Surprise Award Ch. 03

We met on that famous Saturday in the parking lot next to the hotel. I usually arrived fifteen or twenty minutes before Helen did, but I had run into some traffic outside of town which slowed me down. We went inside and I got the room key. Once inside, the clothes flew into their respective piles and Helen and I bounded onto the bed. I was pounding into her when I heard the loud bangs on the door. I froze where I was inside of Helen, looking at the door when it exploded inwards. A very upset looking man landed on the destroyed door, then he hurried to stand up. He didn't take his eyes off of us for a moment while he put his shoe back onto his foot, just staring at us. I finally realized where we were and we were naked, so I rolled off Helen and pulled a blanket up to cover us.

"Plan on staying here you lying whore," he finally said to Helen. "I'll have someone bring some clothes over for you. Don't think you are coming back to the house, now or forever."

I started to say something but he cut me off saying, "Don't even think about it, shit paper. Tomorrow when I go to the lawyer to get divorce papers against her, I'm also going to ask for a lawsuit to be filed in District Court against you. You owe me child support for both kids back to when they were born. I'll let the lawyer estimate punitive damages."

I watched him looking around the room and he saw our clothes in a pile on the floor. He walked over and picked up my pants, then he took my wallet out. I watched him take my driver's license and then he dropped the wallet. He picked up Helen's clothes and backed towards the door.

"You can get your license at the check-in counter when you leave," he said. "I broke the door, I'll pay for it. The clerk will photocopy this for me for the lawyer. I need to know where to send the lawsuit. I think I'll send along a copy of our divorce papers also. Since you have a wedding ring on, I'll bet your wife would like to know where you are and what you are doing. What do you think?"

He just grinned at me as I felt sick to my stomach. I jumped out of bed and started pulling my clothes on. I was moving quite a bit faster than Helen was, but then she didn't have any clothes to put on. I didn't care. I ran out of the room and downstairs to the lobby to get my driver's license back from the clerk. He just gave me a big smirk as he handed it over. I ran to the car and drove home as fast as I could.

When I arrived home, Brenda was ready to put supper on the table. I asked her where the kids were and she told me they were at some school friend's apartment. I went to the bathroom, dropped my pants, and cleaned my crotch the best I could with just a wet washcloth. Now I know why it's called a whore bath.

I was really nervous for a couple of days, but when I didn't hear anything from anyone, I started to settle down. Good thing too, because Brenda had taken notice of my nervousness and asked me a couple of times what was going on. I put it off to stress from work.

Then I developed a real big brain fart. 'I haven't heard anything, so nothing is going to come here,' I thought. 'He might not even divorce Helen. If they get back together, I won't have to worry about what if?' Yeah, I know. Really stupid of me to think that. That's why they are called brain farts.

The following week I happened by the house just as the mailman was filling my box. We waved at each other, then he continued his route. I pulled the mail out and was looking through it while walking to the house. What I saw froze me in place. A large envelope I thought to be an advertisement of some kind had a return address of some lawyer in Moorgate. I raced inside to open it. After looking through the paper work, I realized that I was screwed. I was big time hung out to dry.

Everything Marty said he would do, he did. Or rather his lawyer did. A copy of a DNA analysis report confirmed all four kids were mine. After looking at the financial numbers, I realized I would be bankrupt. For the first time since my parents died in that awful murder/suicide, I cried. I mean I bawled like a big baby, huge wails of hurt and pain forcing their way out of my body. I cried for over an hour, wandering around the house I would lose, and finally ended up in my bedroom. I put the papers in my nightstand, then lay back on the bed. I didn't mean to, but I fell asleep.

When I awoke, I smelled dinner cooking. I went into the bathroom and threw cold water on my face, then put drops in my eyes. Putting on a nonchalant smile, I went to the kitchen. Brenda didn't notice a thing.

It was a few weeks later when Brenda and I were both home. The doorbell rang and I heard Brenda answer the door. I heard some talking and then I heard the door close. Feeling a presence, I looked up and saw Brenda standing in the doorway. Her face had lost all color and I saw her hands trembling. I sat up, perplexed at what I saw. Just as I started to ask her what was wrong, she jerked into the room as if she had been jabbed.

That is when I saw Helen for the first time. I started to stand up, but Helen's look stopped me.

"Umm, Brenda … ," I started to say.

Helen pushed Brenda from behind towards the sofa where she turned and sat down. Looking back at Helen, I now saw that she had a gun in her hand. She almost looked like a bag lady. She was wearing a bulky cloth coat. It was unbuttoned and revealed an old dress. She had on a pair of shoes which looked too big on her feet and almost worn out. As accessories, she had on one of those pill box hats from back in the forties complete with a small black veil, and wore an old pair of white dress gloves. She looked almost a hundred years old.

"Helen!" I exclaimed. "For pity's sake, what are you doing with a gun in my home."

"Shut up you weasel unless you are spoken to first. Got it?"

She looked like she was on the edge of a precipice and I didn't want to push her over. Her hand holding the gun trembled, but I didn't know if she was nervous or ready to mentally explode. I just nodded and sat back in the chair. Brenda just sat there with a vacant look on her face, looking back and forth between Helen and me.

After Helen stood there looking at the two of us, she nodded slightly to herself. "Did you get the papers, Charlie?" she asked. She almost sounded normal.

"Yes I did," was my reply. "They came the following week. I'm bankrupt now. Is that what you wanted to know?"

"No, what I wanted to know is how Brenda took the news. Just by looking at her I can tell you didn't tell her anything. You slimy bastard, how could you do this to her. Or us for that matter. Did you tell the kids? No, you didn't. I visited them the other day and they already knew. They don't want to see me again. Ever. I'm going to stand here and wait for you to go get the papers and give them to Brenda. Your loving wife wants to know what the hell is going on here."

She just stood there with the gun pointed at Brenda. I used a wide path to get around her, retrieved the papers, and handed them to Brenda. She looked at the return address and with a hateful glare at me, she opened the envelope and read the top sheet on each packet.

Looking at me with an evil look in her eyes, she asserted, "So, this is what's going on here, Charlie. You slimy, two-timing bastard. You fathered children with this slut and finally got caught. Now you are being sued for back child support and for your part breaking up that marriage." She looked back in the envelope and spotted something else. Pulling it out, she reacted with a gasp. It was a picture of Helen's family taken outdoors somewhere. She stared at it a moment, then turned it for me to look at. It was obvious to both of us that the kids in that photo were mine, even with the DNA report. I was screwed. My body turned back and forth from burning up to icy chills. My mind was in a tormented whirlwind, but I managed to keep looking at Brenda. I really didn't want to look at that gun.

"You sorry excuse for a piece of shit, they also look about the same age as ours. Did you get your jollies from knowing you had two women pregnant at the same time? You and your damned male ego. You can rot in hell for all I care anymore."

Then Helen cleared her throat. Startled, we both looked at her, having forgotten she was in the room.

"How touching," she said. "You look almost as upset as my husband was when he broke down the hotel room door. At least you are wearing your shoes."

Then she looked at me and asked, "Well now Charlie, what are you going to do? Hmmm? Those papers will bankrupt you, Brenda is going to divorce your ass, and none of the kids want to see either of us. I'd say that makes it a pretty depressing day, wouldn't you? Well, I'm tired of being depressed. I lost my job when Marty called the hospital and informed my boss of the unfortunate circumstances. I spent the last forty dollars I had on this gun. Yes, it is loaded. No, I am not that good of a shot, but you would get hurt if you tried anything."

She just stood there, holding a gun on me and Brenda, looking as though she were lost in thought. The hand still trembled and her eyes were unfocused. Brenda moved slightly and tossed the papers onto the coffee table. I could see her pain and suffering, even though she didn't look directly at me. The soft noise the papers made when landing on the coffee table seemed to startle Helen. She reacted with a jerk and only saw Brenda sitting back on the couch. I don't think she aimed, I think she just reacted. The result was the same though as Brenda sank back even deeper into the sofa, a red stain spreading out from her chest where the bullet hit her. I couldn't move. The shock of seeing Brenda shot in my own living room turned me to stone. I looked back at Helen and saw she was pointing the gun in my direction.

"Don't even think about it Charlie," she said in a hollow voice. "She is going to die whether you do anything or not. Face it. She was going to be gone, one way or the other. This way you don't pay alimony." The last was said with a small laugh at the end. "I am going to use your phone. You are going to sit there quietly while I do." Checking over her shoulder first, she backed to the phone stand and picked up the cordless phone. I looked at Brenda. The blood wasn't spreading very fast anymore. I just gripped the arms of the chair and watched as she slowly faded away.

Dialing the phone with the same hand she held it with, Helen called her husband. "Marty, it's Helen. May I come over and talk to you, please? I have some things I need to say."

I could only hear this end of the conversation, but could figure out that he'd said no.

"Wait, please," she cried. "Please, don't hang up. I really need to talk to you."

I sat there while she listened for a long time to Marty screaming at her. He was so loud that I could almost make out what he was saying. While he was talking, Helen started crying and pacing around in the room. She was almost oblivious to me sitting there, but I wasn't going to move an inch.

Finally, she stopped pacing almost next to my chair and then snuffled a bit before she blew her nose. Then she quietly said, "I just wanted you to know that I love you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry for everything that I did. And finally, I wanted to say …… good bye."

I was looking at her and trying to decide whether to try and get the gun when I saw a flash and then everything went black.

Epilog

The dowdy looking lady with the old hat and quaint white gloves came out of the house and went to a car sitting at the curb. She stopped and glanced around the area, then got into the car and drove away. Inside the house in the living room, a woman was slumped on the sofa. The red stain attested to the gunshot wound she had received in the chest.

Sitting in the chair next to her was her dead husband, a bullet hole in his head.

He had obviously shot his wife in an argument over some lawsuit paperwork and divorce papers which were in the middle of the coffee table, covered with blood spatters. Then he had turned the gun on himself and took the coward's way out. The gun was still in his hand, resting on his lap where it had fallen after he had ended his life. At least he was sitting down when he did it.

As the lady drove away, she failed to notice an older car slowly moving up behind her. It pulled to the curb in front of that same house. Four tall, red headed young adults got out and went into the house.

Thanks to Wanderer and Papa Toad for their encouragement and insights. I appreciate all feedback, especially the anonymous ones, as they provide more fodder for my other stories.