Once Upon a Fantasy Ch. 01-02

"Hello, Mr. Tyler, how are you feeling?"

"Okay," I croaked. "Thirsty."

"No nausea?" she asked as she reached for a foam cup with a bendable straw on my table.

"Not so far," I said, happy to feel the cooling lubrication of the water as I slowly sucked it in.

"That's good. I'll let your doctor know you're awake."

"Does my wife know I'm here?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I'm sure she'll be visiting as soon as it's permitted."

"What's this?" I asked, pointing to a monitor and a bag of clear fluid, both of them attached to me.

"The monitor reads your heart and respiration rates. The drip is saline and some pain killer. You're going to want that," she smiled.

I put my head back and closed my eyes. I was tired and I hoped I could get a few minutes rest before the doctor arrived. No such luck.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Tyler. I'm Doctor Wyche. I was your surgeon last night."

"Last night? How long have I been here?" I asked, now completely confused.

"You were brought in just before three o'clock and we operated at eight last night. Once we had the x-rays, we knew what had to be done."

"What did you have to do?" I asked, almost frightened of what he would tell me.

"Well, your patella, that is your kneecap, was shattered and had to be removed. In addition, there was a major tear in the anterior cruciate ligament as well as a complete rupture of the lateral collateral ligament. In other words, you couldn't have done much more damage to your knee it you had tried. We spent three-and-a-half hours putting your left knee back together again. I think we've done all we could possibly do under the circumstances."

"What's that all mean ... I mean ... for the future. I'll still be able to walk?"

"Walk, yes, but running is out, so is kneeling or squatting, along with things like tennis. I suspect you will need to have total knee replacement surgery later on in your life."

It didn't sound so bad at first. I suppose I'd find out some other things that I couldn't do over time.

After the doctor left I closed my eyes again and tried to get some sleep. Once again, it didn't last very long. I was awakened by the somewhat noisy entrance of Andrea, Brandon and Candice.

"Oh good, you're awake," Andrea said, leaning down to give me a peck on my cheek.

"I am now. Hi kids, how is everybody."

"We're better now that we know you're going to recover," Andrea answered for them.

I could see some tears in Candice's eyes and Brandon looked very uncomfortable.

"I'll be okay soon," I said, not knowing when soon would be. "They're going to start my physical therapy almost right away. I'll be on crutches or a walker for a time, but that won't last forever."

I saw the beginning of a smile with Candice and I reached out to her. She took my hand and came close.

"I was so scared, Daddy. I thought you might die."

"Nah ... not me. It was just an accident. It wasn't going to kill me."

"Will they make you wear a brace, like in football?" Brandon asked.

"I don't think so. I'll just have to wait and find out."

"I'm glad you're going to be okay, Dad," Brandon said with the first smile I'd seen from him. "We were really scared when they said they had to operate on you."

"Alright kids, that's enough for now," Andrea said. "Let your father get some rest."

They nodded and withdrew as my wife leaned over and kissed my cheek again.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, then turned and left with the children.

I couldn't tell whether she was holding back her emotions or not, but it seemed a pretty short and unemotional visit from her. Maybe it was just me imagining it. Maybe I looked worse than I felt. On the other hand, our relationship had been cooling over the past year or so. That fiery woman I had married had evolved into a quieter, less enthusiastic person. I suppose that might be natural after almost twenty years, but I missed the "old Andrea."

My wife came to visit each day, but didn't stay long. I wasn't too surprised I guess. She didn't bring the kids because they were in school and she had things to do herself. She did get on my case for being careless and was quick to tell me I had no business being on a delivery crew at my age when I owned the business. She was probably right but I didn't enjoy the lecture. I was well aware of the consequences of my "good deed" in attempting to satisfy a customer.

I wasn't released until five days later when it was deemed I was fit to get around. I had a session scheduled at the hospital physical therapy ward each morning at ten o'clock. I was prohibited from driving since I was on a fairly strong narcotic pain medicine. I was also warned against drinking alcohol until I was weaned off the pain pills. Life was going to be quite awkward for a while. Getting around would be up to Andrea and already she was showing signs it was an inconvenience to her. Even though she had been a stay-at-home mother since Candy was born, she had things to do and places to go. I got the sense she really depended on the freedom of not being tied down.

Frankly, I'm not a very good patient. I don't like being sick or injured and I don't like being unable to look after myself. My one ambition was to get this rehab over with as soon as possible. All I had to work with at home was my cell phone and my laptop. I used crutches when I was out of the house and a walker in the house.

Before I was discharged I asked how I would go about having a shower or bath with the bulky elastic wrap I was wearing. I was told that it would be removed and waterproof clear plastic bandages would replace the conventional dressings. They would also give me some spare plastic ones to use if the ones on my knee worked loose. That was a relief since I would be able to get my leg into my pants. I had my doubts with the original wrap.

I had a checkup with my surgeon at two and four weeks and he was satisfied with my progress. I would see him again at the three and six month mark just to make sure everything was progressing as it should. After four weeks, I was discharged from the hospital physical therapy schedule and immediately took out a temporary membership in our local community exercise facility. I was doing well with my prescribed exercises and with the weight loss. I was using the facilities every weekday morning and I really felt good about my progress.

When Andrea made it known my dependence on her for transportation was becoming an annoyance, I took steps to rectify that. At first I used a taxi service which my health insurance covered provided it was for prescribed therapy. When I began to use the community exercise room, I arranged for Barry LeDane, our assistant manager, to pick me up on his way to work, then caught a ride home with one of the several club members who lived in my area. They were all quite willing to help me and I was grateful for their assistance.

Three times a week, I would catch a ride to the office to see how things were going in my absence. Barry was nominally in charge while I was out of the store but I also placed great reliance on Len Murchison, my chief accountant. He was the guardian of our funds and was an invaluable aid to me in understanding the arcane values of cash flow and inventory management. Despite his age, now over 60, he was sharp, possessed a fine sense of humor and subscribed to my mantra of giving the customer the best possible product they could afford.

Andrea seemed grateful that my demands on her time had been reduced to almost nothing. Before my accident, my regular schedule at the store was a five day work week. I would be there from Tuesday though Saturday. Sunday we were only open from noon though five pm. Although we were open seven days a week, no one worked more than forty-four hours. That meant some complicated scheduling of staff but we managed fairly well I thought.

Barry LeDane worked Monday to Friday and Sunday afternoon which gave us full coverage in my absence. Len worked a normal Monday to Friday schedule. I trusted my staff and to this point I had no reason not to. Almost all of them were long-service people, some of whom were working at Highland before I bought the store from Walter. When I looked at it critically, I thought we were a pretty happy family as small businesses go. I certainly didn't have any big worries that I carted home with me each night.

By the end of two months, I was walking without the aid of crutches or a cane. The muscles and ligaments were sore, but getting better. I had weaned myself off the pain medicine and was happy I did. I could now drive my car and have a glass of wine or a beer when I wanted one. Naturally, I was back at work full time. I was just about getting my life back to normal.

I never spent a lot of time thinking about our marriage. It seemed to go along in a straight line with few interruptions. Naturally, after nearly twenty years there was a cooling from the early passions that we both expressed. That was to be expected. I was thinking that the cooling had been a little greater in the last year or so. On the other hand, there was no sign that anything fundamental had changed in our relationship. Andrea had worked hard to preserve her looks and had succeeded magnificently. I was proud of her and proud to be her husband. Her regular exercise and attention to a healthy diet had paid dividends and her appearance belied her age.

I, on the other hand, was overweight and semi-sedentary. I tried to excuse it as a consequence of my job, but the truth was I hadn't paid attention to my fitness and it was coming back to bite me. The loss of weight while I was in hospital was the catalyst to do something and I intended to stick with it until I was back somewhere close to my proper weight and fitness.

As I mentioned, I got the feeling that we had drifted a bit from our earlier days. I didn't get the sense that she was unhappy, but neither did I get the sense that this was the life she was hoping for. I tried to talk to her about it a number of times and got nowhere. I even asked her if there was something we could do to rekindle the spark we once had. A vacation? Counseling? Each suggestion brought about either an outright rejection or even scorn.

I didn't like the way our marriage was going and I said so. That brought about a rather quick and volatile reaction.

"What do you mean you're not happy with our relationship?" she spat.

"We're not as close as we used to be. You don't seem to be very happy with me. I keep wondering what I've done to make you feel that way."

"You're imagining things, Norman. Nothing has changed except you've gained weight and lost some hair. We aren't kids any more. I don't know what you expect from me, but there's nothing wrong with our marriage. Now get that out of your head."

"Do you remember the last time we made love?" I asked carefully.

"Is that what this is about? You were in no condition to have sex after your operation. Are you sure you're fit enough now? Did your doctor give you the okay?"

"The only thing I have to be careful about is not twisting the knee when I roll over. Other than that I'm fine. In fact, I've been fine for over a month."

"Well I'm certainly not in the mood after this third degree, so you can forget about it tonight," she said, stomping off to our bedroom.

Great! I should have just kept my mouth shut and hoped for the best I suppose. Then again, keeping my mouth shut hadn't got me anything lately, so what did I have to lose? Six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

It was almost a week later before Andrea condescended to let me make love to her. It wasn't the great experience I was hoping for. I hadn't been with her since before I was injured and that was months ago. Oh, she made all the right noises and gestures but I got the feeling her heart really wasn't in it. I don't know why, it was just a feeling I had. Surely at age thirty-eight she wasn't entering menopause. I didn't know what to do about it. Any attempt at conversation would probably end up just like our last one.

It was coming around to Thanksgiving and then Christmas on the calendar. Typically this was the big season for us. We sold more TVs and home stereo and theatre systems in the three months before than we did for the six months following. I'd made sure our inventory was ready to handle the new business and worked with the local newspaper to publish a special holiday sales flyer. Our suppliers had come through as they always did with promotional discounts and feature items to put on sale.

It wasn't particularly busy one Saturday when a middle-aged couple came in to ask about a home theatre. They already had a forty-two-inch LCD flat screen TV, but they wanted to add the surround-sound. I knew from talking to them that it would be something we would have to install but, from their description, I wasn't sure what was right for their home. They needed enough room to make it effective and then there were the wiring issues.

They lived in a suburb forty minutes drive from the store. I didn't want to put them off to next week and risk losing the sale so I agreed I would come out to their house that afternoon and look it over to make sure we could match a system to their needs. They happily agreed and gave me their address. I would meet them just after one o'clock. I could afford to miss a lunch that day.

It turned out that a compact system would be more suited to their older house with smaller rooms. It wouldn't take up as much space and wouldn't overpower them either. It was also less expensive. I gave them three different suggestions and said we could give them a demonstration of each of them at the store. Again, they were happy with the service and that we weren't trying to sell them a more costly setup. I was sure we had made the sale.

It was almost three o'clock when I finished up and realized I was hungry and needed something to last me until supper time. There was a strip mall with a deli not far from the couple's home and I stopped in for a snack. I picked out a pre-made sandwich from the counter display as well as a single serving container of tomato juice and headed for a small table along the wall of the narrow shop. This would hold me for a few hours.

I had just finished the sandwich when I saw a familiar face at the counter. I hadn't seen Janice LeDane since before her divorce from Barry. That was over a year ago. I never did know the reason for the divorce and Barry was not forthcoming about it so I didn't pry. He was a valuable employee and the breakup with Janice didn't seem to have a big effect on his work.

"Hello, Janice. Nice to see you again," I said as she passed me heading for the back of the room.

"Norm ... what a surprise. It's been a long time, hasn't it? How's Andrea?"

"Fine thanks. The kids are fine too. And you? We were very sorry to hear about you and Barry."

"May I sit?" she asked. I immediately stood and held a chair for her. She had a mug of herbal tea and placed it on the table waiting for it to steep.

"We miss you guys," I continued.

She nodded. "Me too. But, it had to happen. I couldn't go on the way things were. I tried, but I couldn't handle it."

I gave her a questioning look but said nothing. If she wanted me to know more she'd tell me.

"The cheating. At first, I thought he was just going through a phase. The first time I caught him he begged me not to leave him. He promised he would never do it again. That lasted about three years. Then he fell off the wagon again. I did leave him that time. I was gone for two weeks before I let him convince me that once again he would never again cheat on me. I wanted to believe him, Norm, I really did. But ... he just couldn't keep his dick in his pants. Pardon my language. I caught him red-handed with one of our neighbors. This time there was no going back."

"I'm so sorry, Janice. I ... we ... had no idea. Barry's never said a word about it to me. I just thought it must have been some kind of amicable split. I know Andrea didn't know anything about it."

"I'm not surprised. Barry probably wasn't about to go around bragging about cheating on a wife of twelve years. I wonder now if he wasn't cheating right from the start and I just didn't catch on. That's what it does to you, Norm. You lose trust and it brings everything about your relationship into doubt."

"Yeah. I can understand that. You're living around here now?"

"Yes. I have a small apartment and my company gave me a transfer to a local branch, so that worked out well. At least Barry is on time with his alimony payments. But ... they're going to come to an end soon. I'm getting married again," she smiled, showing me a very nice ring.

"Congratulations. I hope you and your new husband will be very happy."

"I'm sure we will. He's a widower with two grown sons. I'm going to be a step-grandmother soon. How about that for an old broad who didn't have any kids?"

"He's a good guy, then?" I asked.

"Yeah. He's a great guy. I'm lucky as hell he wants me, Norm," she said, shaking her head in amazement.

We exchanged small talk for a while longer before it was time for Janice to go. We promised to stay in touch and we exchanged e-mail addresses with her promise that we would be invited to the wedding. I felt good about that.

Chapter 2 Look What I Found

"You'll never guess who I ran into this afternoon," I said to Andrea as I arrived home that Saturday afternoon.

"Who?" she asked disinterestedly.

"Janice LeDane."

I'd no sooner got the name out of my mouth when Andrea's head snapped around and gave me a look I don't think I'd ever seen on her before. I'm not sure if it was fear or shock or what.

"Oh," Andrea stammered. "What did she have to say?" She looked worried now. I really couldn't understand her reaction.

"We sat for a while and chatted. She's getting married again. Met a nice guy with grown sons. She's really happy to have found this guy by the sound of it."

"That's nice," Andrea managed vaguely.

"Yeah ... I also found out what caused the divorce."

Once again, Andrea's full attention was on me and that strange look was back.

"He was cheating on her. She caught him and took him back twice, but the third strike and he was out. I had no idea he was like that, did you?"

"No ... no ... of course not. Did she say anything else ... about Barry I mean?"

"Not much. The last time she caught him it was with a neighbor. I guess he's just one of those guys who can't be faithful. Doesn't know how. I can't imagine it was because of Janice. She's still a very attractive woman."

Andrea nodded then returned to getting the evening meal prepared. She seemed to be back to normal again. I guess it was the shock of hearing that Barry was a multiple cheat.

That night, Andrea was in the mood and wanted sex. I wasn't going to question why, I was just grateful that she did. She was a lot more active this time too. Lately she'd been pretty passive and frankly not very responsive. This was a most welcome change, more like the old days.

"That was great, Babe. We haven't gotten it on like that in a while. We should do this more often."

She didn't respond except to put her arm across my chest and hold me before rolling over and going to sleep.

I lay there for a while thinking about our relationship. It had cooled dramatically in the past two years. Once upon a time, Andrea was a dynamite sex partner and I was hard pressed to keep up with her. Over time, however, that had cooled and finally, with the injury to my knee, it had almost vanished. Tonight was a very different thing.

I got me to thinking about the reaction from her when I told her I'd met with Janice. I was trying to find a way to identify what I saw but it just wasn't coming to me. Her reaction was out of proportion to the information she was given. All I had said was that I had met up with Janice LeDane and her expression changed immediately. What was that phrase that was so over-used? Deer in the headlights? Yeah, that was it. That was exactly it. Fear mixed with alarm.