Birth Day Club Ch. 02

Our timing was perfect and we caught him as he was walking outside to see what the commotion was. Or I should say forty inches of rock hard maple caught him...right across his rib cage that is. He crumpled to the ground spitting blood.

"Who's next?" I asked. None of his drinking buddies seemed too eager to get involved When I saw he was wearing a wedding ring I went nuts and proceeded to wail on his balls with the bat until I was quite certain he would never bother a married woman again. I saved my last couple of swings for his handsome face...his nose popped like a pumpkin the day after Halloween and he was spitting teeth. His eyes didn't look too straight either. He weren't a pretty boy no more.

I laughed like an insane person and taunted, "If I ever see you again, I will kill you."

Sally was hysterical begging me to stop.

"Shut the fuck up whore or you're next."

You know you're in a shit hole dive when no one calls the police to report a man being beaten to death. The gun shots, however, did get attention. They were followed by a blood curdling scream then silence. Bill staggered out with blood spurting out of his shoulder and thigh. Jenny followed a few seconds later, butt naked and drenched in blood. She lunged for her husband but he pushed her away, then collapsed on the concrete balcony. She never stopped babbling "I can explain. It's not like it looks." In retrospect I wish Bill had let her explain how her lover shooting him wasn't like it looked. But I never got the chance because Bill started to scream at her to get her whoring ass out of his way or he would kill her next.

In the confusion someone helped the bastard I had been playing piñata with slither back into whatever swamp he came from. That left one dead fucker and two hysterical whore wives.

I yelled out "Someone call 9-1-1!" then ran up the stairs to help Bill hobble down. I wrapped my arms around him, dragged him into the lounge, then helped him into a booth to wait for the ambulance. He was pounding his fists on the table and kept repeating, "that fucking bitch..."

The bartender brought over some towels and I tried my best to stop the bleeding. The old guy even brought me a cold beer saying, "I think you need this."

The cops arrived about a minute after the paramedics. They told me to get out of the way and laid Bill out on a gurney.

I had so much blood on me that an EMT sat me down in his ambulance to check for wounds.

When he heard I wasn't bleeding one of the cops climbed in and asked what happened. Since almost all of the bar's former patrons fled when they heard sirens I gave my version of reality...which was short on the facts while laying all the blame solely on the bastard with a gun who was fucking Jenny.

The other cop went inside to question the bartender. He was a smart man who said he was too busy serving customers to mind anybody else's business. The two old guys sitting in the corner were so stiff they honestly had no idea anything happened.

Since my victim couldn't be located, and nobody saw anything, John Law had no reason to arrest me. So they told me to drive carefully 'cuz it looked like I'd been drinking.

I went into the lobby and asked the hotel manager if it was OK to leave a couple of cars for the night.

He said, "No problem, she's a guest. Her boyfriend paid for a room for the night." He pointed to my wife.

I clenched my fists as Sally started to rant, "Honest, I didn't go up to the room."

"Shut the fuck up."

I watched as they loaded Bill into an ambulance. "I'll follow you to the hospital."

Jenny also continued to swear on her life she hadn't done anything. They finally sedated her to shut her up. She is one stupid woman. Bill made such a ruckus they loaded her into the second ambulance.

Sally climbed into my car before I could tell her she was on her own.

I waited until we had driven a couple of miles before I spoke, "The first time you went to birthday club I asked about your evening. You spent ten minutes telling me about some kid who shits himself but never mentioned you had been drinking and dancing with men you picked up in the bar. Every month I asked you the same question and every month you lied to me. I talked to your cousin tonight and know the truth." All of the color drained out of Sally's face; tears and mascara ran down her cheeks. .

"Now I want you to think very carefully before your answer this question. Did you think what you did was alright because you came home acting like a randy whore? Was it a big fucking joke humiliating me? Did your boyfriend think it was funny?"

Sally didn't say a word; all she was able to make was a sound not unlike an asthmatic fighting for air.

"Well whore, are you going to answer? I didn't think you would."

We drove in silence the rest of the way. Sally was doubled over with her face buried in her hands. As I was pulling into a parking space she finally spoke, "I know it looks bad but I swear by all that is holy I never had sex with him."

I looked her square in the eyes and said, "It doesn't matter if you fucked him or not, you cheated on our marriage. You disrespected me and that gold band on your finger. Your secret get togethers were every bit as destructive as if you did."

I started to get out of the car but stopped to say one last thing. "You betrayed me with a thousand lies. Our marriage ended the first time you lied about dancing with another man...it just took me six months to catch you. Now all that's left is the paperwork."

I left Sally in the car screaming how sorry she was and begging me to forgive her.

An ER nurse escorted me to the waiting room and promised to let us know as soon as she knew anything. I sat by myself in a corner. A few minutes later Sally showed up and claimed a seat across the room. She never looked in my direction.

Their mother showed up about a half hour later and joined the vigil. She got right in Sally's face, "You're her big sister.. How could you let this happen to her?" Shit like that.

This went on for about five minutes before Mrs. Morris threw her hands up in frustration.

At about two in the morning a doctor in blood stained scrubs came out and announced Bill was out of surgery. All of the bullets had missed vital organs and he was expected to make a full recovery.

"What about my daughter? Is my daughter okay?" Mrs. Morris asked.

"I don't know. She's still in surgery."

Mrs. Morris began to moan, "Why is this happening to us?"

I stood up and bellowed, "I'll tell you why. It's because your daughters are whores. They were fucking men they picked up in a hotel bar...they're whores."

She looked at Sally and asked in a weak voice, "Is this true?"

Sally wiped her face with her sleeve but didn't say a word.

About a half hour later a doctor came out and announced, "Your daughter is out of surgery. She's lost a lot of blood but and we were able to stabilize her. Unfortunately we weren't able to save the baby.

Mr. Morris screamed, "Oh my God! She was pregnant," then fainted dead away.

I saw no reason to stick around and got up to leave..

Sally really pushed her luck, "Could I please have a ride home?"

I looked at her like she had two heads. "You don't want to be alone with me." I turned and walked away.

Epilogue

Sally was fired by the bank first thing Monday morning. They would have done it sooner only she wasn't answering her cell phone. Seems they didn't appreciate having a picture of one of their senior officers on page one of the big city newspaper under a headline that read LOVE TRIANGLES END WITH DEATH

Bill's life settled into a routine the day after the Coroner's Inquest Panel ruled he acted in self defense. Seems the asshole Jenny was fucking had outstanding warrants for attempted murder, assault, and drug running amongst other illegal things. The panel of twelve citizens took less than five minutes to decide a baseball bat in a motivated man's hands is a fair fight against a two time loser with a gun.

Every morning Bill would knock on the door to the spare bedroom before he entered. He would open the curtains then empty Jenny's colostomy bag. Every morning she told him how sorry she was then beg him to say something...anything.

Bill had been there when she woke up in recovery. He looked at her and said, " I married you for better or worse. I will keep my pledge and won't divorce you. But I also will never talk to you again." He walked out of the room ignoring her pleas not to leave. He hadn't uttered a single word to her since he brought her home from the hospital.

Every morning Bill helped her dress for the day then lifted her into her wheelchair. In the kitchen she would find coffee brewing but after that she was on her own until he came home that evening. The house didn't have a wheelchair ramp so she was a prisoner in her house. It had been three weeks and Jenny was having a hard time accepting she would never walk again. One of her fucker's bullets had clipped her spine, paralyzing her from the waist down, when he used her as a shield.

Sally moved into her mother's house; the sheriff's deputy served the divorce papers on her two days later. The next time I would see her would be at my attorney's office. Since we didn't own a house and had no kids our no-fault divorce got fast tracked. Two signatures and our marriage would be over.

Sally came by the apartment the day before our appointment while I was at work and picked up her clothes. When I got home that evening I sat on the bed in front of the empty closet and cried. Then I noticed her laptop on the dresser; a note was taped to it. My password is SorryWife.

Okay, she had my curiosity. I opened the computer. The first thing that caught my eye was a word document titled 'My Confession.'

It began, "Mike, I realize it's too late and I accept all of the responsibility for the divorce but every word is God's honest truth. I skipped the rest of her apology to get to her litany of sins.

It laid out month by month everything she had done during the five birthday clubs. She also itemized every lie she could recall telling me...damn that was a long list. To her credit she didn't attempt to explain or rationalize anything she did but it still hurt like hell. I steeled my nerve and read on.

The next morning I showed up at the attorney's office about ten minutes late...I wanted to be the last one there...make 'em wait.

Sally's eyes were red and puffed up. She carried herself like a broken person. "Hi Mikey."

I nodded an acknowledgement but didn't respond.

One of the lawyers said, "Everyone is here so let's begin. "Do either of you have any questions before you sign?"

We both shook our heads in the negative.

After we both signed the divorce decrees and the notary affixed her seal to each I said I did have a question. "Do you have to file these right away or could you wait a week or so?"

Sally looked confused.

My lawyer responded, "It would be a little irregular but there's no reason we couldn't wait."

"Another question. How would someone go about filing a document like this?"

"They would walk across the street to the courthouse and see the clerk. The fee has already been paid."

I looked at Sally and said, "If my wife doesn't mind, I would like to take them with and hold off for a few days."

Sally bounded out of her chair...her eyes were lit up as she rushed to me.

I held up my hand. "Do you swear every word in your confession is the truth?"

"I swear on our marriage."

"I'm going to do a lot of digging and if I find you weren't 100% honest I'll be the first guy waiting in line when the clerk's office opens."

"l have a lot of questions...and it may be years before I can trust you like I did before. But I'm willing to try."

Sally's war hoop echoed through the building as she threw herself into my arms.

"What changed your mind?"

"My brain was numb after reading your confession. I couldn't sleep so I went for a drive. I stopped behind a rusting hulk of a car at a red light. Slapped in the middle of his bumper was... Don't marry someone you can live with, marry someone you can't live without. I started to cry so hard I had to pull over because that's you.

That was fifteen years ago. We started seeing a marriage counselor the following Monday. The first two or three years were the hardest and I feared Sally was starting to resent me for not trusting her. I would question her about all aspects of her day, who she talked to, where she went for lunch. She did everything she could to be transparent...I had full access to her computer and voice mail. But she never once complained...that made me respect her.

Everything changed when Michael Junior entered the world. He brought us closer than we had ever been. Three years later our second son was born. We named him Robert after Sally's late father.

And framed on our bedroom wall, next to our wedding portrait, is the signed but never filed Petition for Disillusionment of Marriage. Those who forget the past are destined to repeat it.