CHAPTER 1

Summertime in the South is filled with kids playingoutside, pools overflowing with sun worshippers, andpeople wanting to cool off from sweltering heat. Despite thedepressing heat that summer, the Temple of Faith Christian Church,which James sometimes attended, held a picnic. James was fifty-two,greying a bit around his temples, and had a goatee. He enjoyed theoutdoors, so the picnic was something he looked forward to.

The pastor and the planning committee had put togethera nice event. They rented a couple of bounce houses the kidsabsolutely loved, and at least ten kids were in each line. Therewere eight or nine craft booths around the parking lot, offeringeverything from handcrafted stuffed animals and little figurinesto homemade jams. James thought he would attend the event tocheer up. Just ten months earlier, his wife of twenty-three yearsannounced she had been unhappy for some time and wanted adivorce. It started like this.

It was a Saturday morning at about six. Susan got up toget ready for work at the credit union; she was required towork every other Saturday. She had been employed with themfor about eight years, and James thought this was the reasonshe was acting a little distant; after all, it was not uncommonfor people who have tenure at their jobs to become a littledissatisfied. She made her way into the bathroom, and Jamesgot up to start coffee. As he was putting the coffee into thefilter, Susan came in and sighed.

James turned to her. "What's wrong, babe?" he asked witha puzzled look. She sighed again. On her face was a look thatmade James realize something was definitely wrong.

"You know," she said fidgeting around, "I ... I've beenreally unhappy for quite a while now, and, well, I think it wouldbe best if we got a divorce. As a matter of fact, that's exactlywhat I want. I want a divorce."

Nothing could have hit him harder than that. He stood fora moment, staring at her as if to say, What the hell are you talkingabout? Finally, after about what seemed an eternity to Susan,James chuckled and said, "You've got to be joking." He startedto move toward her. That took her by surprise, and she backedup, which in turn shocked James. He had never even thoughtabout raising a hand to her in any kind of angry display, so forher to back up shocked him. James was usually an unassumingand nonviolent person; his passive attitude stemmed from arough childhood and overbearing parents.

"What the hell is this all about? What are you acting like apsycho for?" Before she could respond, he continued. "Besides,neither of us makes enough money to get a divorce. Hell, wecouldn't live on our own! I don't know who put this idea inyour head, but you better forget about it. A divorce isn't goingto happen, understand?"

Susan looked at her watch. "Damn, I'm running late. We'lltalk when I get home."

James grew angrier. "Home my ass! If you think—"

"I said we'll talk about this more when I get home! I'll seeyou around one."

James threw the filled coffee filter across the kitchen counter."Well, that's just great; I get to spend the next few hours herewith the kids thinking about you wanting a divorce." Hestormed by her, moving her out of the way, and went outside.

Susan finished getting ready. As she got into her car, shenoticed James sitting on the kids' swing set. She paused for amoment as if she wanted to say something but decided not to.

James watched until she was out of sight. He thought, Whatam I going to tell the kids? Should I tell them the whole story or notsay anything? They're going to find out sooner or later. Hell, theymight even already know something's up.

The kids had seen the two of them fight a lot over the pastthree or four years. There was one time in particular, abouttwo years earlier, when James and Susan had gotten into a realmud-slinging contest. Issues were brought up and blamed oneach other, such as the time Susan was flirting with a guy at themall. James saw it clear as crystal and yet Susan denied the entireevent. Name-calling was at its worst that day, and the yellingwas loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear, not exactlythe information most couples want the neighbors to know. Jamesnoticed the children standing in the hallway, watching the wholething. That had ended James and Susan's fight.

As Susan drove to work, her mind raced. Have I done theright thing? Do I really want to divorce James? What about the kids?How are they going to take this? Will they adjust to not having afather around all the time? These and many other thoughts werein her head as she arrived at work. She was met by John, an off-dutypolice officer, who asked, "So did you tell him?"

"I tried to, but he got really angry and stormed outside, sowe didn't finish the conversation. I told him we'd talk about itwhen I got home."

"You should have been more assertive about it," he replied;his look was intense. John had been the guard at the branchfor quite a few years, even prior to Susan's arrival three yearsearlier. The day she started to work there, he had his eyes onher. James found this out two weeks into her employment. Itwas a Saturday morning, and James had dropped his wife offat the bank. John pulled in, got out of his car, and walked toJames to strike up a conversation. It was during this little chatthat John stated he wanted to meet a nice woman like Susansomeday and that James was a lucky man. In retrospect, Jamesshould have seen this coming, but the officer seemed to be anice guy to James, who didn't see bad in anyone, especially anofficer.

Suddenly, Susan and John realized where they were, andthey became professional. Her supervisor motioned for her toget to work, leaving John standing by himself.

James sat at the kitchen table and poured his third cup ofcoffee. Down the steps from their bedrooms came Bobby andLisa, dressed in their baseball and softball uniforms for theirgames that morning. James saw them dressed. "Crap, guys. I'mso sorry. I forgot all about today." He made a mad dash for thebedroom to finish getting dressed.

Bobby said sleepily, "That's all right, Dad, but can you getready soon? Coach would like us there early so we can runsome drills."

"Sure thing, son. Be with you in just a minute or two."

Scrambling to find his shoes and belt, he still couldn'tbelieve what had gone on earlier that morning. He had alwaysthought they had a pretty solid marriage although there weresome rough spots now and then, But who doesn't have sometrouble these days? he asked himself.

The kids' voices rang through the air. "Come on, Dad!We're going to be late."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Go get in the car. I'll be rightthere."

The ball fields were about ten miles down the road, so theyhad a chance to talk.

"Dad, right before I woke up, I had this weird dream,"Bobby said.

"Tell me about it, sport," James said.

"I dreamed that you and Mom were having an argumentand that she said she wanted a divorce."

"Luckily that was a dream, buddy. Mom and I had a fewwords, but don't worry about it. Everything's going to be justfine." In an effort to change the subject, James started talkingabout the upcoming games.

Three weeks went by, and the relationship got progressivelyworse. While James was taking a shower one day, he realizedthere was no shampoo, so he called to Susan, "Honey, couldyou please bring me the shampoo?" About a minute went bywithout a response, so he called again, this time with a...