Chapter 9

Thursday morning I awakened the children, fed them and took them to school. I instructed them to go to daycare after school and gave them money for lunches. I kissed them both and watched as they ran up the sidewalk to their classrooms. My heart went out to them. Then a thought occurred to me... I had not talked to their teacher yet. I made a mental note to do that before I went back to work.

I drove by the college in Ypsi on the way back home. I knew Colleen was in class and I wanted to see where she parked her car. Evidently residents had assigned parking because the spaces were all numbered. Her car was in #108. Where had I heard that number before? Oh yes. Now I remember. Those are the last three digits of her telephone number, so that must also be her room number. She evidently had a first floor faculty apartment. That should be easy to remember.

I drove on home and reconnected my telephone. I picked up and dialed the store. Sharon answered and I took the opportunity to tell her how much I appreciated her help in this time of need. She told me not to think a thing of it because she was glad to do it. I asked for Mike and she called him to the telephone.

"Hi, Mike. I need to talk to you about some very private things so I want to have lunch with you, if you can swing it today."

"Sure, Boss Man. What time," he asked?

"How about 11:30?"

"Good by me, Boss Man. See you then," he said.

I decided to take a shower. I was in need of something to relax me and soothe my mind and body. I just stood under the warm water and let it pound my body for about 15 minutes. When I finished, I dressed and went downstairs.

The light was blinking on my answering machine. Evidently someone had called while I was showering. I punched the "Listen" button. It was Colleen. She was angry that I had hung up on her and then turned off my phones last night. I could hardly believe the tongue-lashing she gave me, which finally ended with, "You cannot keep me from my children. You're the one who caused this when you threw me out, so whatever happens is on you, damn you!"

"The woman has lost her mind," I told myself. "She's totally missed the point of our separation." All I could do was shake my head. It was obvious that she was going to do her best to turn everything upside down and make me out to be the culprit. This is not going well. This is not going well at all!"

To take my mind off my wife's most recent comments, I puttered around the house doing the dishes and cleaning up after the children. Then I sat down a made up a list of thoughts and things. At the top of my list was a question about equipment for spying on someone. Since we had once stocked the stuff, I was sure that Mike had set up surveillance equipment around town. He was the best installer Audio-Mart employed and he often did work for other managers. Normally, our company didn't install hidden cameras or any of that clandestine stuff but I was willing to bet that Mike knew just what I would need and where to get it if it was available. He was a natural to answer my questions.

When I completed my list, I went out to my car and started my drive from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor. It was about seven miles to the mall from our house. As I drove I thought about the seriousness of the course on which I was about to embark. Could I go through with all this, or should I just say, "It's over, Colleen. It's over," and be done with it.

"Must be a slow day," I said as I walked into the store. "Sharon, can't you go out in the corridor and offer a lap dance to passersby and get some business in this place?"

"Sure, Boss Man. Right after I go in the back room and inhale a few hits off my stash," she replied.

"Is that what I smell?"

"We need to fix that exhaust fan back there," said Mike. "It doesn't work."

I looked at him and smiled. "Don't you think it would be best to take it out side in the first place? You know the cops are not going to prosecute you in Ann Arbor if you're taking a hit in the open air. In here it's a dead give away. Forty thousand students each year at the annual smoke-out can't be wrong."

"Boss Man, you always could come up with the simplest answers."

I continued, "Mike and I are going to lunch. Sharon, we have our cell phones and you know the numbers if you need us. Keep the other two salesmen in line while we're gone. Okay?"

"Not a problem, Boss Man," she said, "they are all afraid of me. Don't hurry yourselves."

Mike and I walked to a restaurant in the mall for lunch. As we waited in line to be seated, Mike asked me how things were on the home front. I told him they were deteriorating as we speak.

"How," he asked?

"She has completely flipped out, Mike, and she's now telling me that whatever happens now will be my fault. In our twelve years of marriage I never realized that she could possibly act the way she's been acting. I knew she had a temper but I never thought she could be this irrational. She is so infatuated with the bastard that her head's all screwed up. It's only been twenty-four hours since I put her out and I'm already losing hope."

"Don't do that, Boss Man," Mike encouraged. "Hang in there and keep a good thought. Remember what you always tell us when things go wrong. You know, about some things are just meant to be. You gotta live by your own words, Boss Man."

I didn't respond because I didn't want Mike to know that those words were of little encouragement to me these days.

After we were seated, Mike and I discussed the things on my list and he was extremely helpful. He said there were bugs for car interiors, telephones, and even under beds. He jokingly added that the ones put under beds were mostly only good for listening to a symphony of the bedsprings. We both chuckled uncomfortably. I hastened to put the image out of my mind.

He told me about spy cameras the size of pencil erasures that could transmit up to the length of a football field with incredible clarity. He also mentioned a camera that takes clear pictures in total darkness. He went on to say that Audiomart didn't carry any of that stuff but he could get most it.