to have been in the Second World War he would have to be at least in his late eighties. As if reading her thoughts,

Reggie said "Nazi experiments. That's what's kept me young." A slight smirk appeared on his face and Peggy honestly couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.

"If you're interested Peggy, I can tell you the story about that day?"

Groans came from the kitchen as Charlie and Abigail prepared themselves for another story, likely one that they've heard countless times before.

"I'd love to hear it if that's alright with you." Peggy said.

"Of course my dear, now if I remember correctly, that picture was taken in the late afternoon. Yes, we were at our base camp..."

Continued in Part 2