This is Madness

Jenny again paused. Tom examined the facts. So far two plus two was equalling ten.

"There's more to the story though isn't there, Jen? Something else happened."

"Yes. Julia told me later that the night before, she and Brent slept through the alarm and rather than sneak out in darkness in the morning, Brent left after daylight. She didn't realise at the time. A neighbour must have seen him and emailed Dave in Iraq. Sometime after Brent and his mate left on the Friday night, he rang her. She was so shattered by what had happened to her, that she didn't even try to deny it. She confessed everything and threw herself on his mercy. They talked for hours and she kept asking him to forgive her. He never did."

Many of the missing pieces of the puzzle, swirling around Tom's head, flew over his shoulder and settled in their correct spaces. He could almost see what the jigsaw picture was now.

"You mean she..."

"Yes, it drove her mad. I keep her medicated, but every now and then I miss the dosage wearing off, or go away and she lives it all again. Finds some guy who she always calls Brent. Some of them can't handle it and run away, but every now and then one puts up with it for the sake of some free pussy. In her mind, he IS Brent. Mid 20s tall and muscular. You saw them Tom, what did they look like?"

"Well, I don't know which one was supposed to be Brent, but they were both shorter than Julia and older. If those were huge cocks, then call me John Holmes."

"Yes, I thought so. Anyway, she replicates the situation with remarkable accuracy, up to the point where she gets an imaginary phone call from Dave. We go to church every Sunday and I don't know what Julia prays for but I pray like fuck that during one of the phone calls, Dave forgives her and she can begin to heal."

Tom contemplated this sad story in silence. There still seemed to be a piece or two missing, He just didn't know where to look for them.

"Why didn't you tell me this before? I could have helped. I certainly wouldn't have gone away and left her alone."

"Look at it from my point of view, Tom. You've known Julia for three months and obviously care for her, but I've been here before. You're not the first boyfriend since this all went south. All the rest I've told too soon, and every one ran away. I was waiting till the time was right.

"Anyway, I thought I had it all under control. I had to go away but I made sure you knew how important her 'vitamins' were. She's become very good at hiding her lovers over the years but I learned to keep an eye on the kid's old rooms. When she starts tidying them up, I watch her like a hawk. It's a kind of litmus paper for her moods.

Further discussion was interrupted by a shriek from the bedroom. Jenny glanced at the clock and sighed.

"Shit, I forgot this part. Stay here, Tom, please."

She jumped up and grabbed another two tranquilisers and a glass of water, before heading to the bedrooms. Tom followed, but stayed out of sight outside the master bedroom. He tried to make sense of the shrieks.

"Jenny, I rang the after-hours number for the school, Beccy and Monty should have been home by now. They said there was no camp. When I called them liars, they told me there was no record of the children even being enrolled."

"Calm down Julia. Here, swallow these."

"Jenny, the school has kidnapped my children."

At that point, the pain in the voice of the woman he loved caused Tom to retreat back to the kitchen and make lots of noise. After about fifteen minutes, Jenny reappeared looking ashen, sat down and gulped the coffee Tom had made.

"Okay, Jen, I accept why you didn't tell me, but why can't you get someone else to look after her while you go away?"

"That's a little more complicated, Tom. If people found out how sick she really is, she would be committed. I can't have that, although it would make my life a hell of a lot easier. I feel I owe it to her."

Tom felt he had all the pieces in place now, except one. It was right in the middle of the face on the jigsaw. He could see it was a male face, in a uniform.

"So, where is Dave? Where are the kids? Did he come back and take off with them? I can guess he never forgave her."

Jenny looked down at the table, as the tears fell in a steady stream down both cheeks. The silence was extremely uncomfortable.

"Dave died, Tom. A couple of days after that phone call, his company was ambushed. He pulled them back, but six of his guys were left behind, wounded. His second in command came and told us all about it when he got back a couple of weeks later. When he saw the enemy soldiers advancing on his wounded, Dave ignored his second in command's advice to call in an artillery strike. Said they were too close to his guys. Before they could stop him, he ran out and put himself between them. By the time the rest of them could follow, Dave was dead. The guy knew Dave's story and figured he wanted to die or didn't have a good enough reason to live. I was here when he told us that. We thought we were alone but I found out later, Rebecca and Monty overheard us. They blamed Julia for their father's death and never forgave her. They ran away to Dave's parents and told them the story. They blamed her as well. That's when Julia had her first breakdown and was in hospital for over a year. The courts granted the grandparents custody and they moved, to stop Julia stalking them. I guess when she has one of her episodes, it's easier to believe they're still away at camp than accept the truth."

A fresh bout of sobbing stopped Jenny from continuing for many minutes. Tom gave her all the time she needed.

"They haven't talked to their mother since then. Her mother is dead now, as is Dave's father. Now his mother is very sick as well."

Another silence. Tom examined his jigsaw. One piece was still missing.

"After Julia got out of hospital, I went with her to Canberra. Dave got some sort of medal. They tacked us onto a bunch of other guys getting theirs."

"What medal was it, Jen?"

"What?"

"What medal did they give Dave?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was holding Julia together and wasn't listening that much. It can't have been that good, though. All the rest were shiny with pretty blue, yellow and white ribbons. Dave's was a dull looking thing with a boring red ribbon. They made a big thing of it being made of recycled bronze from some old cannon, brought back from somewhere in Russia. I dunno."

With a piece of the puzzle still missing, Tom kept digging.

"Didn't the Australian Army pull out of Iraq years ago, Jen?"

"Yes. This all happened in 2004, Tom, twelve years ago. Both Rebecca and Monty are married now and Rebecca has two kids of her own. I still see them occasionally but Julia never has. They still refuse to forgive her. I keep working on them, though. Hopefully, if they forgive her one day, Dave will as well, in one of his phone calls."

Tom tried to imagine twelve years of Groundhog Days and suddenly realised that there were multiple victims here. Including Jenny herself. His mind shied away from thinking about the purgatory both women were suffering.

"Why do you stick with her, Jenny?"

"Because if I didn't she would either be dead from suicide or in an institution within a month. That's no kind of life for her. My conscience couldn't handle that. Not when I caused it all in the first place."

Tom couldn't imagine having a friend who would go to such an extreme. Not even one driven by guilt. There had to be a factor missing. The fact that the distraught, fifty plus year old woman, sitting across from him still couldn't meet his eyes, only confirmed that. With no more questions leaping to mind, he took a different tack.

"Even with your involvement at the start, I still think it's a wonderful thing you're doing. I mean, you've practically put your life on hold for twelve years to look after her. Now that's commitment."

"Yes, well, just as Julia punishes herself for her affair by reliving it in every painful detail over and over again, I think my punishment is to watch her do it."

Again, something struck Tom as odd. Most people, when paid a compliment, look at the one giving the compliment to see how genuine it is. Jenny not once lifted her gaze from the table. There had to be more.

"Still, Jenny, I greatly admire your commitment to your friend. Most people would have salvaged their own life and walked away. Let the mental health system pick up the pieces."

Unbelievably, this extra compliment elicited not a smile of gratitude, but further tears. Tom waited. Eventually.

"I can't, Tom. I owe it to her and Dave."

At this point, Jenny's voice dropped to a barely audible whisper.

"You see, Dave was my brother."

That was the final piece. It flew over Tom's shoulder and slammed into the table, stunning him on the way past. Tom now had the last horrifying detail, and horrifying it truly was. In a daze, he arose and stumbled towards the door. His original mission to retrieve his belongings, forgotten. Jenny jumped up and tried to get between him and the door.

"Please. Tom, won't you stay? If not for Julia's sake, then for mine."

Now it was Tom who couldn't meet the red eyes of the desperate woman.

"I don't know, Jenny. I just don't know. You've given me a hell of a lot to think about. I don't know if I can ever forget what I saw last night. You didn't see her eyes, Jenny. She didn't know who I was."

With that, Tom opened the door and walked away.

Behind the closed door, Jenny threw up her hands in frustration.

"Damn! That didn't work either."

The end.

All right. Hands up all those who thought the author had finally lost the plot. For those that spotted the inconsistencies, her lover being taller and younger than her, yet when they stood together, he only came up to her neck; he was a young man but got out of breath carrying her to the bedroom and said, "Guys my age need time to recover." Not to mention that his name changed from Brent to Michael and that Julia received a phone call on a phone previously thrown against a wall. Well done. For those that actually wrote them down to comment to me how inconsistent the story was; you need treatment. For those that missed them; pay attention in class! Yes, they were all clues that she was severely delusional.

To pre-answer the critics who will say that no one could be that delusional, goggle Anorexia Nervosa. These people look in a mirror and see a fat person, an hour before they die of starvation. That reminds me, I'm about due for my annual Anorexia check. I may choose a different doctor this year, though. Last year when I told the doctor that I thought I was Anorexic because every time I look at myself in the mirror, I see a fat bastard, he couldn't stop laughing.

Sorry, no joke today. I'm too upset. I've just had a letter back from Screwfix. They said they regretted to inform me that they're not actually a dating agency. Back to the drawing board.