.jpg)
Jane, 52, from Wollongong, NSW, shares her true life story;
My husband Bob was a cruel man.
“What do you call this slop?” he’d say if placed a steaming plate of lovingly prepared spagbol in front of him.
He did it in a jokey way that made our daughters laugh.
They had no idea how his cruelty was killing me inside.
He was never physically violent, just controlling and he had a fierce temper.
Then, in his 50’s he developed lung cancer.
I sat by his side as he had his chemo treatments.
“Don’t just sit there looking miserable, woman,” he said.
“You’re making me feel worse.”
I could never win with him.
After a couple of months his condition deteriorated.
One night, as he lay in the hospital bed seemingly unconscious, I leaned over and whispered, “I can’t wait for you to die.”
His eyes shot open and he looked right at me.
“And when I do, I’ll be back to haunt you,” he sneered.
I was so shaken I ran out of the room.
He was a controlling, angry man.
A couple of hours later a nurse called me to say he’d slipped away in his sleep.
I can’t deny all I felt was relief.
I was finally free of him.
Of course, I hid that from our daughters Gabbi, 25, and Kim, 23.
That afternoon, I noticed that our goldfish had died.
Two deaths in one day, I thought.
A week later I went to a pet shop and bought a new fish I called Bubbles.
We had Bob’s funeral and I tried to get on with life.
But I had a run of bad luck.
First, the washing machine and the dishwasher broke on the same day and I had to have them replaced.
Then one of my tires burst on the motorway and I nearly had an accident.
When I burnt my favourite blouse with the iron, I started to wonder if I’d been cursed.
I also noticed that Bubbles, my goldfish, had a habit of swimming up to the side of the fish tank when I walked into the room and staring menacingly.
It gave me the creeps.
One night, I had my friend Tracey over for dinner.
She’s a psychic and I told her about my run of bad luck and how Bubbles stared at me.
“Look he’s doing it now,” I whispered.
She surreptitiously looked over.
“You’re right!” she said.
Then she closed her eyes and felt the energy in the room.
“Let’s go into the kitchen,” she said after a while.
Out of ear shot of Bubbles she told me he was actually Bob reincarnated.
“He’s come back as the goldfish so he can continue to control you,” she said.
It sounded ridiculous but it was just the sort of thing Bob would do, even in death.
Emboldened by several glasses of wine, I fished Bubbles out of the tank and flushed him down the loo.
“Good riddance,” I slurred.
The next day, Kim came around to visit me.
“Hey, what happened to Bubbles?” she said, noticing the empty tank.
I made up some excuse about finding him dead like the last fish.
I don’t want my girls to know that I flushed their dad down the loo! I don’t think they’d understand. But I’m glad I’m finally rid of Bob’s evil spirit.
*Check out the Take 5 Ripper Real Life podcast below for another wacky reincarnation story!
