Be Careful What You Ask For

Running past the PC I turned off the monitor as I hadn't time to reach behind the tower and turn the whole thing off. I closed the bedroom door as the front door opened and Janet called down the hall.

'Steve', she yelled, 'I had to come back. Gary called to say the meeting was cancelled and put out to next week.'

'I'm in the bathroom,' I called, 'be out in a second.'

I tore the clothes off and gave my face a quick wash. I had not bothered with much make-up as I had to go into town for food later in the day. Throwing on a dressing gown and leaving the bathroom, I bundled the clothes into a bag I use for fishing and which had been lying in a corner for a week or two.

I came out of the bathroom with the fishing bag and stuck it in the hall press, knowing Jan would never go near it.

'What happened?, I asked as I went over to her and gave her a kiss.

'Oh, the Americans had not got their work completed on Thursday, so Gary cancelled the meetings. Word went out by email but they forgot I was on leave. He cancelled the flights and everything but it was just as he got into the office this morning he realised about me.' she explained. 'Anyway, how come you're not dressed?'

'Joys of working from home!' I said.

'I am going into the office for a few hours, but I did not want to leave my case in the car.' she explained. She then said she needed to re-enter her travel request and sat at the computer. She had noticed that only the monitor was off and said it would be quicker than unpacking and powering up her laptop, which anyway was out in the car. What could I do?

She flicked on the monitor and ten seconds later her jaw dropped as a picture of a woman in a short leather dress, fishnet stockings and knee-high boots and holding a cane stared at her. She quickly started using ctrl-tab to view the other pages and then went into history and began clicking on my previous selection. Looking up at me she told me angrily to 'Go Away'.

I went and sat in the kitchen not knowing what to do. Every now and then I'd hear a curse or swear as she came across something else. She eventually came into the kitchen and told me not to touch the PC. She said if anything was missing or erased that would be the end of us. She went off to work and I wondered what was going to happen. I decided to come clean with her once she came home.