Ellie
S. Thomas
©
Copyright
2011 by Ellie S. Thomas
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The
last month had been a
miserable time and we’d done a fair share of bickering, now
after nose-to-nose verbal combat over some fool thing like curfew
time, or TV viewing, something like that, I decided I’d had
enough.
“I’m
leaving,”
I announced with a flair and flounced out of the room. I made a big
to-do about packing a small bag and calling a cab. Then I muttered
‘don’t worry,’ to the oldest daughter,
‘I
won’t be long’, and I got into the taxi and sped
off.
The
driver dropped me off
at my favorite hairdresser’s and I had a shampoo and set,
then
she put me under a dryer close to the front window. This
couldn’t
have worked better for me because I observed humanity passing to and
fro and before long, saw our own vehicle coming down the street. My
husband drove past on his way to work, so after I paid off the
cosmetologist, I took a second cab back home and went to work.
The
rest of the day passed
much as usual. I did my housework, not worried that he’d
notice
any new cleanliness, (he never DID see what I’d done on any
given day,) so I vacumned and did some faint-hearted dusting. The
only break in the afternoon were several calls from HIM.
I’d
told the
children that we were playing a new game and what they should say
when Dad called. ‘He will ask if I’ve
called’ and
they could truthfully say, ‘no.’ Then he would
admonish
them not to quarrel and to be good and he’d return at
midnight.
This I knew- so they thought this was great fun and they went on with
their day. I knew even the ‘baby’
wouldn’t let on
because if I told her something and said, ‘Now,
don’t
tell anybody,’ it couldn’t be pulled out of her
even with
her fingernails. No, I was safe.
So
they continued to
answer the calls and assure their father that ‘no, no, I
hadn’t
called’ and he went on that he couldn’t believe
such
behavior. Surely I’d call and check on my children. What was
the matter with me? And finally they were abed. I read for awhile and
worked on my knitting until I began to yawn. That’s when I
heard him return and put the car in the garage. I went upstairs and
got in with one of the kids.
My
husband walked around
down below, looking out the windows, opening the ‘fridge, and
finally after several shattering yawns, I heard him go to bed. We all
slept soundly and then another day-
Next
morning the kids
dragged down the stairs and joined their father at the breakfast
table where I heard discussions about who wanted what and ‘I
wonder what SHE is doing, anyway? Then I heard the mower start up.I
knew it was safe to descend below and use the facilities and have my
breakfast so I did all that,
The
kids had fled the
house earlier to start whatever they planned to do so I was free to
work around until the mower was silent, then I went back
upstairs.
This
is the way the next
24 hours went.
He’d
come in and
I’d go up, just managing to evade each other. The children
continued on their own way and after the first 24 hours got too bored
with the situation to do more than yawn when he asked yet again,
‘did
SHE call?’ I was lucky that none of the family, or friends,
called looking for me…and there was nothing right now that
demanded my attention; however things couldn’t continue this
way much longer.
There
was garden produce
coming on that needed attention and school would be starting up soon
and the kids were getting antsy about that so in answer to their
questions ‘Mom, when is this going to stop?’ I
asked for
another 24 hours and then we’d settle things. I
needn’t
have worried, events have a way of taking care of themselves.
By
now, even the most
obtuse male would get the idea that his children were singularly
unworried about their mother’s defection. Why
weren’t
they crying for her and asking when she’d come back? Now he
got suspicious. He lined them up and once again asked the question
‘has she called’? When they answered and one of
them
giggled a bit, the jig was up.
Now
he began to search the
premises and when his abrupt actions brought him up the stairs, there
was no time, and less inclination now, to get away. The lost was
found! I didn’t care, I had proved my point.
The
children acted very
happy for things to settle back in the old routine and I enjoyed a
kindlier treatment for at least a week after ‘I’d
left
home.’
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