Well Groomed

That morning she’d puffed up her hair to a perfect bouffant, teasing out the curls with a plastic comb until it sat just right.

She presented herself to him in the living room.

“Morning Jerry.”

But he didn’t look up.

He was busy fluffing up the hair around Angelina’s paws.

He used a special brush for this, one with soft horse hair bristles and a mother of pearl handle.

An expensive and extravagant trinket for a dog, she’d always thought.

“She looks nice” she said.

He looked up then, a little startled, as if only now aware of her presence.

A small smile unfurled at the corner of his mouth and he released a little sigh of satisfaction.

“Attention to detail Sarah” he explained “That’s what distinguishes the winners from the losers.”

She thought about that.

She’d been a winner once herself.

Back in the day, Jerry had been quite a prize, the one all the girls wanted.

She had strutted like a beauty queen when she nabbed him, relishing the jealous stares thrown at her every time they walked down the street.

Well Groomed

Now she wasn’t so sure of her prize.

The sheen had gone, she thought. Yes, that was it. Jerry didn’t glisten in quite the way he used to.

She watched him as he fussed around the dog. He cooed to her and brushed the hair from her eyes with a delicate, almost loving, stroke.

If it wasn’t for the bald patch she may have felt a little resentful, but she stared at it then and nodded to herself.

He wasn’t aware of it. It hid at the back of his head, by the crown. Barely discernible, for now, but in a few years it would take hold and spread across his scalp, leaving him pink and hairless and vulnerable as a baby.

It was not something his vanity would absorb.

She remembered Priscilla then. Priscilla Arianne Germaine The Third to give her her full pedigree name. Jerry’s pride and joy. Once. Until some nervous condition brought about a rare case of canine alopecia.

How long had it taken him to dispose of her? Not long in any case, she remembered that much. The speed of his betrayal was stunning.

She had come home to find Priscilla gone. A week later Angelina made her appearance.

It said something about him, the way he could shift his affections so easily l

She smoothed the pleats of her skirt over her hips, unbuttoned the top buttons of her blouse and gave her hair one final check in the mirror before calling out to him.

Well Groomed

“I’m just off out Jerry.”

He may have replied but she didn’t hear him as the door clicked shut behind her.

She would have to hurry. Adam was waiting for her.