The Meter reader

The meal was cooked ok in fact everything seemed ok. However the threat was never far away. Roger chewed on the spicy chicken and he tried to swallow; he drank some water from his tumbler to wash down the food. Stacey smiled from the end of the lounge table. Roger knew this smile and any minute now he knew something would be said,

“Rog why do we sit at this table to eat our dinner? Look at the dinner I did my best but its bloody out of date chicken from Tesco and a few potatoes from the back of the cupboard. Its hardly worth sitting up the table for.  Rog why cant we use the trays and watch the TV?”

Roger slowly shook his head and said,

“Look Stacey you know the situation I’m out of bloody work but we should keep our standards up surely? We’re not dole scum”

Stacey pushed her plate away and said,

“I’ve lost my appetite now. Oh and we didn’t say grace before we started eating the gorgeous out of date food!”

Stacey went to the cupboard and pulled out a stack of unpaid bills and threw them on the table narrowly missing the dinner plates. Stacey carried on her rant,

“Look unpaid credit card bills, and an unpaid council tax bill, Council tax unpaid! they put you in bloody prison I tell you”

Roger stood up and said,

“I’ve paid the council tax I borrowed the money from Tom satisfied”

Stacey replied,

“Oh great you’ve borrowed money from your only friend, nice one, well done Rog”

Stacey picked up a red lined envelope and read out aloud the contents,

“Dear Customer, we have tried to read your Gas meter for 12 months. However our engineers have been unable to enter your property. We have sent a supervisor and I will read from his report ….A male answered the door of the property and refused my entry on health grounds? He further reported his mother was terminally ill and in the lounge….Great your mother died 5 years ago Roger. Your using your dead mother as an excuse to not let the meter reader in?”