Chapter 3: A man named Theo

For the next week, I buried myself in work. I tried to minimize my contact with Max but it was not to be. I succeeded with a series of experiments which one could pretty much describe as verification of Max's pet working hypothesis. We scheduled a repeat of these experiments in the next week to be extra sure. I already knew that Max was the most cautious when he liked results. It is so easy to accept findings that fit your preconceptions and you sometimes overlook errors in the experimental setup.

I thought I'd surprise Lillian with an unscheduled visit to Charlottesville. Hey, it was 1986 and diesel fuel was way less than a buck per gallon. The whole trip cost me less than ten dollars. I started early on Saturday to beat the shoppers to the Beltway and it was not even eleven o'clock when I parked my Mercedes a block away from Lillian's apartment building.

Just as I approached the entrance a man left and I slipped through the closing door without thinking. I climbed the stairs making hardly any noise with the trainers I wore. I stood before her apartment door and I almost knocked when I heard Lillian's voice from inside.

"No, I don't want your money, Theo! I told you I won't have an abortion."

I distinctly heard a man's voice from inside, deep but too low to understand. Then Lillian again.

"You have a lot of nerve, Theo! First you lie to me to get into my panties. Then, when I'm in trouble all you have to offer is five hundred bucks for an abortion. No support, not even a friendly word."

A knot of sickness formed in my stomach and I leaned against the door jamb. Now the guy inside raised his voice.

"I never lied to you!"

"Yes, you did! You were never separated from your wife. You cheated on her with me."

I could not make out his response but Lillian's voice certainly carried.

"Elaine told me of the dinner at your house. Darling here, darling there. Not a bad word between you. You lied, Theo! Damn, why did I have to be so stupid? One last time to part in friendship, wasn't it? Where the fuck did you get that condom? Was in in your fucking wallet since high school?"

Only murmur from his part.

"Broken, my ass! You knew I was off the pill. I thought you were being careful."

The man's voice sounded pleading. But Lillian really got going.

"Oh stop whining! You're such a wimp! Why would I tell your wife, huh? To get you? I wouldn't take you if you were the last man on earth, that is if you were a man at all. I have found a real man, one who has a sense of responsibility. Let me tell you that he's a much better lover as well."

Mystery man was angry now and his voice carried. "Is he? Well, are you going to tell him of the cuckoo's egg?"

"I'll be the best thing in his life. I'll be the best wife he ever dreamed of. I'll make sure he will never regret anything. I'll be his, Theo, while you can crawl back to your wife. And I warn you: one word to him or to anybody else and I'll file a complaint with the Faculty. You fucked a student, Theo. They'll kick you out and nobody will ever hire you again."

I had heard enough at this point and I knew that I had to get out of the building before my stomach started heaving. The child wasn't mine. Lillian was using me to cover up an affair with a faculty member. She had betrayed me with another man!

I waited outside in my car to see the man. I got a glimpse of him when he left Lillian's building, a thirty-something, balding guy with a noticeable paunch. Not exactly a hunk. I knew the type. One of the professors in the institute where I graduated had chased female students, too. He was unattractive but he scored at least one student every year. Had Lillian been trying to sleep her way up?