Chapter 5

She walked though the door and saw her husband sitting in his favorite chair watching t.v. He wore a scowl on his face. Not a good sign, she thought. She'd try and be cheerful though, maybe that would change his mood.

"Hi honey!" she called out to him as she walked into the parlor.

He saw her holding her picnic basket and beach bag and noticed her cheeks all ruddy.

"And where the hell have you been? I've been sitting here for over an hour. I'm tired and I'm hungry!" he growled at her. She looked over on the side table and noticed his bottle of scotch was half empty. Not a good sign. And he was holding a drink in his hand. He took the last sip.

"I'll fix you something right now," she said trying to calm him down and scurried into the kitchen. There was a big pan of New England clam chowder she could warm up with crackers. That should calm him down, she thought.

"Eh, don't bother!" he yelled and tried standing up, but fell backwards into his chair, obvious he was quite polluted. This wasn't going to be a pleasant evening, she thought. She went into the kitchen and made him a tray of food anyway and brought it to him. He was passed out on the chair. She nudged him a little and he awoke.

"Here's your supper. Eat a little, you'll feel better," she told him. He took one look at the tray and knocked it out of her hands, it and its contents spilling onto the floor, soup and crackers, hot tea all over the place. What a mess! Now she would have to clean it up. "Would this nightmare ever end?" she asked herself.

He staggered up off the chair grabbing his bottle of scotch with him and went upstairs into his study. She cleaned up the mess and then made herself a bowl of chowder with crackers. The cool summer ocean breeze and warm sun had made her very sleepy. She went upstairs and ran a nice bubble bath and disrobed and sank into the relaxing warm water. It felt so good. She lay there for the longest time. She knew he was in his study doing more drinking. She thought she heard him on the phone too, probably with his mistress, if he had one. She didn't know.

She would wait till he went into bed and would sneak downstairs and watch an old movie on video. Then crawl into bed when she knew he was fast asleep. Another one of his rages she just couldn't face tonight! She lay there in the warm water thinking of the pleasant day she had with Greg on the beach, talking and having lunch together. He was so nice. She wondered where he was right now and what he was doing. She found herself smiling thinking of him. He was so attractive and friendly. He must be married or have a girlfriend, she thought.

She slipped out of the water and dried off. She noticed she had gotten a little tan today, on her arms and above her bust-line. It made her breasts look even more white she thought. She slipped on her long blue silk nightgown. It was very beautiful with a see thru lace bodice and an empire waist that flowed down to her feet gracefully. It had a matching blue sheer robe with a satin blue ribbon with long full sheer sleeves. She brushed her long raven locks and dabbed on some pink lipstick and put on her slippers.

She could hear him still in his study. She knew he was still drinking and getting more out of control by the minute.

She walked into the room and offered to run a bath for him but he was busy on the phone ranting about something, about her most likely. She knew recently that he had lost all his patience with her and her depression and also the sleepwalking. It was he who suggested she see a psychiatrist. She hadn't wanted to but he insisted with threats to her if she didn't, that he would have her committed. She was afraid of this so she relented. And not having any family at all or close friends, she was afraid it just might happen. He was her only family and had been since she was merely a girl. They had been together a long time and he hadn't always been this way. There was a time when they were truly happy and he had been a good loving husband to her. But time and life can sometimes erode at people.

"No! I can run my own fucking bath if I want!" he slurred the words at her, "Now leave me the fuck alone!"

She backed away and tears flooded her eyes. She closed the door and went downstairs. She made a small fire in the fireplace and closed the screen. She looked at her collection of old movies and chose "Casablanca". Then she went into the kitchen and fixed herself a cup of cocoa. She went into her purse and got the bottle of pills she had just gotten. She took one to try and calm down. He had really gotten her upset tonight and she was scared. She swallowed it with some water then decided she'd take one more. She never did that but she felt she needed it tonight. She needed to relax. Things would look better in the morning.

She lost herself in the movie when she heard it thundering outside. She got up to see a huge crack of lightening in the sky. The sea spray had picked up and was crashing against the rocks. The lightening reflected off the water, which looked very choppy. Then it started to rain. A torrential downpour, from the look of things! A good night to stay indoors, she shuddered and closed the drapes and went back to her movie. Bogie and Bergman were staring into each other's eyes with such love. Oh, if life could really be that way, she thought. She took the last sip of cocoa and found herself nodding off. The cup dropped to the floor and she woke up to hear the closing music and the end of the movie. The pills had really hit her hard.

She got up but almost fell down, catching her self on the arm of the chair. She felt very woozy. She heard a crash upstairs and remembered now about him up there and his heavy drinking tonight. She shut the t.v. off and shut off all the lamps. The fire had died down and she made her way up the big staircase. He caught sight of her in the hall and grabbed her arm tightly. "Why the fuck are you dressed in that sexy get up? It's sure not the hell for me!!" he spit his words out. He could just about stand up.

"Stop it Charles! You're hurting me! His arm tightened about her arm as he pinched her hard.

"Oh fuck it!" he slurred his words out and he released her from his grip and she fell backwards onto the carpeted floor.

Crying softly she got up but then she got angry. "Well! I did wear this for you! I thought maybe you'd enjoy seeing me in it and we could actually start having a normal marriage for a change!" Her own words kind of slurred too from the effect of the pills.