Of legends are us.a as a

1990 –
Abbadon Amon; this was the guy who had volunteered me to cut a hedge for a mate of his, a hedge that no one else would look twice at. Ok, it’s easy to throw work around if you’re in that position to do so. Some perception of reality, or knowledge of whatever the job might have involved wouldn’t have been a bad idea to begin with, some knowledge of detail. But get a load of this, this is the easy way – Never mind the bollocks, here’s the guy who’s going to cut your hedge. But I could accept that it had all been offered in the best possible taste, it was after all for my own benefit at the end of the day. So I gracefully, and even impetuously, took on that job.
To be fair to Abbadon Amon, he had faith in me – it appeared, at least when it came to hedge cutting.
Also, Abbadon Amon was a future father in law.
Not bad eh? It’s nice to know that he thought something of me if only to carry out jobs that no one else wanted.
I was in a position of obligation too – in a way, as well. I wasn’t going to turn down that job, wasn’t going to say no was I?
It wasn’t a dead cert that I would do it, granted. Abbadon possibly knew that. He also would possibly have known that in the interest of good relations etc…..

And there was the mates thing too. Abbadon Amon and Pluto Dareios (whose hedge it was), were old buddies.
It may even have been a relatively innocent offer to Pluto Dareios, as the chances of finding a garden worker to sort that particular hedge out, (Pluto Dareios would have known) were pretty slim.
So that’s it then, Abbadon Amon had no interest in what the hedge was like, none whatsoever. Taking that offer from Pluto looked bloody good from Abbadon Amon’s perspective. He was the fixer, the guy with all the contacts. ‘I’ll sort that out for you mate, I know just the person’, I could well imagine. That, or a similar conversation must have cropped up somewhere. There was no way that the hedge in question could be considered normal – as hedges go. And a tradesperson on the rates that I was going to be paid? Even less of a chance.

1989 –
Thankfully for me I had had the savy to quit the existing working relationship thing that involved Abbadon Amon and myself directly, as a building labourer going nowhere. Previously to working with Abbadon Amon and his builders firm, I had jumped ship from the agriculture way and my farming job to being a building labourer for him after the farming had gone quiet, or it was in decline even for those puny farms that I was used to, and I was made surplus to requirement. Actually, it was nice of Abbadon to take me on like that, but it was never going to be a long lasting thing. I was yet to marry one of his daughters so working for him was always and ever only going to be short lived.
As soon as I was able I landed myself a job in the quarry industry so that I would be outside of any control of Abbadon Amon’s.
All of a sudden he didn’t have all the power that he once thought he may have had.
The hedge work therefore was just weekend stuff for me that I could arrange by myself.
I’m sure it had been great holding all the trump cards, So much so that seeing me quitting and going out on my own might even have been seen as a bit of a worry to him.
He was losing control.

1990 –
I went into marriage for the right reasons.
Actually though, did I really? There was no doubting my intentions. On the other hand, Rhoda did come with a solid background. I wouldn’t be the first to have that in the back of my mind. There again, when we started dating she was unknown to me. I wasn’t aware of her background. I could have been swayed by her background in time. Sort of a security thing – and lets face it, that must surely be a contributing factor in zillions of marriages throughout history and modern day. Anyway, it was mutual if I remember rightly that we dated for so long. She hadn’t been forced to stay with me and I couldn’t have done that. That would mean that I would have to hold all the cards surely? which one thing was for sure – I didn’t. In the end, married for better or worse was how I remember it. 
Reality kicks in with a fucking huge wallop when after the first week of marriage the riot act gets read and you wonder what the hell it was all about. For a life long commitment the prospects looked bleak.
Any working at weekends in the future therefore would be a pleasant relief from an unexpected weekend homelife, largely spent by myself whilst the wife was at work. I hadn’t anticipated the missus working night shifts and evening shifts mostly and then me being home alone for most of the time. Not that it bothered me hugely.
I appreciated being given extra work by Abbadon Amon for the weekend. It wasn’t worth complaining about the very fact that it didn’t turn out how it was sold to me. Luckily for me I had folk elsewhere that wanted my garden services at weekends too so I didn’t have to bow to father in law as though it was his offered work only. I had plenty.

1978 – 1990 –
Dating can be such a drag. It can be fantastic – for so long. Nine and a half years dating  is a bad idea. Things just gets to point when you realise that you need to move on.
I’d had a good run with girlfriend relations for so long; this one plus one other before. This one: great to start with, tiresome and boring after a while. I don’t know why I didn’t get out this particular relationship when I had the chance. It would have been easy enough to do so.
A promise on the other hand of better things to come was worth hanging onto.
Now there’s a question that I should have asked myself right there – why did I need promises? Maybe she wasn’t worth the effort. She would have known that. If only I’d asked myself that question.
I myself didn’t need to make such promises, as my way forward was no secret and there was no shame in it either. Stick together and get the best out of life that you can.
As that actually wasn’t my gathered experience is why I was made those promises I guess. If I had known then what I knew now. The possibilities at that time were endless had I known the truth, the real reason, as opposed to being strung along.
I stuck it out for better or worse. I was true to my spoken word. I was also made aware that others weren’t necessarily of the same opinion.

1989 –
But to get there we needed a house to live in. I jacked the self-employed work and got myself a job in the quarry industry. This was to enable myself to secure a mortgage amongst other things.
Now that I was an equal in terms of partnership with Abbadon Amon’s daughter; who shall be known as Rhoda – (Greek for Rose) Acantha (Greek for Thorn.)
And equal being the case, it therefore figures that I should have equal rights to the house we end up living in? or so I thought.
All those years of dating and expenditure were supposed to result in great things. I’d certainly hoped for better to be honest.
Rhoda Acantha had always had a choice, she didn’t have to stick it out with me. I hadn’t forced her to get married and I wasn’t forcing her to stay either.
To think that Rhoda Acantha thought I had a past that was shady and unworthy was unjustified.
I could never work out what it was that drove some people to think they were better than others. Some people just don’t get it.
The house search was going along at a slow pace. Nothing seemed to square up. I had realistic expectations and for Rhoda Acantha those were I think too low.
One evening at Rhoda’s parents’ house I was presented with a document by . Abbadon the future in-laws. Abbadon Amon’s wife produced this piece of paper. She insisted that as this was a legal document it had been drawn up specifically to deal with a sum of money and it was for me to sign on the dotted line in order that the tax was accounted for in whatever capacity it was required to have been sorted. Sort of a loop hole.
Apparently, the money would go to the  both of us as a wedding present, from them. Of course Rhoda signed it too, as she was asked to. But then she did know about this in advance. That much I am sure.
What a generous offer. How could I say no …………………….. hang on a minute. Should I sign this paper? Why not? This is future in-laws we’re dealing with. No need to suspect anything out of kilter. Just sign it and look appreciative. This type of donation was not unheard of I suppose. Does sort of swing the balance of who’s boss I guess. I may be second fiddle after all.
It obviously made sense that we should both sign the paper to keep everything legitimate. I couldn’t say no. I signed the document without reading it because at the time it may have looked like I didn’t trust them. I had to trust them. It would have been mad not to.
Well trust goes both ways I guess. I’m definitely trusting them, they’re trusting me. I had after all just been asked to sign a document to help them avoid a tax issue with some money that they would give us as a wedding present. What’s not to like about this? There was lots of laughing and smiling, and a sizable bit of money was worth smiling about as a part down payment on a house.
For anyone who says you shouldn’t sign anything without reading it first: this was future in-laws I was dealing with. Why would I think there was anything wrong with this deal. I was under the impression that we had a financial bung to help to buy a house; which we did, and as it was gifted to both of us there would be no reason to think that there was anything untoward.
The thing is, trust is one thing, deceit is another.

We soon had a house lined up to buy in double quick succession from signing that paperwork; in the same village as Rhoda Acantha grew up in. It was almost like …. a stitch up? It wasn’t my choice actually. In fact I was outcast from the decision making on whether to choose this house to buy.
Rhoda Acantha made it clear soon afterwards that we live in this house or we don’t get the money. This house being a newly developed house just down the road from her parents.
How convenient.
Time went by and the inevitable happened. I succumbed to Rhoda Acantha’s threats and anger and didn’t have the mental capacity or desire to fight back. I was nobbled by the fact that I had signed a paper that linked us together with the money. I didn’t have any wiggle room at all. The more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion that there was no way out for me.
And also then, if I was such a bad deal for her, why would she want to stay with me? It was only as time went by that I began to realise that maybe she didn’t need or want a way out. She knew what she was capable of in her position of power.
She knew I was a reliable type and we had been good together once upon a time. There wasn’t anything she didn’t know about me and I was good for paying half of everything.
Thinking in depth, it became apparent that whereas she could get away with doing whatever she wanted without worry (or worse still without worry of guilt), I on the other hand was destined to toe the line.

House 31 –
Whilst I was busy titivating the house to live in, working after work, making changes and alterations, I had time to think about the situation. Rhoda was never there, being at work herself. I actually enjoyed all the work that I was getting involved with, but all the time whilst knowing that things weren’t quite right. Then she did turn up one evening.
She proceeded to demand the door keys while cornering me against a wall.
Frankly I was tired of defending myself. Was I that bad that I couldn’t be taken for just who I was. It wasn’t like we just met yesterday. This was ten years in the making.
She brought her knee up and winded me.
She repeated this again so I threw the keys at her. She locked the door behind me as I left.
In time I got the keys back, but by now the damage was done. I’d seen what her interpretation of living together was to look like.
Come 1990 – we were married. Soon after I was already looking into a divorce.
As much as I tried to put best foot forward, and I really, really tried; things were not working out. I struggled on with a misplaced loyalty and refused to be broken, I guess.
I suspected that some type of affair was ongoing where Rhoda Acantha worked,  and had heard whispers to that effect.
I myself didn’t want to be the reason for her not being happy. I thought it fair to talk things through. If having had an affair at work was true then surely she must be pleased with herself. Was it therefore right to string me along like this.
I’d had my fair share of physical violence from this woman. She’d done it all in terms of offend.
I just didn’t feel safe in her company any more.
She’d always had a choice and she still had one then. I wouldn’t stand in her way. I was flexible both ways, either she could seek to terminate this marriage or I could. Or she could make it work like was always my aim. Those were choices that I easily accepted.

1993 –
But far from accepting defeat, there may be another way.
It was a fair enough idea to actually run this problem past Abbadon Amon and his wife, see if anything could be sorted from there. It was a long shot and regardless of the effects, in my mind if I didn’t at least try that method I wouldn’t be able to say to myself that I had genuinely given this marriage a proper go. Their money was involved in a direct way so they may have something to say. I owed it to them. So I arranged a meeting with them one evening in their house whilst Rhoda was working.
Upon confronting them with the problem I decided to let them know that my intentions were being seriously put to the test in the reverse direction that I preferred and that short of going around the bend I would have to seek out some kind of action to rectify Rhoda’s destructive intentions. Something had to be done if the relationship between Rhoda Acantha and myself didn’t improve. Otherwise, just what the fuck was the point of it all.
They admitted that she had a temper, but found it all very funny. The whole meeting was a joke. So I got up and made to leave.
For that meeting they should be grateful. It showed if nothing else that I cared that they were involved and wanted to include them in something, although not sure what.

As I left the room, Abbadon Amon got up directly behind me and intercepted my exit from the living room into the dining room. He was there by my side and asked me not to go as there was something he needed to say to me.
Well, I’ll give him some credit, at least he did remember that he could say something if he chose, even if it was proper nonsense.
I’d explained my options to them. They didn’t care one iota on the face of it.
Now though, as Abbadon Amon barged ahead of me, there was something on his mind.
Out of the blue, Abbadon Amon makes a statement, a statement about the one thing he knew all about – buying people out.
He clearly was of the opinion that money made everything alright.
He said ”Look, she (Rhoda Acantha) will be worth at least £80000 one day.”
That was not unexpected to be honest. Personally I would have thought she may be worth more than that. Anyway, since when did I give the impression that money meant more to me than anything else. Just because I was prepared to work all hours on projects that no one else would touch.
I thought about what he said as I looked at him.
He looked at me whilst I thought about that statement he had just made.
I guess I was supposed to say ‘yeah, alright then.’
But I didn’t.
I knew one thing for sure, he didn’t know me like he thought he did.
His wife was notable in her absence whilst he tried persuade me. She remained back in the living room.

The sum of £80000 is quite a lot of money. He said she would be worth that amount one day. Was he saying that she was going to be a wealthy lady one day with just £80000, or was he inferring something else. Was he also inferring that I came from a background that was infinitely below their level, that I should be swayed by the presence of money belonging to someone else. In the years to come he wouldn’t be able to predict how much money I would be able to earn. For all he knew I may be worth more than her in years to come. In short, he was clutching at straws. She would use any money as a form of power and use it to her advantage over me. Things could get a hell of a lot worse for me.
I couldn’t see one shred of evidence that any money going her way would benefit me.
Here we were talking things over in their house and I couldn’t do this in my own house because quite simply it wasn’t my house. It didn’t feel like my home right now so what sort of a home would it be in the future
Abbadon Amon getting involved left me wondering – why? What particular reason was there for it? There had to be one. It was as good an admission of foul play as I had ever witnessed.

It had been an arranged meeting by myself that would have been questioned by literally anyone; a bizarre concept to reveal what exactly?
But even more bizarrely, it had revealed something.
If Rhoda Acantha and I couldn’t work things out between us, I had no intention of trying to fight over the house even though I had paid my three years of payments into the mortgage. Abbadon Amon wouldn’t have known I wouldn’t fight for it, how could he. Back then the sum of £80000 was worth a lot more than it is now. But in Abbadon Amon’s effort to ease temptation my way, he had failed to include the house that he had left to Rhoda Acantha when she turned 18 years old.
Without all the rest of his and therefore her estate added in, he was short changing me here.

Standing in the dining room next to Abbadon Amon, I considered how I should best translate my answer. For me to get the right understanding across here required me to think very carefully. I was a little out of my comfort zone to be honest; duelling with Rhoda’s parents in their own home As if duelling with Rhoda wasn’t bad enough.
There was no doubt about it, this event had put a different angle on things. At the same time I was trying to work out why Abbadon Amon’s wife wasn’t here in this room too. Why had she left this all to him. I would have valued her opinion, assuming she had one.

My meeting was just about done here.
It was time for me to walk away.
He deserved a reply from me after coming clean (at least in part) and it would be rude not to.
So I replied: “This is not about money, it’s about love”.
With that I turned around and walked out the house.
Yes, I was worried now how Rhoda Acantha would take this when she found out about it. I was genuinely concerned for my own safety.
No, I didn’t give a hoot anymore.