Light a match.

Yep, as a kid, I loved fire. Actually, I still do. There is nothing better, than sitting in front of an open flame, staring in, getting lost in the flicker, crackle and radiant warmth.

My early memories of fire, were not so soothing, allow me.

Growing up, I once lost my bedsocks somewhere at the deep end of my bed. So, I thought it a suitable idea to go fetch them, aided by the light of a box of matches. Now, when you're young, you're not making that much space between the mattress, and the doona, however I forged on. I ended up finding my socks, not a remarkably difficult task, I confess, but unfortunately it did not go unnoticed by my mother.

As I skulked down to breakfast, my Mum asked why she could smell matches, "I dunno", I said. She walked closer, rubbed her hand on my forehead, disturbing what was left of a singed fringe, totally singed, singed off in fact.

I was in a wee bit of trouble.

With no where to go, I confessed to my expedition, which was not so well received by my Mum, and so she decided, as good parents do, to teach me a suitable lesson so that I would not do it again. Hide the matches? Give me a torch? Show an example of something burning? No....

She light a match, blew it out, then burned my hand with it!

Well, I can tell you, it fucking hurt! I still have a small scar on my hand to prove it.

Well, not to be outdone by this "lesson", I thought I might get my own back. I went to school, and in our daily writing exercise, recounted the bedsock episode, and the burned hand I received as punishment. I then proceeded to read it to the class.

This all ended well, with a meeting with my Mum and the teacher, where she assured the teacher of our impeccable family balance.

I wasn't burned again, at least by my Mum!

Up to our necks in it.

A continuation from this post.
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The phone rings, it's Mandy.

Shit.

"Hey Mandy", I said.

"Hi, it WAS Justin at the airport", Mandy said, tersely.

"Oh, right, and...and the woman? Who was she?", I ask, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"He just said to me, you're right, It was me, and I've got some things to work out with Leanne", Mandy recalled.

"So, he admitted to some sort of relationship with her then? How did you bring it up?", I was a little concerned....

"Yes , he confessed to it. I said that we were around at your place for dinner, and that you saw him at the airport, and told us that it looked suspicious", explained Mandy.

"You fucking what?!" I shout. "Jesus Christ, I specifically explained what to do, and it wasn't that!" I was finding it hard to control the anger.

Mandy starts the justification speech, "Well, I thought by mentioning your name, it would give credibility to the story."

I couldn't talk.

Earlier that day, Mandy had rang, and said she was going to confront him, and wanted to know what she should do it. I took her through a process, explicitly stating, it is not necessary to use your third party as a supplier of knowledge. Just say what you know to be true, and ask for their perspective on that. Let them answer, it will come out by itself, no additional weight or credibility is needed.

"Well, he's now going away for 2 weeks for business, and said he won't tell Leanne until he gets back. "So I have to carry this with me, and see Leanne in the mean time, whilst we wait for him to get back", Mandy explained her quandary.

"You've got a choice to make then, haven't you", I say, almost pleased that she is in this shithole with me. "Tell, her, or wait, it's up to you".

"It's not my job, I'm going to make HIM do it", growls Mandy.

Wow, what a mess.

Mandy waits, her hatred for Justin grows, every day, and every time she sees Leanne in the mean time. Understandably. She, however, put herself in that place by deciding to confront him. And, I, well, I am up to my neck in shit. I saw it, I told someone else, it turned out to be true, I'm the rat. Justin may well end up on my door step with a gun, or at lease a big fucking bat, and Leanne's life is about to be turned upside down.

The 2 weeks passed, Mandy ground Justin down, holding him to the fact he would tell Leanne. He did. I'll spare you the gory details, but needless to say, it had been happening for a while, she was an office colleague.

Their relationship, had exploded.

And so, there were now some life changing conversations to be had between Leanne and Justin. Making things worse, they have a little boy, so it wasn't going to be pretty.

I admit to being a little fearful for my safety, for a while. I was still travelling a lot, so from then on I took a rather cautious path through the airports in particular. The rear vision mirror in the car, was also kept clean.

I was not looking forward to seeing either of them, not looking forward to that, at all.