Wrong World, Wrong Life by Sue Douglas

7/29/2019 Wrong World, Wrong Life by Sue Douglas

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W r o n g Wo r l d , W r o n g L i f e


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Sue Douglas is a full time author who lives on the west

coast of Scotland. She enjoys watching comedy shows or

listening to rock music when she is not writing. Wrong

World, Wrong Life is her fifth novel and she is currently

working on her seventh.


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S u e D o u g l a s

W r o n g Wo r l d , W r o n g L i f e


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Copyright S u e D o u g l a s

The right of Sue Douglas in to be identified as author of

this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, withoutthe prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this

publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims fordamages.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to

real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is

available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781849632959

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2013)Austin & Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary WharfLondonE14 5LB

Printed & Bound in Great Britain


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Country singer Bobbie Bliss meets Howie Doon, a fellowmusician, at a charity concert and after successfully writing twosongs together, they plan to meet for dinner. The following day,

fate seemingly intervenes and both are involved in an accident.Bobbie regains consciousness in hospital but has no recollectionof what happened during, or for the two days prior to theconcert. When she begins to experience flashbacks she seeks helpfrom her GP rather than prominent psychiatrist Patrick Delaney,but that is when her life takes an unexpected and unbelievableturn. Only too aware of what happened to Bobbie, and why, isself-serving astrologer, Maggie Mai.


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CHAPTER ONE

BOBBIE

Your love was never meant for me, but broken hearts canmend, one day Ill smile again and say, you were my dearest andmy very best friend, Bobbie sang softly but with as much feeling

as she could muster, into the microphone. Her best known songfrom one of her earliest albums, thankfully ended the twentyminute set she had rashly agreed to perform at the always wellattended charity concert, held annually at a disused airfield in theNorfolk countryside, but as she bowed to the whoops andapplause, the semi-permanent pain behind her left eye intensified,despite the adrenaline rush that live performances still gave herafter almost thirty years in the business. Normally she enjoyed

performing at open air concerts, especially when warm sunshinemeant the crowd were in good spirits; wearing T-shirts, shortsand sandals, as opposed to clothing more suitable for deep seafishing, but even the glorious weather had been unable to relieveher headache. From previous experience she knew the organisersof the airfield event always provided excellent facilities and theirsecurity and hospitality were exceptional, but this year she hadheard of no complaints regarding any technical arrangements

either. There was the usual organised chaos between acts, crewsshouting and engineers fiddling with sound or lightingequipment, but so far, no major systems failures, which had to bea first in her many years of experience. In addition, the co-ordinators appeared to have learnt lessons from past concertsand had everything at the venue running smoothly. Havingacknowledged each of the five musicians behind her, a band intheir own right who always played on her albums and tours, she

went on to thank the crowd for their enthusiastic support butuncharacteristically wished she had not agreed to perform asecond set at the evening show. It was entirely her own fault thatshe felt as grim as she did as a result of a bad headache. She


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would have preferred to go home to bed than sing again butknowing some of her fans had travelled huge distances to see herperform, she stoically planned to do so. The show, it was said,

had to go on, but before she did, Bobbie felt the need for food,in addition to a short rest in the fresh air. A quick glance to herleft however, told her to have the short rest before evenattempting to venture into the catering hangar, as even trying tolocate a simple cheese roll and carton of juice would prove nighon impossible in the current battle for refreshments.

Roberta Bliss had always known she would be famous andsuccessful. She began her singing career at the age of six,

entertaining at weddings, festivals or anywhere she found anaudience willing to listen. Her parents had been hippies,travelling around the West Country in a converted coachalongside other free spirited youngsters, and they had encouragedtheir daughter to earn money for the group by performingwhatever type of song customers preferred. The practice hadincreased her repertoire but she finally found fame singingcountry style music with a local band in and around Newlyn onthe south coast of Cornwall. The band had enjoyed a modestamount of success in their home county by the time a sheer flukesaw them appear, albeit very briefly, on a national television showbut when, as a result of that appearance, an agent visited the nextclub they played, they were offered a recording contract,involving travel to all parts of the country and possibly abroad.Though initially keen, the three, slightly older male musicians of

Kernow Kountry Kousins as they were known, had quicklybeen persuaded by their wives or girlfriends to stay local to homeand retain their jobs with the council. Roberta quite understoodthe womens objections to their partners taking the chance tobecome known outside of the county. Even discounting thelikelihood of the men misbehaving while away from home,reasonably paid, full time, secure jobs were scarce in Cornwalland for family men, giving one up for a precarious living in the

world of performing would have been a gamble. Bobbie had noother occupation or anyone to answer to, so she alone signed,gaining not only the vital recording contract but two goodfriends, manager Tim Gaye and record company boss Noel


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Young. She had not looked back; a Cornish female countrysinger was a rarity when she had first begun, so there had beencountless invitations to appear on television shows and she had

sung at a variety of venues. Her live appearances had provedlucrative, though chart success eluded her as country seemedunable to compete with the types of music popular with theyoung, album buying public, but she enjoyed her life on the road,earned a steady income, spent very little and invested wisely. Hercareer and finances steadily improved over the years but herpersonal life stagnated, mainly due to the hours she kept, thetravelling she undertook and her reluctance to embark on casual

relationships. At twenty three, whilst on a rare visit to her auntshome in Cornwall, she had met up with the improbably namedTarquin Merrifield, a man she had known and liked since theirschooldays, fallen for his adult charm and happily dated him forsix months before he announced that he wanted to travel, not tobe tied to one place or woman. Her experience of first love hurther deeply but it provided an abundance of material which sherecorded as a form of therapy. The resultant album, whichincluded the My Very Best Friend track, became her bestsellingcollection, established her as a songwriter and enabled her to buya huge, individually designed bungalow in the Norfolkcountryside. The Brambles had been her first permanent homeand she loved returning to it, whether after a month or just a day,even though she always returned alone. Her friends could notunderstand why she remained single, as it was certainly not by

her own choice, so to give them an answer to their oftenrepeated questions on the subject, she explained how she waschoosy and that her Mr. Right had not yet arrived, adding thatshe would tell them immediately when he did. Her friendsaccepted the statement, believing she was truly difficult to please,whereas Bobbie knew for a fact her dream man would one daystumble into her life and, when he did, she would know himinstantly. Until that time, she had to be patient and never again

make attempts to alter her fate or selfishly amuse herself bydating; it had proved disastrous with Tarquin, unfairly hurtingeveryone concerned.


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Bobbie had the appearance of a wholesome country girl extremely long wavy hair, brown eyes and a figure which wasneither too thin nor too heavy, yet at the time she had expected

to fall in love, genuine romance eluded her. For many monthsshe had harboured a crush on Tims brother, hoping the manwould one day cease asking out the wrong type of women, butwas eventually forced to acknowledge that, unless her managerhad warned his brother not to ask her out unless he seriously feltanything for her, she would have to accept that Ben Gayepreferred fun loving girls who partied all night, rather than thosewho enjoyed quiet nights by the fire. Eventually giving up on the

prospect of imminent romance, Bobbie claimed to both friendsand reporters, that she had settled for having good friends, whichtogether with her passion for music was all she needed. It was alie but while she waited for the man who was literally the man ofher dreams it prevented the endless questions and matchmakingoffers. After all, one day she was going to shock them all.

While still a child, knowing she would be a famous adult andeventually find reciprocated love were not the only visions shehad accepted as future occurrences. Assuming everyone had thesame ability, she had been upset when her parents explainedaway her knowledge as simply wishful thinking, or the highlyimaginative belief of every child, insisting that the only way toachieve fame was by hard work or notoriety. After she hadcorrectly predicted several events concerning friends or familymatters however, her mother had warned her not to talk of what

she saw in the subconscious state everyone experiences prior tofalling asleep. It had been just after her eighth birthday when sheforgot her promise to remain silent about her gift and warned hermother about a policeman taking their Uncle Eddie away. Hermother had initially laughed, reminding Bobbie that Eddie Blisswas a man too honest for his own good so would therefore neverbe arrested, but two days later, as the police hauled her fathersbrother away from the site, along with several cannabis plants he

had been cultivating, Bobbie was the only witness who wasunsurprised by the scene. She had seen it all before in detail,down to the number on the policemans shoulder. As soon as thepolice had left the field, warning they would be back if any


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further reports came in concerning illegal drugs, her motherdragged her by the hair into their converted bus where, with thecurtains drawn, she had been beaten with a wooden coat hanger

across her back and legs until she promised never to mention anyof her dreams again. Each time she had tried to speak she hadbeen struck again, for insolence, for cheek or for ingratitude; hermother threatening to call for the people who took naughtychildren away to a faraway place where they would be locked upfor the rest of their lives. Bobbies back and legs had hurt forweeks and she practically stopped speaking about anything toanyone, but the belief she held of being famous within fifteen

years remained unshakeable, sustaining her with the knowledgethat she would have the final word on the subject. Beingthrashed for attempting to warn people of imminent danger didnot seem fair thanks, but for her own sake she attempted tosuppress her ability to foresee future events for others, especiallyas most seemed dismissive or reluctant to listen. As far as theabuse she suffered at the hands of her parents, there would havebeen little point reporting what, even as a child, she knew to beexcessive punishment. In those days, adults were always believedand as far as the authorities were concerned, hippies simply didnot count as human beings. Her constantly-stoned mother wasalways the one who handed out the beatings but had shecomplained to her slightly more laid-back father, he too wouldhave slapped her for upsetting her mother or drawing attentionto the commune, so she said nothing.

It had been difficult to ignore her premonitions since shehad no control over what happened as she fell asleep but overthe years, the incidents she saw became trivial compared withwhat was happening in her life. A black, battered, guitar with theinitials B.D. painted on the body, a man with his back to her whoshe felt certain she was calling to, a large house with garages toone side, and finding herself standing in a glass building, allregularly featured in her more pleasant dreams, but unusually she

had no idea what they meant. Instead she thought of them as herrecurring flash-forwards; visions of occurrences that would oneday be of considerable significance.


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By her late teens, not having seen any clear indication ofsharing her personal life with anyone special, she breathed a sighof relief on the day she noticed Tim Gaye at a clubs open mic

event, knowing from her earliest dreams that he was the manwho would be a huge influence on her professional life. She hadspotted the unmistakeable Tim, who was to become one of herbest friends, standing at the rear of the hall as she and the bandwalked onto the stage. So, with uncharacteristic singlemindedness, she sang her best songs, regardless of what the bandwanted to play, as she knew she would not be singing with themagain. In her flash-forwards she had always been a solo artist, and

so it had proved to be in reality.Within a short time, Tim had become far more than just her

manager. He advised her well and ensured she had little else toconcern herself with, other than writing or performing her songs,so unlike other celebrities she knew of; Bobbie did not begrudgeTim a penny of the percentage he took from her earnings as hisfee. As far as she was concerned, he had facilitated her escape towhat she saw as her rightful life in the real world. Her excitingcareer progressed exactly as she knew it would and over the yearsshe barely acknowledged the fact that her foresight abilityremained with her. She had sometimes slept for weeks without adream containing anything significant or being in any way relativeto her life, but the tranquil evenings of simply drifting into sleepchanged dramatically during the months prior to the concert.

Having gradually dismissed her visions as dreams, depicting

events anyone could have predicted, she never mentioned themto anyone, even when Tim bought her a Life Chart compiled byMaggie Mai, the local astrologer. The moment she began to readthe chart, her suspicion of having a gift became rekindled and bythe time she had digested the forecast, her belief in the ability shepossessed was completely restored. Maggie wrote, in great detail,of what her life had entailed so far and what would shortlytranspire. In particular, the section of the chart which related to

her childhood had been disturbingly accurate; describing herinnermost thoughts of incidents she had suppressed, not evenmentioning them to them to her best friends. Long before shehad read even halfway through the lengthy Life Chart, she totally


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believed in Maggies capability and fully accepted that her ownwas still with her, no matter how hard she had tried to ignore it.She had suspected for some time that a change in her life was

imminent, but Maggies chart told her exactly the same thing,virtually confirming her suspicions.

In the weeks before the concert she began to experience heronce regular flash-forwards of the battered guitar, turning man,house and glass building once more. The background detailswere exactly the same as they had always been, but far morevivid. In addition, there was also a recurring dream featuring anattractive man in a suit, a man she did not know but who would

have been easy to dismiss as a future business contact had it notbeen for the forecast contained in the Life Chart. Maggie Maihad written, at some length, about how she would shortlyencounter two life-altering complete strangers within a shorttime. The strangers, both men, would be unalike, but each wouldprove to be extremely important to her in some capacity. Aprivate reading and explanation of the Life Chart was alwaysincluded as part of the gift package, but work commitments hadprevented Bobbie seeking Maggie Mais opinion. She planned tocall the charts compiler as soon as she had a few spare days andhoped to arrange a time to visit her, unaware that at her PrioryPark home, Maggie was concerned at not hearing back from theone client she desperately needed to take up the offer of the freein-depth consultation .

One week before the concert, in one of her flash-forward

visions, Bobbie saw a scene she had initially thought was thenormal dream of the broad shouldered, denim-clad, short-hairedman with his back to her, but the dream had continued furtherthan usual and she heard herself calling something to him. Theman instantly reacted to her voice and began to turn back to faceher, but she woke in a cold sweat moments before seeing hisface. The dream had been vivid, but frustratingly, the manremained a stranger to her. She had still not seen his face, an

annoyance she had thought a pity. The same scene had playedout on two further nights, ending in the same place each time,but on the third night, the man appeared, minus the guitar, hisback still towards her, standing in what appeared to be a modern


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hotels impressive glass extension which looked out over a largelawn. The extension was, without a doubt, the glass building shehad been seeing for years in her flash-forwards and therefore it

was quite probable that the man was the man who had alsoappeared. After the fourth evening of being woken by anidentical dream to that she had experienced on the third, she sawnothing more, something which had never happened before.With a sense of foreboding she wondered why the gift she hadtaken for granted had disappeared at that particular time. Itseemed as though there was no longer a future for her to see.

For a couple of days, the lack of visions seemed akin to

losing a sense, but she was forced to admit that not seeing futureoccurrences made life far easier. Many years before, a sixth sensehad told her that Tarquin would be instrumental in her life, butnot in the way she might initially imagine or wish. Her hesitancyconcerning him had meant, despite her feelings for him, that shehad felt unable to admit her ability to him, knowing he wouldridicule her. Tarquin had subsequently left so she had waitedpatiently for the genuine love of her life to appear as promised,but just as fame took time and good things were worth waitingfor, the love of her life, the man of her dreams, seemed in nohurry to appear.

Waving to the crowd while replacing the microphone in itsstand, Bobbie tried to ignore the pounding in her head; sheimaged she looked ghastly on the giant video screen but ten daysof flu, followed by mild food poisoning, had that effect on most

people. Looking grim was only to be expected after a fortnightsuch as she had endured, but thankfully the ailments had notaffected her voice. As always, the crowd had expected her to singMy Very Best Friend, the song she was most well known for. Ithad been the final track on her bestselling album, Bay Bs Nightsin Nashville, an album recorded shortly after touring America, asa support artist for a then successful band which hadsubsequently broken up. My Very Best Friend had later been

used as a popular television programmes theme tune,introducing her to a wider audience so she could hardlycomplain, but having to sing about lost love now depressed herat the best of times; she was getting older and would think


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herself lucky to have had any love to begin with. In addition tothe headache and lack of enthusiasm to sing her once favouritesong, she had also felt nauseous all day, a complaint she blamed

entirely on Tim. Against her better judgement, she had drunk thered wine at her managers birthday party the previous evening.Tim was not a mean person by nature but drank with the soleobjective of becoming intoxicated as quickly as possible and ascheaply as possible. Instead of enjoying a couple of glasses ofpleasant wine, he purchased the highest proof but lowest-pricedplonk he could find at the grottiest of discount supermarkets. Hisselections were unfailingly revolting but he maintained that, after

four or five glasses, no-one knew the difference anyway, so hesaw no point in buying anything expensive. Suggestions ofstarting the party with good wine and then following it with thecheaper type always fell on deaf ears.

Earlier in the day she had spotted a wooden table withbench seats on a grassed area not too far from the performancezone. She made her way towards it, across the dusty runwaytarmac which was suffering from large cracks and rapidly beingreclaimed by weeds. The noise of the crowd behind her slowlylessened as she headed towards the table where she intended tosit quietly in the warmth of the May sunshine, but all she reallywanted to do was go home for a long sleep in her own bed. Itseemed ridiculous that her modern bungalow, with all itscomforts, was only several miles away and yet Tim had insistedon booking her into a local five-star hotel for the night. When

she had protested at the extravagance of staying in a hotel, hepointed out that with her driver, Angie Edmonds, on holiday, itwas simpler and far safer for her to stay close to the airfield.

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Wrong World, Wrong Life by Sue Douglas