A short story using the words Electric and Elephant

The funeral of Sir Benjamin Wakefield had taken place at the local church and now the wake was being held in the large drawing room of the family’s large country house.

The murmur of voices and the clinking of glasses could be heard as his widow, Elaine, worked the room talking to each of the 60 or so mourners present, amongst them their four grown children.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, the tension became positively electric. Conversations ceased as people turned to see what had caused the change.

George, the eldest of the four children reacted angrily and went to move, however, his sister, Sarah grabbed his arm. ‘Look’ she hissed ‘Mummy is dealing with it’.

Everyone looked in astonishment at the slender and elegant woman standing in the doorway, ‘The elephant in the room’, ‘the Other Woman’. The woman they all knew about but had never spoken of, had dared to come to their house.

Elaine, moved forward quickly to stand next to the newcomer. Her modulated voice was calm and could be heard clearly across the room. ‘Thank you for accepting my request to come today, Joanna. I just wanted to say, that Benjamin and I had an agreement that he would never leave us, his family, however, I want you to know that it was you who made him happy.’

© 2022 Mary Bishop.