Jim and Mary - Another Version

Josh also decided that he had to fuck up Jim Harris, if he could be found. He knew that Jim had put in the word with Harry Weiss, because how else could Weiss have known about him and Mary making it? He developed a deep, hot anger at Jim. And when that happened to Josh, he had to deal with it. Josh had a contact with a buddy from school who worked for the Chicago police. He asked for help finding Jim. He promised that nothing would come back on his buddy.

Jim went to Graceland. It was more due to Paul Simon than Elvis. But he enjoyed the place, especially the Caddy's. He also went to town and heard some jazz, ate some hot barbecue. He had a few beers, and brought a six pack back to his room. But he found no solace in the alcohol, and put it down.

He thought about Mary and her offer. He decided that now he could be analytical about it. But what that meant was that he had to assess his own emotional state, and his feelings toward Mary. He gave it some thought as he drove down to New Orleans. He spent some time in that ravaged city, partially rebuilt. He liked the Garden District, and nothing else. Bunch of drunks wandering around, and overpriced food.

He drove to Galveston. He found that he really liked that place, and stayed for four days, just walking around. He almost rented a room for a month. But he decided against it and set out west, driving across Rte. 10.

He liked the southwest, but ended up in San Diego. Not much further away from home could he get. It was expensive, but it had a baseball team, and some nice mountains. Traffic was sometimes a nightmare, but not always. He rented a cabin north of the city, toward the mountains. He was still using his credit card.

Mary got the bill and saw that he had been at various places. The last one was Galveston.

Jim could check his credit card statement online. He saw that the next month she'd know where he was unless he did something. He took cash and started a new bank account with a small S&L. He got a card. It wasn't his fault that the bank listed him as Jay Harris. It was the best he could do.

Jim spent his time hiking about outside the city. Twice he went to baseball games. He visited Palomar Observatory. And he thought about his life. He came to a decision of sorts. He got in touch with his lawyer, and with Eileen. He arranged to put his business up for sale. He made it a condition of the sale that Eileen be retained for two years. Then Eileen called him. She offered to buy the business, if he would take back half the cost as a loan, with adequate interest. He ran the numbers and agreed. He instructed the lawyer, and, in a matter of two weeks, Eileen's new corporation owned the business.

Meanwhile, it had been two months since Mary heard from Jim. She had resumed her work, and only recently had found that she was back to a standard of efficiency. She and Harry had discussed it, and she knew he was satisfied with her work. She made a goodly amount of money, and had no problems paying her expenses. But she missed Jim.

Mary was becoming pessimistic about her marriage. She had no reply from Jim to her email. Her children had no idea where their father was. But when the card statement came for the second month, she saw that there were some charges from San Diego, and then no charges at all.

She hired a man to try to find Jim. She felt that she might be able to persuade him to return if she were to physically confront him - at least return to her, if not to the area.

But it was Josh who located Jim, through his Chicago contact. They located the bank account and, through that, the address. Josh gave it some thought. He decided to take a trip to San Diego. This guy had ruined his career, and had to be punished. He had that deep anger, and it needed to be slaked.

Jim was settled in at his cabin. Then the owner contacted him and offered a sale. It was a five-room wood structure, and sat on twelve acres. Jim had the money from the sale of his business, and an income from the loan. He bought the cabin. He did it because he had decided that he would never return home. He liked the area, and he especially liked the semi-rural setting.

He realized that the sale would alert Mary as to his location, if she was searching. But he had decided that he could never resume his marriage. His decision was solidified when he assessed what had happened with Mary and Josh. His distance from the whole situation was helpful. He saw that Mary had exploited a weakness in him to get her way, satisfy her lust for a younger, bigger man. She had used him. He had allowed it. He was weak. But she was, in a very real way, predatory. She saw the weakness, and immediately exploited it.

Her email had claimed that she would never have done it if she knew what how he would react. He doubted that. He did believe her profession of love for him. But, in the end, she chose her own satisfaction over him. She knew that he was sincerely reluctant about her tryst with Josh. She went anyway.

Mary's investigator did locate Jim. He reported to her. She had been shocked that Jim had sold his business. Of course, she had never been a part of it, but she saw the sale as a huge step away from his life as he had lived it. And, of course, a huge step away from her. Now he had purchased a place in California. Another huge step.

She decided to go see him. One shot at some sort of reconciliation.

She made plane reservations, and told Harry where she'd be. She flew out of Dulles the next day.

Josh also flew out of Dulles that same day. He had made some arrangements. His plane left in the morning, several hours before Mary's. He was three hours ahead of her in San Diego.

Josh headed toward Jim's cabin in his rented car. He had purchased a tire iron and a folding hunting knife at a hardware store along the way. He was determined to deal with Jim. His idea was, first, to try a sneak attack. He'd incapacitate Jim, and damage him in some permanent way. However, if he was identified, he intended to eliminate all witnesses.

Josh had been a Marine, and was trained in close combat. He had no doubt that he could subdue Jim Harris, Mary's fat husband.

Mary also rented a car and headed toward Jim's cabin. She calculated that she would get there around three pm. She had some information that Jim would likely be at the cabin, almost every afternoon.

Josh had scouted the terrain around Jim's cabin on Google Earth. He had spent some time looking at satellite photos. There was a small, dirt road that cut above his acres, and it went nowhere. Josh headed up that road, driving slowly, but still stirring up some dust.

Jim had a routine for most of his days at the cabin. He would hike or run in the morning, read the news, eat lunch and then work on the property in the afternoon. He split wood for the winter, since he had a wood stove. He would repair fences, and work restoring an old barn on the property. He had tools, and he had gotten into even better shape than he was when he left the east coast. So, he was making progress.

In the evening, Jim had a workout on a course he had set up for himself. He had a wall to scale, some tires to run through, a swing across a small ravine, and finally a heavy bag to hit and kick in the barn. He usually spent sixty to ninety minutes on these exercises three days a week. MWF.

Jim had neighbors, but they were each a mile or so away. He had introduced himself to both families. The Smiths were actually farming their land. The Mantles were back to nature types, husband and wife, thirties.

He had eaten dinner with each of these neighbors, and established a kind of relationship.

He felt that they were nice people, but he was happy that they were at a distance.

So, when Josh drove to a point about a hundred yards above the boundary to Jim's acres, no one paid any attention. His entry point was from a copse of trees, about two hundred yards from the barn. He had to cover those yards in the open, although he had some cover from a swale about halfway down.

Josh had donned a pair of sweatpants, a light-weight hoodie and a mask. He had the knife on his belt, and carried the tire iron. He used some binoculars to scout. He saw no movement, but heard some pounding in the barn. Perfect.

Josh ran to the rear of the barn, and paused. He snuck around to the front, where he saw an open bar door. There was more pounding from inside, and then some cursing. Josh thought it had been some sort of mishap. He heard movement toward the door. He plastered himself with his back to the wall right outside the door and waited, with the tire iron poised above his head in a strike position. He had decided that he wasn't going to mess around. He was going to knock Jim hard on the head, and see what happened.

Jim had been working in the barn on a piece of timber he'd salvaged. He was shaping it, with an axe. But on a stroke to cut a piece of an old branch away, he'd missed slightly, and the wood had split.

He cussed at himself, and then at the wood. He decided he'd need an awl to poke around in the split. So, he dropped the axe and headed out to get the awl from his house.

Mary arrived at Jim's property at almost that same time. She proceeded up the macadam road and parked in front of the house. She knocked, and got no answer. She heard some pounding from behind the home, and as she was headed in that direction, she heard the clear sound of Jim cussing up a storm. It was a sound she'd heard before!

She made her way around to the rear of the house - just in time to see a man in black with some weapon, about to hit Jim, who was exiting the barn.

Jim heard a scream, an extremely loud one from down by his house. "WATCH OUT, JIM!!!"

Jim turned to see a tire iron coming at his head. He ducked.

Josh was stunned by the scream, but it was too late to stop. He tried to kill Jim with one blow. But Jim ducked, and Josh hit him on the shoulder.

Jim spun away and down to the ground. His left shoulder took the low, by the clavicle. He scramble away from the attacker and up onto his feet.

Josh was now determined to kill Jim, and whoever had screamed as well. He saw Jim scramble away, and pursued, swinging the tire iron. But Jim, although injured, was quick. He dodged away. He feinted toward the house, but, when his attacker moved in that direction, Jim sprinted into the barn.

Mary's scream had alerted Jim. She started running toward the two men. But she saw Jim get hit. Then she saw him dart into the barn, with the other guy right behind, swinging his weapon.

Josh ran after Jim, into the barn, where it was much darker. He swung the tire iron several times, and connected once. He kept swinging.

Jim made it to the piece of timber, before he was hit again, a glancing blow on the same arm. He rolled over the timber, which was resting on two sawhorses. He grabbed his axe. As the man clambered over the timber, Jim swung the axe. It was a tool about thirty inches long, with an extremely sharp edge on the head.

The axe connected with the thigh of his pursuer.

Josh screamed when he got hit. He'd never felt anything like that. But he was way beyond the point of no return. He was gonna kill this guy.

Josh rolled away from Jim and the axe. He had lost the tire iron. He pulled the knife. He started backing out of the barn, because he believed he'd be able to mount an attack at the doorway. His leg was not really functional. There was a lot of blood. He stopped just outside of the door. This time to the right.

Jim knew that he's connected with some part of the guy. But he didn't know how badly he had hurt him. He knew one thing. He was gonna kill the guy. He advanced slowly, after he saw his attacked limp out the door.

Jim kicked the door's frame, making it shudder.

Josh reacted to the kick by lunging around the corner. Stabbing with his knife.

Jim hit Josh with the blunt end of the axe. Hit him on the head. Hard.

Josh staggered away from the barn, and fell, unconscious.

Jim jogged out of the barn. He saw the guy on the ground. He saw......Mary???

He went over to the guy. He pulled down the hoodie, and the mask. JOSH!!!

He backed away from Mary. "Did you bring him here?"

She said, "No. I screamed. It's.....I can't believe he did this. My God, Jim, you can't think that I'd agree to it."

Jim said, "Was there a car here when you came?"

"Your pick up. No other car."

Jim looked at Josh. He took a pulse. There was one there, but not steady.

Mary said, "Is he dead?"

Jim said, "Not yet. He's bleeding out, though. I imagine it'll take a while before they can help him."

Jim made no move to make a call. Mary looked at him. She said, "Aren't...will you help him?"

Jim smiled, "Nothing much I can do. I'm no medic. Are you?"

Mary took out her cell phone, dialed 911. After a few seconds, she said, "I have an emergency. A man attacked my husband, and they're both injured. I need an ambulance and the police."

She paused. She looked at Jim. "Where are we?"

He gave her the address. She relayed it to the dispatcher.

It took twenty-two minutes for help to arrive. By then Jim was in quite a bit of pain from his shoulder injury, and Josh was dead, presumably from loss of blood.

An ambulance arrived, followed soon by a police cruiser.

During the twenty-two minutes, Jim and Mary watched Josh die. Mary was sobbing, pushing on the wound in the thigh, where the blood was flowing, ever more slowly. Jim was totally stoic, and did nothing.

When Josh breathed his last, Mary stared hard at Jim, Josh's blood coated her arms and chest.

Jim said, "This is my home. He came and attacked me for no reason, and tried to kill me. Apart from the other stuff."

Mary said, "You could have tried. You could have tried, Jim."

Jim said, "I couldn't have done any more than you. Maybe kept him here another two minutes. I owed him nothing. Actually, that's wrong. I owed him what I gave him."

Mary walked around to the front of the house. Soon, when he heard the sirens, Jim followed.

The EMT's looked at Josh and left him where he lay.

They examined Jim's shoulder. He had a huge bruise there, on the strap behind his clavicle. But, they told him, he probably had no broken bones. He refused further treatment, and said he'd go to the doctor later. They gave him some heavy ibuprofen.

The police separated him from Mary. They had a lot of questions. Their first was where Josh had come from. Jim speculated that he had dropped down from the dirt road up the hill. An officer located the rental car there.

Jim outlined for the police the entire story, including the infidelity and marital split. He did not mention his acquiescence. He went through what he knew from the attack. Everything he told them was corroborated by the physical evidence and by Mary.

He was transported to a police station some distance away, and gave a formal statement. Then they offered him a ride back. He asked about Mary. She had been released some time before.

Jim left the station and they drove him home. When he got there, Mary's rental was on the berm by the porch.

She was sitting in that porch, her feet up on his table.

He went and sat next to her.

"Why are you still here?"

"I came to talk. And I still need to talk."

"I'm sorry about all of this, Mary. I got your email. But....it's no good for us now."

"Oh, Jim. I mean it was only one night. One night out of over twenty years. Why can't we get over it?"

"Because, you used me. Used my weakness. And, you know what? I expect you could do it again."

"I couldn't....you know...couldn't control you if you didn't want it. Couldn't you resist me, if I tried."

"I might kill you, Mary."

She paled. She turned away. Then she turned back. "I'd risk it, Jim."

"I wouldn't risk it, Mary. Give it up. I have some love for you. I have some hate for you. I have some contempt for myself, and you remind me of that, just looking at you. I believe that'll never go away."

"So....I have to leave?"

"Yep. Well, I know it's late. I can get you a room at a motel down the road. I don't trust you staying here."

And that's what they did. At his invitation; she showed up for breakfast and they spoke about the details of the split.

Mary left and flew back to D.C. that afternoon. The divorce went smoothly.

Afterword:

Jim started a new business in San Diego county, along the same lines as his old one. It was a success, but he didn't stress over it. He spent his time working on the property. Eventually, one of the women he was 'dating' impressed him enough for him to have her live in. Her name was Ethel Merton. They were compatible in most respects, especially in bed. Jim never once intimated to her that he had a submissive side. He knew that he still did have one, but he ruthlessly repressed it.

Ethel was his age, also divorced. She was always upbeat and pleasant. Sometimes it grated on Jim. But...she was a cracker in bed.

Mary worked at the law firm for ten more years, then retired. She had hook ups, and she had two friends with benefits. But she never had another Jim. A couple of Josh's, though.

She spent her late fifties on cruise ships. She liked the lifestyle and sights. She had loneliness as a constant companion.

Jim and Mary would see each other at holidays, when there were family gatherings. They were friendly, but distant. The one exception was when they roughhoused with their grandchildren. Then, and only then, they laughed with each other.

The end.