The Red Apricot<\/b><\/p>\n
Li watched as a discarded cigarette carton floated past her high in the stream at the bottom of her garden<\/p>\n
As normal her husband was away<\/p>\n
His diary noted that he was at another party conference but she knew that he was probably entertaining another woman<\/p>\n
She had found messages on his phone and revealing photographs on his computer<\/p>\n
The apricot tree was leaning over the old stone wall that separated her house from the street below<\/p>\n
At the height of its season it would drop fruit which was greedily stolen by the poor children of the town<\/p>\n
This did not bother Li as she felt a sorrow for the wretched urchins that hung around the busy streets begging for alms<\/p>\n
Occasionally she would spot a handsome young man and for a moment in her thoughts would hold him in her arms<\/p>\n
How she needed a lover<\/p>\n
But all the men she came into contact with only wanted to exploit her<\/p>\n
They wanted to meet her husband<\/p>\n
She looked at the cigarette carton again which was fast disappearing from view<\/p>\n
How she envied its freedom<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The day was hot and Li decided to bathe<\/p>\n
It was as she dried herself that she saw a young man probably no older than a student in the garden of their near neighbours<\/p>\n
He was trimming the borders of a path with a pair of shears<\/p>\n
As she watched his graceful cat like movements she realised that the young man had spotted her<\/p>\n
She smiled faintly and withdrew from the window<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A week later Li was again in the garden<\/p>\n
She was smoking a Russian cigarette and looking at her bare feet<\/p>\n
It was she was contemplating her long toes that she again became aware that she was being watched<\/p>\n
It was the young man<\/p>\n
He was holding a large net which he was using to retrieve the debris that was clogging the stream which by its geography ran through both gardens<\/p>\n
What are you doing?<\/i><\/p>\n
I am collecting rubbish from this stream<\/i><\/p>\n
An interesting occupation<\/i><\/p>\n
Perhaps<\/i><\/p>\n
Would you please remove your shirt<\/i><\/p>\n
Why?<\/i><\/p>\n
Because I prefer to see you working without a shirt<\/i><\/p>\n
When I spotted you from my wet room window you were not wearing a shirt\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The young man pulled his flimsy cotton shirt from his broad shoulders and hung it casually from a nearby branch<\/p>\n
Happy<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes<\/i><\/p>\n
Are you alone?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes my husband is away<\/i><\/p>\n
He is always away<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you not get bored?<\/i><\/p>\n
Frequently<\/i><\/p>\n
I can work for you as well as the Chens if you wish<\/i><\/p>\n
Perhaps<\/i><\/p>\n
Their garden needs little maintenance<\/i><\/p>\n
I already employ boys to look after my garden<\/i><\/p>\n
Indeed I am expecting one this afternoon<\/i><\/p>\n
Oh<\/i><\/p>\n
But I would be glad if you shook the branches of the apricot tree so the fruit falls into the street as I feel so worried for the poor children<\/i><\/p>\n
I will be free quite soon<\/i><\/p>\n
Then please enter my garden by the small gate which is to your left<\/i><\/p>\n
It will save you crossing the stream<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
As she washed at her decorated enamel sink Li watched the young man as he shook the branches of the apricot tree<\/p>\n
The ripe fruits fell with ease and were soon collected by the desperate children<\/p>\n
She knew that the young man could not see her at the wet room window as he had done before<\/p>\n
But he knew that she was there<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I suppose that you think I am a spider luring you into my bed<\/i><\/p>\n
No when I saw you bathing I knew that you were not just another bored wife<\/i><\/p>\n
You are different<\/i><\/p>\n
Am I?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes<\/i><\/p>\n
Please explain<\/i><\/p>\n
When I first spotted you at the window I knew that you were unaware of me<\/i><\/p>\n
I watched you as you delicately washed your arms and your shoulders and your beautiful breasts<\/i><\/p>\n
When you spotted my gaze you made no attempt to cover yourself<\/i><\/p>\n
You watched me for a while and withdrew slowly<\/i><\/p>\n
I knew that you were different<\/i><\/p>\n
What would you do if my husband walked through that door and caught us naked on this bed?<\/i><\/p>\n
I do not know<\/i><\/p>\n
My husband has many lovers<\/i><\/p>\n
But he does not touch me<\/i><\/p>\n
Once we were passionate<\/i><\/p>\n
But her grew bored of me and wanted other women<\/i><\/p>\n
I am also tired of my husband as he is a corrupt man<\/i><\/p>\n
What would you do if my husband walked through that door and caught us naked on this bed?<\/i><\/p>\n
You have not answered my question<\/i><\/p>\n
I would slay him for treating you so badly<\/i><\/p>\n
How would you kill him?<\/i><\/p>\n
With my bare hands<\/i><\/p>\n
That would be brutal and you would be punished by the authorities<\/i><\/p>\n
You would not see or touch my milk white body again<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0Thoughts of it would torment you in your cell in the hours leading up to your execution<\/i><\/p>\n
Li stood up and walked towards her ornate wardrobe<\/p>\n
She probed a pocket on an elegant suit and pulled out a small brown bottle<\/p>\n
What is that?<\/i><\/p>\n
Poison<\/i><\/p>\n
What poison<\/i><\/p>\n
A very clever poison<\/i><\/p>\n
It kills without trace<\/i><\/p>\n
It is a mask<\/i><\/p>\n
Mask?<\/i><\/p>\n
A very clever poison<\/i><\/p>\n
If I gave it to you now then within an hour you would be dead<\/i><\/p>\n
But your autopsy would show no trace of its invasion<\/i><\/p>\n
It would be supposed that you died of a trauma of the heart<\/i><\/p>\n
And that would be that<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you want me to kill your husband?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes<\/i><\/p>\n
With the poison?<\/i><\/p>\n
With the poison<\/i><\/p>\n
Do you remember the small request I made before you became my lover<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes you asked me to retain a few of the apricots that I was shaking from the tree<\/i><\/p>\n
My husband adores apricots and grows angry when I distribute them to the street children<\/i><\/p>\n
You want me to poison an apricot?<\/i><\/p>\n
Yes<\/i><\/p>\n
Behind me is a hypodermic needle<\/i><\/p>\n
I want you to inject poison into these apricots<\/i><\/p>\n
That is your task nothing more<\/i><\/p>\n
I want you to kill my husband\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
2018<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Red Apricot Li watched as a discarded cigarette carton floated past her high in the stream at the bottom of her garden As normal her husband was away His diary noted that he was at another party conference but she knew that he was probably entertaining another woman She had found messages on his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10567,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10566\/revisions\/10567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}