In this chapter, Steve goes back to basics and makes new intentions for his life. Then he makes a disturbing discovery
Chapter 10
On the way home to make breakfast for the kids, Steve thought about his conversation with Gus about how uptight he had been the previous week and realised that because of his anxiety he had completely forgotten about "thinking what he wanted", intending, and his checking his expectations. He thought about how things seemed to flow and how good things came to him when used these tools. This was in complete contrast to the week he had just endured.
"Right!" He thought. "Back to basics! What do I intend?" And he continued to “intend”.
"I intend to.... I intend to be calm and positive." A good start.
"I intend to....I intend to create a great life." Not bad.
"I intend to be a great person!" Yeah!
"I intend to give my kids the best life I can!" Excellent.
Steve recognised and enjoyed the boost in how he felt created by these feelings. Before he knew it he was pulling into the driveway at Joy's house. Stephanie, Joel and Joy were just getting up as he walked in the door. Steve rustled up some of his "famous" scrambled eggs on toast, which they all ate hungrily. The kids asked where he had been and Steve responded with a half-truth, that, he had been to the park.
The four of them talked about how it might be time for them to return home, as things had seemed to have calmed down. Although Joy had enjoyed having them it was agreed that it was time to return some normality to their lives and so it was decided that on Sunday they would go back to living at home with Steve.
The rest of the day was spent ferrying the kids to their sporting fixtures and catching up on a spot of shopping in preparedness for their return. Saturday night was a farewell dinner of charcoal chicken and chips from one of the local shops followed by some DVDs.
Morning came and the kids and Steve packed up all their belongings and headed home. Joy seemed a bit teary about their departure, but she put on a brave face as she kissed them all goodbye.
As they were about to turn onto the main road that took them the two suburbs to their house, a little red car zoomed past. The hairs stood up on the back of Steve's neck as once again recognised the silhouette of the driver. It was Jenny!
He took a risk and accelerated into a small space in the traffic, which was barley big enough for them to fit.
"No!!!" Screamed Stephanie as cars swerved to miss them, as they made their radical entrance into the traffic.
Blaring of horns followed. But Steve didn't care. He was just focussed on that little red car!
"What are you doing Dad?" Yelled Joel.
"Just be quiet." Ordered Steve.
It was now about six cars in front. Steve could see nothing but the red car. Soon its left hand indicator began to flash.
"What are you doing Dad?" Called Stephanie.
"Just sit there and be quiet!" Retorted Steve in an aggressive tone, which silenced the kids very quickly.
The red car made the left turn, which took it into the estate where Mike lived.
"I've got you this time." Muttered Steve.
He accelerated hard to the corner and flung it sideways, throwing the kids hard against their seatbelts.
"Stop!" They screamed.
This made no impression on Steve. He was a man on a mission!
"Wait till I get my hands on you." Thought Steve. Anger and resentment welling up inside him as images of all the damage Jenny had done filled his mind.
Once again he found himself chasing the little red car in the maze of streets that made up the "new" estate. The tires squealed as he pushed the car round the sweeping bends. The aggressive cornering was paying dividends as he was closing the distance on the red car. The silhouette of Jenny was now quite defined and she seemed oblivious of her husband's pursuit.
They were now coming up to the street where Mike lived. Jenny was now only 50 meters ahead. Steve was surprised to see the car turn into Mike's street. Steve pushed the accelerator as hard as he dared. He was determined he was not going to lose her this time.
He was rapidly approaching the corner. Grimaces of fear were stuck to Joel and Stephanie's faces. He jammed his foot on the brake, forcing the tires to skid. He was just about to flick the car sideways to enter the street when he saw Mike's house, the second house in the street. In the driveway going into the garage was the red car driven by Jenny!
Steve's head exploded with shock. He let the car drift straight on past the corner, straightened the wheels to point down the road and punched the accelerator and sped away from what seemed a terrible discovery.
How could it be? It couldn't be? Could it? Could Jenny really be living with Mike!
Emotions swept over him. It felt live a sledgehammer smashing at his very being. Had both his wife and best friend betrayed him?
"Dad! What are you doing?" Asked Stephanie.
"Dad! Where are we going?" Joined in Joel.
"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know what is I doing." Steve mumbled. "Sorry I thought it was somebody I used to know."
He was amazed that they hadn't picked that it was Jenny in the car and he was even more surprised that they hadn't seen her drive into Mike's house, but at this stage he counted this a blessing. Maybe it was because they were being thrown all over the back seat as the car moved around wildly.
Thanking his good fortune, he continued down the road until it crossed the main road. Here he turned left and headed home, his head spinning at a million miles an hour.
What should he do now? Should he hire a hit man or should he ring the police?
Whilst wild thoughts spun through his head, he slowly made his way home. The kids were quiet in the back. Maybe they were thankful that Steve was back to his normal sedate driving style.
Arriving home, they carried all their belongings back into the house. Then Steve suggested the kids flop in front of the TV for while he made a stiff cup of coffee over which to contemplate his next move. Still overwhelmed by the thought that his wife and his best friend were shacked up together and seemingly had made a number of attempts on his life.
As he sat at the kitchen table, he played with the detective's business card, which he had retrieved from his wallet. Should he ring? What else could he do? What if he went over and knocked on the door? He quickly discounted this, as they had been prepared to kill him, so there was no telling what they might do.
So he rang Detective Jones and was soon detailing what had happened and what he had discovered. Detective Jones listened intently and took Mike's address from Steve and told him to stay at home. He would be in touch.
It seems that Steve had now put some very big wheels in motion.
In this chapter, Steve discovers how to chieve calmness and serenity, and the impact this can have on his life. Also, the fallout from the attempts on his life continue to flow.
Chapter 11
It was all over the Sunday papers and on the TV news. Pictures of Jenny and Mike being led, hands cuffed behind their backs, into waiting police cars. These developments meant a very quick end to Stephanie and Joel's return home as a press scrum had developed outside the house. Steve dropped them back at Joy's around 10Am after taking a circuitous route, to ensure there were no reporters on their tail. Steve had an appointment at the police station at 11-30Am, so he headed for the refuge of the park to get some quiet time.
As he entered the park, it felt natural that he should go to the Japanese Garden where he had last met Gus. The feeling of serenity was powerful as he entered the shrub-lined path of the garden entrance. As he reached the open area, he scanned the area, but he knew innately that Gus was not there. He walked to the edge of the stone garden where a large moss covered rock stood guardian. He found a smooth patch on the rock and planted his ample buttocks, wriggling until he was comfortable. He closed his eyes gently, took a deep breathe and tried to let go of all the turmoil in his life but it was difficult to let go of the anger and anguish he felt after Jenny and Mike’s arrest. It just seemed surreal that such misadventures should swirl through his life a giant tornado, wreaking havoc.
But he persisted and began to focus on his breathing. Gradually the rhythmic in and out flow of his breath calmed his spinning mind and a feeling of calmness and detachment from the hurly burly of life came over is body. Eventually the pain and agony subsided and the feeling of being overwhelmed dissipated and a sense of wellbeing that had disappeared from his life began to fill his body.
Steve had no idea how long he been sitting on the rock when he was stirred from this relaxed state by a familiar and happy voice.
“Hi Steve!”
Steve slowly opened his eyes. It was Gus!
“Hi Gus.” Steve replied.
“Star of the newspapers again, I see.”
“Yes. Unfortunately it appears as though my notoriety is to continue.”
“It must be a blow to find out it was your best friend and wife behind all these disastrous happenings?”
“I can hardly believe it! I was in such turmoil that I decided to come here as an escape.”
“It seems that you have had some success. You seemed very peaceful when I arrived.”
“Yeah it was weird. I was watching my breathing when I just seemed to drift off into a sort of stillness. It wasn’t sleep but a feeling of calm and serenity.”
“That means that you must have achieved a meditative state. It’s very pleasant isn’t it?”
“Amazing! I feel much better. As though can now face this disaster.”
“See! It can help you face things where our normal reaction is “I don’t know what I’m going to do” to “I can handle this”. Can you see what a difference that can make?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can you see the change in your expectation?”
“Sure. My normal expectation is disaster is about to happen and I don’t know how to handle. My new expectation is that I can face things and handle them.”
“Exactly! Can you see what difference that might make?”
“Sure. I’m more likely to be positive and resilient in my approach, which I’ sure means I’m more likely to get a positive result.”
“Spot on! So imagine if you approached everything in your life in this manner. Do you think it would make a difference in your life?”
“No doubt!”
“So as well as a positive approach to problems, if we factored in our old favourite “Think what you want”, do think you would experience a significant improvement in our life’s quality?”
“You’d have to think you could created amazing things.”
“Spot on! So what are you expecting?”
“Hmmm. I think I’m expecting a bit of a struggle with all this stuff with Jenny. You know, with the press and the fact that the kid’s Mum is in jail.”
“Yes it’s a difficult situation, but what if you were expecting the best? I mean what is the best possible outcome you could hope for?”
“Well I think the best would be if it was all resolved quickly with Jenny and Mike get light sentences and me and the kids settling back into the house very quickly with minimal disruption.”
“That’s pretty understanding of you.”
“Well I figure they need to deal with what they’ve done. I just want to move on with my life, because if I wallow in hatred and spite, Jenny and Mike have won in a way. For my kids, and myself from here, I want to create the best possible life.”
“That’s good thinking. So adding to that, what if, “you were expecting the best” in your life, what would it be?”
“Hmmm. If I were expecting the best………..I would expect to be loving, caring and joyful for my Mum and my kids. Then……..great things…… fun, excitement, prosperity…… just really good times.
“Good!”
“Then I would expect fantastic prospects with my work. Yep ……and finally I expect excellent health and wellbeing.”
“You know I think you’re really getting this. You’re focussing how you would want things to be and not how you don’t want it to be and that’s a very big lesson. Most people spend most of their time in a constant state of fear and worry. Then they wonder why difficult things are continually entering their life. I’m sure you would agree this would include you.”
“Yeah absolutely. I was the champion of worry. Money. Work. Everything! You name it. I worried about it.”
“Right! And if you worry you’re creating the exact thing your worrying about. So you can see, the whole concept of “Thinking what you want”, can be truly powerful. As worry is the great negative creator.”
“That’s another “Wow” moment for me.”
“Yep. I think it’s “Wow”! For me too!” Agreed Gus.
“Every time I see you, we seem to get into some very deep stuff.”
“I’m a deep kind of guy!”
Steve chuckled.
“Yes. Deep you are! Now I’d better leave you to your meditation, as I have an appointment with the police.”
“I’m sure that won’t be much fun.”
“No, I’m not looking forward to it all.”
“Well, how about making an intention?’
“Ok. An intention. I intend to…..I intend to be strong and positive.”
“Sounds good. Now you keep well.”
“Thankyou Gus. You keep well too.”
And with that Steve shook Gus’s hand and walked through the passage way of trees into the main park. He followed the path around the lake, where the ducks and swans were going about their daily business, then continued towards the exit and the street where his car was parked.
He arrived at the Police Station at 11-00Am on the dot.
As he entered the building he repeated to himself.
“I intend to be positive and confident.”
He noticed the little burst of energy and poise this gave him.
The officer at the desk took his details before ushering Steve into a waiting room where he sat for about ten minutes before Senior Detective Jones appeared. They shook hands, and then Detective Jones guided him into an interview room located in the bowels of the station. Sitting in the room waiting for them was a rather attractive lady detective who introduced herself as Detective Berry.
The detectives started the tape player and for the next hour bombarded Steve with all sorts of questions about Jenny, Stephanie, Joel and Mike and their relationships and every possible minutiae a of their lives.
Through out the whole process Steve felt strong and although much of it was difficult, especially the betrayal by a woman who he thought loved him, he made it through and was very glad when it was all over.
Once the recorder was turned off, Steve asked the two detectives what was going to happen to Jenny and Mike. They explained that they had both been remanded in custody and at this stage they were still putting a case together, but it was likely they would be charged. Probably, with attempted murder, in the next couple of days. This didn’t necessarily sit well with Steve, but he accepted that this was the likely outcome.
As he made his way to his car, he thought about whether he should go and visit Jenny and Mike to see how they were going, but decided this maybe a smart thing to d, as he was uncertain how he might react. He made a call on is mobile to Joy to tell her he was coming for lunch. As he drove, he wondered how he was going to explain to Joel and Stephanie what was about to happen to their mother and that she was likely to end up in jail.
As he parked the car out the front of Joy’s he said to himself, “I intend to be calm and understanding.”
He then took a deep breath and went inside.
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