Caiman's bazaar (standard:horror, 2083 words)
Author: Lev821	Added: Jan 23 2012	Views/Reads: 3240/2086	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
In a shop with no-one behind the counter, don't be tempted to steal, because here's why.

A strong wind buffeted the Maroon 1994 Rover as it wound its way towards
the small seaside town of Donregal where Hugh Adlington and his wife 
Miriam of 8 years and six year old twin boys Roy and Jake were on their 
first holiday. Their marriage wasn't exactly tied up with strings of 
love. More convenience than anything else. Hugh had been what was 
basically a small-time con-artist. Anything he could scrape and scrimp 
to save and to earn cash he would do. Whether it was selling pirated 
dvds at the local market, selling tobacco to teenagers on street 
corners. If you would buy it, he would sell it, without a second, or 
even first thought about the quality of the goods. 

However, after his criminal record increased in size, he decided to make
a clean break of things and go straight, marrying the ex-wife of a 
convicted armed-bank robber and having twin boys who were not quite 
identical. 

His dalliances with the law though, could not be severed so easily, and
he would still sell cheap cigarettes to earn extra cash so he could go 
drinking, and buy quality cigarettes as he liked to indulge himself in 
the nicotine, as did Miriam. So a break to the seaside sounded ideal 
from the dishonesty and suspicion of urban society. 

The sun blazed in a cloudless sky, the heat relentless, focused as
though through an invisible magnifying glass. With all windows open, 
all of them wished they'd at least brought sunglasses. With the boys 
lounging on the back seat, tired, Miriam looked at the map, but could 
not fathom exactly where they were. She pointed a red-painted 
fingernail where she thought they were. “I think we are around here, 
and if I'm right, then we have about another three miles to go before 
we reach Donregal. Of course we didn't have to be coming here did we? I 
was promised the Costa del sunny beach but no, we have to come to a 
pokey little resort on the coast”. Hugh stared at her for a few seconds 
before returning his attention to the road. Most of the time he wore a 
light grey suit. He had white thinning hair, and a complexion which 
added 7 years onto his 46. “It seemed good enough within our price 
range” he said. “Anyway, it's all in the name isn't it? Costa. It costa 
lot of money to just fly there, nevermind being ripped off for 
everything else.” “You promised, you promised we'd be sunning ourselves 
in Spain”. “We can sun ourselves here, it's roasting. Anyway we've been 
through this. I thought we would be able to afford that, but this is 
better than nothing isn't it?” Miriam was silent, and simply stared at 
the map. “Three miles you say, I don't think so, look, it seems we're 
here”. As they came over a curved crest, a small seaside town was 
sprawled before them, and Hugh turned along the right turn in a fork in 
the road that he saw would take them there. “What are you doing?” said 
Miriam, “It's not Donregal”. “It doesn't matter,” he said, “Let's go 
here. Look, the kids are knackered and I'm sure we can easily book 
ourselves into a b+b or hotel.” Miriam nodded in agreement. “It's not 
on the map,” she said. 

The vehicle wound its way down to the resort's main road which seemed to
be around half a mile curving along the small beach bookended by two 
similar looking high rocky outcrops. He pulled up besides railings, 
beyond which was appealing looking sand. He saw a few people sauntering 
along it, some children playing happily, and a few dogs bounding 
around. Yes, he thought. This'll do nicely. 

Virtually behind them, across the main road was a small hotel. Hugh saw
there was a ‘vacancies' sign in the window, so with the children now 
awake, they hauled their luggage across and booked themselves in. Roy 
and Jake were excited, and wanted to go and play on the beach. Hugh 
simply lay on the bed. Miriam stood at the window. “Are you coming out 
for a look around?” she asked. “Later,” he said, “I'm a bit tired after 
all that driving”. She shook her head, and looked at the children 
playing in the sand and the distant yachts in no hurry to go anywhere. 

The sun seemed even hotter the following day, and Hugh was already up,
sitting on a chair at the window, having been down to a local shop for 
a newspaper and a cappuccino. He was wearing sunglasses. Miriam sat up 
in the bed. “That's right, don't buy any for me,” she said with heavy 
sarcasm. “Expensive these,” he said, taking off the cheap glasses. 
“Three quid. And this coffee was two quid. I spent more than a fiver 
just now, so I wonder if we might not stay for as many days as what we 
were going to. You know, this is going to be costly”. “We're on 
holiday,” said Miriam, “So we'd better stay for exactly how long as we 


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