The Ceiling

The more he thought about it, the more he wondered if he could stick with it. Separate beds or separate rooms or separate lives were much easier solutions. If she wasn't trying, why should he? Was it worth it? Was there any value to trying to make some changes to make him a happier husband? Was he just getting ornery and selfish with his advancing years? Maybe Val should get her way?

Chapter 6 -- George's Rubicon

He was more determined to make a change and was becoming less worried about pissing her off. It seems that somewhere along the way, the rippling waves on the ceiling had finally represented his Rubicon. He had crossed a metaphorical watershed in trying to find a better relationship. This marked a fundamental shift in his attitude. This time he felt like he had to come up with something or he was going to go down trying. Continuing the way they were was slowly poisoning his attitude towards her and could only end in separate something. With the kids gone, there were no other outlets for his affections. Val was it and she seemed obliviously uninterested.

George knew that it would not be an easy change to make. He now recognized that Val's attitude had been surprisingly consistent ever since she cut him off at the start of the fall term all those years ago. It was a deep-seated part of her that something was always more important or higher priority than their physical relationship. Something always had to be done, couldn't be missed, wore her out too much; on and on went the reasons.

While surfing on his favorite story site, George happened on to a series of stories of husbands in the same boat he was.

In one story, the husband character was the major breadwinner like George and had treated his wife like an employee who wasn't meeting the expectations of the job.

"Interesting idea," thought George but Val still did her part around the house except for opting out of taking a turn making meals. Maybe he could work the meals angle into it but it lacked the same punch.

In another story, the husband left town for a while to see if his wife would change. Turns out she was having an affair so that scenario didn't match either.

In a bunch of the stories, the wives were having affairs and the husband was the last to find out. George was pretty sure Val wasn't having an affair. Unless she had been continuously unfaithful since she lost her virginity, she hadn't changed or seemed suddenly distant or any of the other signs the stories suggested pointed to an affair.

It also wasn't the change of life like a couple of the stories had suggested. Val hadn't shown any mood swings or other signs, she'd been like this since college and she was still a bit young for that scenario to play out.

So George was getting no help from the online stories either. He could sympathize with the husband characters in many of the stories but he needed a unique solution because their situation didn't fit well enough with any of the stories.

Still, he didn't want to give up without another try. He still felt he needed to do something, try something, change something, somehow make things better. But what?

An opportunity presented itself from an unlikely source -- work. In their southwestern regional office, a counterpart of his in middle management had a heart attack. The guy was going to be okay but would be on LTD while he recovered.

Part of the reason for the heart attack was dealing with some chronic under achievers and problem staff. Since the company didn't want to hire anyone for such a short term, they tapped dependable old George to fly down, fill in for six months and be the "hired gun" to clean house. His assistant would keep him apprised of the situation in the head office and he would oversee both units from the southwestern office.

George thought "why not?" They offered a nice fat temporary relocation bonus and a generous housing and travel allowance. He didn't have to tell Val he could fly home every two weeks on the company, that she could visit him once a month on the company. He could just tell her that he was posted for six months and he'd be back as often as he could. The germ of a plan started to form in his mind. He also knew that if it backfired, six months without sex would be pretty much normal anyway.

George broke the news to Val that evening, over his latest dinner creation "Pot Roast ala George". She took it hard.

"What am I going to do for six months here alone?"

"Who's going to look after the pool and all the other stuff around here?"

"At least she noticed that I did stuff," he thought.

"I don't know dear, perhaps you can hire a pool company and a lawn service or perhaps you can look after it yourself. I'll teach you, it isn't very hard. The company will pay my living expenses down there but they won't cover any extra expenses for this house so there won't be any extra money for those kind of luxuries."

"Well that's crap. How am I supposed to live here if you're gone? How am I supposed to do everything around the house? Why do I have to make all the sacrifices?"

"Uh, honey, I am going to be living out of a motel room for six months with no friends or social life and having to fire at least six people to boot. You aren't the only one affected by this."

"Oh don't honey me. That is a load of crap. You'll have a maid cleaning your room, people doing your laundry, a restaurant to eat in and all you have to do is walk a few people out the door. That is like a six-month vacation. I have to do all the hard work."

"Yes dear. I'm sorry, it will be much harder on you than on me. I don't think I should turn down this assignment though. At my age, finding a new job is not very easy to do and we need my pension benefits to factor into our retirement plans."

George figured he had better diffuse the situation right now so he could turn it to his advantage later. He hoped that if she saw he was contrite and taking her concerns very seriously, the lesson would be even sweeter to administer down the road.

"Oh alright. I guess I can put up with it for six months. But damn the expense. You have to figure out a way to handle all the extra expenses here. I'm not doing any maintenance around this place. Make sure you make me a list of everything that needs to be done so I can hire someone to do it all."

"I don't know about that dear, we're still paying college tuition and living expenses for another year after this one. I'm afraid things will be much too tight if you hire too many people. How about I check with Brad next door about mowing the lawn, he should be old enough to handle the lawnmower now, and I'll show you how to do the basics on the pool. You can call the pool service once a month to do the big cleaning job."

"What? Me clean the pool? This is going to be the worst six months of my life."

"Bingo" thought George and you don't know the half of it yet he gloated as his plan gradually took shape.

George's departure date was fast approaching. He made arrangements with Brad, who had just turned 14, to cut their lawn for the growing season while he was away. He had a quiet word with Brad and his father, Mark, to add some extra details to the arrangement in case he needed them. Similarly, he arranged for the pool company to come by once a month to do the big cleaning on the pool and personally talked the to boss to add some extra details to that arrangement as well. He showed Val how to check and add the various chemicals that kept the pool sparkling. He made a list of the steps and left it with her. He also went through all the details about the trash and recycle pickups with her and what should go out for each type of collection. He quietly noted the mileage on the vehicles and worked out when the next oil change was needed for her car.

His first week in the southwestern office was uneventful. He began the process of documenting the poor performance of the individuals he was supposed to fire and he called Val from his cell phone on the way to a business lunch.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hi honey"

"Oh George, it's about time. The pool is so much work I can't keep up with it. I'm so tired when I get home from work it is all I can do to order some takeout. I forgot to do the chemicals twice already and it is starting to turn green. You left me with too much crap to do, it isn't fair."

"But honey, it is only the first week. You need to find a system to get everything done or you'll be swamped. Do you really need to get in to work so early and stay so late? Do all the other admin assistants do that?"

"Of course I need to be there George. It doesn't matter what the other admins do, my boss needs the help and I'm the only one that can do it. I can't cut corners in my job George. I have to be there as long as I am needed."

"Okay honey. You do what you need to. Try to take care of yourself. Gotta go, we're at the restaurant now. This is a very important business lunch and I need to be on my game. Don't forget to look after the pool. Luv ya. Bye now."

With that he hung up leaving Val glaring at the phone in her hand.

The next day Val called his cell phone. He looked at the call display and let it go to voice mail. Already starting into his plan to let her stew a bit and bring things slowly around to his terms. In reality, he was sitting in the sports bar sipping a beer and watching the ball game on TV. It was a rare event at home but here he was enjoying the opportunity to do nothing and actually watch a game.

He checked the message two days later. Val was talking about the pool and the amount of chemicals and how did he expect her to figure out all the different things that could be wrong. Apparently the pool was seriously turning green and he quietly chuckled to himself.

He called her again, this time from the fifth tee at a very nice golf course. On his first weekend off, some of the guys in the office had invited him to play a round. He had bought new clubs with his housing and expense allowance and was very much enjoying how much his game had improved.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey. I just got your message, we've been in meetings endlessly. What's wrong with the pool?"

"Oh George," she sobbed. "I can't take this. There's too much work. The pool turned green but Brad helped me lift the big jug of liquid chlorine and we shocked it to get the water to clear."

"That's great honey. I knew you could do it. Oh, crap. I gotta run, the meeting is about to start. Luv ya, bye."

Again, Val was left glaring blankly at the phone in her hand.

As the days unfolded, George continued the pattern. He always returned Val's calls but a day or two later and always apparently in a hurry to the next meeting or deadline.

After three weeks of this had gone by, he decided to change the strategy slightly.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey, it's me. I think I can get away this coming weekend to get home for a couple of days."

"George, that's great. There's so much to do around here, it will be great to have someone to do it. When are you flying in?"

"I'll try to catch a flight Friday that gets in around 7:00 pm and leave Sunday evening. Can you pick me up at the airport?"

"No, George you know I can't get out of work at seven. You'll have to catch a shuttle or taxi home."

"Well okay honey. I'll see what I can do. Gotta go. Luv ya, bye."

Of course when Friday rolled around, George called home and left a message that he wouldn't be coming home that weekend something had come up. As he predicted, around 8:00 pm local time, Val called him. He let the call go to voice mail and played it back later.

Her desperate shriek came down the line, unadorned by the digital recording.

"George how could you do this to me. There is so much stuff to do around here, you've got to come home to do it. I missed the trash day and the garbage is stinking up the garage. The pool is going green again and Brad blew all the grass clippings into the pool to boot. The pool company has me on a waiting list, everyone has been having trouble with their pools in the heat wave. The place is going to pieces, you have to come home and fix everything. You can't leave me in this place like this. I'm a laughing stock with the neighbors."

The following week he booked his flight home and the taxi dropped him off moments before Val got home.

She walked in and stopped dead in her tracks seeing him there. Her outfit was a little more eye catching than usual with a fair bit of cleavage on display and a decent bit of leg showing in the slit of her skirt. She absently tugged the lapels of her business jacket tighter and accosted George.

"What are you doing here? When did you get in?"

"Hi honey, glad to see you too."

"Never mind that, did you fix the pool yet? The damn thing is all green. What are we having for supper?"

"I just got in the door too honey and I haven't had a chance to work on anything. It was a long flight and I'm tired. I'm going to put my feet up, just make twice as much food as you were going to and I'll have whatever you're having."

"What? You can't sit down, there's too much to do. I'll call for takeout while you look after the pool. Hurry now, it's getting dark and you won't be able to see how bad it is."

George reluctantly got up, went upstairs, changed and went and saw to the pool. With a heavy shock and topping up the various chemicals she must have missed he knew it would be clear in the morning.

The delivery boy arrived just as he got back in to the kitchen. Val yelled down at him, "George pay for the food and set the table, I'll be down in a moment."

George did as requested and put the Thai takeout on the table. When Val came down, she was obviously peeved about the presentation. "Why didn't you put it in dishes. It looks so tacky when the cardboard and foil containers are on the table."

"We don't need to make extra dishes. This is fine. Let's eat, I'm starved."

"No, you must put the food in normal dishes. What if someone comes over?"

"Oh for heavens sake, Val. Relax. It'll do."

After supper and after he had cleared the mess and loaded the dishwasher, he looked in on Val in the living room. She was immersed in her latest reality muck.

"Honey, did you remember to get the oil in your car changed?"

"What? That's your job. You're supposed to do that."

"I can't when I'm out of town honey. You need to look after it or your car will die on you. Just take it to a quick lube place on your way to or from work."

"I don't have time George. That's your job. Why don't you do it while you're home. Anyway, I'm going to bed."

"Good idea honey. I think I'll join you. I'm tired from my long flight."

"Don't get any ideas mister. I know what you're after. I'm too tired and stressed from all of the stuff you've dumped on me. I'm not in the mood. Oh, by the way, did you take care of the garbage smell yet. The garage is nasty."

"I haven't had a chance yet, I've just finished doing the dishes."

"Well don't forget in the morning. It really is smelling nasty."

That had gone pretty much the way George had expected. If anything she was worse since he was gone. Her attitude was enhanced by her sense of martyrdom at having to endure such indignities as pool chemicals and perhaps even cooking supper. Time to move to the next step.

He went up to the guest room and crawled in to bed. Soon he was dead to the world, having become accustomed to sleeping alone and not having to listen to her snore.

In the morning, George was up well before Val and quickly cleaned and checked the pool which was by now sparkling again. He re-bagged the trash and took it to the landfill site and was sitting in the kitchen sipping coffee when she finally stumbled down the stairs around ten am.

"How come you're sitting here. The pool needs doing, the trash stinks and there's probably a bunch of other things that need doing."

"Already done. Oh and you're welcome for the coffee dear."

Without another word, Val shuffled over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup.

"What do you want to do today honey? I'm here for barely two full days. Surely there's something you want to do?"

"Yeah, I want to go to the mall and get some more outfits for work. My boss likes me to look nice when he hosts meetings and my clothes are getting dated. Last year's styles are so last year."

"Okay honey. I don't really want to trek around the mall so you enjoy yourself. I'll see you when you get home."

"Alright. You can cook me dinner. I'll be tired after a hard day of shopping."

As soon as Val left, George grabbed the bag he had already repacked and hopped in to the waiting taxi for the trip to the airport.

He left behind a note on the kitchen table. "Sorry honey. Got called back. Something urgent with personnel came up and I had to fly out today. Luv ya, bye"

He left his cell turned off and that night there was the expected ranting message about no supper when she was so tired from shopping.

Chapter 7 -- Val's Descent

George continued this pattern for another two months. By now he was halfway through the assignment and Val was more and more demanding about when he would be home and when he would get all his work at home done.

After another one of these recorded rants, he decided he would pick up on the next call. Fortunately, he was in his hotel room when she called.

"Hello?"

"George where have you been? The pool guys finally came and did a bit of stuff and left. The pool is still green. Young Brad and his family are away on vacation and the lawn is overgrown. On top of that my car started making funny ticking noises, it is really annoying."

"Well Val. I've been here working so I could keep my job and the nice pension we'll need after I retire. Why aren't you dealing with this stuff? I can't very well do it from here. You need to take your car in for an oil change. The ticking means the oil is getting low or dirty."

"You know perfectly well why not, George. It is your job to do this stuff. There's no reason I should have to look after it."

George decided it was time to push back - hard.

"Val, the last time I visited you weren't even glad to see me. You blasted me about the work and you didn't let me put my feet up. I am working very hard here doing a lot of stressful house cleaning in personnel and I was looking forward to some time with you. I was also looking forward to a little marital fun but you made it perfectly clear that wasn't happening. I want to know why you think you can expect me to do everything and provide nothing in return. Marriage is supposed to be a partnership. You've never been my partner, you're more like my boss. You demand everything and do nothing in return. You take and take and take. Well I've had enough. I'm not coming home until you tell me how much you love me, how much you miss me, how happy you are to see me and how much fun we will have together. I am not cooking another meal for you, cleaning the pool for you, taking out the trash for you or any of the other things you so selfishly demand until you show me some respect. I want to enjoy sharing physical pleasure with my wife the next time I see her, not hearing how much work she has lined up for me. Until then Val, I don't think I want to come home."

"GEORGE. HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS CRAP. YOU HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES HERE. HOW DARE YOU DEMAND SEX? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO?"

In a calm voice George replied "I'm sorry you feel that way dear. I don't really want to be yelled at so when you're ready to talk with me in a civil manner like a wife to her husband, give me a call. In the meantime, I've got a personnel report to write. Goodbye."

George hung up and Val ranted down the dead phone line. He didn't expect to hear from her so soon but a couple of days later his cell phone rang. He thought he could hear the sound of vehicles in the background.