SHORT STORY MONDAYWith apologies for violating basic rules about blog length.
The Breaking Point (Part 2)
They talked about the movie and about the kids and about how busy their lives seemed. They didn't talk about birthdays or how frustrated Cassie was that he seemed lost in his own thoughts, not hearing a word she was saying.
After the sitter had gone, they prepared for bed. Although Carl's distractedness at Bridgeman's had bothered her, she chose to overlook it and gave herself to him with a passion she hadn't yielded in ages. He purred, she laughed and they held each other tight.
~~~
The weekend was hectic, as usual. On Saturday, Carl wanted to go fishing but grumpily agreed to finish painting the garage. It was fall and good painting days were numbered. Cassie drove Thad to little League practice, and Lisa to dance lessons, then picked up some groceries, picked up Thad, scrambled home put the groceries away, got the ice cream into the freezer, fixed a quick salad and sandwiches, then rushed to fetch Lisa, returning straight home to remove the shirts from the dryer. Hectic as it was, she was whistling the whole while.
Twice Carl became bothered with her that afternoon for one reason or another, but instead of Cassie reacting with her normal hostility, she overlooked his insults and even managed to project warmth and charm, which she held in check to some degree lest she appear too out of character.
Around four o'clock her sister Val called.
"I'm afraid I'm giving myself away," Cassie confided. "The way he's been acting I'd normally be climbing the walls, but I find myself almost oblivious. I don't know. He's a pain sometimes, but he can be a sweetheart, too."
"Last week you were talking divorce. What's gotten into you."
"I guess this is something I've always wanted... for Carl to care again, to do something special without my begging for it," Cassie said.
"Maybe he just feels guilty about something," Val said. "Men are like that sometimes."
"And women aren't?" Cassie said, laughing. She was not interested in having her bubble burst yet and turned the insinuation into a joke.
Her sister backed off and let Cassie, ever the optimist, cling to her hopes.
Cassie not only had hopes, she had fears, at this moment the largest being that she may have tipped her hand that she knew about the anticipated gift. To compensate, she decided to get stewed about his being late for dinner that night, which he always was anyways. When he came into the kitchen at suppertime, she was standing with her hands on her hips, a convincing outrage scrawled across her face.
One glance told Carl the story. Without a word, he slapped off the radio and stalked redfaced back out to the garage, slamming two doors along the way.
An hour later he returned to the house to say he was going out with some friends.
"Aren't you going to have something to eat?" Cassie said.
"I'll grab a bite somewhere. Don't worry 'bout it."
"I'm not worried about it," she snapped. "Just seems like you should eat something, that's all."
Carl cursed under his breath as he left the room.
~~~
The Sunset Lounge was crowded, but unusually subdued for a Saturday night. At the table where Carl sat with Ben Hinklow and Arnie Barnes, two buddies from work, the subject of women was active in everyone's minds and spilled easily from their mouths.
"Man, has my wife been acting weird the last few days," Carl finally said when his turn came to speak.
"Women can be like that sometimes," Ben agreed. "You can't figure 'em out and it don't matter much whether its ten years or thirty."
"Yeah, but I don't know. Cassie's really weird like she knows something. Know what I mean?" Carl tapped his fingers in a rolling rhythm, his head tilted to the side and lips compressed in a semi-disgusted expression.
"Knows about...?" Arnie asked, cocking his head to one side, not knowing whether Ben knew or not.
"You mean-" Ben knew, but didn't know whether Arnie knew, so he didn't say anything more.
"Oh, I don't know," Carl said, "She's just been acting so bizarre."
"Women are always acting bizarre. What's bizarre about that?" Ben said. "That's what it's like to be a woman. My daughter's hardly fourteen. She's gets weird sometimes, you know. Then the wife says 'It's that time of month,' and you know, that's just what it must be."
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just a little paranoid, I don't know."
Ben and Arnie each nodded indicating they understood. Ben then said, as if required whenever the mystery of Woman was discussed in any measure of solemnity, "Women! Hell, you can't live with 'em-"
As if mandated, Arnie cut him off. "And you can't live without 'em." Carl rose to find a restroom.
"Hey, where ya goin' man?" Ben said, grabbing his arm.
"I'll be right back," said Carl.
On the way back from the restroom he saw a pay phone. After checking his watch to make sure it wasn't too late, he slid his hand down into the pocket of his jeans to find a quarter. Carl picked up the receiver, slid the quarter into the slot, and listened to the clicks, the dial tone and then the rings at the other end of the line, counting them one by one till at last he knew there would be no answer. He hung up and returned to his friends who were in the midst of some heated bickering.
"How late you guys planning to stay?"
"What's your hurry, Carl?"
Carl seated himself as the waitress brought the next pitcher of beer.
Sunday was no better. From Carl's reactions, Cassie could do no right. She didn't like it but wouldn't say anything. He didn't like being unreasonably irritable either, but he also didn't like the idea of being the cause of a bad atmosphere and kept trying to blame Cassie for his bad temper.
Most of the day they managed to avoid having to speak to each other directly. Three children in the house makes that an easier achievement. They both knew intuitively that any effort to begin a discussion would soon be diverted to disagreeably chilly terrain.
The evening proved to be more hopeful. The fear of hostilities having diminished somewhat, they decided to rent a movie so as to keep the need for any real personal communication at a minimum. They did not voice it this way exactly, but they knew each other well enough to know that if one suggested a movie, the other would agree. "Would you like to maybe rent a movie tonight?" Carl said off-handedly.
Thad and Lisa looked up, first to dad and then to mom to see her repsonse.
After exhaling deeply, Cassie took the cue. "Is there anything we'd like to see?"
"Batman!" Thad asserted.
Carl pretended not to hear. "No, you pick something this time," Carl said, speaking directly to his wife. He didn't really care. He simply wanted their discord to go away. "In fact, why don't I do the dishes and you run pick something up."
Cassie paused, amazed, stood up and walked to the counter where she kept her purse. "I'll be back in ten minutes," she said, smiling genuinely.
When she returned, Carl was still a bit sulky, but that hard edge which he had carried all day had softened.
"Do you like musicals?"
"How long have we been married? What did you get?"
"Just kidding. These two wanted to see Honey I Shrunk the Kids."
"I wanted to see Batman." Thad whined.
"Well, Lisa wanted --"
"I don't care, really," Thad said, and they went into the living room. Carl didn't care either.
CONTINUED
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