Donna Goes To Coventry

Suddenly realising the opportunity I had been handed I went to the closet and retrieved my collection. I chose number 18, always one of my favourites. This guy was good at everything and with a nine inch cock to go with it. Slipping it into the player I lay on the bed. I knew I wouldn't even need a vibrator for this one. I watched the on screen me being stripped, while in the here and now I slowly circled my clit with my finger. After watching this one so many times, I knew how to pace myself to cum when my on screen persona did. He had licked me to two orgasms to start with before pinning my arms above my head and mounting me. That led to another two. The fifth happened after he'd blown all over my breasts then returned to licking me. The last was after he had challenged me. He said that no woman had ever been able to take him in her ass. I thought his skill needed rewarding so accepted the challenge. It was by far the biggest thing I'd ever had in there. It took a good 10 minutes to get him in fully. The combination of the delicious pain and him reaching around to frig me sent me over the edge.

But that was in the past. In the here and now, things weren't happening. I re-started the movie and grabbed my favourite vibe. Still, the on screen me was going into her second orgasm while I wasn't even fully built up for my first. I found myself closing my eyes and thinking of Dave licking me. For all this guy's talents, Dave was still the best cunnilinguist I'd ever met. In fact he was pretty good at everything this guy was except the anal. Anal was for lovers, not husbands. I didn't demand my lovers respect me, just fuck the shit out of me. Every time I thought of Dave my building orgasm lapsed. It briefly rallied when I thought of Dave and I both watching the movie together, but then reality spoiled that as well.

I gave up after a while and just slept. Eventually. The next day I tried again with number 23. The return of Mr nine inches. It was like all the magic powers had been sucked out of the movies. In utter frustration and disgust, I gave up. After a shower I decided to go and visit my mum. She'd always been good to unload on. On the drive over I decided how much to tell her. She was fairly old fashioned, so I knew I would have to be economical with the truth.

What happened was shocking beyond imagination. Dad answered the door and while I greeted him he looked around as if no one was there. Then to my horror he backed inside again and closed the door in my face. Seeing movement out the corner of my eye I turned to see mum looking out the curtains. Tears were streaming down her face. All I could do was stumble back to my car. Slumped over the steering wheel, I not only glimpsed my future, but had a sudden insight into a part of Dave's mind I'd never suspected even existed. I sensed the determination, resolve and courage it must have taken to tell anybody, including my parents.

Desperately I rang my brother, no answer. I tried my sister. She answered but hung up as soon as I said hello. In a town of 5,000 people it should have been impossible to be alone but Dave had managed to make it so. In 24 hours, none of my friends or family had spoken to me and only my mum had looked at me. I returned home and cried myself asleep.

With a brainwave, I awoke Sunday morning. There was somewhere I could go where they had to accept me. I dressed for church. The pastor was greeting people at the door as usual. He pulled me to one side.

"Donna my girl, as painful as it is for me to say this, today you are not welcome. Several parishioners have made it known that if you go into this church, they will leave. I'm sorry but I have to prioritise the needs of the many over the needs of the few. My daughter, please feel free to come back later and I will gladly hear your confession."

With this ultimate humiliation I fled. My memory is blank on what I did for the next few hours but I did go back to church. Father Riley suggested we talk outside the environs of the confessional and we sat on one of the pews. I admitted to the sin of adultery without going into specifics. I was just now starting to glimpse the enormity of my crimes and was having trouble admitting them even to myself. The Reverend Father waited until I clearly wasn't going to add any more before speaking.

"You know my daughter, before you come back to truly confess your sins, you need to complete two tasks. The first is, you must decide to admit all your transgressions. Not only to god but to yourself. The second is you must be truly remorseful. Only then should you seek absolution. I must add that even then I have my doubts. If only a fraction of what I am told is true then you may be grossly guilty of the deadly sin of lust. As you know the deadly sins irretrievably corrupt body and soul and are above my powers of absolution."

Whether or not he kept talking I don't know. When I came to my senses, I was back home. Every way I turned, the enormity of what I had so blithely done, tried to break through my protective delusions. One thing I did know was that if Dave was resolved enough to tell all the people he obviously had, then he wouldn't hesitate for a second dissolving our marriage. With a new resolve I went into damage control mode. I determined to see a lawyer tomorrow. Going on line to get our latest bank balances they seemed too low. Getting the latest statements out of the filing cabinet, I quickly discovered that about half of the money was missing.

Strangely, this discovery that Dave was a step ahead of me triggered not anger, but a grim determination to save my marriage. I couldn't let Dave's stubbornness ruin our children's future happiness. I decided to accept some of the blame for our estrangement and throw myself on his mercy.

The return of Dave

I wouldn't call it a relaxed camping trip but we had managed to have a little fun. On the drive home, I tried to talk John and Kate into being more generous to their mother, but they were both old enough to have very strong views. Giving up, I explained my thought process and found it very cathartic. If their mother showed deep remorse for her actions and the flagrant disrespect she had shown us, I would convince her to seek help. If after treatment, a professional could convince me she had a recognised disorder and equally convince me she was now cured, then I would reluctantly consider forgiving her. After all, I had vowed before god, to support her in sickness and in health. If she was sick then I owed her compassion and not wrath. I for one took vows very seriously.

With some trepidation, but also a faint glimmer of hope, we pulled into the garage and entered the front door. The kids carried their bags straight upstairs past a wild eyed Donna. If I hadn't known her almost half her life I might have walked past in the street without recognising her. She came up and plastered herself against me. I felt very uncomfortable but the only way I could disengage would be to push her like I had on day one. That was unforgivable. After she finished sobbing she spoke.

"I'm so sorry darling. So sorry that you found out."

Completely ignorant of my sudden rigidity, she continued.

"Of course, if you can't handle them, I will stop my trips out of town."

This was so far from what I had hoped for that I was struck dumb and incapable of moving.

"Please come upstairs and we can watch one of the movies, or more if you like. Let me show you that I didn't give one piece of myself emotionally to anyone but you. Then make love to me and show me that we'll be all right...please."

They say that every man has a breaking point and this was mine. The final straw. Roughly pushing Donna away, I turned and fled into the basement fighting the sudden urge for violence that threatened to consume me.

A confused Donna

Dave's reaction staggered me. I'd given it my best shot. After a minute to compose myself I went up to see how the kid's weekend had been. They were behind locked doors and refused to answer my knocking. God no, Dave had got to them as well. I was so frustrated I just wanted to scream. I cried myself to sleep again.

The next morning I was up just in time to see Dave leaving. He had made the kids breakfast and lunches. They were obviously both bolting their breakfasts to get out of there. John had a neutral expression as he ignored my existence. Kate at least had a tear in her eye as she did. She hung back slightly as John left and with pleading eyes, spoke.

"Mum, please go and get help for your illness before it's too late."

"What! What are you talking about? What illness?"

She just shook her head sadly and turned away. That was the last I saw of them that week. I figured they went to stay at Dave's parent's place and I knew I would get no sympathy there.

Following my morning routine I turned on the coffee machine to warm it up. There was a letter propped against it which simply had 'Donna' on the front. I couldn't not open it.

Donna

Up until last night I was prepared to try to save our marriage for the sake of the children and the promise I gave you on our wedding day. Then you revealed that the gulf between my expectations and your state of mind is so wide as to be untraversable.

A successful partnership is based on the tripod stool of love, trust and respect. Damage one of those and the sitter lands on their ass, but sometimes the tripod can be repaired. You destroyed all three legs. You obviously don't love me or you couldn't do what you have done. The opposite of love is hate. You obviously hate me otherwise you couldn't have destroyed me as effectively as you did.

The opposite of respect is contempt. By your actions you have shown your contempt for me, for our family, for our wedding vows and for my health. How I haven't picked up an STD from you is a miracle. It should be impossible to lie to someone you respect. You seem to think I should condone your adultery even to the point of watching your movies with you. You should know me well enough to realise that I believe that any man who enjoys watching his wife with another man cannot possibly retain either the respect of his wife or his self-respect. You further showed your contempt for me by entertaining the idea that you could threaten me with public exposure.

Trust I just won't go into. You are so far removed from the person I thought you were, that I could never trust you again.

Donna, as you know, I am a generous man. Therefore I choose to believe that you are suffering some sort of mental issues. A sane person would have recognised your actions as very wrong and shown some remorse. You haven't. I talked to my lawyer and our doctor about getting you committed or forcibly into treatment, but drew a blank. Therefore I urge you to seek treatment for yourself. Judge yourself, not by your values of today, but by my Donna's values of three years ago.

As you by now no doubt understand, I removed the threat of you exposing me as a serial cuckold by exposing myself. I revealed this to our immediate circle of friends, family and acquaintances and gave them the permission and ammunition the spread the word. The only other weapon you have is the threat of taking our children, house and assets away from me. I will need the house and assets to look after our children when I completely expunge you from our lives to remove them from the threat of your poisonous sickness. To this end I have locked up our finances and you should be served with papers today to remove you from our lives. It is my fervent hope that you remove yourself completely from our lives and only return when you have been cured. At that stage the three of us will judge your recovery with optimism. Please go quietly. You have fucked up your life and my life but there is still hope for John and Kate.

Please understand that I don't take these actions lightly. I was willing to work with you until last night when I had to make a decision. As you know I reduce life to simple tasks. In its simplest form, my job is to feed, shelter and protect my offspring and you in that order. I now find myself in the horrible position of having to protect my children from you and your deranged influence. You will find out over the next week or so that I will stop at nothing to protect them.

Dave

Well, what was all that shit? Of course I still loved, trusted and respected Dave. Why does he think I'm hanging around putting up with all the cold shoulder crap? Wasn't I giving him the space to come out of his funk? It sounded like our marriage was in a little trouble though, but nothing that couldn't be sorted out by him talking to me. I suddenly swung around when I heard a voice behind me yelling, "Snap out of it!" There was no one there. Confused, I wondered why it had sounded like my voice.

I knew I was burying my head in the sand as I busied myself getting ready for work. When I arrived this time, absolutely no one acknowledged me. I emptied my inbox and waited for more work. The other girls were busy and there was a constant stream of work going into their inboxes. Mine remained empty. I tried to get the attention of the next manager that came out with work, but he sailed right past me.

To make a point, I sat there and read the paper. Half way through there was a notice that Reginald Smith would from this day forth, no longer be held responsible for debts incurred by Janet Smith. So Janet's marriage was on the rocks as well for some reason.

When I went into the lunch room to eat my sandwich, everyone else left. This childishness was getting annoying. It was a long boring afternoon. I went straight home at 5PM. True to his word, Dave's process server was waiting for me. With an air of detachment, I read the papers. 24 hours to leave the premises, blah, blah, blah. Sole custody of the children and control of the assets, blah, blah, blah. He did agree to cover all my reasonable expenses especially medical ones. There he goes with that fucking medical shit again. Once again I felt the tug of someone behind me trying to get my attention in a room where I was the only occupant.

I later realised I was incapable of facing reality so I resorted to routine. Realising that it was shopping day I drove to the grocery store. I filled my trolley and hit the checkout. I was third in line so it was a good five minutes before it was my turn to be served. All my stuff was on the belt when the attendant put the 'checkout closed' sign up and walked away. I piled everything back in the trolley and lined up again. Exactly the same thing happened. Leaving my stuff on the belt, I went to the duty manager's station. He ignored every word I said. Angry and embarrassed I stormed out.

Dave was home when I got back. I ranted and raved at him. It was all his fault. He ignored me.

That was enough. I rang the solicitor's office the next day. I explained that they were already representing my husband. The new receptionist told me that because we were a small town then the rules were relaxed so another partner could represent me. There was only one other partner involved in divorces and she would get him to contact me.

I waited by the phone wondering just how generous I would be to David. He certainly didn't deserve much. The phone rang an hour later. After confirming my identity, the lawyer's statement was blunt.

"Lady, because I'm a lawyer, my barge pole is 15 foot long compared with the usual 10 foot. Still I wouldn't touch you with it. Goodbye."

I walked out of work and nobody seemed to care. I wandered around town searching every familiar face I saw for some sign of recognition or empathy. One girl I knew started coming towards me but her friend dragged her away by the arm.

I went into three shops but again it was as if I was a ghost. Without conscious thought I found myself outside THE bar. Desperate for human contact I went in and sat. I shouldn't have been surprised when the barman, who I'd become a good acquaintance of, ignored me.

Finally a guy came and started chatting me up. Obviously an out of towner. Relieved to find someone who obviously thought I actually existed, I started bending his ear. Five minutes in, he offered to buy me a drink. I gratefully accepted. I watched as he went up to the bar. The barman leaned in and talked to him. They spoke for about four minutes, with the traveller glancing often at me. It was so embarrassing. Finally the traveller headed out the door and disappeared. With the end of my last hope, I followed shortly afterwards and walked back into town. Picking up my car, I drove away. I vaguely remember trying to ring my mother but after six rings it rang off before going to messages.

The next thing I knew I am waking in my car. Out the window I saw a rising sun and open green fields. I had no idea where I was but it is obviously a long way from home. The nightmare that roused me came flooding back. I shuddered. In my dream I'd been in bed being hammered by a faceless stranger. It was an extremely un-erotic scene. Around the room stood Dave, my kids, mum and dad, all my friends and co-workers, even one of my managers. They are all shaking their heads in condemnation. One figure finally approached the bed. With shock, I recognised a younger me. She pointed some sort of weapon at my partner and he disappeared. Embarrassed, I closed my legs.

The younger me held out her hand and Dave took it. They both smiled down at me. They looked like the perfect couple, I was jealous. My alter ego spoke.

"Good, now I finally have your attention, listen. There are two possibilities here. The first is that Dave and your children are wrong. That makes your parents, friends, co-workers and everyone else here wrong as well. The other possibility is..."

"That I am wrong," I finished for her. She nodded. As one, the rest of the crowd nodded with her.

With that, the last of my delusions evaporated. I finally saw myself as the others did.

It was not a pretty sight.

"Doctor, I think that was when my insanity began."

"Very good Donna. I am very happy with your progress. There are just a few more tests and if you pass them, I think we can recommend to the board that you be released next month. That will be two months short of three years since you came here."

"Has it really been that long Doctor Mike?"

"Yes Donna, it has. Now Donna, this is as far as we have ever been in your treatment. So tell me, where do you think you would like to live when you return to the outside world?"

"Why I'll move back in with Dave and the kids silly. I bet the house is a mess and the kids are feral. Dave just wouldn't be able to cope without me to organise everything."

The Senior Resident shut his eyes for about six times longer than a normal blink. Why could he never get past this point?

"No Donna, that won't be possible remember."

"Why on earth not Doctor. Dave still loves me doesn't he?"

"Don't you remember Donna? Dave visited a month ago. He brought his new wife with him, Julia, surely you remember that?"

Mike sighed and pressed the intercom button. Shouting over the hysterical screams, he said, "Barney, bring the jacket in please."

He'd had high hopes for the direct approach this time. He really did. What could he try next time?

The end

The challenge I set myself was to write an absolutely loathsome character but still have you feel a little sorry for them. How did I go?

Yes I know Donna went from being remorseful for cheating to, it was all justified and Dave's fault. Some people react to extreme guilt by stupid rationalisation and self-delusion.

My US cultural attaché, Nancy, tells me that citizens of that country won't get the meaning of the phrase 'Sent to Coventry'. The origins of the phrase are lost in the mists of history but the technique is devastating. I've seen it used to good effect. It is a social punishment truly cruel in its usage. The person 'Sent to Coventry' is shunned, ignored, their very existence denied. For humans, who are by their nature social animals, the effects are catastrophic.