Welsh Journals

So Jealous My Love A Short Story DAVID MONGER NO, SIR, I don't suppose I was interested in her before Williams Top Shop told me she was a prostitute. Not in those words, mind you, but he'd had a few drinks, and so had I for that matter, and it all seemed to pour out of him because I asked if Myfanwy Evans was good for credit. Myfanwy was good for credit, he assured me, and so were ten others he named. Then he started on those who were not good for credit, and when he came to Rhiannon he stopped a bit, took a deep swig of his pint, and said: 'She's good for credit, though she'll pay in her own way and time. But she's good for a lot else I'll tell you!' I asked what he meant, but all he said at first was that he could name ten men who wouldn't risk giving her a lift in their cars. Not that they, the ten, had had anything to do with her. But plenty had had a lot to do with her, he went on, notably Evans the Milk whose wife had left him years ago because ofRhiannon. No, any man who wanted to keep his reputation had best keep out of Rhiannon's way. None of this made me angry then, of course, not like now. I wasn't interested in her except as a customer who paid on the spot when I took my van round the village. Williams Top Shop got quite drunk that night, I remember, and more and more bawdy. 'Van drivers, lorry drivers, bus drivers, they all stop there,' he said. 'Supposed to be having a cup of tea. But a few have let out what they really get when they are there.' And his fat belly and round face shook as he laughed. Apart from the fun he had about Rhiannon making money behind her husband's back, the only thing I remembered clearly afterwards was the bit about Evans the Milk, because Williams Top Shop went on to say that at least two ofRhiannon's children had been fathered by Evans the Milk, and you had only to look at the youngest to see the split image of Evans the Milk, even though he was now a bit old and worn. Being as I was waiting for a certain person on a business matter I