Dan's Story Pt. 03 - Everything Goes Awry

Dan: (Greeting Marie) "They'll be glad to see us gone and have their house back, I'll bet."

Marie: "We were glad you could come. It has been very nice meeting you and you're welcome back at any time."

Irene: "We'll be back at least twice more. After that, I don't know what we'll do. Back to the garage, I guess." She smiles at Dan's grin.

Dan goes in to work and finishes the six trucks by about five o clock. He returns to Roy's to grab his bags, kiss Irene and head home. It's a tearing apart, rather than a parting for them.

Dan pulls into Summerside before seven and stops at the hospital. In response to his query, the desk tells him Mary can have visitors until nine and that she's as well as can be expected. He doesn't see Emory, so he rushes home.

Marie smothers him with kisses, but he doesn't take off his coat. "We can still visit Mary until nine. Let's go!"

She smiles and starts to wrap up Danny. They bundle him out to the car and head for the hospital.

Marie: "You look as anxious as Emory. Are you sure you didn't have something to do with this kid?" Dan glances quickly at her and sees her grin.

Dan: "That's not funny, Marie. I just worry about her, like I would about Betty, or any of my sisters."

Marie: "I know. I think you worry about all womankind, Dan Miller. You seem to think we are fragile creatures who you have to guard from all evil. I think that part of you I like the most. The knight!"

Dan: "You know the part I like most, horny."

Marie: "Yes, and that part too."

It is just after eight when they rush up to Mary's room. Her mother's there, but is just leaving. Dan steps back out the door with her and asks how Mary is doing. "She's much better today. I feel she's going to be all right now. I was sick yesterday when I saw her. And earlier today she didn't seem to be responding to treatment, but tonight she ate and is getting some color back. I pray for her, Dan, and I think it helps. Emory is wild. He has been such a rock up until tonight. Suddenly he broke down in my arms and cried. Then he took off and no one has seen him since. Mary doesn't know, so don't say anything."

Dan: "I think I know where he is. I'll speak to him and try to buck him up. He has a son now, and its time he gives that some thought. He'll do what's best, I'm sure. He's a good man at heart."

Mary's mother: "I know he is, Dan, or I never would have allowed them to marry. I never have thanked you for all you did to get them through that. Mary told me. She thinks your some kind of hero. I think you are, too."

Dan: "Thanks for saying that. I must get in and see her for a moment. Good bye."

Dan enters the softly lit room and goes immediately to the small figure in the bed. He takes her hands in his and says, "You did it! You gave Emory a son! You must be proud and you must get strong now to raise and guard his son for him. Little Princess, do you hear me?"

Mary:(struggling to rise) "Yes, Dan. Isn't he beautiful?"

Dan:(moving closer so she won't struggle and putting his arms around her) "Mary, Mary, Mary! Don't hurt yourself trying to get up before your ready. You've had a rough time and you need your rest." He kisses her forehead and she relaxes. "We can only stay for a little while but we'll come back tomorrow and I hope to see you looking chipper." He smiles down at her as he moves one arm to draw Marie closer.

Marie takes her hand and says, "It won't be long before I'm in here. You have to get better so I can have your bed."

Mary smiles at them and closes her eyes. They sneak away so she can sleep. Dan asks the nurse to call him if there are any changes in the night. Since the nurse is Mel's mother, she smiles and says she will. Dan has an uncomfortable feeling when he realizes who she is, but there's no further comment.

Dan drives Marie and Danny home. On the way he explains about Emory's absence. He will have to try and find him. He helps Marie get Danny in the house and settled, then he goes back to the cold and the car. Marie stands in the bedroom window waving as she watches the headlight back into the swirling snow and the street. Brake lights bathe the scene red as he turns the corner and is gone.

Dan has an idea. He pulls in by Emory's apartment and checks there. No one's at home. He comes back down to the car and walks toward the harbor, around the packing plant and out onto the pier. He looks for fresh prints in the snow. Below the dock he sees what he's looking for. He retraces his tracks to the bank by the pier and follows another set down below and under the pier to the large, old shipping crate. As bits of ice swirl around him and the wind howls, he places his hand upon the crate, then knocks his fist against it.

Dan: "Emory, it's Dan! Please let me in out of the cold." he calls against the wind.

For a moment there is just the wind, but then a movement and a section of the wall is set aside. Dan crowds inside and sees a guttering candle near the far wall lighting an eighteen inch crucifix behind it. The wind is cut off as the section is closed and in the dim light Emory glances sidelong at Dan and says, "Have you seen her? She's dying, Dan!"

Dan: "I have! What are you doing here? Why aren't you with her?" He shuffles his feet and blows on his hands.

Emory: "I've almost killed her! I can never face her again!" He speaks down to the floor.

Dan: "She's still in bad shape but I don't think she's going to die. To get well she's going to need your help, Em. She needs you!"

Emory looks at him with blazing eyes, "You said that once before and I listened. Now I've almost killed her! She's better off without me!" He shuffles forward and kneels by the candle.

Dan: "She loves you, Em." Dan speaks softly, persuasively.

Emory teeters on his heels, "I promised the Lord I would never touch her again if he would let her live."

Dan: "And your son. What about Kevin?" Emory is silent. "Don't you love her, Em?"

Emory glances up intensely. "You don't understand! Her father ran out on them. She followed me around. She was a nuisance! One day when I was horny I fucked her! I conned her! You dig? After that she still hung around. She was convenient. When I got hot, I laid her, and she liked it. Nobody else would do it, but she liked it. I didn't love her, I used her! She's having that kid for me and all I ever did was use her, Dan, don't you see? She doesn't need a user, ...a loser like me. She's better off alone!"

Dan: "You didn't answer my question. Do you love her?"

Emory: "Yeah. ...but I'm goin to leave anyway."

Dan: "Fine! Leave! Just like her father!" Emory spins partway around and glares up at Dan. He goes on, "In a few years Kevin will be taken by some female, perhaps a few years older than him, and used. She'll make him the laughing stock of the town. People won't side with him, they'll say he just like his old man, good for nothing."

Emory comes up out of his crouch with a fist raised. Dan goes on, "They'll say he's just another 'bad seed', a n'er do well, a shiftless bum like his old man." Emory swings and catches Dan in the cheek knocking him to the floor. "Mary won't be able to fight the whole town and still control a young boy by herself. They'll laugh at her in the streets! Couldn't hang on to her man, dumb bitch!" Emory pounds his shoulders and Dan hides his head. In a moment he stops and leans his back against the far wall, bent at the waist with arms hanging down, panting near crying.

Emory: "What can I do?"

Dan: "Simple. Stay! Stay and fight this town beside her. Help her raise a good son you'll be proud of and prove to the people who deride you that you're a man, a husband and a father. Mary wants you. It's that simple. She does need you!"

Emory comes away from the wall and reaches a hand to Dan, "Let me help you up."

Dan: "Not if your going to knock me down again." He's grinning and they both chuckle as Emory helps him to his feet. The candle gutters out and they stand in darkness.

Dan: "Let's go over to your place for coffee. I got some pictures I want to show you." They stagger against the cold Atlantic winds back to Emory's. Over coffee he shows Emory the signs.

Emory: "Hey, they're almost like mine. I like them."

Dan: "Yeah, I designed them that way so we could bring the other trucks in and not have to strip them. My design is done by stencil and some free hand for speed. They want the others to look the same so we're going to be doing twenty trucks instead of twelve. And I think I can do them by the end of the month with this stencil idea. How about that?"

Emory: "Wow! Your going to have to take a lot more than half for this job. Your doing the whole thing."

Dan: "That's not our deal! Fifty/fifty, that was the deal and that's all I'll take. You'll need it and I wouldn't have anything if you hadn't got us the job. You better head back up to that hospital and help that girl regain her strength. I have to get home."

Dan drives home feeling good. He's sure Emory is going to stick it out, now. When he comes in Marie stares at him.

Marie "What happened to you?"

Dan:(feeling his head) "Fell down on some rocks finding Emory. I'll be all right." He goes into the bathroom and looks in the mirror. His right cheek is covered with dried blood and his nose is scraped. He also has some scrapes over his right eye. He says to himself, "Whew, that young bugger packs a mean punch."

Marie comes in and sits him on the toilet. She washes his face and he winches. "So what's Emory look like?"

Dan: "He's all right. I told you, I fell down!"

Marie: "Right Dan, whatever you say."

Dan sleeps with his head in one position that night as his nose and eye swell shut, but in three days it won't be that noticeable.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 28, 1962: 0630

Dan reaches and turns off the alarm. Irene has not stirred. She's sprawled on her back, one leg over his and her arm draped across his stomach, just as she had fallen after their wild encounter last night. Neither of them had the strength to pull up the covers or even to do more than just turn off the lamp. He studies her form as she lays there.

Her long black hair frames her fine features. Black eyebrows and long black lashes on white skin, a small upturned nose and lips meant for kissing. High cheekbones and a soft chin. She was mistaken for Elizabeth Taylor a week ago when they went to see 'Cat On a Hot Tin Roof' at the theatre. Coming out, he heard hushed whispers behind hands of 'That's her', and 'It's really her here, is it possible'. She was even asked for her autograph by two girls at the pop corn counter. She could almost be an Elizabeth Taylor look alike, with her well formed breasts that need no support and a shapely bottom with curvaceous legs to match. Where her hair is lustrous and wavy, her pubic ones are curley, almost kinky. She is beyond words to Dan, as graceful as a faun, as exquisite as a work of art and as ravishing as he could desire.

Absently he lets his closest hand rove over her body, along those features he has noted. She smiles contentedly in her sleep as he muses. His mind runs back over the last couple of weeks. The work at Gaudette's has gone quickly. He has only had to fend Babs off on the Saturday's. Sunday's are filled with work only with a small crew. Today he will finish the job with number twenty three. Two of them today are pickups with a lot of hand work but with any luck he'll be done early. Maybe an hour of two for Irene this afternoon, but he won't mention it, in case it doesn't work out. She wants to ride back with him today. It would be nice to take their time.

They've enjoyed their time together, shopping, dining out, attending the movies, just walking together through the harbor area. The month has gone quickly. Time with Marie has been more enjoyable as well. When he's home she is more attentive, knowing he'll be gone for the weekend. She has tried to please him more in all ways and he feels their love has grown with the experience. She is only a month away from the birth of their second child so he tries to be considerate of that fact and help her when he can.

His absent minded diversions have become so intimate that she stirs and stretches, then lets her hands rove as he's been doing. Raising her head she kisses and licks his finger tips, chest and face. Their lips touch and they move together in a slow melancholy dance. Deeper and more intense, their hips move against each other. Both move slowly to make this time last. This is their last morning together and they speak of it during their love making.

Dan: "Your love is so extremely precious to me, I don't know what I've done to deserve it."

Irene: "I feel the same. During the week I dream of you. I always have. When you didn't call for days I would dream we were together in the old car and I would wake all wet and slippery with my hands between my legs, rubbing myself to climax. That's when I missed you most and I'd cry because you weren't there." They move a little faster.

Dan: "I have to catch myself lately that I don't call out your name when Marie and I make love. I try not to think of you then but once in a while I can't help it. You've become such a part of me."

Irene: "Do you think of her when we make love?"

Dan: "Oh yes, many times. I try not to, but she's my wife and I sleep with her every night. During intense times like these, the emotions I share with you and her are almost identical. Neither of you are like a casual affair. You are both substantial, real, sharing my life. If I call you Marie, it's a compliment, it means I am lost in the moment with one I truly love. You must not be envious, you have me as much as she does." They are moving to a measured beat with many kisses and caresses.

Irene: "I am happy with my part in your life but I do envy the children she gives you. As you have children with her she gains support for your attentions. I would like to give you a child, a child born of you and I that I could raise so you would always come back to me. Oh Dan, please give to me that seed some day. Please." The tempo has increased and soon will come the climax.

Dan: "I don't know how I would handle that. I promise I will think about... Irene, Irene!" She is crying out and twitching, surging, writhing against him. He feels his time is now and comes with her. They pant and kiss and slowly, reluctantly pull apart.

After an intimate shower and breakfast, Dan goes in to finish the job. A cheque is waiting for him, and Mark, having made a special trip in, tells him they may have more work for him later in the spring. Dan quickly sets to work and skips lunch. He finishes number twenty three just before two. Leaving instructions with the weekend crew on when to move the last vehicles out, he heads back to Roy's.

Irene is delighted to see him home so early. He can help her finish her packing. He watches her lovingly put his slippers in the pockets of his robe, then fold it for a suitcase. Hers goes in the same case with his. "I'm ready for our next chance." she says. Dan packs his sports bag and helps her with some last minute items from her closet. Items they bought together are given special consideration and discussion. Dan carries everything to the front door.

Marie comes from her and Roy's bedroom and says, "It has been a real pleasure having you both stay with us this month." She confides to them, "Roy has been more attentive and we have enjoyed a renewed sex life since your arrival. I think I have both of you to thank for that. Young lovers spread joy and excitement in a home. At least that's been our experience. Thank you, both of you."

Irene: "I tried to tell Roy today how much this time has meant to us. We've never had the opportunity to actually live for any time together. Ours is a unique situation where we accidentally fell in love, although Dan still loves his 'Marie' very much. We don't know from day to day how we're going to work things out. I hope we have a future, even if it does include his wife. I think I can share him, I hope I can and I'm going to try real hard. Thank you for being so understanding, Marie."

Dan: "I would like to thank both you and Roy for taking me, a stranger, a married man and your sister-in-law's lover, into your home. It must have been difficult at first and even though we have all become friends, it still must be hard for you to see me as anything other that a two timing husband. I agree with Irene. We take one day at a time, but I assure you I do care in a genuine way for this woman."

Marie: "I know. It shows in every thing you do. I don't know how you hide it at home."

Dan: "We don't see each other except in private. If anyone saw us together, they'd know. That's what has been one of our greatest thrills about being here. Here we can be together, open and honest with you."

They leave and enjoy a leisurely trip along the coast back to Summerside. The clouds part and the sun comes out to light the snow, water and rocks of the Atlantic shore. They approach Summerside from the north, far from the main highway and come in past Brown's Beach. When they pull up to the stop sign next to the general store, they can't help looking left to the garage.

Irene: "I guess that will be our new address again, Dan. This month has gone by so quickly."

Dan turns right and drives to her house. He pulls up to the house and they unload the car. Dan kisses Irene good-bye and tears are running down her cheeks, but all she says is, "I'll watch for your lights, darling. Please make it soon."

Dan drives home and Marie meets him with kisses. She's so happy he's finished and she makes him feel happy to be home, again. He picks up Danny and sits him on the bed to watch him unpack. He lifts out an item and talks to his son, then stops to play with him a minute. Then he lifts out another item and does the same. He takes out a toy that Irene picked out and lets him play with it. Marie comes in and joins them, saying she has supper nearly ready.

Dan reaches into the bag and pulls out the cheque. He tosses it to her and she looks at it. "Sixteen hundred and twenty dollars? Wow! How much do we get? Half? That'll be eight hundred and ten dollars. Dan, we won't have to worry about the rent or those bills any more for months. I guess it was all worth it. Wow! It's hard to believe. I'm so happy you're done, though. I've missed having you around weekends and I'll show you tonight. You better hurry up here, supper's ready."

Dan: "You mean food comes first?" He looks disappointed, then grins. "Come on, tiger, let's go." He picks up his son.

Marie: "I wish you'd stop calling him that. He's going to think it's his name."

They all go to the kitchen and Dan bounces Danny on his knee at the table while Marie sets it. He puts Danny in his high chair and pulls it up along side of him so they can kibitz some more. Marie becomes irritated and says to push him back around by her so she can feed him. She sits down and Dan moves Danny back around by her. They all have supper.

After supper Dan calls Emory. When he gets off the phone he says he's taking the cheque down to Emory. "Want to come along?"

Marie: "I don't think so. I've been feeling a little ill all day and I think I better stay home. I might be catching a cold or something, maybe the flu. I wouldn't want to pass it to Mary or Kevin. She's still not that strong."

Dan: "All right, just leave those dishes and I'll do them when I come home. You get some rest. I'll be right back."

Dan drives down to Emory's and they marvel over the cheque.

Emory: "Aint that something! Sixteen hundred bucks! Dan, I want you to take a thousand of it. I don't feel right taking any of it."

Dan: "Em, it was your contract. By the way, they may have more work for us late in the spring. I wouldn't have any extra income if it hadn't been for you. Fifty/fifty! That's our deal. You owe me Eight ten, no more, no less."