Payback

Patty's attorney then asked about my large credit account and the fact I did not pay it off every month like the business required for other customers. My father said that was true but that he had made a special deal with me and took an ownership interest in my structures to protect the business in case I defaulted. He got the cost of the materials I purchased for the buildings plus a three per cent ownership for advancing me the materials. He pointed out that Patty had not only exceeded her authority in allowing Joe and George the higher credit but that she had not even tried to protect the business in case they defaulted.

Finally the hearing ended after two days of testimony. When the decision was handed down Patty and her Father were almost charged with contempt of court. They were very loudly complaining because the decision went against her. In fact, the judge said, "Ms. Tremain you should thank your lucky stars your father in law chose not to refer this to the authorities. I think he could make a case for criminal negligence, perhaps even theft against you and your two accomplices. I would suggest you remove yourself from this courtroom and I would further suggest you think about the kindness shown you by these people. If they had counter sued I strongly believe they could have won a substantial settlement from you."

Patty and her father were sputtering and her face was white as they were escorted from the courtroom. As I was leaving the courtroom Laurence stopped me and said, "Stan I have good news for you also. Just before the hearing began this morning I was informed the Judge signed off on your divorce. In thirty days your marriage will be over. Do you want me to mail the papers or will you pick them up?"

That evening my parents and I were sitting on their patio relaxing after the trial. We were both glad and sad. We were glad we all came through unscathed (except for the legal bills) and sad that my marriage and their relationship with Patty ended the way they did. We had done a BBQ and were now sitting with our liquid refreshments while we just chilled out. In truth we were all feeling the effects of the liquor.

I was just at the point of telling my parents how bitter I was. I said, "I still can't believe my friends would do something like that to me much less that Patty would. If it takes me the rest of my life I am going to make them pay for this."

My mother looked at me in shock and said, "Oh, Stan. Please don't do that. A man that lives with bitterness is a poor excuse of a man. Take the high road and live your life to the fullest. In the long run that will make your life more fulfilling and could even make those three sorry for what they did."

We heard the tap, tap, tap of small footsteps on the sidewalk just before we heard a female voice say, "Thank you Mrs. Tremain. That is just what I have been trying to get him to do. If anyone can feel the pain he does it is I and I think I have risen above it. At first I was just like Stan. I wanted nothing more than to eviscerate Joe. Bit by bit as time went past I began to let my anger and my desire for revenge slip away. One day I realized I not only didn't care any longer but I realized in almost every way I was better off without the cheating bastard."

Glenda came fully onto the patio and looked directly at me. She continued, "Stan I know how empty you feel now. I know the feelings that are still burning through your consciousness but believe me, dwelling on them just make them worse. Please, please let the anger go and get on with your life. Just next time be more careful; be more sure of the friends you choose and the woman you take into your heart. If you were to be honest and admitting hindsight is 20/20 I bet you can see the seeds of this heartbreak existed before you married Patty. I know I could and still can see that in Joe. He always had an eye for the ladies and always chatted them up. He was always more attentive to them when we were out than he was to me but I thought I was in love with him. I know you have said Patty was a lot like that. She always flirted with other men and reveled in their attention. Look into your heart and use this knowledge to better yourself. Don't lower yourself to their level and hurt someone. In the long term it won't make you feel any better."

I looked up at Glenda. She was standing looking at me and I would swear there were tears in her eyes. The sun was behind her and her thin sundress didn't hide much. I could see the outline of her very womanly, very desirable body and felt myself respond. With superhuman effort I wrenched my gaze from her. I felt a flash of disgust with myself. Here I was, not completely divorced and I was drooling over a friend.

Glenda went on with her conversation. She said, "I'm sorry for just dropping by but I was on my way down to the tavern and wanted to congratulate you on your success today. I have to admit the phone wires have been buzzing this afternoon as people pass on your success in the lawsuit." Glenda looked at all of us and smiled gently then continued, "I'll go now but...well, be careful and don't...Oh, hell, I've heard already that Patty has some friends that are talking trash about you and they have made some threats. I just wanted you to be careful and watch out. If you have too much more to drink....Oh, hell, I'm sorry. I'll just go. Goodnight."

Glenda turned and rushed from the patio toward her car. We all just sat there and looked at each other. To say we were shocked was an understatement. Mother summed it up best when she said, "Oh, I just can't believe that. How could anyone...WHY would anyone be that upset at us?"

We continued talking for a short time about nothing of any consequence. I decided I was sober enough to return to my own home. I was getting ready to leave when the phone rang. Mother went in to answer it. I could hear her say, "OH, no! When? Ok, he'll be there as soon as he can get there."

She came out of the house crying and ran up to Dad. She said, "Cedric that was the police. The silent alarms have gone off in the store and they want you to come down and turn them off and see if anything is missing. They say the first car on the scene has said most of the windows have been broken out. Oh, Cedric how could someone do something like this to us?"

Dad and I went to the store. When we got there we found two patrol cars waiting on us. We went inside and turned off the alarm. We walked around and did not find anything obviously missing but told the officers we would have to take an inventory to be sure. There was some damage to some of the items inside from where the rocks had hit. We called Mom and had her bring down some sleeping bags so we could spend the night. The next morning early we called the insurance company and then made arrangements to have the glass replaced.

I went home later that evening and found some of my windows also broken out. I called the police and reported the vandalism. Of course they asked their questions and when asked if I knew of anyone who might do something like this I said, "I...a few months ago I would have said no but now, especially after what I was told yesterday afternoon late and what happened last night I have to say I might. I just received a divorce because I caught my wife cheating with two of my friends. She used to be assistant manager at my parents store. When I filed the divorce Dad let her go. He had the books checked and found many improprieties. She filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against him and he received a judgment in his favor yesterday. A friend told my parents and me that my ex wife and two ex friends had been making threatening comments. Now I wonder if either of them or her or her family could be involved in this. I know her father was extremely angry over the whole thing and cursed me several times." Of course we had said something similar when the police took the report at the store. Now I was somewhat more sure we were on the right track.

After the vandalism things got back to normal, or at least as normal as they could be considering the hole that had been torn in our lives when Patty was forced out of them. My parents tried to get back to the way things were and I struggled. Some days I would do OK but usually when I got home I would remember Patty and the evenings would be crap. If I was working I could function fine but the alone times were bad because it had been several years since I had been truly alone all night.

I began going out most evenings for supper. I usually had supper in one of the sports bars or local hang outs so I began drinking more than I had before. Of course this just tended to make me lonelier and angrier with Patty and her lovers. I would see some of my crew or some of the friends I still had from time to time. They would try to cheer me up and slow down my drinking but I didn't let them. Occasionally I would see Glenda and she would try to get me to let it go.

One Thursday evening I was out and saw a group of women sitting around a table drinking and having a good time. One of the women caught my eye. It was Susan, George's wife! Now, as far as I knew no one knew George had been one of Patty's lovers. I remembered my promise to make him pay and walked up to the table they were at. I bent down and said, "Hi Susan. It's been ages since I saw you. Would you dance with me?"

Susan looked up at me with a frown on her face then she smiled. "Sure Stan," she said.

I smiled and took her hand to help her from the chair. I wrapped my arm around her waist as we walked to the dance floor. We had only danced a few seconds when the song ended. She started to head for the table but I held her. I said, "Oh, come on Sue. You promised me a dance and we hadn't even gotten going yet when the song ended. Surely you can give me a whole song to dance to?"

Susan relaxed and smiled. She flowed back into my arms when the next song started and we began swaying to the music. She sighed and said, "You always were a good dancer. I wish George would take me dancing more. I always loved to dance when we were dating." She laid her cheek on my chest and we swayed to the music until the song ended.

She started to the table before the next song started but I held her hand. When she turned to look at me I gave her a puppy dog look and said, "One more please? For old times sake?"

Susan looked toward her friends then smiled a nervous smile and moved back into my arms. As we danced I said, "I don't mean to make you nervous. Since my...well since Patty left I've been so lonesome and it feels good to at least be able to dance with someone again. Sometimes I don't know how I'm going to make it."

Sue turned her head up to me and said, "Well Stan, you brought it on yourself. If you weren't so jealous you wouldn't have lost"

I jerked my head back and glared at her. Before she could react I hissed, "Jealous? I guess in a sense I was but I'll be damn if I let my wife fuck my friends and not do something about it. You're right, I kicked her out and I'd do it again but I still miss her. I"

It was Susan's turn to break in. She said, "What do you mean? I heard you were upset with Patty flirting and finally just kicked her out of the house then filed for divorce."

I stopped dancing and just held Susan as I explained what I had seen the night I caught Patty. I did leave George out of it this time because I still wanted to make him feel the pain of seeing his wife with someone else. When I finished talking Susan looked at me and said, "Stan I just can't believe that. I know Joe is a horn dog but even he would not do that to a friend. I've known Patty all my life and she's just not that way. Are you sure you actually saw that?"

Now I was pissed. I said, "Yeah, I know what I saw. If you don't believe me come out to my house and I'll show you the pictures."

I turned and started to walk away when Susan grabbed my arm. "Stan, I'm sorry but...well, George said you, that you were just on a real tear. I"

All at once I remembered I still had the pictures on my phone. I really wasn't thinking when I pulled it out and said, "Here. Look at these pictures and tell me Patty or my friends wouldn't do something like that!"

I handed the phone to Susan and stood as she scrolled through the pictures. I heard her gasp when she saw the first one of Joe and Patty. I had forgotten about George. I remembered his picture was on the phone when I heard Susan cry out and I saw her stop scrolling through the pictures. She was staring at a picture, and then tears began rolling down her cheeks. I saw her move to the next picture and she began bawling. She dropped the phone and ran toward her friends. Now I felt like an asshole.

I ran after Susan and was intercepted by two of her friends. One of them said, "What did you do to her? I thought you were a friend. Why is she crying?"

I pushed through the two of them and knelt by Susan's side. I took her hand and said, "Susan, I'm sorry. When you didn't believe me I got angry and decided to prove I wasn't lying. I forgot I had the pictures of George on the phone. I"

One of her friends grabbed my phone from the floor and as she started looking at the pictures said, "What pictures OH MY GOD. THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

All the girls except for the one trying to calm Susan down gathered around my phone to look at the pictures. They were all muttering and I could tell they weren't sure whether to be more angry with me or George. Finally Susan looked up at me and said, "Just get out of here Stan. Please just leave me alone."

I stood and took my phone from the girls. I slowly walked away and drove back to my home. I felt like crap. I really did like Susan and now I was party to her unhappiness. I wondered how I could have ever thought what I had planned to do to her was OK. I was sick at the hurt I had caused her just by letting her see the pictures. How much worse would it have been if I had taken her to bed and then sent the pictures to George before I let her see them?

I was sitting on my patio communing with John Barleycorn when I heard a car drive into my driveway. I didn't move even when I heard the car door slam and the pounding on my front door. I took another drink and sat staring across my little slice of heaven. I could make out the shadows of the trees in the moonlight.

Finally I heard the tap, tap, tap of small feet coming around the house and a voice yelling, "Stan where the hell are you? I know you're home I can see your truck in the garage. Stan I'm not leaving until you talk to me. Now open up." As she was saying that the woman walked up to my back door and began banging on it.

Finally I had enough and said, "OK, just stop banging on my house. I'm over here. What the hell do you want?"

I turned and saw Glenda as she stomped up beside my chair. "Damn you Stan. I just came from the bar and grill. Did you really have to hurt Susan like that? You just couldn't leave it alone could you? I ought to beat the tar out of you."

I sat and stared up at Glenda then grabbed her arm as she slammed it down trying to strike me. As I was wrestling with her trying to keep her from hitting me she lost her balance and fell into my lap. I quickly wrapped my arms around her and held on as I said, "Glenda stop it. If you don't stop I'm afraid one of us will get hurt. Look, I'm sorry I upset Susan tonight. It wasn't intentional. I had been thinking about what you said and all I was doing was dancing with her. She began getting on my case because of the way I treated poor Patty and I lost it. She told me I got what I deserved for being so jealous. Without thinking I told her I had pictures of Joe and Patty on my phone. I forgot there were also pictures of George there and when I handed it to her for her to look at she saw them. Of course that hurt her and she began crying. She and her friends told me to get the hell out and I did."

"Everyone I had talked to about my planned revenge had advised me against getting it by taking the women. I had already decided not to do that. I know I hurt her but I just didn't think and I didn't do it on purpose. At the same time though, don't you think she deserved to know what an asshole, what a cheating bastard George is? Of course if she had any sense she would have realized that by now. She caught him cheating on her enough while we were in school she should have known he was a cheater. Once a cheater, always a cheater ya know."

Glenda was still struggling but she had calmed down considerably. Finally I felt her relax even more and she demanded I let her go. I carefully relaxed my arms and she moved from my lap and over to one of my chairs where she once again sat down. I could tell she was looking at me.

I heard a sigh and then she said, "Stan I don't know what to believe. When I got to the bar Susan and her friends were already gone but everyone I talked to told me what a butthead you had been to her. They said you were dancing and then she broke away from you and ran back to her chair crying. I just thought...Are you sure you didn't do anything to her?"

I reached into my pocket and threw her my phone. "Here," I said. "Call her yourself and ask her what I did. All I did was forget the damn pictures on my phone and she saw them. I didn't"

Glenda and I heard a roar, then screeching tires. Almost immediately after that we heard the crash of metal on metal. We next heard a car door open then slam closed. We heard running footsteps and a male voice yelling, "Stan you son of a bitch. Get your damn ass out here. I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch."

We heard a splintering crash then footsteps slamming through my house. Lights began to come on as the intruder went from room to room. I could see George taking swipes at some of my belongings as he went through my house room to room. Finally he came back to the kitchen and saw Glenda and me on the patio. He didn't even open the sliding screen door, he just ran through it and toward me. I had stepped away from the chair I was sitting in to meet him. I jumped back just in time as I saw the tire iron he swung at me.

"You mother fucker," he screamed. "You didn't have to show Susan those damn pictures. It's not my fault you couldn't rein in your slut. But NOOOO. You've always tried to get Susan away from me. Even in High School you did all you could to steal her. Now you've ruined my marriage and this time you're going to pay you bastard! She kicked me out of the house tonight and said you had showed her those damn pictures. Didn't you learn anything from having your house and store trashed? I guess we'll just have to trash you this time."

George swung the tire iron once more and this time it hit me on the shoulder. Damn that hurt. Thankfully it was a glancing blow. I could faintly hear Glenda talking on the phone as I dodged George's blows. I managed to get my chair between us and after he swung once more I picked it up to use as a shield, perhaps as a weapon.

George kept swinging the tire iron and hitting the chair. He was so angry he was crying as he screamed at me. Glenda was trying to calm him down and he turned toward her. "Shut up you Bitch," he screamed at her. "I might have known you would be around somewhere. Birds of a feather do flock together don't they? What, are you here to celebrate fucking over Joe again?"

George took a swipe at Glenda and the end of the iron caught in her blouse tearing it opened. He stumbled and almost fell. As he was stumbling we heard the sirens from the arriving police cars wail to a stop. We heard the cars screech to a stop in front of my home. I saw the flashing of the red lights on the surrounding trees and watched as officers came around my house following the sound of the altercation.

As the officers came onto the Patio George caught his balance and turned to me once more. As he turned he screamed, "You Mother Fucker. I'm going to kill your ass. You've fucked with me for the last damn time." He began moving toward me once more.