Chapter 11

The taxi driver and I hauled all of our purchases to the house and Dezi opened the door with my keys. We deposited the items in the living room. I paid the man and gave him a nice tip. He thanked me and told me what a beautiful wife I have. I thanked him and we were alone.

Dezi seemed to still be Dezi. I helped her take her purchases to our bedroom and she spent the better part of the next two hours sorting out old clothes that she no longer wanted and hanging up her new ones. She had me take the bag of old clothes down to my car and told me to drop them off at Goodwill tomorrow after work.

She kissed me on the cheek and whispered in my ear as if my wife might hear. “Don’t tell Pam about getting rid of the old clothes. If she asks about a missing item, just say I thought you donated that to Goodwill or something like that and let it drop.”

I whispered back to her. “Ok.” Then I took the bag down and threw it in my trunk. When I returned she was in the shower.

She came out of the bathroom wearing her normal Pamela sleep wear, a cotton nightgown. I could see her granny panty ridges in the thin material. Granny panties that’s what I call them anyway, they are the kind you buy at Walmart that come three in a pack. She smiled at me and asked if I had locked up. Just like Pam had always done almost every night of our marriage.

I smiled back and said. “Yes dear.” And then I took my shower. She was reading her Kindle when I came out of the bath naked. Something I don’t normally do. I’m not sure why I did it. I guess I wanted to see her reaction.

She noticed and asked. “Did you forget to take you under shorts in the bathroom?”

“No.” I said. “I just decided at last minute to wear this pair.” And I held up a random pair I pulled out of the drawer, I stepped into them and headed for the bed.

She said. “Don’t forget to put your work clothes out on the dresser for in the morning.”

I always put my work outfit and shoes out on the dresser for the next morning because Pam doesn’t get up when I do in the morning. She sleeps an extra thirty minutes before she has to rise. So I place my clothes on the dresser so that in the morning all I have to do is get out of bed pick up my clothes and tip toe out of the bedroom, go into the guest bathroom, do my business on the toilet, brush my teeth, shave and dress.

I stopped turned around and collected my shirt, tie, pants and shoes, neatly folded them. Placed them on the dresser and then crawled in the bed next to her. I kissed her on the cheek just like I did almost every night of our five year marriage. I picked up the clicker and turned on the evening news.

I sighed. I was back home. I had clicked the heels of my ruby slippers and I was back in Kansas and all was as it should be.

I slept like a log and was startled by the alarm when it went off next to me. I reached over and pressed the off button and swung my feet out and on to the floor. I sat on the edge of the bed to gather my thoughts and to clear my head of the night’s sleep.

Pam stirred, but kept her eyes closed. I quietly rose without disturbing the bed scooped up my stuff. I’m very careful not to make too much noise, because if I do I would hear about it tonight when I got home.

After dressing I go to the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. I don’t drink coffee, but Pam likes to have a fresh pot waiting for her when she gets up.

I head off to work, on the way I stop at McDonalds get a number six with a small diet cola rather than coffee. The diet of the cola off sets the calories of the sausage and egg biscuit. I know it’s bullshit, but it’s what I tell myself, plus I don’t eat the hash browns. That helps with the calories too.

About noon I get a call from Dave wanting to know how Pam was handling things. I told him so far so good. Things seemed ok. I told him I would tell him more tomorrow, that I just didn’t have enough interaction with her to be able to tell anything for sure yet.

Everything continued to go well at work then three days after returning home, I get a phone call. It’s Pam.

I answered the phone “Hello”

“Bill it’s Pam. When you get home tonight we need to talk.” Then she hangs up. I have never received a call from her like that ever. I began to worry that she is slowly cracking up. That she is remembering and re-living everything. I’m really nervous the rest of the day and I hardly get any work done. At four o’clock I’m in my car headed home.

I pull into my driveway and just sit there looking at my front door. On one hand I would rather not go in and discover that she has a gun and is ready to blow me away. I know that a rather drastic thought considering how well things have been the last few days.

Then I thought what if last couple days wasn’t Pam at all. What if it was Dezi pretending to be Pam to make me feel comfortable now and this thing waiting for me in the house was the real Pam, and I really didn’t know what the real Pam was capable of considering all that had happened in the last month. Her personality could have split into Lizzy Borden and she was behind the door with an axe for all I knew.

I took a deep breath, got out of the car and slowly walked to the door. It wasn’t locked. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Slowly I opened the door and peeked around it ready to bolt at any second. Nothing there.

I called out. “Pam?”

I hear. “In the kitchen dear.”

I think that, “dear,” was just thrown in to put me off my guard, she really behind the kitchen door with a butcher knife.

Slowly I head to the kitchen. I rush through the door and quickly turned my arms up, ready to block the first blow.

She’s at the sink, washing vegetables. My noisy entry caused her to turn and look at me. She has a cucumber in her hand. I think, there’s no way she can stab me with that, can she? Unless she has hollowed it out and there’s a knife hidden inside.

“Come here and give me a kiss.” She says. I cautiously move toward her and reach for the cucumber and take it from her hand. She seems surprised that I did that. I placed the cuke on the counter and wrap my arms around her and kiss her like we were movie stars and this was the big romantic scene.

She says, “Oh wow. What’s gotten into you?”

“I just wanted to show you that I love you.”

“Well I love you too dear.”

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, that.” She says with a much more serious face. I have something very important to tell you. You should sit down.”

I think, do I want to sit? I would be more vulnerable to attack if I am sitting. If I’m standing I can move quicker. I sit.

She comes over and sits in my lap. She puts her arm around me and says. “It worked.”

“What worked?” I ask.

“The weekend silly.”

“Which weekend?” I ask.

“Our romantic weekend in the Big city. It worked! I’m pregnant!”