Chapter 11

The bakery where I originally was employed was on the outskirts of the city, which put the outlet I had envisioned far from the patrons that would buy our product. I immediately began casting around for a suitable place for the new project to be placed. I found one not far from where I lived before the divorce. Many of my old friends and neighbors would be coming in to buy when I opened. I had been well liked and so I didn't see this as a negative even if many knew of my divorce. Also Josh and Edie were still in the same school and could come to the bakery after school if they wished.

Max and Mary never came by, but I often saw Rena and Barbara. Barbara was apt to flirt and I suspected she would have been open to have me pay some attention. I hadn't seen Pam at all. Liz had a child-like pretty face, but with her tall, thin, lithe body, those that knew me figured I must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel to hook up with someone of her shape after Mary's lush charms. If they only knew. There is an expression, "the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat" that Liz fit perfectly.

Edie and Josh had been introduced to Liz months before we moved back to town when Paul and Paula brought them to see me. At first they were quite shy around her, but Liz was an easy one to love and soon she was receiving a kiss from them when they arrived after school. You can imagine how happy this made me feel.

Liz and I never questioned the kids about their life at home with their mother and Max. They often spoke about their new little brother, Jimmy, with real affection, so I knew that they survived their mother's and my divorce without any lasting trauma.

Life never stays the same. Something always comes along to upset the status quo. One evening just as Liz and I were closing the store, Bob arrived very much intoxicated. "Hi there, Dirk. I came in to see if this new wife of yours looked like she would be as good fucking as your last one."

Needless to say I went ballistic. Before I finished with Bob, he was lying on the floor by the door almost dead. He would have been if Liz hadn't stopped me. I looked at what I thought was a piece of shit and called his wife. "Rena, you come and get Bob and take him to the emergency room. If you need help, get some of his buddies. I want him out of here and it better happen soon, before I get mad enough to start in on him again." I slammed the phone down.

Ten minutes later Rena, Bing and George arrived. Bob was laying on the floor groaning and wasn't coming around at all. He was hurting. I don't know how much damage I had done to him, but my store was a wreck. Liz and I were cleaning up and taking out the broken chairs and one of the smashed tables. I never looked at Bing or George as they carried Bob out between them. Rena came to me and apologized. "I'm sorry, Dirk. It just never seems to end does it? Send me the bill and I'll find the money somewhere." She hurried out.

That night, Liz learned fully of my past. I had never explained about the rape of Mary. Also how my friend Max had come to me and led me to believe that Mary was a total victim when I had first named her as slut. Then later I realized I had been manipulated by him, and the child she was carrying actually belonged to him. That was when I reinstated the divorce proceedings and moved away. Bob, who I had tried to destroy tonight, was the major player in the rape that had triggered Mary into becoming a slut.

Liz pointed out that maybe my ex-wife only acted that way the one time. I disagreed for at the last meeting at Max's house, I could feel that Mary wished to continue. Whether Max had kept her in line, I had no way of knowing, but she still was a slut in my mind.

When I finished the telling, Liz said, "You spoke about having these actions on a disk. May I see them?"

"Why, what purpose would it serve?"

"Maybe none, but tonight I saw a person I didn't know existed. Dirk, you could have killed that man and the way you went about it you intended to. I'm your wife and I need to know."

"Okay, but it will take me a day or so to get a copy. Now that I am calm, I don't want to do something that will take me away from you. If I had killed Bob, I most likely would be in jail right now."

Two hours later the phone rang. "Dirk, this is Max. We have to talk."

"And that would be about what?"

"About what happened tonight. Bob is a bit of a loose cannon when he is drinking. God, I understand you almost killed him. You are going to have to overlook some of his actions when he is drinking."

"No, Max. He is going to have to keep away from me. I will not tolerate him around me or around my wife. I'm not sorry I almost killed him. I certainly tried hard enough to. My wife stopped me just in time."

"What did he say, anyway?"

"He said and I quote, 'Dirk I came in to look at your new wife to see if she was going to be as good fucking as your last wife.' To me that was a threat. I'm about to reveal that rape tape to the authorities, just to get rid of him. Rape is hardly ever forgiven and he ought to get prison time for it even though Mary isn't my wife anymore, or if she won't press charges."