Tom's Revenge

I had gotten my revenge and it was depressing as hell.

I should have been pleased. I should have been bouncing up and down on the couch and cheering and hollering, "Yes! Give it to the bitch!" But it didn't turn out that way. Seeing Laurie doing things I could never get her to do with me was a real bummer. Granted, she didn't willingly put herself in that situation, but by the middle of the video she was an active participant and by the end she was obviously enjoying the hell out of it. And it wasn't me she was doing it with.

I sat there cursing myself for being so stupid. Why did I take her to Phil? Why hadn't I brought her home with me? But even as I had that thought I knew why I hadn't done that - why I couldn't do that. I needed deniability. I'm sure that Laurie would suspect that I had a hand in it, but she couldn't prove it. No one saw me dope her drink and I would say that once I got her out into the fresh air it seemed to clear her head and that I had walked her to her car and said goodnight. I would say she seemed fine when I left her. No one could prove different. She had never met Phil so she couldn't tie him to me. I was in the clear. She would never know for sure unless I told her.

I put the tape away in a safe place and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon moping around. I had my revenge, but it didn't give me the satisfaction that I thought it would. Part of the plan was to send the photos of her to everyone she knew, but I couldn't even bring myself to sit down at the computer and start doing it. I thought of something that I'd once read. I think it was Jean-Paul Sartre who said:

"Getting revenge can sometimes be like cracking open an egg shell and having nothing come out."

That's the way I was feeling; like I had opened a gift wrapped box and found it empty. I'd spent two and a half years waiting for it and it was empty. I don't know how long I would have gone on feeling like that had the phone not rung at 3:30 PM. I answered it and before I could even say "Hello?" I heard:

"You bastard! You miserable fucking filthy perverted bastard!"

And suddenly I was smiling. I hung up the phone and I laughed. Yes! It had been worth it. I checked caller ID and saw that she had called me from the bank. I went to my computer, selected one of the photos showing Laurie being three holed and I sent it off to her at her e-mail address at the bank. Fifteen minutes later my phone rang again. I checked caller ID before I picked up so I knew it was Laurie. I picked up the phone:

"Hello?"

"You mis...." she started to say and I hung up on her. Two minutes later the pone rang again and again caller ID showed that it was Laurie.

"Hello?"

"Why did you do this to me?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Why did you do it Tom?"

"Do what?"

"Don't play dumb with me Tom. I know you were behind what happened to me last night."

"I have no idea what you are talking about Laurie."

"You deny putting something in my drink and then taking me somewhere?"

"Of course I deny it. I don't have a clue as to what you are saying."

"Last night at the bar. You drugged me and then took me somewhere and let a bunch of men have me."

"I did no such thing. You were perfectly fine and sitting in your car when I left. I do know what you did after I left because a man came to see me this morning and showed me a picture of you having fun with some men. You certainly didn't look like you were objecting to what you were doing. In fact, it looked to me like you were the aggressor. Anyway, he told me that if I didn't pay him he was going to post the photos he had on the Net. Apparently he didn't know you were my ex-wife. I saw a way to get back at you for what you did to me so I bought the pictures from him. Did you know that there was also a video?"

"You can deny it all you want Tom, but I know you were behind it. I hope you are satisfied. My..."

I hung up on her and went out and played eighteen holes and had one of my best rounds ever. I broke eighty for the first time in my life. It was almost nine when I got home and I was surprised to see Laurie's car in the driveway. When I got out of my car she got out of hers and came toward me. I stopped and waited for her and prepared myself to grab her wrist when she swung at me, but she didn't try to slap my face. She just stopped in front of me and said:

"I hope you are satisfied. My husband threw me out."

"That will do for a start."

She looked at me with a confused look on her face. "For a start? What does that mean?"

"You should never have sent me that picture Laurie. It made me think about sending some pictures of my own. Maybe to your parents, your brothers and sister, possibly to some of your better friends and maybe even to your employer."

Her face turned pale and she cried out, "Oh no Tom, you can't do that."

"Why not? Wouldn't that be a perverted thing to do and am I not a pervert? I seem to recall that according to you I am."

"Please Tom, don't do it. You destroyed my marriage, isn't that enough?"

"No Laurie, I don't think so. You destroyed our marriage and made my life miserable. I need to get back at you for that."

"Please Tom, I'm begging you, don't make it any worse for me. I'll do whatever you want, but don't, please God don't send those pictures to anyone."

"You will do whatever I want?"

She said yes and then I told her my price and I walked up onto the porch. She was still standing there staring at me and then she hung her head and followed me into the house.