Shutdown Fever

"Goodbye? What do you mean? Where are you going?" She had a look of deep concern on her face as she stared at him.

Hugh walked past her and poured himself a cup of coffee before answering. "Like I said, I'm here to say goodbye. I sold my car and bought a pickup with a matching cap for the box. I've loaded all my stuff from the storage unit into it, and I'm ready to hit the road. I decided to let you know so you could tell the rest of the family."

"You can't leave without talking to Donna." Kathy reached for her telephone, but before she could dial Hugh took it from her and hung it up.

"I'm not going to be talking to Donna. If you try to call her again I'll just leave right now." Hugh sat at the table and took a sip of his coffee.

Kathy was clearly upset, and said "You have to talk to her. Let her tell you what happened at the mall. Jerry just showed up out of nowhere, and she was telling him to leave her alone when he leaned over and kissed her; she didn't have time to react. She can explain how it was just a coincidence that she drove out of the lot right behind him."

Hugh had a serene look on his face as he said, "It simply doesn't matter anymore, Kathy. I'm not going to ever take a chance on letting her hurt me again. Honestly now, can you tell me how I would ever be able to believe or trust her again? What you just told me might be true, but if it is, then why didn't she tell me that, instead of the lies she wrote?"

There were tears in Kathy's eyes now, as she said "She was afraid you would get the wrong idea. It was a stupid thing to do, but it doesn't mean you should give up on her. She's devastated, and she realizes she screwed up again big time. She tried emailing you but they just kept bouncing back. She even got a phone number for up there, but all they would let her do was leave messages for you."

"I know she left messages. They gave them all to me, but I threw them out. I meant it when I told her that I didn't want to communicate with her again. My lawyer tells me she has the divorce papers now, but she hasn't sent the signed copy back to him yet. I signed everything I needed to while I was here this week. It's just a formality now. They don't even need her signature; it will just take me a bit longer to be free of her without it."

A couple of tears had started working their way down Kathy's cheeks, and she wiped them away before she said, "She ripped them up. She doesn't want a divorce; she just wants you to come back to her. I really wish you would go over and talk to her. I'm sure you'd be able to see how much she cares, and what all this has done to her."

"That's not going to happen, Kathy. She can decide to chase Jerry for real now, if she can get past Allison. I'm good with it; I'm truly beyond caring." Hugh took another sip of his coffee, maintaining his calm appearance.

"You don't know, do you? Someone phoned Allison, and told her about Jerry and Donna. She confronted Donna, and Donna told her what had happened. Allison threw a cup at her, and hit her on the side of the face. It just left a bruise. After that, Allison packed up her things, and moved to California to live with her sister."

Kathy gave Hugh a questioning look, and then continued, "I guess you don't know about Jerry either, do you? About two weeks ago he was beaten up really badly. My next door neighbor works in the hospital, and she said that he was in intensive care. Two men attacked him with pieces of rebar and then kicked him pretty badly. She told me that the doctors think he was kicked with heavy work boots. They did a lot of damage to his groin from what she heard. You didn't arrange that, did you?"

Hugh smiled to himself when Kathy asked if he had been involved. "No, I had nothing to do with it. If I knew who it was I'd love to buy them a beer, or several beers. It couldn't happen to a better guy."

Kathy sat for a few minutes, quietly thinking of a way to get Hugh to speak with Donna. Finally, she said "Would you talk to Donna if I call her, and give you the phone? Would you do it for me, please?"

"I really can't talk to her, Kathy. There's no way I'm going to change my mind about divorcing her. The more I thought about this Jerry thing, the more I realized that she wasn't just foolish. I believe that somewhere deep inside she wanted to go along with him. If I agreed to talk to her, all it will do is get her hopes up, and that wouldn't be fair to her or Bobby. I'm comfortable with my decision."

The tears had reappeared in Kathy's eyes as she said, "I guess I can understand that. Where will you go? Do you have something in mind?"

Hugh had finished his coffee, so he stood and turned towards the door, ready to leave. "I'm going to give the Northwest a try. I know someone in Seattle, so that's where I'm headed right now. If things work out in Seattle I'll stay there. If not, who knows? I just know that I can't stay here any longer. I'll send you an email later, when I have a place to stay, and I've reactivated my cell phone. I've got enough money left over from Alaska to last me for a while. The union gave me a transfer slip, so I should be able to get on with the Hoisting Engineers local out there."

Kathy got up and gave her brother a big hug before they said their goodbyes and he walked out the door. As she watched him drive away the tears started down her cheeks again, and she was wiping them off as she closed the door and walked to the phone.

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