A Tale of Two Sisters

I asked him if I didn't need to collect the USBs and such. He told me there were USBs in the storage units, but the computer he was lending me was tied in to everything already. The content in the USBs was more a back-up than anything.

We talked a little longer. He said he'd be around if I needed him. He warned me not to start snooping around. I said I was surprised at how easy this stuff seemed to be. He laughed at that; he said what we were using was already out of date.

After he laughed he got very serious. He warned me that if what I heard or saw was anything like what he went through I'd be in for a pretty rough time. He warned, no he begged me to not let anything push me too far. He explained it could be really ego threatening. It had been so bad for him that he'd gone into counseling. He warned me that the things I might hear, though they might sound horrific, a lot of times they were lies. Cheating women he said usually wanted to flatter their partner, and I had to remember my wife had probably been lying to herself about everything she was doing. He said she was most likely looking for affection and attention; sex was most likely secondary. He explained that her mind was stashed away in some fantasy world. It wasn't real. He warned me the biggest thing might be what might take place in our bedroom. He warned me that if they were using our bed for sex I'd see and hear it all.

I thanked him. I said I'd see him Tuesday night.

He told me to go home, get a shower, relax, and just try to forget about everything. He said to pretend nothing was wrong. He said not to even look at anything or listen to anything until Saturday at the earliest. We shook hands and I drove over to the Eagles' Nest.

When I got there I realized it was Sunday and Virna only worked week nights. I remembered Marty's mom had told me Virna kept Saturdays and Sundays as her special times for Tammy.

Virna had a funny schedule. All week long she worked at a Title Company. From Marty's mom I heard she only worked the hours when Tammy was in school. Tammy had started all day kindergarten this year. Virna also worked a few nights each week at the tavern. Usually she tended bar, but sometimes she waited tables in the restaurant. The nights she worked the tavern Marty's mom took care of Tammy.

I didn't know the details, no one offered to tell me, and I never asked, but a few years before I came along Virna must have thought she'd found her 'Mr. Right'. From inference I got the impression things never worked out, and he'd run out on her and Tammy. Ever since then she'd more or less sworn off on anyone who had a penis. Considering the men I'd seen her with I doubted if that was true. I only knew of one man she didn't like, and I saw his face every morning when I stood in front of the mirror to shave.

One would have thought since I'd done so much to help her sister that the cow would've tried to at least be a little more civil. Not Virna; she didn't like me. I wished I knew why. I wished I knew what I'd done.

Virna might be a grade 'A' bitch toward me, but she sure loved her kid. I mean her entire demeanor changed whenever she talked about Tammy; the love she had for her kid was a tangible thing.

Well with no one at the tavern to get mad at I didn't bother to get a beer. I thanked the waitress who happened by, left her a small gratuity, got in my car, and went back to our apartment. When I got home Marty was just coming out of the shower. She told me she was tired and planned on going to bed. I wondered what she'd done all day. I wondered who she'd been with.

I wondered a lot. Well I guessed I'd start to find out pretty soon.

++++++++++

The days that followed trudged by slowly. Owen and I were together for classes, but we avoided anything about my wife. Talking football with Owen was out of the question; Owen was a Steelers fan.

Life around the apartment was hellish. I tried to get something going with Marty on Monday, but she found an excuse to get out of the apartment. I worked Tuesday and from work I went straight to class. I was offered some extra time on Wednesday so I took it. I was off from work Thursday, but Marty said she had to work. I drove over to the Walmart twice; the first time her car was there but the second time it wasn't. Thursday night I was back in class. Friday I went in early but got home my usual time. Marty was gone. I normally didn't have to work Saturday's but I lied and told Marty they wanted me. Instead I drove out to Harper's Ferry for a while and walked around. Most of the trees were turning and it was beautiful. Then a little after 3:00 p.m. I drove back close to home. I got out the laptop and started fiddling with the keyboard. I wished I hadn't.

I knew she'd been cheating. I'd known for several weeks, but the thought of her cheating and the actual sights and sounds of her infidelities were two entirely different things. Our bed had been barren, completely dry for at least a month, but I could still pretend. After that Saturday afternoon I couldn't pretend any longer. I couldn't hide anymore.

Owen was right; the sight of my wife in my bed fucking Allen Peterson was devastating. The things I saw weren't especially original or even particularly exciting, but they were absolutely, I mean utterly, destructive. She and Peterson had been together in my bed the Sunday after the party and for a brief time Tuesday night while I was in class.

The sights and sounds of them having sex was no paroxysm of carnal excitement. Everything I saw disgusted me. They looked and sounded like two people in a cheaply made porn movie; a porn movie probably like what they made back in the 1950's. I never heard so many 'oh oh's' and 'ah ah's.' I expected to hear certain things like the 'oh stick it in me,' or the 'oh you're so hot,' and the 'oh you're so good and so big.' I never heard any of that.

What I did hear was actually a lot worse. What I heard that hurt, I mean really hurt came after they fucked each other. What can I say? There was Marty, my Marty, my wife, the woman who'd promised to love me and honor me, and stay faithful to me all the days of our lives, but the things she said to Allen were anything but that.

The things they said that Sunday afternoon; the things he and she said were especially painful. I swear I'll never forget what I saw, but what I heard I know will ring in my ears till the day I die.

They'd just finished another what I considered a pretty tame exhibition of lousy sex. Shit, the bastard wasn't half the man I was. I don't know how big I am, but I'm way bigger than old needle peter Peterson. I bet he needed a pair of tweezers to jerk off with when he was a kid. Old humor yes, grim humor for sure, but that was where I was. They laid there and started to whisper. The sound system Owen had set up was terrific.

Marty lay there with her arms around shithead's shoulders, "God I love you Allen. I really love you."

I heard him whisper back, "I love you too. I'm glad we hooked up."

"Allen I wished now I never married Gary. If I was single we could get together whenever you had a break."

I heard him say, "I'd leave Yvonne, but you know I've got the kid."

The she whispered, "I know honey. Children must always come first."

I watched the son-of-a-bitch kiss her cheek, he said, "I wish you could have my kids."

Then she said, "If I stay with Gary I want all my kids to be yours."

The first time I saw him stuff his shriveled up little pecker in her crotch I knew we were through, but after she said that I knew we were through with venom. I wanted to kill her. To think the woman I thought loved me would not only cut me off for this turd, but to hear her say she was willing to have his kids and let me think they were mine...I almost threw up on that. I didn't though; she wasn't worth the price of the barbecue I'd bought and eaten.

I mean that afternoon they went on and on. She kept going on about she wished I was him and he was me. She talked about how she never knew why she even married me. I had one consolation; he disrespected Yvonne as much as she disrespected me. They filled me with a grim resolve; Yvonne would get a copy of everything I had. I wanted her to clean him out, cut off his balls, and do it in front of God and everybody.

I needed solace. Hey I thought, 'grim resolve'; that was what Yamamoto the old Japanese warlord had said after he found out his country's surprise attack at Pearl Harbor happened before their official declaration of war. I saw that in a movie. OK, these tapes were my Pearl Harbor, but how did World War Two end? Oh yeah, fucking Hiroshima! God damn Marty, the little Catholic girl in her cute little blue school uniforms was going to get her comeuppance. The pretty little bride I married all dressed out in her mom's snow white wedding dress would be tarnished, I mean branded with a huge red letter A for the rest of her life. I'd see to it.

I thought about all the kisses, the hugs, the promises, all the fucking forever and evers! I remembered back about how much shit I got for being a Presbyterian. Oh would the shit hit the fan! Man I was innocent! I couldn't wait to see the looks on her mom and dad's faces. I bet this would really get to that shit bitch sister of hers too.

Scorched earth! When I was finished there wouldn't be a single blade of grass left. I was going to burn the bitch and her whole fucking family right down to the ground! Then I listened to some of the other tapes.

I wended my way through her cell phone conversations, but they didn't reveal much. She talked to her mom usually two or three times a day. She and Allen left each other short messages; usually just high school caliber love talk. Their little comments were stupid, but they still hurt. They were things she used to say to me.

She talked to her dad once. I felt sorry for him; he loved her like all get out. That little conversation made me feel bad for Virna. Their dad had more or less given up on Virna; he'd placed all his daughter chips on Marty. I heard him say two or three times, "You're my first girl now Marty. Don't let me down." I knew what he meant; Virna had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. Virna had let her father down. These were Catholic people; they took things like marriage, having legitimate babies, and fidelity seriously. I wondered if the old man knew or understood how the sly little remarks he made about Virna could be just the kinds of things Marty might use to really hurt her sister. I lost a lot of respect for the man over that.

I felt bad for the old man, but Marty had been doing me wrong, real wrong. Whatever happened, well she had it coming. Her mom and dad; they'd be collateral damage.

The last conversation I seriously listened to occurred in my kitchen. For some reason Virna had taken it upon herself to pay Marty a visit Thursday while I was in school. I guess that explained why Marty and Allen never hooked up that night. The conversation they had was really fucked up.

Virna knew all about her sister and Allen. She'd gone to visit Marty to try to get her to stop. I was completely dumbstruck by what I heard.

Virna told her sister she knew about Allen. At first Marty tried to deny it, but Virna apparently had shown her something. Anyway Virna had her sister dead to rights. The whole conversation was starkly, I mean viscerally, crude and cruel. It was heavily interspersed with comments about Tammy being an illegitimate bastard, Virna a wanton worthless whore, and Marty being an unfaithful lying bitch. But all that aside I got another kind of earful.

They absolutely, I mean totally resented each other. Talk about hate! Virna carped and moaned about having to babysit Marty when they were growing up while all her friends got to go out. Marty bitched and complained about all the times Virna ratted her out to their mom and dad or intercepted her when she had plans. I mean these girls didn't like each other; they never had. They really had it out!

While I listened a few things started to sink in. For one thing Marty never ever really loved me; she loved the idea of Gary the hero, Gary the man who'd rescued her, Gary the stalwart knight who'd slain the college dragons. In short Marty had married a fantasy.

Another thing I discovered was that Marty wasn't this sweet innocent little thing I thought she was the night we rescued her. Marty's big night at the Dungeon where I thought she was about to de deflowered hadn't been the first time Virna had stepped in and stopped something. Marty had been a fickle little bitch. She may not have known the score the night we saved her, but she'd seen and maybe fucked few before.

A third thing I found out about the whole thing was that, while Marty never loved me, Virna probably did. In fact one of the reasons why Marty went after me was to keep me away from Virna. It was the classic, 'the thing doesn't have any value until you find out somebody else values it, then it becomes priceless.'

Some of the things Marty told her sister in the kitchen really hurt. It really reverberated. They must have been sitting down when they were arguing, because every now and then I heard a chair scratch across the floor.

Marty told Virna in no uncertain words how she'd come to feel about me, "Virna you might think Gary is some kind of wonderful. I mean he comes across as this quiet handsome figure, but let me tell you quiet gets pretty boring after a while," she told Virna I was as dull as "a piece of stale toast." For Christ's sake I knew I wasn't Beau Brummel, but I was working and studying so we could have a better life. Shit being tired is just a part of that equation.

I heard Virna defend me, "He's boring. Did you ever think that maybe you're boring? Christ Marty he's around doctors and other professional people all day and all night. He attends college classes. What do you do? You work at the Walmart."

Marty wasn't finished with me, "That's another thing. He's never home. If he's not working he's in school. Damn it Virna I need him with me!"

Virna was at her in my defense again, "Marty he's working and staying in school so he can make something of himself. He wants you have things. You shouldn't be betraying him like you are."

Marty wasn't buying it, "Virna he's never home, and when he is he's tired all the time. When I get home sometimes I'd like a little affection. I'm not betraying him; he's betraying me!"

Virna popped her, "You mean you want to fuck."

"Well yeah," replied Marty, "Why not?"

Virna, "So he comes home. What do you do for him? You ever fix him a nice meal? You ever go down on him? Those house dresses you wear at home; you don't look exactly like Kerri Russell you know."

"Cut the crap Virna. He should be doing me, not me him, and besides his sperm is smelly. We have a microwave. Why should I cook something when he could pop the same thing in that?"

Virna wouldn't retreat. I was kind of proud of her, "All sperm smells. God if anybody knows that you should. And a piece of warmed over Papa John's pizza isn't a home cooked meal; a home cooked meal sends him a message, it tells him you love him and you are thinking about him."

"Yeah well maybe I don't love him, and maybe I don't think about him," that really hurt when she said that.

But Virna held her ground, "You prefer the grease monkey? Let me tell you Allen's not leaving Yvonne. He knocked her up and married her. He doesn't own the garage where he works; that's Yvonne's dad's! Allen's on the gravy train, and now he's got you too."

Marty kept twisting things around while continuing to push in the knife, "Gary's a pussy. He's afraid to get his hands dirty. You ever looked at his hands; he trims his fingernails. You ever know a man who does that? Men work on cars. They keep nice cars. Gary drives a heap of shit, and I've never seen him change the oil. I'm embarrassed every time I got out with him."

"God damn it," replied Virna, "Gary's a nurse! He has to have clean hands. I'll admit he's no hunk, but he's kind of OK handsome, he's not fat. Look at the gut Allen's got. Gary looks good by comparison."

I wondered what 'OK handsome' was. Marty must have gotten up because just then I heard a chair slide across the floor, "Yeah a male nurse. The only men who are nurses are queers."

Virna must have stood up then too because I heard another chair scrape across the floor, "He's no queer Marty. He's a man, but he's stupid because he thinks he loves you."

Then Marty was her cruelest, "You fucked him too haven't you? I know you Virna; you're a fucking whore. That's how you ended up with Tammy, and you the fucking prom queen!"

Prom queen? Virna? I heard Virna start to yell, "I only had sex with one man. I thought I loved him. When he found out about Tammy he split. I've not had sex with another man since, and I certainly wouldn't go behind your back with Gary," then she sounded different and I could tell why, "And Marty please I wish you wouldn't say bad things about my daughter; she's the only really good thing I've got."

Then it was like the whole conversation changed. I heard Marty; she started crying when she said, "I'm sorry Virna I didn't mean what I said about Tammy. I love Tammy."

Then I heard Virna and I knew she was crying too, "Oh Marty you're my sister. I love you so much."

I don't know who moved first, but I think they were holding each other. Virna was crying, and I heard Marty crying too. Marty's whole demeanor had changed, "Oh I'm sorry Virna. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean any of it. I love Tammy. You know I love her. I love you too. You mean so much to me. You know how mom and dad are. You're the only person I have; the only one I can really rely on."

Virna was crying, "You have Gary."

Marty polished me off, "But I don't love Gary. Oh, I guess in a way I love him; I just don't like him. He's different from me; he thinks and he dreams, he says things I don't understand. He talks about things like world affairs and the economy. I don't care about any of that."

That was that. I turned everything off.

++++++++++

I felt terrible. My wife is fucking another guy. I saw it. I watched it on the laptop. In fact I bet I've watched that shit between Marty and Allen ten times. I couldn't get it out of my mind. My wife lying under that other man, his dick in her cunt, her moaning and groaning bucking and thrashing like it was great fun. And now all this...what had I done wrong? Where had I missed the boat?

It occurred to me and now I remembered Virna hadn't been at the Dungeon that night by chance. She knew something was up with Marty. All that was old ground. Virna had kept going on about the 'so called' sorority Marty wanted to join. Every time she did Marty would go 'yeah, yeah, yeah.' Virna kept going back to the fact that it was a phony sorority, and it had never been a part of the real college social life. Virna must have known because more than once Marty reminded her how she'd quit college because she'd gotten knocked up. I'd never known Virna attended college.

My determination to skewer Marty wasn't changed by what I heard Virna and Marty say, but my plan had been deflected. I remembered one comment Marty made when they were in hate mode. I'll remember it for a long time too. She laughed at her sister and said, "We know who got Mr. Right don't we? I won that one."

I put the laptop back in a safe place. I knew I wouldn't need it at least for a while. I'd use the information I had only if I had to, but I'd keep it running too. Of course what Yvonne did with what I gave her was her business, and for sure, Yvonne would get a copy. I owed that to Allen. I sure did!

Then for the first time I cried; I really cried. I didn't cry because I'd lost the love of my life. I never had her. I didn't cry because I was some dumb chuckhole. I most certainly was that, but it didn't matter. I cried because all this time I'd been lying to myself. I thought I had something that never actually existed. I was a fool, a stupid fool.