Chapter 4

Gloria called over to my folks house that evening to tell them that Ellen had packed up some of her things and left. She wanted to know what she should do and my mom told her to come over and stay with her in Annie and Joan's old bedroom. By the time I got back to my house late that night, I knew something was up because Ellen's car was gone and the house was all dark inside. I was going to park the truck and take my car over to my parent's house. I decided to go in my house and investigate. Gloria had left a note for Ellen on the kitchen table letting her know that she was over at my parent's house, and would be coming back later for the rest of her things. I went into my bedroom and that's when I noticed that Ellen had taken out a lot of her personal things. She must have been in a hurry, because there was a lot of clothes and stuff thrown around the room and on to the floor. It was too late to give my folks a call and let them know I wasn't coming over. I slept in my own bed and got myself a good night's sleep.

The next morning I called my mom from Billy's and told her that I'd be staying at my own house unless Ellen came back and wanted me out. I gave her a hard time about interfering in my marriage too. I told her to have Ray pack up the things I'd left and run them over to my place. She protested that she hadn't done anything wrong, and that I had a responsibility and an obligation to my wife and family that I wasn't meeting. I hung up on her, not willing to tell her what I thought of her bizarre interpretation of what my obligations to the family were. Billy, once he found out how badly things were going at home, stopped saying things about my sex life and how lucky I was. He loaded my truck and I took off on a delivery run.

Things stayed pretty much the same for the next week, until I got home one night and found my father in law camped out on my doorstep. I liked Tom a lot, but I wasn't in any frame of mind to listen to what he might want to tell me. I assumed that Ellen was staying with her parents, though I hadn't bothered to check that it was the actual case. "Jackie, have you seen Ellen since she left here? She came to our house right after leaving from here and stayed only for a couple hours and then she took off. We thought she came back here. That girl, Gloria, called over to us trying to talk to Ellen, and that's the first we learned that she hadn't come back here. Her mother's afraid that you might have done something to her, so she sent me here to find out anything I could." Tom looked sheepish and miserable all at the same time. I felt sorry for him in one way, but pissed too that he hadn't told his wife that I wouldn't harm Ellen.

"Tom, I left here the night before she went over to your place. I haven't seen or heard from her since I left. If I do hear from her, I'll let you know, and I'd appreciate it if you did the same for me. Tell your wife that I love Ellen and I'd never do anything to harm a single hair on her head." He looked at my face for a few seconds and then he offered me his hand for a handshake. I shook with him and watched as he went back to his car and drove off. Early the next morning one of the constables came by to interview me because Ellen's mom had filed a missing person's report on her. I told him the same thing I'd told Ellen's dad and then took off to Billy's farm. I wasn't worried about Ellen. I figured she'd gone off by herself to try to figure out what she wanted and needed to do to go on from where we were at. Both of us were like that. We'd take some time and brood over things and then we'd make a decision and just move on.

It was another week before I learned anything, and that was because the bank called me about suspicious activity in our personal checking account. Ellen had written several checks from Panama City, Florida. I told the bank that there was no problem and to honor any check that might come in. I also transferred several thousand dollars from my business account over to the personal. I called over to Tom's and left a message with one of Ellen's sisters that I had information about Ellen. Ten minutes after I got off the phone, Tom called me from his work at the chemical plant.

"Jackie, you heard from Ellen?"

"Not directly Tom. The bank called this morning to ask me if the checks she wrote down in Panama City, Florida were authorized or not. They were afraid someone stole a checkbook and was writing fraudulent checks. They said the signature matched Ellen's, so I told them they were fine. The last one they got was written six days ago, so I guess she was Ok as of then."

"Why would she go down to Florida, Jackie, we don't know anyone in Florida?"

"I don't know Tom. Maybe she just got on a train or bus and that was where it happened to be heading. Ellen doesn't always think things through when she's upset or angry."

Jackie, let me know if you find out anything else. Anything at all."

"Sure Tom, you too Ok?" We hung up after that and I went over to Billy's again. I didn't want to be alone right then. Florida was a long ways away. Too far just to be going somewhere private to think. That was the first moment I started to realize that my marriage might really be ended. While I drove over to the farm, I kept asking myself whether I could have maybe lived with what Ellen was forcing me to do for her. It wasn't like I was suffering from Gloria's attentions. If anybody was suffering it had to have been Ellen. It was her plan though, and she must have thought about how she'd feel about me screwing another woman. It wasn't like I'd gone out looking for somebody.

I'd completely forgotten about the offer Billy and I had made to my father until I drove into Billy's yard and saw him and Billy standing by his old Studebaker talking together. Billy was holding up several thin discs he'd cut from various types of wood. It looked to me like he was giving my father a crash course in Hardwoods 101. That meant my father must have decided to accept our offer.

"Hey pop, you ready to go get that Mustang?"

"Hi Yutch, you heard from Ellen yet?"

"You here for business, or do you just want to stand around shooting the shit and trying to get caught up on family gossip?"

"You listen to me Shithead, I'm your father. If I ask you a fucking question, I expect a fucking answer, not a bunch of lip. Did you hear from Ellen yet?"

"No."

"That's all you had to say in the first place, Yutch. Why do you always have to do everything the hard way? Your cousin was getting me started on the business things before you got here. I don't know shit from Shinola about wood, but I guess I can go talk to some guys for you all. Not the way you set it up though, we'll do it my way. You give me a hundred bucks for gas and expenses. I'll go out and talk to some guys. If they are interested, I'll get you on the phone with them and you can explain all the numbers and shit to them. After a couple weeks, when we all see how it's working, we'll sit down again and see where to go from there. I ran it by Billy already and he told me he could stay by the house for a week doing stuff he's been putting off. If I call here, Theresa can run out and bring him to the phone. You see any problems with doing it my way?"

"No, that's fine with me too. Except, you're going to have to learn enough to take the orders yourself one of these days, because Billy has lots of shit he has to get done for our other business that we do together. The one that pays all our bills and keeps us living in the lap of luxury."

"Good enough. If I'm still in the wood business after the expense and gas money runs out, I guess it wouldn't hurt me to learn a little something new. So when do I start?"