by Lord_Gro
I love it. Just enough detail to make it known that he was in the French Foreign Legion: (1) the tattoo, (2) the phrase "redeem that old pledge of French citizenship" since all legionnaires are promised French citizenship, and (3) he spoke the local (Corsican) patois since the FFL has a barrack in Corsica.
So she has an affair and he had the guy snuffed or otherwise taken care of then happily ever after?
The Author's style is excellent. A perfect measure of information.
Was that it !
For moment there I was expecting the husband to mention he made the lover disappear !
have kept driving and not waste people time by writing, i don't see what your big revelation was.
Really a great flash story. Readers have to accept that a flash story is SHORT, and like this one can be fun to read. But, please tell me what "2e REP" means. Thanks.
I've appreciated your comments over the years.
A flash-story, sure. Maybe it needed a little more story.
I was visualizing the scene, and it came across as a strange, extended commercial for Corsican retirement properties.
The dude took care of business, never clued in his wife, got on with life, so her confession was less impactful than whether there was enough vegatables for a frittata. Kinda funny.
Appreciated the clean, lean story. Hope you write more.
Put some more thought into your story next time. I thought this was pretty well written and I think you should do more, but think things out; don't be in such a hurry to get it published; him having a flashback to what he did with the lover back then would have made it a much better story.
Also, never put things like, '2eREP,' I have not the foggiest idea what the hell that means and I doubt many others do either.
From Wikipedia. 2eRep stands for "The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (French: 2e Régiment étranger de parachutistes, 2e REP) is an airborne regiment of the French Foreign Legion, stationed at Camp Raffalli near the town of Calvi on the island of Corsica, just south of mainland France."
Again there were so many other hints (well at least to me) that I knew 2eRep stood for something in the FFL.
Mature men really do handle things much better than younger ones, if I myself am any example.
But a whole lot of who, when, what, where and what did he DO would help the tale a bit.
Thanks,
MGM
"Oh honey, I murdered your lover. Let's have dinner and sex"
"OK".
Better test the water in Cleveland.
I very much appreciated that you did not reveal any kind of stupid violance in this story.
5*'s why? It was short and sweet. I normally would like more, but frankly this seemed just right. Excellent
In other words .. he has been a Cuck for so long that, just like the adult diapers he is now wearing, the horns his wife has hung on his head are now a permanent fixture of his life!
**Cheating wives are the lowest form of life**
5's from me too. I could see the whole thing in my head as I read it. It takes a lot of bravery to write with this degree of brevity. It also requires a level of trust that most of us don't possess. To write this way you have to have ultimate faith in your ability to sketch out the events with a minimum of words and details and you have to trust the
reader's ability to discern your meaning. I don't have it, so hats off to anyone who does. Shit, my comment is longer than the story...see what I mean. Great job! SS06
New writer that was neat .i hope to hear from you some more. Please keep writing. A very good short.
Not entirely sure how adultery justifies murder, after all, one is morally wrong and the other is evil. 4/5
2e REP is one of the French Foreign Legion paratroop units. They go in when the going gets impossible. The men of 2e REP take care of each other. You understand what happened to the vanished boyfriend, now?
I liked the implication that he killed the guy but what the hell is "2e REP" that is a french paratrooper regiment. now if the guys name started with an "e" and it was RIP then maybe i could understand. or it was french version of rest in peach would would be "Repose en paix." In italian it would be " Requiescat in pace," or RIP.
so are we to assume that because they were in corsica and he ended with "fin" that 20 plus year ago he used french?
loved the story by the way. 5
I wonder what they had for dinner? The narrator probably knows how to skin & spit a hare. Call it a hunch.
Viva La Legion! Looks like someone should have done their resreach before tapping
into someone elses wife! LMAO!
But far be it for me to tell another wounded man how to react.
When you fuck another man's wife, you're taking your life in your hands.
Short but to the point. Good mystery... Was loverboy run off or are some daisies getting some good fertilizer somewhere?
Spoiled somewhat by my having to Google "2e REP". Why not merely have a Tattoo of a Parachute and a gun.
But redeemed by the question left hanging " What did he do about it?"
Cheers and thanks
Kilroy
He made sure no other man would have to deal with that asshole fucking up their marriage. Bravo, but I still would be divorced. Great story
If you have never faced the working end of an AK47, you will never get it. He did what he had to do ... Not so easy ...but it happens every day. Flash is OK but I need more. 5by5
Since he knew years ago and took care (ha) of the lover her revelation now was just an afterthought to him. If he was going to leave it would have been when it happened. Oh well to each his own.
The point of the story was the husband's new outlook on life. Sold his company, last of children married off, living the dream perhaps discussed hundreds of times with his wife during pillow talk; life is good. He is living the laid back Corsican/French life where nothing seems to bother. Thus, the reaction as laid out in the story. What I like about the story is the very open ended-ness of the ending. The author could write a sequel, prequel, etc. But I hope he doesn't. Well done.
This was not "honey, it was ME that bent your prized driver!" It was their marriage, not a golf club or a dent in the car.
So basically the two of them lied, if even by omission, to each other for ~25 years. Is "wisdom", old or young, sweeping TWO major tenets of marriage (fidelity AND honesty) under the rug to remain for decades mixed with the dirt and lint? Only if you are truly not very wise. Yup, nice life. Not only what everyone hopes to have, but hopes their kids will grow up to have! Not.
I don't find the 2e REP reference any more obtuse that the references to SEALS, 82nd 101st MI5 or the calls for Semper Fi that pepper other stories. Actually I find it kind of refreshing that he "solved" his problem his way. The ambiguity of the solution... ran him off, waxed him, wrote him a pithy letter... is left to the reader. Personally a nice cool menacing was all it took to run the looser off... threats back by reputation have a way of persuading folks to alter their course. Good job!
I like this story. He (the author) did not say what happened. He just gave one, sorry two, clues. Brill.
For those who did not get them......unlucky.
So much conveyed with so few words. Bravo. Readers pay attention. He is not a lame cuck. He took care of the problem. That does not require a 'burn the bitch' response, if he didn't want that. It also does not say he killed or even harmed the dude. Implication is not beyond a resonable doubt. Although, since we were given a b/w line drawing, everyone will color it in with their own choice of crayons. Now let's go make dinner...
Good existential story about a vignette segment of life. So? is the question regarding what happened to the lover? Then again, if you filled in these blanks then it wouldn't be an existential story and you wouldn't be writing about a European vacation. I am guessing that, when we get into our sixties what we value changes, yes. Thanks.
Page loaded finally. Short. But an interesting story. I would like to know how the neighbor disappeared though.
This is something that certainly could have been developed further. I like the blurb about young men not having the wisdom of older men, but that point would have been driven home more forcefully had he never known about the affair. If he had not forgiven her as a young man, which he obviously did, they wouldn't still be married.
This story should be rated higher. The site has been acting goofy the past few days. Given some of the comments below, I hope people aren't rating it low because of those glitches.
I like this story, maybe you could add another story of what happened when he found out about her infidelity?
Great story. I loved it. Everyone is assuming that he killed the guy. He could have beaten the crap out of him and made him leave town. Or simply threatened him and told him to never call his wife again. It is so open-ended that it could have been anything. In my opinion, that makes it all the better. I love the fact that they are too old to even care at this point. He doesn't care that she cheated. She doesn't care what happened to the guy. The only thing that matters is each other.
So, if a supplier broke a contract with him in order to "service" a competitor, he would go after the competitor and then take back the supplier, nothing said?
I f*cking SERIOUSLY doubt it.
So he does this with the cheating skank, why??
And you put up with someone lying to you, deceiving you, disrespecting you and betraying you for YEARS, why?? Absoultely no self respect is all I can figure.
to dealing with an unfaithful spouse. i gave it a 2 just bc i cant see myself handling my wife's infidelity the same way as the husband in this story. I enjoy serious cheating wives stories though so keep it up
I gave this a five ... Really identified with the husband because a similar thing happened to me ... Although she did tell me very quickly I dealt with it in much the same way ... Revenge never satisfies ... but forgiveness always works ... He had been my best friend ... I dealt with them both in a honourable maner ... They understood that if they did this again I wouldn't be so understanding ... I was not about to allow them to cuckold me or treat me with disrespect ... That's OK for fantasy stories but in real life ... No chance :0)
Mine was much more recent. Taking years to confess I doubt I could forgive, six months was hard enough.
But life goes on, when a man cares, the wife is still the same person as before.
So. I understand.
I think she is very very fortunate that she never did it again. The asshole predator, not so much.
Any questions?
Thanks.
Great story! Short and very much to the point. He vanished so suddenly, that doesn't leave much speculation about what happened to lover. Wife is lucky she didn't vanish with her lover.
So I get that he was "young" then and had the guy disappear but the same hot temper youth did nothing to wife and said nothing to wife. So ya, now a wiser older man says lets eat and make up. I can't get over that so many years ago he never confronted the wife or left her. Appears to me a guy so in love to whack the lover would have confronted the cheating wife. A passive guy that says nothing to wife lets the lover go.
Is that he murdered a man? What an appropriate response to his wife's cheating. I am sure the cheating slut was totally worth a man's life since it was the only way to be sure she would stop apparently. How many men was he prepared to kill to keep her in this shell of a marriage? She would do good to get out as soon as he falls asleep after their makeup sex. Such a man can never be trusted.
Murder? Maybe. Or perhaps he just threatened him and told him to leave town or die. It's uncertain. The young man quote could imply he beat the hell out of the asshole.
Bottom line -- he hasn't implicated himself in killing anyone.
But I would have added that he has had her watched ever sense and all of the money they have, including pension and life insurance, is in now way in her name. She gets nothing when he dies so she has been a FWB ever sense and when he goes she is an old penniless widow.
Murdered, or just invited very firmly to leave town for good? Who cares? It’s all good.
That is a good story and it's true that an older man will hold his temper better, although it may be truer that time heals. That said, old ain't dead, and it's hard to imagine his reaction being so calm if it was the first he was learning of it.
I'm in my near 50th anniversary with the only girl I loved and made love. I've entertained and loved as much as I could. I hope I don't ever find out she cheated. If so, which of us would I eliminate? That's a hard choice.
Had to look up the reference to the tattoo. That made it plain.
You won't see him no more.
If you can make one person “disappear”, then you can do it again for another.
Diu, hà tombu u so amante ! Now that's Corsican. If they had been married locally, would that mean they had a Union Corse? (Look it up.)
Outstanding Read ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cleveland really. My answer is Mud Flats.
It was a great read. Some people say, “Never cross an old man because he survived being a young man. Reflection at age is easy. While being young and aggressive is not always a bad thing, as long as you don’t get caught.”
Great story, hard to believe you haven’t posted more. I don’t know if you are still around, but if you are I hope you find it in yourself to publish more.
Keep Writing
JH4Fun
@JH4Fun - I’m working at it. But I have severe ADHD, and writing and editing to the level I think is acceptable are difficult. And I’ve had a crapton of health issues over the past 10 years. But I’m retired now, and I’m trying to get more writing done.
Nice. I like the ambiguity with the lover. I had to look up the tattoo, but that's okay. Can't get them all.
"And I think I have a few things I could show you that ought to keep you awake and interested until we get around to the kissing and making up."
And where has she been keeping "a few things" that she is going to show him?
no cuck tag...1*