I guess, unless you are a total dumb shit, that you can pretty much figure that your marriage is over when your wife comes home trailing three black guys behind her and the four of them head straight for the bedroom. It is a rather blunt way of saying, "Fuck you dear." But I guess that I had asked for it. Well, the marriage was dead but I still had my pride and it was my house. I went into my den and unlocked my center desk drawer. Taking out the Colt 1911A1 I slid a magazine in and racked the slide back. I tucked it between my belt and the small of my back and then I headed for the bedroom.

One of the men was sitting on the side of the bed with his trousers down around his ankles and Mary Kaye was on her knees getting ready to take him in her mouth. All eyes turned to me when I walked into the room and I said, "I guess I can't stop the bitch for being a whore if that is what she wants, but it ain't going to happen in my bedroom. Take your little party down the hall to the spare bedroom."

The man on the bed said, "No white boy. You get your ass out of this room and you won't get hurt."

"I was sure that you were going to say something like that so I brought friends to the party." I reached behind me and brought the .45 out. "There's one in the pipe and six in the magazine. That makes it eight of us and only three of you. If you want to avoid the leakage of bodily fluids you'll either take it down the hall or get the hell out of the house — your choice."

"If you didn't have that gun I'd whip your white ass. Why don't you put it down and fight for your woman like a man."

"If you were alone I'd kick your sorry black ass from here to the city limit sign and back, but you aren't alone and I'm not stupid. Besides, where I come from white women who fuck niggers are called pigs and a man doesn't fight over a pig. Now take your pig and get out of my bedroom."

The other two blacks looked at the man on the bed as if asking what they should do and he gave me a hard look which I sent right back at him. Finally he looked away and pulled up his pants. As the four of them were leaving the room I said, "When your guests leave Mary Kaye, start packing. I want you out of here no later than tomorrow afternoon."

"Hey, it's my house too."

"That's for the lawyers and a judge to decide. Now get your sorry ass out of my sight."

I guess a man in the house with a gun made them nervous because instead of moving to the spare bedroom they left the house. I had a couple of stiff drinks and then I went to bed.

I knew that our marriage was in trouble, but until that night I guess I didn't realize just how bad I'd let things get. Mary Kaye and I had been married twelve years and as marriages go it was probably like most marriages. We had our ups and downs, but it seemed to be working. The ups always outnumbered the downs. The trouble started when the company I worked for went bankrupt. I spent a month looking for a new job before finally admitting to myself that I wasn't going to find anything in the area. I called my folks and had them send me the want ads from my hometown newspaper. I answered several and three weeks later Mary Kaye and I put our house on the market and moved back to our hometown.

The first thing Mary Kaye did when we found a place to stay was call all her girlfriends and let them know that we were back in town. Once back in the bosom of friends and family Mary Kaye was happier than I had seen her in a long time. Before long she was back in the swing of things. It seemed that not a week went by when there wasn't a Tupperware party, an Avon party, wine tastings and the like. Mary Kaye joined the Tuesday night women's bowling league and at least every other week the girls had a card party. Mary Kaye was happy and when she was happy she kept me happy.

A year went by and one night at a party celebrating my parents thirty-fifth wedding anniversary I was sitting on the patio sipping a beer when my brother Frank came out and sat down with me. We were making small talk and he said, "Every thing okay between you and Mary Kaye?"

"Now that's a strange question for you to be asking. What's on your mind?"

"Oh nothing really. I just wondered if you've noticed any changes in her lately."

"No, why?"

"Probably nothing."

"Oh no you don't Frank. You have something on your mind. Spit it out Frank."

"Well, I just wondered if you knew about the crowd she's running with."

"Hell yes. We all went to school together and Mary Kaye has known most of them since grade school."

"That was then. Things have changed a lot since you've been gone. They aren't the happy go lucky bunch that you knew when you were here."

"You going to explain that to me?"

"Janice has been married four times since high school and each divorce came about when the current hubby found her in bed with some one else. Mary Ellen has been married three times and her first two divorces happened because she ran with Janice and played the same games. Helen is pretty much the town slut. She hangs out at the Landing Strip and goes home with a different guy every night. Sally's husband is in Iraq right now, but her bed hasn't been empty since he shipped out. The worst of the bunch, at least to me, is Barb. She has been known to pull trains in the pool hall over in Darktown. She actually had the gall to tell my wife that she hadn't lived until she tried a black man. This is the posse that Mary Kaye is running with right now. I'm not saying that Mary Kaye is doing anything wrong, but was I you brother, I'd keep a close eye on my wife and be ready to jump in with both feet if you see her getting too close and chummy with that bunch."

Frank got up and walked back in to the party. What absolute and utter bullshit! No way Mary Kaye would let that bunch corrupt her. She liked to party and have a good time, but I knew my wife and she was not slut material.

Bullshit or no, I did find myself keeping closer track of Mary Kaye and her comings and goings. Not that I was suspicious or anything like that, but if Frank was thinking things like that then other people were too and I wanted to be able to step up and defend my wife's reputation when the time came. But as soon as I started watching I began to notice some things that I hadn't noticed before. Mary Kaye seemed to be leaving earlier and coming home later on her nights out with the girls. It might have been my imagination, but on a couple of nights she came home late and I was still awake and I got what might have been a 'guilty look' as Mary Kaye headed for the bathroom to "wash off the stink of cigarette smoke."

I started paying closer attention and I noticed that when she came home her makeup all looked like it had been freshly put on. One night she left wearing nylons and came home with bare legs and on another night she left home wearing a bra and although I didn't see her take her sweater off when she came home I saw the way it sagged and I'd swear in court that she wasn't wearing that bra when she came home. The night that sent me into spy mode was the night she went bowling, came home, and we made love. She smelled fresh and clean and when I sucked on her tit I tasted Irish Spring soap. This after supposedly spending five hours in a bowling alley and a bar that was filled with heavy smokers. No cigarette stink, no body odor, no taste of the traces that sweat would leave behind. She was like she had just come out of a shower. I fell asleep that night with a very troubled mind.

The next night when I got home from work Mary Kaye had dinner on the table ready for me. She was dressed up to go out and I asked her what was up.

"Nothing much. Barb is having a lingerie party and I thought that I would run over and pick up a little something that might light your fire."

"What time are you going to be home? You know, just in case I might want you to model it for me."

"It should be over by ten-thirty so I should be home by eleven."

I gave her a five-minute head start and then I headed for Barb's place. I parked down the block and I had no sooner turned off my engine than Barb and Mary Kaye came out of the apartment, got in Barb's car and drove off. I gave them a two-block head start and then I followed them. They drove to a mall and Mary Kaye got out and ran inside while Barb waited in the car. Ten minutes later Mary Kaye came out with a shopping bag, got in the car and they drove off with me close behind. It took them fifteen minutes to get where they were going — it was Darktown. Darktown was not the official name of the area, just what people called the section of town where most of the colored lived. Barb's car turned into a parking lot next to a building and I pulled over to the curb and waited to see what would happen. A minute or so later the two women came out of the parking lot and went around to the front door and went inside. I pulled away from the curb and slowly drove past the building. The neon sign in the window read Grady's Billiard Parlor and I remembered Frank telling me that Barb was known to pull trains at a pool hall in Darktown.

There was a department store across the street that was closed for the night and its parking lot was half full, probably from the overflow from Grady's. I pulled in and found a slot that would let me keep an eye on the pool hall. Trying to get out of the car and look inside was out of the question. A white man down there would stick out like a sore thumb. I settled down to watch the entrance. An hour went by and then Barb, Mary Kaye and three black guys came out and walked to the parking lot. The five of them stood and talked for a minute or so and then Barb and two of the men headed for a car toward the back of the lot. Barb and one man got in the back and the other man got in the front and turned so that he could look over the seat into the back. Two minutes later Barb's legs came up in a wide "vee" that left no doubt as to what was going on. Meanwhile Mary Kaye and the third black guy were still standing there talking. Mary Kaye looked over where Barb had gone and saw her legs come up. The man said something to her and I saw her shake her head no. He said something else and I saw her look again at where Barb was and then she shrugged and the two of them walked to Barb's car and got in the front. They talked for a couple of minutes and then the man pulled Mary Kaye to him and they started necking. About three minutes later the man put his hand behind Mary Kaye's head and pushed it down out of sight. A couple of minutes later the dome light of the car Barb was in came on and I looked over to see the man she had just fucked get out of the car and the man in the front seat get in back to take his place. A minute later Barb's legs came up again and the black man who had gotten out of the car stood there and watched for a minute or so. He then turned away and walked over to Barb's car and got in on the passenger side.