Chapter 2

Edith and Josh were tickled to see me. This should have made me happy, but instead I almost cried. Paul could see I was upset so when we had a chance to get a minute free he led me into his office. "What's up brother?"

I sat down and told him all about it. He sat there shaking his head at what Mary had done. "What are you going to do?"

"Get a divorce right after Christmas. I'm not going to shake the kids up now. You will be my lawyer won't you?"

"Yes of course. I never thought I would have to represent you in a divorce though. What are you going to do about your supposedly good-hearted neighbors that brought your wife home safely?"

"I don't know yet, but it's going to cost them. One thing Paul, is it possible to make you and Paula limited guardians of my children? I'm considering leaving town. I can't face Mary much longer and I will need someone to look after Josh and Edie's interests. If she continues to slut around, it won't be good for the kids."

"I probably can get you a hearing before Judge Jones. We can figure out something."

"Okay, why don't you get started on the paper work this week and see what Judge Jones advises. I'll do anything, I just don't want Mary to have sole custody."

I stayed for Sunday dinner and took the kids home in the middle of the afternoon. Mary said she was still hung over and would I feed them supper and get Edith's clothes out for school tomorrow. I did that and then went down into the basement to copy Mary's action onto a disk. God it made me sick and I couldn't watch this again.

I decided to make enough copies for my neighbors too. One for each wife to use if they wanted evidence in their own divorce action. That is if they couldn't accept what their husbands had done. I burned these onto a disk as those would be much easier to mail if I wanted to.

I told the kids I had to get a little sleep before going to work. "What Mommy has isn't catching, so just go in and crawl in bed with her. I'll see you tomorrow after school. Maybe Mommy will be feeling better then. Give me a kiss goodnight." I knew Mary was just avoiding me. I went in and lay down on Josh's bed.

All week Mary made sure we weren't often alone together. If it looked as if I was going to say something serious, she made an excuse to leave the room. That was okay, I didn't want anything to do with my slut wife. Then when she knew that I was wondering what was going on with her actions, she started picking fights. That Saturday night Mary sat at home alone and drank herself stupid.

On Monday, the week before Christmas, she informed me that the store wanted her to work until nine in the evening. At least that made it so I could sleep during the day. Paul and Paula sat with the kids daytimes and I watched them until Mary got home. They were wired with Christmas being close, and that made it much more fun for me--until I thought of the papers coming from Paul.

I was checking my home every night and I could see that Mary was depressed--tough! She was feeling sorry for herself, but what about me--I was hurting too! I couldn't see any way to resolve this. I loved Mary but not enough to forgive her. Christ, she had been begging those guys to do her. She was just spoiled for me.

I decided to give her one more week. Paul hadn't been able to get things done as expeditiously as he had hoped. The night before Christmas eve I had to work an extra shift. I had to go to work at three on Saturday afternoon and work until seven the next morning. It was about six in the evening when some carolers came to the door singing. They wanted Mary and the kids to go singing with them. She declined, but sent the kids out with the group.

Twenty minutes after they left I was watching as Mary sat dejectedly in front of the TV. I saw her get up and go to the front door, thinking it was more carolers. Bob and Bing, along with the two others, pushed their way into my house and started making ribald jokes to Mary. I called the police and said that a neighbor had called me and said four men were assaulting Mrs. Borland. I explained that the neighbor didn't want to get involved, so had called me.

I quickly returned to my computer to see how Mary was making out. She was still holding the guys off, although two of them had started fondling her. I guess that had worked with her before, but Mary was sober this time. She warned them that she was going to scream if they didn't leave her alone. They backed off momentarily and then started again to run their hands all over her.

Mary screamed and I mean she really screamed! The guys pulled away from her and asked why she did that. "Out! Get out of my house right now or I'll call the cops. I mean it. Get out!"

Just then I could see everyone's attention turn towards the door. Mary went to the door and from the camera angle I could see a policeman standing just outside. "May I come in? We had a report of a disturbance at this address. Someone called your husband and he called the station. What is going on?"

Mary was caught without knowing how to respond. Then she said, "These are some of my neighbors. They are waiting here for their wives and kids to bring my two kids back from singing. Everything is all right."

The policeman was skeptical, because Mary had hesitated so long in answering him.

I wanted those guys to sweat so I called the house on my cell. "Mary are you all right? One of the neighbors said something was going on at the house. I called the police. Did they get there?"