Repeat Performance

I told her that, not ever having been in that situation, it was hard for me to evaluate the difficulties that he was facing. I went on to say, "I noticed that he gave Molly a tranquilizer two times during the time that we were there. The instructions on the bottle said to give it only when she was out of control. It was my opinion that she hadn't been out of control while we were there. In my opinion, he was just keeping her drugged so he wouldn't have to deal with her.

"Also, there was no reason that he couldn't have made a five-minute call to the warranty department. But most of all, he was too rough with her. He was far from gentle. No wonder she yelled and got mad when she wasn't drugged. He was hurting her! I would never treat anyone that way. He showed absolutely no love for Molly."

Leslie was beside herself. "You have no idea what that man is going through. Don't forget, back in Kansas it was Evan Monroe that cracked. He was the one that was finally driven over the edge. He couldn't take being a caregiver day and night with no relief. In the end, he was the one that provided that horrible final resolution for both of them."

"Well, Les, you're the one with experience in this kind of thing. I guess you are probably right. Why doesn't Hector get some help? I know there are services available to give him some help. They can provide some relief for him. Have you looked into that?"

"Gregg, he can't afford it. Like I told you, he's barely able to make the house payment and pay the bills. He can't get any assistance. It's just like what Evan faced.

"Here's the thing, honey, I feel a calling to help the Greely's. I'm thinking that I could make a little extra lunch a couple of days a week. When we finish lunch, I could take some to the Greely's and give Hector a break for a few hours too."

I told her that I understood her sense of duty and would fully support her efforts. I did, however, restate my conviction that she did her best in Kansas and shouldn't beat herself up about it.

When Tuesday arrived, Leslie made some extra lunch. She left our house with the extra food and some cleaning supplies. She was dressed in what I would call "contemporary charwoman" style. I didn't know it at the time, but when she walked out the door, she took the first step towards our marriage crisis.

The signs were there, but my brain wasn't aware. I failed to notice that Leslie began coming home a little later on her Tuesday and Thursday trips. She was home by 3 pm when she started, but after a few weeks, she was coming home after sundown!

Also, she started dressing better. Her charwoman look gave way to outfits more like what she wore on Wednesdays to do her greeting. Before long, she was wearing jewelry and full makeup. She still carried a cleaning bag, but it was nearly empty. She still took lunch, but not as much as before.

Then, she started taking more time for her greeting on Wednesdays. Before long she was coming home after dark on Wednesday too. I asked her if they were selling more houses now. She said she was trying to make a few business contacts in addition to doing the greeting. She was trying to get some more stuff to give away besides the cookies. She admitted that she wasn't having much luck yet.

The next big event was a phone call at three am. Molly was in the intensive care unit. Leslie began to get dressed. "Gregg, get up and dress. We need to get to the hospital."

"Les, this is not our problem. We're not family, we're neighbors. We should go to see her during normal visiting hours."

"Gregg, I'm going. The only question is whether or not you're going with me."

"I told you, Les, we should visit her during visiting hours. She has kids, don't forget. They'll be there. We would only be in the way. We should stay here. I'm not going to the hospital now and neither should you."

She didn't say a word. She just finished dressing and then walked out of the bedroom. I listened in disbelief as she started her car and drove away.

When the morning visiting hours arrived, I drove to the hospital. I walked up to the information desk and asked about Molly. I was informed that she was still in the critical care unit and was in grave condition.

I took the elevator to the critical care unit. First, I checked the waiting room. No Leslie or Hector. Next, I approached the nursing station and told the nurse that I would like to visit Molly Greely. The nurse informed me that only family members could visit Molly.

I asked her if she could find out if my wife, Leslie Morgan, was visiting Molly. She asked if Leslie was a family member. I said that she was a good friend. She said, "then she won't be there."

"Could you please go check? Ask if Leslie is there. She's a very good friend and also served as a home caregiver for Molly. I think she's probably in the room."

The nurse wasn't happy with my request but she entered the critical care unit to check. She returned in a few minutes and told me that nobody was visiting Molly.

When I asked, the nurse confirmed that Molly was still in grave condition.

I checked the cafeteria and the prayer room with no luck. As I left the hospital, I took a swing through the parking lot looking for Leslie's car. Once again, no luck. It's a big lot. Guess I could have missed it.

When I arrived back at Golden Years, I checked to see if I could find Leslie's car. It wasn't in our garage. It wasn't in Hector's driveway. I took a swing through the whole development and couldn't find Leslie's car anywhere. I went home and spent some time writing. Leslie didn't come home.

I returned to the hospital for the evening visiting hours. I did all of the same checks that I'd done during the morning visiting hours with precisely the same results.

Come midnight, I found myself still alone in our house. I'd tried to reach Leslie on her cell phone many times with no success. It was apparent that her phone was turned off. I finally called the hospital and told them that I was worried about my wife. I talked them into checking the waiting room and Molly's bedside. There were no visitors in either place. I gave up and went to bed alone. I slept a little bit, but not much. When I got up the next morning, I was still alone in our house.

After I had some cereal for breakfast, I attempted to do a little more writing. A couple of hours later, I heard the garage door opening. Leslie walked past my office without a word and entered the bathroom. Moments later I heard the shower running.

I was sitting at the kitchen table when she finally made an appearance. She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined me. She made no mention of where she'd been all night.

I finally broke the silence. "So, Leslie, are you going to tell me where you spent the night?"

"Where do you think I spent it? I was at the hospital most of the time. If you had come with me, you would have known where I was each and every minute."

"You were not at the hospital during the morning or evening visiting hours. I was there, you weren't. You were not there when I checked at midnight either, so let me ask again. Where the hell were you?"

"I told you that there were two people in crisis. Molly was in grave condition, but she had an army of nurses and doctors helping her. Hector was in need also, but no one was there for him except me. Yes, I spent some time trying to comfort Hector. We spent some time at restaurants and we spent some time in the park just talking. I'm not going to apologize for helping a person in need. I'm proud of what I did."

"Are you proud of not letting your husband know where you were? Why did you have your phone turned off all day and all night? Can you say that you're proud of everything you did in the last twenty-four hours?"

"As to the phone, you know they make us turn them off in the hospital. Guess I forgot to turn it back on when we left the hospital. After all, I had quite a bit on my mind. When you refused to come with me yesterday morning, you forfeited your right to question me about where I was or what I was doing, mister."

"Oh, really? Well, missus, why don't you just get your ass on out of here and go back to Hector. He's your pet project. I kinda liked not having to listen to your snoring all night. Best sleep I've had in years. Go back to Hector and leave me alone."

"Don't tempt me, asshole."

"Oh, so you're calling me pet names now. Trying to get on my good side? Go to hell, Leslie. Better than that, go to Hector."

With that, I stomped out of the kitchen and went back to my home office.

To my surprise, Leslie made lunch and came to my office to tell me that it was ready. We actually had a pleasant conversation over lunch with no mention of Hector or Molly. She was acting as if nothing had happened.

Later, she left in her car. She didn't mention where she was going, but I assumed that she was heading to the hospital. She was only gone for a couple of hours.

When she returned, I asked her how Molly was doing. She said her condition was unchanged.

"I'm surprised they let you see her? They told me that only family members could go in."

"That first night, Hector told them that I was his sister. If you had been there, he could have set it up for you to see her too since you would have been identified as his brother-in-law."

For the next couple of weeks, things were nearly normal at our house. Leslie did her Wednesday greeting, but never took more than four hours. She still left for two or three hours during the day for what I assumed were hospital visits. All in all, this was the closest we had been to normal for a long time.

Then came the day when I got home from getting my car serviced and found a note on the kitchen table. It said that Molly had passed away. Leslie was helping Hector make arrangements. She didn't have any idea how long it would take. She stressed that Hector needed her help now. She needed to make sure that he was doing OK.

I tried several times during the day to call Leslie, but I got her voicemail every time. I did leave a couple of messages asking if I could be of any assistance.

I waited up until midnight, then I went to bed alone. Leslie walked in the door shortly before noon and went straight to the bathroom and showered.

When we finally talked, she said that Hector had taken Molly's death very hard. He felt that he'd let her down. He was a wreck. They stayed up all night talking. When he finally fell asleep, she left.

"Where were their children?" I asked. "Why weren't they there to help Hector and to assist in making the arrangements? It's not your place or duty to do that, Les."

"You don't know how depressed Hector is. He's suicidal. I'm not going to let a second caregiver take his life on my watch. I hope that I was finally able to make him see that he wasn't to blame for Molly's death. We have the funeral scheduled for next Monday evening. There will be a visitation on Sunday."

"Leslie, no doubt about it, Hector has had a rough time. It's time, however, for him to step up to the plate and turn his life around. He has to stop relying on you. You need to dial-back your 'mothering' of him."

"Gregg, I talked him into getting some counseling. I agreed to accompany him to the first few sessions. I think they'll help him stand on his own, as you've mentioned. Once he can do that, I'll be able to reduce my time with him. I just want to know for sure that he's in no danger of being another Evan Monroe."

Leslie and I attended the visitation together. I was able to meet Hector's children. I noticed that they spent very little time with their father. Hector spent more time with us than with them.

We also attended the funeral together. It was a very short and simple ceremony. I was a little bit embarrassed that Leslie was sitting next to Hector and holding his hand throughout the service. I felt that she was getting the attention that should've been focused on his children.

One other thing that puzzled me was that there was no trip to the cemetery. When the funeral ceremony was over, we just filed out of the room and went to another room for snacks and conversation. As far as I know, no one saw them place Molly in the ground. I had never experienced that kind of a funeral before.

In the days following the funeral, Leslie didn't leave the house as much as she had been. She did go to two counseling sessions with Hector. It was her opinion that he was benefitting quite a bit from the counseling.

One evening as we were watching the tube, there was a knock at our door. I answered the door to find two men in suits standing there. They asked if this was the residence of Leslie Morgan. I could sense that they were cops.

"Yes, it is. I'm Gregg Morgan. She's my wife."

They showed me their badges and ID cards. They were detectives with the local police force. I invited them in. They each took a chair. I sat next to Leslie on the couch.

They told us that Molly's children had become concerned about their mother's death when the doctor in attendance had reported suspicious bruises on Molly's body.

Then they said that in talking with Molly's neighbors, Leslie's name had come up as one of Molly's caregivers. They told Leslie that they needed to question her. They strongly suggested that she come downtown with them to answer some questions.

Leslie asked if she could just answer their questions there at home. They said that was possible. They asked if they could talk to her in private.

Leslie told them that she would rather have me present. They told her that if they started the questioning with me present, she couldn't change her mind later. "Are you sure that you don't want to be questioned in private?"

"Of course I'm sure. I'm more comfortable with my husband present."

"Ok, it's your call. Did you notice the bruises on Molly's body when you were caring for her?"

"I saw some bruising on her arms, but I never bathed her or anything like that so I didn't see any of her body except what showed when she was dressed. I do know, however, that she fell a lot. That probably accounts for the bruises."

"So, you saw her fall often?"

"No, I never saw her fall, but Hector told me that she'd taken quite a few bad spills. He was upset about that."

"So, you didn't suspect that Hector might be abusing Molly?"

"No, not at all. There's just no way that Hector would do that."

I was shaking my head.

"Mr. Morgan, do you have something to say about this?"

"Well, I was only there a couple of times, but I did see Hector treating Molly pretty roughly. He gripped her arms too forcefully and jerked her around too much. He also seemed pretty liberal about giving her medication that was clearly marked to be administered only if the patient was out of control."

"Gregg, you don't even begin to know how disruptive she could be", Leslie yelled. "Sometimes Hector was forced to handle her forcefully to keep her from hurting herself. You just don't know how bad she could be sometimes. Hector did the best that he could. He was gentle with her most of the time. Those bruises were from her running into furniture and falling."

One of the officers turned to Leslie. "So, what, exactly, kind of care did you give to Mrs. Greely?"

"I brought lunch for her and Hector and I helped him feed her, when necessary. Most of my time was spent cleaning the house and washing clothes."

"The neighbors said that there was a home care service that took care of Mrs. Greely on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Why didn't they handle those duties?"

"At first, there was no home care service. That's when I did those things. After we hired the service, I no longer needed to do that."

"The neighbors said you were always there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You were also there on most Wednesdays. Is that right?

"Yes, that's right."

"The neighbors also told us that you and Mr. Greely usually went out together when the home-care people were there. They said that you usually stayed an additional hour or two after the home-care people left. Can you tell us what part you played in all of this?"

"As I'm sure you know, the act of caring for a person on a twenty-four-seven basis is very hard on the caregiver. I tried to make sure that Hector got a break so he wouldn't go off the rails. I tried to give care to the caregiver. I considered that to be my calling."

"According to our information, you paid for Molly's home care service. Is that true?"

"Yes. Hector couldn't afford it and I knew from previous experience that the caregiver needs a break now and then. It was my way of helping them both."

"We also have evidence that suggests that you paid for meals, movies, and other entertainment when you were 'giving Hector a break.' We've also determined that you were paying for Hector's counseling sessions and attending them with him. Is that all true?"

"Yes. As I said, he couldn't afford to do those things that he so desperately needed."

"Did you provide any other services for Mr. Greely?"

"I'm not sure what you mean?"

"Did you pay for a room at the Blue Meadows Motel on fourteen occasions? Sometimes for just a couple of hours, and at least twice for the whole night?"

Leslie looked at me. She had a very pained look on her face. A tear was rolling down her cheek. "Officers, I think we should go downtown after all. I don't want to hurt my husband any more than I already have."

"Ma'am, we gave you that option before we started. We made it clear that once we began here, we would have to finish here. It was your choice ma'am.

"I think I want a lawyer present before I say anymore, officer."

"You're not under arrest, Mrs. Morgan. You're just giving us a statement to help us with our investigation. If you insist, however, we're prepared to arrest you and have you finish your statement downtown."

At that point, I stepped in saying, "I understand why my wife is uncomfortable continuing with her statement with me present. Would you mind if I left and went upstairs to my office? I have some work that I need to get done anyway."

"That would be fine, Mr. Morgan. We can't ask you to leave and you certainly are under no obligation to do so. If you prefer not to hear the rest of your wife's statement, that's your choice to make. Are you sure that you don't want to hear the rest of her statement?"

"I don't need to hear any more than I already have. Plus, I have no desire to see her arrested. I'll go to my office."

"Would that work for you, ma'am?"

"Yes, officer. That would be better."

So, I went upstairs to my office. Little did they know that I could hear everything that was said in the living room simply by listening at the air duct in my office. Yes, I heard the rest of her statement. I wish I'd just remained in the bliss of ignorance.

"So, Mrs. Morgan, were you having a sexual relationship with Mr. Greely?"

"Officers, it started with us just going out to a restaurant or perhaps a park to talk. I was trying to keep his spirits up and give him a pleasant break from caregiving. As we spent more and more time together, we became good friends. As time went on, we became more than friends. I guess you could say we progressed to an emotional affair. I was giving him the company that Molly used to give him. He saw me as a stand-in for his wife and I confided in him like a wife confides in her husband.

"Several times when we were confiding in each other, he told me that one of the things he missed the most was sexual activity with his wife. He said that it had been a sexless marriage for over three years. He came right out and asked me how my sex life was. I told him that it was good. It wasn't like it had been back when we were young, but we were doing alright for a couple in our seventies.

"I went ahead and told him that sex had never been a big deal for me. I said that while I enjoyed it, it wasn't even close to being my favorite thing. I told him that I probably wasn't very good at it either since I've only had sex with one man, my husband. After these conversations, it became apparent to me that one of the things Hector needed if he was to start enjoying life again, was sexual release. Perhaps one of my duties should be to help him with that.