Date Night

May, my wife of twenty years, came down the stairs that Friday night dressed to go out. It surprised me, because, although Friday was our usual date night, she had told me that we wouldn't be going out that week.

We didn't always do big dates. Sometimes we just went out to dinner. But sometimes we went dancing, or to a play or the movies. Our twin daughters had gone off to college two weeks before, and May had seemed down. So, I wasn't so surprised when she opted out of date night that week. But here she was, dressed to kill.

"I thought we weren't doing date night. What's up?"

"WE..aren't. I am. I have a date. It isn't with you."

"Really. Please explain."

"I am going out with Roger Blaine from work. I like him, and he asked me. I accepted."

"That's not an explanation. I'd like some idea of why you're doing this.....out of the blue."

"I feel stale. Now that the girls are gone, I'm going to have some fun."

"Okay. Well, it's a sudden way to end the marriage. But, I can't stop you. Please do not return to this house."

"I'll be back tomorrow. Tonight, I believe he has a room."

"May. I'm going to divorce you for saying just what you said, whether you mean it or not. We're toast. I repeat, DO NOT RETURN HERE! It would be very dangerous. I can say this. If you stop this now, we can maybe do counselling and avoid a permanent split. But if you walk out the door, you can't come back."

"It's my house as well as yours. I can come back if I want. I will come back some time tomorrow. And, you're not divorcing me either."

I picked up my phone and dialed the home number of our attorney. He answered.

"Bill, this is John Preston. I'd like a consultation tonight or tomorrow about divorcing May."

He said, "Geez. What happened? Have you been considering this for a while?

"No, something just happened. She's told me she's going on a date, and then fuck some guy from her work. I'd like the papers filed Monday. I'll pay extra."

He said, "So you want to do adultery? You'll need proof."

"I can get that. Wait." I turned to May, "May, do you intend to have sex with this guy Roger tonight?"

The phone was now on speaker. She stayed silent.

"C'mon, woman. You just said that. Now you wanna hide it? Bitch!"

May got angry. "You bet I'm gonna fuck him. You hear that, Bill. I'm going out dancing and then I'm going to have sex with this young stud from the office."

Bill said, "That should be enough for now, John. I can file those papers electronically now. We don't have to wait until Monday."

"That's great. Wait until noon tomorrow. That'll give her enough time to fuck him. Maybe we should also file for irreconcilable differences."

"Okay. I'll do the work tonight."

"Thanks, You're a pal." I hung up.

There was a knock on the door. May started to answer, but I was closer. I opened it. The guy Roger stood there. He was about my size, but younger -- maybe thirty-five. He was dressed in a sport coat and tie. He was an African-American, and had short hair.

I said, "Yeah?"

He looked very uncomfortable. "You weren't....I'm here for May."

I gave him a look. "You come to my house. You want to get my wife and fuck her. Do you really think that's wise? You are not welcome here. Please get off the property. Now!"

He seemed to rally. He tried to shove his way past me. I decked him. May screamed. Roger was flat on his ass, but still conscious. I dialed 911.

May tried to shove me aside. But I'm not so easy to shove. I just stood in the doorway. I heard her moving into and out of the kitchen. I turned, saw her with a rolling pin. What a cliché. But she was a good baker. She charged and swung at me. I deflected the thrust, but she got my right upper arm. It hurt. I could hear the 911 operator asking what was the problem.

"She's trying to kill me. Help, Help!" I moved back away from her. Roger had crawled away about ten feet, but now was on his belly. I stepped on his head as I moved away from May. The woman always had a temper. She had come at me twice before, but over ten years since. Now she was completely enraged. She was swinging the longish rolling pin at me. I turned and ran. The neighbors on either side were out, and saw her. I was way faster than she. I kept her at a distance where she thought she could get at me. She kept charging and swinging. The cops showed up. Two of them were in the car. A white guy and a black guy. They got out, and shouted for May to put down her weapon. The white one put himself between me and her. But the black one took out a pistol.

May tried to rush past the white officer. He shoved her, and she swung the rolling pin at him. She hit him on the shoulder. He twirled away, holding his arm. The black officer shot May in the chest. She went down in a heap.

Everyone was totally stunned. I couldn't believe that she'd been shot. I heard the white officer calling for an ambulance. I went to May. She was conscious. She looked at me.

She said, "I...I'm sorry. Don't know what...."

"Just be quiet and hold on. Help is coming." I held her hand. I could see that she was breathing. In fact, it didn't seem like she was having a breathing problem. I heard sirens, and medics were there, shoved me away.

I saw the black officer standing over Roger. The policeman was shaking and crying. Roger wasn't moving. I looked more closely at him. He wasn't breathing, and there was blood coming from his head. At first, I thought that I'd killed him when I stepped on his head. I wasn't thinking straight. The I realized that the shot that hit May must have passed through her and hit Roger as he lay on the ground. He was dead, for sure. I tuned back to May. Another officer came up to the black officer who shot. He was led away.

The medics had May on a rolling stretcher. They were loading her into the ambulance. I hopped in with her. She was still conscious, but barely. She was breathing okay, though, I thought.

I asked the medic, "Will she be okay?"

She said, "I hope so. She's holding her own. I believe that the bullet missed even her lung. She's lost blood, but we have her now. We're five minutes out. Don't get in the way."

When we arrived at the emergency entrance, May was quickly transferred into the custody of a team that was waiting there. I was not allowed to accompany her. But the woman medic stayed outside with me, while her partner went with May.

I asked her what would happen.

"They'll assess her injuries, and see what needs to be done. It seemed like she might just need stitching up. She was in shock from blood loss. But she moved her feet and arms. So...maybe all's okay. Don't hold me to that, though." I was sobbing, then. Maybe with relief, maybe some guilt thrown in. I shouldn't have called the cops.

Speaking of the cops, a uniform and a plain clothes guy walked up to me.

The plain clothes guy said, "I'm Detective Brennan. This is officer Jacobs. You're the husband, John Preston?" Brennan was a big Irish looking guy with dark hair.

"Yes."

"Maybe you can tell us what happened. We have a dead guy on your lawn, and your wife shot. Start with a brief outline."

"May -- that's my wife -- told me she was going on a date. I called my lawyer to start a divorce. This guy Roger -- I guess that was his name -- showed up at the door. I wouldn't allow him inside. He tried to shove past me, and I knocked him down. Then I heard May coming from the kitchen. She had a rolling pin, and she hit me with it. I ran from her, and she came after me, swinging. I had called 911 when I hit Roger. So maybe they have it on tape. Anyway, one of the officers who arrived stepped between me and her. She hit him with the rolling pin, and he swung away from her. Then the other officer shot her. That's it, really."

"Okay. The guy Roger, did he hit you or anything?"

"He didn't hit me. He shoved at me trying to get into my house. I had told him he wasn't welcome, and to leave the property."

"Then you hit him? How?"

"Straight right to the jaw." I showed him my hand, which I realized was hurting.

"And where did your wife hit you?"

I pointed to my right bicep.

"Show us." I took off my long sleeve shirt. There was a big bruise on my upper arm. The uniform officer took a picture of the arm, and of the hand. The woman medic told me to come with her. I went inside, and she showed my injured arm to a nurse. I sat for a while, waiting. A nurse came out for me.

I asked the nurse about May.

"She's doing okay, I think. They haven't taken her upstairs for any operation. She went for x-rays and an MRI.

I called the girls at school. They were stunned. I was fairly sure May wasn't going to die, and they were coming as soon as they could. I called her parents, who lived on the west coast. I gave them sparse details, and the hospital number. I called my folks, told them exactly what happened, and said to stay away from the hospital.

I was taken back to a cubicle, where a young woman doctor looked me over. She didn't seem worried about the bruise, but she sent me for an x-ray of my hand, which now was hurting quite a bit. Turns out I broke a middle finger. The middle finger. They taped it to the index finger and gave me some Tylenol.

A doctor came to me as I sat again outside in the waiting room. She said that May was doing well, but was heavily sedated. She would be admitted to ICU for the night, then go to a room, perhaps. If nothing else cropped up. I wandered over to the ICU unit and promptly fell asleep in the waiting room.

The police detective woke me up. "We need a statement. There's a room just down the hall, and I have my phone to record." I went there and told him, again, what happened. He didn't have many questions. He said the 911 tape and the security video from our door confirmed what I had told them, so I was in the clear. He said that, at first, they thought I might have killed Roger. But not now.

I asked him if May would be charged. "Seems as if she will be charged with assaulting you and the officer she hit. It's up to the prosecutor to decide if it goes felony or not. A rolling pin could be a deadly weapon, and she could get time. How's she doing?"

"Okay, I think. Time will tell. How was it that the guy got hit? I don't understand. She was standing and he was on the ground. He got hit in the top of his head."

"I can't talk too much about that. A deflection, maybe. It's sad. He was married and had two kids. What the fuck was he doing? Or you wife, for that matter?"

"I have absolutely no idea, even about May. She has, or had, a temper. But....maybe empty nest blues."

"Will you keep her?" The detective seemed curious, not working.

"I....I...guess I'll decide later, if I get an explanation."

I got coffee and waited. The girls came in at about 8:00 am. I explained to them what had happened. They were fraternal twins, Susan and Barbara. They looked quite alike, though, tall and slim with dark hair.

Susan asked, "What are you going to do about Mom? She must have gone nuts."

"I can't say now. I hope she's okay, but I don't believe that she knows about her boy toy being dead. That may cause her some problems."

"How about you? You saw him there dead. Are you okay?" This was Barb.

"So far. Maybe. I shouldn't have called the cops. But he shouldn't have tried to force his way into the house. And, especially, he shouldn't have dated a married woman. He should have known it could be dangerous. He was very unlucky."

Susan said, "That's an understatement. He worked with Mom?"

"Yes, so she said."

"Had they been doing it before last night?"

"Dunno. Seems unlikely. But possible. I'll ask her."

Just then a doctor came out, introduced himself as Phil Bevins. "Your wife -- and Mother -- will live. We're transferring her to a room on the fourth floor. She seems to have some inhibited movement in her right leg and foot. I believe the bullet nudged the spine. It's likely that the small effect of that will abate. The bullet passed through her and never hit anything vital. It's really a miracle. I hear it hit and killed someone else."

"Yep. Seems so. Can the girls see May?

"In a few minutes. Room 4112."

We went upstairs, waited about thirty minutes and then she was wheeled past us into the room. The girls followed her inside. I stood at the door.

Susan patted her arm, "How are you, Mom?"

"Tired. Sleepy. Where's your Dad? I need to talk to him."

"Maybe you should wait, Mom. I'm not so sure he wants to talk." Barb was standing between me and May.

I said, "Girls, I'd like some time with your Mom, just a few." They trooped out, and I stood over May.

I said tonelessly, "Well?"

"Johnny, I'm sorry I came at you. I just lost it."

"I wasn't really asking about that, May."

She looked away. "I wanted a change. He's been after me for the whole time since he was hired. I was attracted. And...."

"And you decided to get a good fucking from him." I was still speaking in a flat tone.

"That's a crude thing to say."

"But true, right?"

"Yes. I....I won't keep on with it. He's married, and he has kids. Now he'll have to deal with the fallout."

"May, he's....he was hit by the same bullet that hit you. He didn't make it. He died at the scene."

She started to scream....."No...oh no....oh my God....Fuck...." A nurse came in. She tried to calm May, but called for a doctor, who gave her a shot. May went to sleep.

I went outside. Susan asked what happened.

"Your Mom.... She brought up her boyfriend. She didn't know. I told her. They sedated her."

"That was cruel, Dad."

"No, it wasn't. Someone had to tell her, before she heard it from the news or from cops. You know, she's going to be charged."

"Oh, geez. What will happen?"

"No way for me to know."

I left the girls to sit with May. I went home, in a cab. There was crime scene tape all around the yard. But I had permission to go inside, through the back. I showered, shaved, dressed for comfort. Then I called Bill Simon, the lawyer.

"Bill, hi. Have you heard what happened? May got shot by police, and her boyfriend was killed."

"I heard on the news. What about the divorce?"

"Put it on hold. Do you know any criminal defense lawyers?"

"Jenifer Hogan. Her office is just down the hall, here."

He gave me her number. I called and left a message. She called back in about ten minutes, as I was about to leave for the hospital. I informed her as to what happened and asked about representing May. She and I agreed on a fee schedule. She wanted to speak to May as soon as possible. I told her I'd call from the hospital.

I went back to the hospital. The girls were in May's room, but May was groggy. Susan was just holding her hand. I went to consult with the doctor -- Blevins. I wanted to know when May might be released. He said he thought two or three days.

I tried to consider whether to let May back into the house. Really, there wasn't much choice. Her folks were three thousand miles away. There was nowhere else. And, no one else but me to give care. But I wasn't inclined to be kind. She fucked up in a major way. If she had just been calmer, she could have gone on her date, and our marriage would have been over. Now.....tough to say. There's a big difference between actually fucking some guy, and wanting to do it, but not being able to get there. Also, she got shot for her efforts, and he got killed. I assumed that she would feel pretty guilty about that. I decided to let things percolate for the day or two before she was well enough to go home. And maybe she'd get locked up, sparing me the decision.

Jennifer Hogan showed up at the hospital. She was a fortyish woman, short but attractive, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was directed to me by a nurse and introduced herself.

"Mr. Preston, I'm Jennifer Hogan. How are you and your family doing?"

"We're hanging on for dear life. Lots of decisions to be made. I called you because I think that May will have to face criminal charges. I understand from the detective that it's the prosecutor that decides how to charge the case. I wanted someone to speak to the prosecutor, whoever he is."

"She. It's a she. Marian Folks. I need you to tell me what happened. And what you told the police, if it's different.

"It's not different." I explained to her, in some detail, how things had gone down. I also told her that May had reacted badly to news that her boyfriend died.

She said, "I wonder if she's able to talk to me?"

"Let's see." I escorted her into May's room.

"May," I said, "This is a lawyer, Jennifer Hogan, who I asked to see you because you might get charged."

May was more alert. "Charged with what?" She looked at Jennifer.

"Well, could be anything from misdemeanor assaults to felony assault, or....well that's what's realistic." Jennifer was looking for May's reaction.

May whimpered, "I don't want to go to jail. It's bad enough already for me."

Jennifer replied, "I can speak to the prosecutor. See what she's thinking. Maybe make a plea, no jail. We'll try that, okay?"

"Okay." They spent some time talking about what happened. I wasn't there, because I thought my presence might inhibit May.

After Jennifer came out of the room, I asked her when she might have some news.

"I'll call her Monday morning. No....I'll call now." She got on the phone. I watched as she left a message.

The girls came back from the café with drinks. I had a water and went to talk to May again.

"May, I'm really sorry that you got shot. I want you to know that I would have split from you if you had gone on the date. Now, I just don't know. If you don't go to jail, you can come home. But...to be honest, I'm really sad and hurt about what you were going to do. I have a difficult time seeing how we're going to stay married."

"Johnny, I love you, but I wanted something else. I suppose I could have approached it better. Sorry."

"Well, now you've said that. I see no choice. I told you before you went crazy that I'd go to counselling with you. But, the first time you stray, even a small bit, I'm gone. What do you say?"

"If I'm not locked up, I can decide. You know, it's not you being a bad husband. It's something in me. Some.....wanting....I can't really describe it."

"Some wanting and so intense that you'd leave the marriage?"

"I don't want to end the marriage. Geez, it all turned out so bad. He's dead. I as much as killed him." She was crying. I didn't move to comfort her. I looked, then I left.

May was released on Tuesday. I drove her home, and got her to the bed in what had been our room. She went to sleep. The girls had gone back to school Sunday evening. Her parents arrived at the same time from the coast. I put them into the guest room, leaving me in my office on a cot.

Jennifer called just then, with the news that she had worked something out with the prosecutor. May would plead to three misdemeanors -- two assaults and a weapon possession. She would get probation for three years. I told Jennifer that I'd tell May. We arranged for Jennifer to come to our house the next day. The offer had an expiration date.

May's mom, Louise Settle, and her dad Jim Settle, helped around the house that day. Louise and I cooked dinner. May was on some light pain killers, but could walk. So she came to the table.

We ate without much talk. May said nothing. I thought that she was dealing still with the death of her boyfriend. Feeling guilty, maybe. I believed that she was right to feel remorse, but probably she was feeling it for her fuck buddy, not me.

We had a nurse in the next morning to change May's dressings, and to show me how to do it in future. The old dressings were removed, May showered, and then the nurse put new dressings on the wounds. She had a wound above her left breast, and one on her back. Neither one looked very large.