Uto

It was early on a wet wintry evening on a quiet residential street in a middle class suburb. A solitary house owner was walking home to the two bedroom cottage in which she lived alone. This was Agnes Allen, a divorcee who had passed her fiftieth birthday just three months before. She was slightly above average height, fit, trim, healthy and had an athletic carriage. She was passably attractive with an oval face, framed with short straight brown hair. People who knew her thought of her as quiet, not greatly assertive and good at her job. She was a librarian who worked at a local Council branch library. Of late the likelihood of a transfer to a distant branch was causing her some concern. It would involve a difficult and lengthy commute. ...

It was mid evening in a quiet, middle class suburban street. The time was early March and light rain was falling. Elaine was making her way home to the small, neat two bedroom cottage she had lived in for several years. She was thirty seven, slightly above average height, athletically slim with a figure some called attractive and good legs. She had an oval, pleasant looking face, pointed chin with straight brown hair worn in a page boy cut. Because of the gloomy forecast this evening she had worn her wet weather gear. An expensive blue trench coat, firmly belted, which emphasised her trim waist. She had taken the precaution of wearing ankle length black rubber rain boots. ...

It was early evening on a late Autumn day. Marcia was walking home to her cottage at the end of a quiet suburban street in a good suburb. There was a low ridge behind it, on which a state of the art business complex had recently been built. This was reputed to be the hub of a very important international finance corporation. Marcia was just turned forty, of middle height, athletically slim with a narrow face, pointed chin and short, straight dark brown hair worn in a severe, page boy cut. Tertiary educated, she worked as a systems analyst in a nearby regional suburb. She wore a neat two piece business suit, hat and gloves and carried a leather handbag. ...

Evening Visitation It was late afternoon on a windy Autumn day and Karen was walking home after work. This was a small two bedroom cottage at the end of a cul-de-sac in a comfortable middle class suburb. It was situated on the end of a short ridge and overlooked a new commercial building in a business suburb to the north. Karen was in her late thirties and had been married. After an unfortunate period of less than ideal matrimony there had been a difficult divorce. But she had been able to salvage enough from this disagreeable parting to set herself up in her present home. She had lived there alone ever since. ...

The setting was a quiet residential street in an upland mountain suburb. The time, mid afternoon on a winter day. And Geoffrey Gage was on his way to visit his lover, Rosemary. Geoffrey was a retired former government employee in his mid-late fifties. He had a trim athletic figure which he kept that way with plentiful exercise, a square determined face and a head of hair beginning to grey. A widower by status, he had moved up to the Mountains on his retirement. ...

Eight Months Later. It was late afternoon on a drizzly Autumn day. A train had left the City on a western line and was heading towards the mountain residential suburbs. And travelling on it in an almost empty carriage was Rosemary Ritter. Rosemary was a retired teacher in her mid late fifties. A trim figured, athletic woman with an oval face, a sharp chin, framed by straight, black hair. She was generally regarded by those who knew her as a pleasant person. She had spent most of the day in the City, much of the later part at a small, discreet place that carried some select ladies wear in the inner suburbs. ...

Harriet Chase lived in a well appointed two bedroom apartment in a good inner city suburb. It was on the first floor of a five floor residential building which was home to about sixty other people. Harriet was fifty two, trim, healthy and firmly built with a solid face framed by slightly wavy dark brown hair. She smiled easily and was generally considered a pleasant person. She was a specialised computer expert and held an important managerial job with a national computer research firm. The work she did, the high standard equipment she used, gave her access to an incredible range of information. And she took full advantage of this. For personal as well as professional reasons. ...

The scene was a quiet residential street in a middle class mountain suburb. The time, the afternoon of a cloudy mid-winter day. Geoffrey was a former government employee in his late fifties who had taken early retirement a year before and had been living up here ever since. He was lean, fit and kept healthy with plentiful exercise, usually long solitary walks in the neighbourhood. He had a square, serious face, a head of plentiful, if greying hair and was generally thought of as easy to get along with by the locals. He had been a widower for eight years, still enjoyed the company of women and would have enjoyed an active relationship. But, there seemed little opportunity up here. ...

Olive Polson was a forty three year old teacher who lived alone in a comfortable two bedroom cottage in a good suburb. She owned this property outright. She was a slim, firmly built athletic woman, slightly above average height. An oval face, famed with straight black hair in a page boy cut, she smiled easily and was generally liked by the high school students she taught. She usually wore trimly fitting calf length skirts and well fitted blouses. ...

Amy Stark was a thirty-three year old librarian who worked in a regional branch of a city library. She was slim, athletically built and slightly above average height. A thin face with pointed chin was framed by dark brown hair in a page boy cut. She was considered a sensible practical person by nature. Amy lived in a one-bedroom apartment in a unit block in the inner city area. She was unmarried but enjoyed the company of men and had had affairs. These had become less frequent of late and she put this down to a gradually rising expectation of what she looked for in a male companion. She sometimes wondered if she would ever have a permanent partner. She liked the idea of one but was not ready to lower her standards. ...

It was late afternoon, almost dusk on a bleak wintry day. Maggie Altdorf was walking home to the small comfortable suburban cottage in the middle class area where she lived. Maggie was thirty seven, tertiary educated and held a managerial position with a firm in a nearby regional centre. She was very slim, above average height, fit and healthy. A narrow face, pointed chin, framed by short black hair in a page boy cut completed the picture. She had a nice smile. And today she wore a matching jacket and skirt and carried a black leather handbag. ...

Visit to a Headmistress - Uto The time was late afternoon on a wintry but otherwise ordinary school day. The setting was St Barbara’s School for Girls, a large, very expensive private school for young ladies in an upper class suburb. Because it was nearing afternoon departure time the school’s corridors were filling with girls about to go home. They were starting to spill out into the quadrangle in front of the building. ...

Part 2 Claudia Schipp was preparing for another uneventful evening in her neat, two bedroom cottage in the comfortable suburb where she lived. She was in her mid thirties, fit with a slim, healthy figure. Her short neat brown hair edged an attractive, oval face and the dark framed glasses she habitually wore. She looked every inch the efficient librarian she was, though she was also a qualified accountant. She had never married, though she had been engaged earlier in her life. This had come to nothing. Claudia was a sensible woman and not prepared to embark on any venture which she thought could well turn out badly. She had had affairs since but none of these had lasted and she had sadly begun to wonder if there would ever be anyone permanent in her life. ...

Enid was a librarian who lived and worked in the inner western suburbs. Late one wet winter afternoon she was making her way home to the unit in which she lived alone. This lady was two years short of forty, never married, though there had been occasions where it had seemed likely. She had had affairs, some satisfying, but these had been less frequent of late. She was, she sadly reflected, drifting toward old maid spinsterhood. ...

Helena Laverre and her daughter Daphne were going on a short holiday trip overseas. They were planning to leave their comfortable home in the western suburbs, drive for an hour to the International Airport to catch their flight. Helena was forty five, solidly built but still reasonably fit, her figure ever so slightly fleshing a little. She had a well rounded face with short wavy brown hair. Her background was international finance, a business she worked in with her husband. She was a forceful woman with people around her. ...

Joel and Emmeline were a couple, both in their late twenties who had been keeping company for nearly a year. Their relationship didn’t seem to be going anywhere much but they stayed together because neither could see any alternative. They had been lovers on occasion, sadly, not always satisfactorily. Emmaline was twenty eight. Slim, healthy with a narrow face and pointed chin, framed with short straight brown hair. She smiled frequently and was a qualified computer programmer by occupation. Tonight she wore a winter skirt and thick cardigan. ...

It was late afternoon of a wintry day and Claudia Schipp was walking home along a quiet street in an area that might be described as comfortable middle class. She lived in a two bedroom cottage here and had done so for the last eight years. Claudia was thirty five, trained originally in accountancy but was now working in a local library. She was of average height with a slim healthy figure. She had an oval face, framed by short, straight brown hair and was considered pleasant looking though not dazzlingly beautiful. She wore dark rimmed glasses. ...

Elaine was a young woman in her mid thirties, very fit, solid and athletic. She had a pointed chin and a determined face, framed by shoulder length black hair which at the moment was somewhat dishevelled. She was regarded as the sort of person who generally did what they set out to do. Most of her working life had been spent in banking finance. But this was some time back. She had spent the last few months in a woman’s penitentiary and had only escaped a few hours previously. Her crime had been white collar, the misappropriation of many millions. It had been other peoples’ money and certain highly placed people had decided that she should to be out of circulation for a very long time. Hence her need to escape and if possible leave the country. ...

A traffic accident occurred late on a rainy Autumn afternoon on a quiet medium density residential street in the western suburbs. A driver lost control when his car skidded on a rain wet surface and crashed into a parked green Ford sedan. He was not hurt, merely shaken, but both cars were rendered non-drivable, the parked vehicle being particularly badly damaged. Two police officers driving by stopped to investigate. They made ready to give the driver a spot test for alcohol consumption. He protested, saying he had been a teetotaller all his life but they went ahead anyway. A few pedestrians stopped to watch. ...

It was the start of a cold, damp evening in a working class suburb where people from several walks of life lived. Not a place for a lone woman to out too late at night. Lavinia Martine was hurrying home before it got completely dark. She was a firmly built woman in her late thirties. Fit, generally healthy with a reasonably attractive face framed by short dark hair. She was a cheerful person by nature, though she had seen little to cheer her of recent years. She wore an old suit and because for the worsening weather had put on an old fashioned, belted raincoat which rustled as she walked. She carried an umbrella and handbag. ...

Olive Wade was a teacher, just turned forty who lived alone in an upper middle class suburb in the western suburbs. She was of average height, with a trim, but solid figure, a round, often smiling face and wore her dark hair in in a short page boy cut. She was generally regarded as a good primary teacher. She had been married in her late twenties but this had ended in divorce after three years. However, she still liked the company of men and had enjoyed a couple of discreet affairs. At present she was unattached. ...

(story continues from Visit to a Neighbour 3) Visit to a Neighbour 4. It was late afternoon on a cloudy Autumn afternoon and a car was travelling westward to a cottage in the western mountains. In it were two people we already know. One was Alice. Early forties, trim figure, firm athletic build with a square, pleasant face and short fair hair. She was long divorced. The other was Henry Carey. A little older than his companion, he was slightly taller, thin and with hair just starting to grey. He was quiet, somewhat shy and, until he had met the woman beside him, had not always been at ease with women. That had now changed. ...

It was a dull weekday morning and Lily Maxted was making her way to work through the inner city streets. Lily was a slim, taller than average girl in her early twenties. She had a thin pleasant face with a pointed chin and short, slightly wavy brown hair. Though no beauty, some might have called her attractive in a quiet way. Today she was dressed for work, wearing a wide woollen skirt, simple white blouse and a warm brown cardigan. Because rain had been forecast later she wore a blue plastic raincoat that rustled as she walked. She carried a leather handbag with a long strap. ...

The scene was a comfortable apartment on the first floor of a unit block in the inner city. The unit’s lounge room faced west and in the past had a reasonable view of the city’s inner western suburbs. But during the last year a convention centre had been built across the street below just thirty metres away. The lounge now faced directly into a large picture window of a big conference room containing a single long table. This was regularly used. Immaculately suited men and women sat facing each other across the table and were clearly engrossed in what they had to say to each other. None of them looked out the window at the residence across the way. ...

My 25th story. Make what you will of it. Possibly it’s a milestone. We’ll see. Ellen Carstairs was driving from her home to the local news agency in the mountain suburb in which she lived. This small business was one of a dozen which comprised the shopping centre of this remote community which was considered a backwater by the inhabitants of the large urban metropolis to the east. But its locals liked their quiet, tranquil locality and would not have changed it. ...

The scene was a comfortable middle class home in a well to do city suburb. The time, late afternoon on a cold Autumn day. Grace Lesage was sitting in her lounge room idly looking through a weekly magazine. She was in her mid fifties with a still trim, firm figure with an attractive oval face framed with short straight brown hair. She had a pleasant manner and smiled frequently. She had been widowed for eighteen years but had never remarried. Instead, she had concentrated on raising and educating her single daughter Tania. This young lady had had a troubled schooling and Grace had some difficulty putting her through university, but in the end had done it successfully. ...

(story continues from The Informer) The Informer Part 2 The scene was a large, populous city in the Middle East. It was situated between a high mountainous plateau and a rocky, meandering coastline. A hundred and thirty years ago it had been a collection of mud huts around a small oasis on a little used caravan route. But progress and advancement had come since then. Oil, and later minerals had been discovered and exploited. Water resources in the massif behind the village had been developed into carefully controlled agriculture and lastly, and perhaps most profitably of all, it had become a centre of international finance. Tens of thousands now lived here and if the original hut dwellers could see it today they would have recognised nothing. ...

The scene was a quiet street in an outer upper middle class suburb. Glenys was walking along it to a large pretentious house at the western end. Glenys was in her mid thirties with a trim, firm figure and an oval, often smiling face. Her brown hair was worn shoulder length with a neat fringe. She was unmarried but had had relationships in the past. She had accountancy training and held a minor administrative position in a local business. ...

(story continues from Visit to a Neighbour 2) Visit to a Neighbour 3 . It was early afternoon and Alice Kemp was preparing for a visit from her lover in her first floor apartment. Alice was in her very early forties, slim with a healthily active, almost girlish, look about her. She had a square attractive face and short fair hair. She was widowed, comfortably off and worked at a managerial job. ...

It was late afternoon of a wet day on a short residential street in a remote mountain suburb of a sprawling city. Irene Drake was getting ready to go out on a short visit. She was a thin, healthy woman in her late thirties, recently widowed after a short but otherwise happy marriage. She had a narrow face, framed with short dark hair and was generally thought to be a pleasant person. By occupation she was a part time librarian in the local council library and had lived alone in a small neat cottage in this quiet street ever since the death of her husband. ...

It was late afternoon on cold Autumn day in a comfortable well to do suburb. Estelle Parker was sitting in the lounge of her very well appointed home reading a book. She was alone in the house, her housekeeper companion was having her day off but was expected back in an hour or two. She was forty two and widowed, her husband having died several years before, leaving her comfortably off. She was of average height with a square face, curly brown hair, just starting to go grey and had a prominent double chin. Reasonably shapely limbs and a broad solid figure completed the picture. Sadly, this last was almost thirty pounds overweight. ...

Sarah Sterke was a very successful woman who owned and profitably operated her own business. Still on the right side of forty, she had a full figure yet still retained a somewhat girlish waist. Short, carefully tinted hair framed a square determined face that was obviously used to giving the orders. She dressed well and stylishly, as she could afford to. Well over a decade back there had been a hard fought divorce in which she had taken her worthless husband very thoroughly to the cleaners. This had given her the stake she used to start her business in the field of investment and computer research, national and international. Responsible people might have questioned some of her dealings but she had been very successful. Now she had her own modern premises in a discreet part of the financial district. She lived above her office in a tasteful, well designed apartment. She employed three ladies, well qualified and well trained and who served her very well indeed. ...

It was mid afternoon on a chill winter day. Mark was on his way to visit his mistress Heather in her residential unit in a quiet middle class area. He was just turned forty, never married, was lean, fit and still had most of his hair. He still might have been considered reasonably youthful. At least his lady friend thought so. He was an investment advisor by occupation. Heather, herself was slightly younger. One brief, unhappy marriage in her early thirties was now behind her. Best forgotten, she thought. She still had most of her early slimness and was as healthy as her partner. Her oval face retained some of its youth and was attractively framed with short dark brown hair. She held a senior position in the office where she worked. After a bitter divorce she had managed to gain possession of the jointly shared apartment and was thankful for this. She was on good terms with most of the other residents in the building. It was here that she and Mark held most of their meetings. ...

Evelyn and Harry Destaine had been married for nearly twelve years and were both approaching forty. They were both in the field of productive business investment and had amassed a private fortune of several millions. Consequently, they lived in an attractive residence at a good address and were known to be very comfortably off indeed. Sadly, this success was not reflected in their marriage itself which had been deteriorating for some time now. Bickering, quarrels, arguments were occurring with increasing frequency of late and both were feeling the strain. This autumn morning there had been a blistering row which had ended with Evelyn storming out of the house and going off to her office in a state of high resentment. She had stewed for several hours and then unexpectedly driven home to insist they have a period of separation. And that Harry leave the marital home as soon as he could find somewhere to stay. ...

It was early evening of a bleak winter day. Edith was sitting at her work table in the lounge of her small but comfortable cottage in middle class suburbia. She was thirty six, thin and spare with a somewhat narrow face, a pointed chin framed by short brown hair. Tonight she was wearing a plain skirt with a soft white blouse. She was a librarian by occupation, wore glasses and looked exactly how she could perhaps be described. A single lady, living alone and drifting towards middle aged spinsterhood. She had few interests, other than reading and was not sporting or particularly social in any way. The pub/club scene left her cold. ...

Geraldine was a social worker, aged forty one. A tall solidly built woman, fit active and capable. With a square, usually pleasant face framed by straight brown hair. She was a purposeful, no-nonsense sort of person. Her work took her out most of the day, regularly seeing people which her employer, a government health authority, felt needed frequent visits, consolation and counseling where required. Her casebook was quite extensive but she managed it successfully and was considered very good at her job. And she enjoyed it. ...

Susan Dubois and Jane Hardy had been flat mates for almost a year. They shared a nice two bedroom apartment at a good address in an inner city suburb. Jane had been there the longest, over eighteen months. But she had found the rent difficult on her own and, since there were two bedrooms, had finally decided to share with another girl like herself to defray costs. After making inquiries and eventually advertising she had met Susan. The two young ladies had got on well right from the beginning and had agreed they should be able to make a success of living together. ...

(story continues from A Change of Clothes) Part Two Gladys was a teacher who lived alone in a small cottage in a distant mountain suburb. She was 40, had a slim, well cared for figure, an amiable face, short greying hair and always wore glasses. Though not a very outgoing woman she made periodic efforts to make social contacts but had never been very successful. She had been divorced after an unhappy marriage some years ago. She was known locally as somewhat reclusive but was not antisocial and hoped eventually to find a companion, though this did not seem likely at present. ...

The setting was a large basement garage of a multi floored commercial building in an upmarket part of the city business district. An unmarked cream van was slowly driven in and parked in the service vehicles section near the security manager’s office. Three uniformed women got out and unloaded a small trolley containing an industrial vacuum cleaner, buckets, mops and several closed boxes from the rear of the van. They then went to the door of the locked office. The time was shortly after 8:00 am. ...

The two Marchand sisters, Elsie and Edith, lived in a large, old wooden house in a remote mountain suburb about fifty miles out of the City. Both were in their early forties, they were unmarried and seemed likely to remain so. They were a thin, spare pair, the family resemblance very obvious. They were neither attractive nor unattractive. They had been here for about seven years and were not much involved in the local social scene. ...

It was between six and seven on a wintry evening on a quiet street in an upper middle class suburb. It had been raining earlier but this had stopped. A woman was making her way along the footpath in the gathering dusk. She was in her late thirties, perhaps forty but trim, firmly built and clearly very fit. She was wearing sensible shoes, a belted trench coat, buttoned to the throat and carried a large satchel bag with a wide shoulder strap. She had an oval face which was partly obscured by the large head scarf she had tied firmly under her chin. This concealment was intentional. In appearance she looked like an office worker on her way home after work, perhaps taking something bought during the day. This was also her intention. ...

It was four o’clock on a cold wintry afternoon and the girls of St Catherines Ladies College were streaming in dozens along the street, having just been let out of that prestigious, if costly, school. They were being watched closely through the front window of her lounge room by Emily Jennings whose home was a few hundred yards down the street from this well known place of learning. Emily was in her mid forties, mid height with a figure that was just starting to thicken. She had a smooth, somewhat stern face and short brown hair that was just starting to show signs of grey and was wearing a neat skirt and blouse as suited her age. ...

Mother and daughter hurried up the path and reached the front door just as the rain started. They were glad of this. They had been out together and neither had taken any wet weather gear. It was just before four. The mother’s name was Hilda. She was in her early forties, of firm build, average height and had short, very slightly greying brown hair. She had a square face which often carried a stern expression. Today she was wearing a beige skirt with matching jacket and a white blouse. Black shoes and a quality black leather handbag completed the picture. She wore no hat, another reason to be thankful they had beaten the rain home. ...

Lily had been working as a housemaid for Mrs Berenger for several years now. She knew the world did not like her employer. The entire neighbourhood, business associates and her social milieu all thought Helen Berenger was rude, bad tempered and incapable of saying a soft, kindly word to anyone. Consequently, she had no friends. Lily, however knew her as a good boss who paid well and on time. She was just, honest and not a slave driver. In any employee-employer matter could always be relied on to do the right thing. She did not want a friendly un-businesslike ditherer in charge, she just wanted a good employer. She knew her job with Mrs Berenger was secure as long as she did her work properly and that was all that mattered. Privately, she suspected the lady had had a hard time earlier in life. ...

It was after 4:00 p m on a cool Autumn day in a quiet shady suburban street. A mature woman in her early forties was walking briskly towards a certain address. She wore matching grey jacket and skirt, white blouse, expensive looking black leather gloves and shiny black shoes. Her narrow brimmed hat fitted snugly and she carried a full, polished leather briefcase. She looked like a typical business woman making her way home after a day at the office. Just the impression she wanted to create. The short thick hair which framed her face and looked like a wig (it was) and the heavy tinted glasses she wore also tended to disguise her. All of this was intentional. She was of average height with a full figure which exuded fitness and physical strength. ...

It was early afternoon on a bleak Autumn day and the scene was an unsealed lane that ran along the rear boundaries of a line of cottages in a remote mountain suburb. Dense bush stretched for miles on the other side of this narrow laneway. A woman stood under the low concealing branches of a tree which grew on the side of the lane. She was looking towards the houses opposite. ...

The Informer Part 1 It was a cold wet late winter afternoon in a quiet middle class inner city suburb. Molly was walking back to her home in a narrow, almost deserted street. She was a slim narrow waisted young woman in her late twenties with an attractive face and lustrous black shoulder length hair. She was not of European background like most residents of the locality in which she lived. Instead, she one of the indigenous race that had once inhabited the country before present settlement but were now very few in numbers. Like many of her people she was fit, athletic and very dark complexion. As a rule they were not discriminated against, not in the city anyway. ...

Cicely and Beatrice were two young women in their late twenties who worked in the inner city. Both were computer programmers in the Treasury Finance building which directly adjoined a national government currency depository. Though they had worked here for several years neither had ever been in this very secure inner sanctum right next to their workplace. Cicely was a tall slim, narrow waisted girl with an athletic figure. She had an oval face with a sharp chin, framed by straight brown hair in a neat page boy haircut. ...

Alice Kemp was walking firmly and purposefully along the hallway from her apartment. She was forty two, of average height, still slim and with an athletic carriage. Short fair hair framed a square, not unattractive face. She had been divorced some years back, worked in a minor managerial job and was generally thought to be comfortably off. She had on a neat wool skirt, a white blouse and flat heeled black shoes. Over all this she wore a thick grey winter overcoat which fell to below her knees, was buttoned up to the throat and she had turned up the collar. She looked as if she was going on a long outing in the cold Autumn evening outside. In reality she was only going to a unit on the floor below. ...

(story continues from Visit to a Neighbour) Visit to a Neighbour 2. Alice Kemp was sitting in the lounge of her comfortable, well furnished apartment unit. It was on the first floor of a block in what would be called a good middle class area. She herself was forty two, fit, and still had a slim, somewhat girlish figure. Her square, pleasant face was framed by short, fair hair. She was long divorced, comfortably off and held a reasonably well paying managerial job. This evening she was waiting for a visit from her friend Henry, whom she knew would call at exactly eight pm. ...