51 comments/ 118574 views/ 17 favorites Surprise Award By: Tail End Pete So. Here we are. Married over 30 years. I thought I knew everything there was to know about her. I'm Marty, she's Helen. No, Marty isn't short for Martin, my mother named me Mortimer for some god awful reason. We'd grown up together, well she did live about 5 or 6 blocks away and she was a year younger than me. We did have some of the same memories of junior and high school. We started dating after we were both in high school. Went to the prom together. You know, all the usual things for childhood sweethearts who got married right out of high school. She went to college in the next town to be a nurse while I worked in Dad's garage as a mechanic. Those were the days you didn't need a PhD and umpteen computers to fix a car. She made the drive back and forth every day to school. I kept the car up so she wouldn't have any problems. Well, there were a few flat tires and a couple of dead batteries along the way, but nothing worth blowing a gasket over. We could laugh about it now, after the inconvenience and aggravation were gone. She had her school friends and I worked in the garage. After she graduated, we stayed in town while she went to work at the local hospital. Most of her college friends ended up in other places. Helen's a couple of inches shorter than me and can still fit in some of her old clothes. Do me a favor and don't ask how old. I'm about 5'9" and a solid 200 lbs. After the kids came along, she lost the excess weight through work. Nurses do a lot of physical work. These days though, she goes out running in the mornings with me. I don't need a spare tire or a beer belly. Too hard to get underneath somebody's car. People have said we look like siblings with our brown hair and eyes. Our son David was born first and Darla came next. Interesting thing, though. Both kids have red hair and blue eyes. We believe it was from an uncle on her side of the family. Helen and I had a few intense discussions about hair and eye color and recessive genes. Eventually, we ended up in her parent's attic looking at old photographs. Can't tell much about hair color in black and white photos, but we did find a few pictures of him and we'd heard enough stories from her family about his red hair to settle the issue. After a while it didn't seem to matter any more. They were our kids and we loved them. Not to be a worry wart or anything, but those recessive genes have been a sore spot with me since they were born. Oh, not enough to go charging through the house breaking things, but I've always had this feeling sitting back there. I think I would know better than most how an oyster feels with that irritating speck of sand stuck inside that can't get out. Sad to say, I can't produce the right kind of pearl substance so that feeling has never gone away. I'll bet that oyster feels the same way. Finally, the kids graduated from high school, one right after the other. They both graduated with honors and scholarships. We are so proud. David's graduation was held outside at the football field. I know, you've been through that routine also. Helen and I sat together, but Darla saw some of her friends so she sat with them. I looked around the bleachers hoping to spot her before it came time to shove out way out of there. I thought I saw her off to my right on the other side of Helen, or at least I saw her red head. But, as we stood up to leave, Darla came up from somewhere behind me to join us. I looked at her then I looked back towards the area I thought I saw her before. The red head was gone so I put it down to being slow and forgot about it. The following year it rained, so the graduation was held in the gym. This time David sat with us on the other side of Helen from me. Finally it was over and we stood up to leave. That's when I saw a tall red headed man at the edge of the stands get up and leave. He must have been 6'6" tall and was really slender. Now I'm wondering and trying to push that speck of sand back where it was hiding. I turned to look at Helen, but she was answering a question from David. People must have thought it was cute, my wife talking to our son who towered over us by at least a foot. Uh huh. I didn't say anything about seeing that man at the graduation. Maybe I should have. Or at least brought it up later at home. I noticed how fast he left the gym, though. Now they're finishing their education in the same college as Helen attended. They are both taking computer classes and are hoping to get IT jobs with some big company. David drove for the first year he was there, but when Darla started school, they found an apartment and moved in together. They still come home for most weekends, though. It is nice to be independent, but having a security blanket is also a good thing. Over time, Helen moved up through the ranks at the hospital. Now, she is the nursing supervisor and spends most of her time doing the paper work. She started volunteering at the local library on Thursday evenings and the museum on Saturdays. The garage was open Monday through Saturday, so I wasn't home anyway. This particular Saturday I decided to cut out early and get Helen and go to a cabin my parents left us in their will. I usually stay away from downtown because of the traffic, but as this was Saturday, I decided to cut straight through instead of driving all the way around town. I pulled up at a red light and was looking around when I saw them. A big motel chain had put a new motel into an empty area and brought an indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi with them to help attract guests. They also had a big parking garage next door to help alleviate the downtown parking problem. I saw Helen walking with a man I'd seen only one time before. He had red hair and was a skinny 6'6" tall. Helen was holding his hand and they were both laughing as they left the parking garage. I sat and watched them go into the motel lobby. Just then the car behind me honked. The light had turned green, but I hadn't moved yet. Good thing they were inside before the horn had sounded or they might have looked and spotted me. I was in a daze and just drove around for about fifteen minutes and found myself back at the same motel. I pulled into the garage and drove through the levels, but I didn't see Helen's car. I pulled into a spot and got out to go into the motel lobby. A bored looking clerk was behind the desk as I approached. "Afternoon, sir," the clerk said. "How may I help you today?" "Hi," I replied. "I thought I saw an old friend of mine from school come in here a few minutes ago with a woman. He's a red headed dude over 6" tall. Can you tell me if he is staying here?" "Oh, yeah. That's Charlie and Helen all right. They come here every Saturday and they spend the day," the clerk answered. "Sometimes they go swimming, but nobody is in the pool today. We're having maintenance problems." "Well, can you give me their room number?" I asked. "I haven't seen them for a long time now and I'd like to catch up with them." "Well, we don't usually hand out people's room numbers. Matter of policy, you know?" the clerk stated. Something about his eyes clicked for me when he said that, so I slid a fifty across the counter and smiled. The bill disappeared almost as fast as a registration slip showing they were in room 613 appeared. I nodded at him and walked to the elevator. All the way up, I wondered what I would do or say when I got there. Here was 30 years of wondering just waiting to be let loose. Once and for all. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. I walked down the hall until I reached the room. I stood there a moment just staring at the door. Then I heard it. That sound of passion. I leaned forward and put my ear to the door. That was the sound of wet balls slapping a wet ass and Helen's grunts as she took his dick. Just from the sounds, they were getting close to finishing this little romp. So, that's when I knocked. Well, I say knocked. I actually took off my shoe and hit the door with the heel. Bam, bam, bam. Nice echo, so it must be a hollow core door. All the noise I heard had stopped. Furious now, I stepped back and charged the door hitting it with my shoulder. You know, just like in the movies. Except this time, I hit the door and it came off it's hinges and out of the frame. Cheap damn door. I don't know who was more surprised. Helen with her legs around asshole's back, asshole, or me laying on the floor on a busted door. Everybody froze in place. I looked at them, they looked at me. After a moment, I scrabbled to my feet. I leaned back on the door frame, not saying a word, while I put my shoe back on my foot. Asshole finally retrieved some sense and grabbed a blanket to cover them while he rolled off of Helen onto the bed. "Plan on staying here you lying whore," I finally said. "I'll have someone bring some clothes over for you. Don't think you are coming back to the house, now or forever." Asshole looked like he was going to say something but I cut him off saying, "Don't even think about it, shit paper. Tomorrow when I go to the lawyer to get divorce papers against her, I'm also going to ask for a lawsuit to be filed in District Court against you. You owe me child support for both kids back to when they were born. I'll let the lawyer estimate the punitive damages." Looking around the room I saw their clothes in a pile on the floor. I walked over and picked up his pants, then I took his wallet out of it. I took his driver's license and dropped the wallet. I picked up Helen's clothes and backed towards the door. "You can get your license at the check-in counter when you leave. I broke the door, I'll pay for it. The clerk is going to photocopy this for me for the lawyer. I need to know where to send the lawsuit paperwork. I think I'll send along a copy of the divorce papers also. Since you have a wedding ring on, I'll bet your wife would like to know where you are and what you are doing. What do you think?" I grinned at him as his face lost all color, then I turned and went back downstairs. I got the license photocopied and made arrangements to pay for the damage. The clerk smiled and handed me a VCR tape. "They really do like to use the pool," he said. I'd lied to them. I went directly to the lawyer's office and told him what I wanted, then I went to a hardware store for a new set of locks. I just got the last one installed on the inside door to the garage when the front doorbell started ringing like crazy. I went to see who it was and there was Helen. She had clothes on, so asshole must have gone shopping for her. She was pushing the doorbell with one hand and banging on the door with the other hand. I went to the dining room where the chimes were fastened to the wall. I popped the cover off and yanked one of the wires inside loose. I didn't care which one since it wasn't a bomb I was defusing. The chimes stopped. I went to the phone and called the police department number, not 911. I didn't think this was important enough for those guys. It took about twenty minutes for the patrol car to arrive and she pounded on that door the whole time. Her hand must have been like hamburger. Amazingly enough, she didn't bother yelling for me to let her in the house. After the police talked to her for a moment, one of them knocked on the door. I went through the door into the garage and shut it behind me. I pushed the garage door opener and met the cops at the garage door. She still wouldn't be able to get in the house, even if she got past me and the cops. One of the officers was a woman and had Helen at the car while I talked to the other one. I invited him into the house and closed the garage door behind him, then opened the inside door. I told him what had happened and what I had done. I gave him the clerk's name at the motel as a witness. Then I got the VCR tape and, after telling him what it was, plugged it into the player while turning on the TV. We watched them screwing in the Jacuzzi room for a few moments and then I turned it off. He shook his head and asked me what I wanted to do with her. I told him that I had given instructions to the lawyer and he was putting a restraining order in place. After asking permission, the patrolman used my phone to call the office. They confirmed receipt of a restraining order within the last half hour, so with a nod in my direction, I let him leave through the front door. They had a discussion at the patrol car. A lot of head shaking from the police with a lot of angry gestures from Helen towards the house. Finally, she gave up and got in her car and left. The patrol car left soon afterwards. I called work and told Harry, my mechanic, what had happened and that Helen might be on her way there. I told him what he could and couldn't do and if she became irate to call the police. She never showed up at the garage. A few weeks later, she called the house and asked me, "Marty, it's Helen. May I come over and talk to you, please? I have some things I need to say." "No Helen," I replied, "you don't have anything to say to me about any of it. You know there is a restraining order. If you need something or other, you are supposed to contact my lawyer." "Wait, please," she cried. "Please, don't hang up. I really need to talk to you." "Oh what for," I said. "You don't have one thing to say to me that will change anything that happened. Not one thing! You cheated, you whored yourself out and then you lied about it. You had his babies and let me raise them as mine. Now, what's left to say? Let me guess. You never loved him, only me? Or this isn't what it looks like? Or this is all a big mistake? Or this was the first time you ever cheated and you'll never do it again? Come on, Helen. Give me a break, here. I might have fallen off the pumpkin truck, but it wasn't yesterday. And before you ask, let me inform you that, yes I did mail a copy of the divorce decree to his house along with a picture of our happy family. I let the police over there serve the lawsuit. You know which picture I sent don't you? The picture we took at the lake with both kids standing behind us. Do you think his wife will have any doubts as to the parentage of those kids?" I could hear her crying on the other end of the line, but I couldn't stop myself from heaping on the disgust and venom. "Remember when I said I was going to sue him for child support? Well, after talking it over with the lawyer, I actually sued him twice. Once for 'alienation of affection' I think the lawyer called it and the other was for child support for eighteen years for each kid. "I gave a sample of my DNA for testing. I also obtained samples from the kids and I took some hairs out of your brush and submitted them all for testing. You'll never guess what the tests showed. And before I forget, I asked for a duplicate copy of each legal action filed with the court be forwarded to the kid's apartment. I also sent them a copy of the DNA results. I want them to see exactly what is going on without having to hear two sides of the same sad story. "I haven't heard from them since that day, so I presume you contacted them. With a copy of the paperwork, they won't have to try and decide who did what and when. I also made sure they know what the final court date is so that they may attend if they so desire." "Now what do you want to say that is so damned important?" I rasped. All I heard for a moment was sobbing and then it was momentarily quiet. I heard her snuffle and the sounds she made blowing her nose. Finally, quietly, she said, "I just wanted you to know that I love you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry for everything that I did. And finally, I wanted to say...good bye." She must have had the gun next to the phone because I was almost deafened by the blast. Surprise Award Ch. 02 Okay, you hooligans. Some of you wanted more and the rest said no more. Well okay. Since I can't please you, I'll please myself. Here is part 2 and part 3 will be Charlie's side. Maybe at the end of 3 you'll know who shot who. Heh. Thanks for voting and I appreciate your comments. Yes, even the anonymous ones. They are good for more than a few laughs. ++++++++ So. Here we are. Married over 30 years. I thought I knew everything there was to know about him. I'm Helen, he's Marty. No, Marty isn't short for Martin, his mother named him Mortimer for some god awful reason. We'd grown up together, well he did live about 5 or 6 blocks away, and he was a year older than me. We did have some of the same memories of junior and high school. We started dating after we were both in high school. Went to the prom together. Hah! I made him take me to all three Junior/Senior Proms. He was so sweet. Even though he had graduated, he took me to my Senior Prom. A little about us, Marty's a couple of inches taller than me and I can still fit in some of my old clothes. Do me a favor and don't ask how old. I'm about 5'7" and a firm 128 lbs. After the kids came along, I lost the excess weight through work, but I managed to keep my new boob size. With my figure, a C cup is better than a B. Not that Marty noticed all that much. I have sensitive nipples and I like it when he plays with them, but he's not big on foreplay. Just wham, bam, and he's asleep. Nurses do a lot of physical work. These days though, I goes out running in the mornings with Marty. I don't want him to acquire a spare tire or a beer belly. He says it is too hard to get underneath somebody's car. I don't want him dying on me at an early age. People have said we look like siblings with our brown hair and eyes. Anyway, we did all the usual things for childhood sweethearts who got married right out of high school. I went to college in Batesburg to be a nurse while he worked in Dad's garage as a mechanic. Those were the days you didn't need a PhD and umpteen computers to fix a car, and he was darn good at it too. We didn't have that much of a social life. Mostly it was seeing old friends and going to the parent's houses for dinner and the like. I made the drive back and forth every day to school. Moorgate to Batesburg was a 30 mile drive and Marty kept the car up so I wouldn't have any problems. Well, there were a few flat tires and a couple of dead batteries along the way, but nothing worth blowing a gasket over. I'm just glad we got through that one stretch where they were happening way too often. We laugh about it now, after the irritation, inconvenience and aggravation are gone. I had my school friends and Marty worked in the garage. After I graduated, we stayed in Moorgate while I went to work at the local hospital. Most of my college friends ended up in other places. The only one who remained in Batesburg was Charlie. Charlie is 6'7" and maybe 200 lbs. He has a wonderful sense of humor, is very intelligent (I told him to drop nursing and go to med school), and knows how to rephrase things so they make sense. He also has red hair, the deepest blue eyes, is extremely sensitive to sunlight, and has a bazillion freckles. He has freckles all over his body. We met in a study group when I was in my next to last year. He joined us because he said he was having problems with the material. It soon became apparent that the material was no problem since he turned into a tutor for all of us. I noticed the looks, the touches, the under the breath comments and I felt very flattered. Of course, the other group members weren't stupid. Finally, after a month or so, Glenda made a point of staying after group one night and gave me a heart to heart talk. She pointed out that I had a good marriage, I was a decent person, he was a lowlife who liked to notch his belt, and so forth. I listened to her and was polite. I also let her warnings go in one ear and out the other. Silly me. It was two weeks later when I let Charlie talk me into going to his apartment. It was some flimsy excuse about some study materials. I knew what it was, and I was excited that somebody noticed me besides my husband. As a matter of fact, I didn't think of Marty at all that evening. It was only about an hour or so, but the orgasms I had made it feel like ages. Charlie had a cock that was easily 9 inches long and was twice as thick as Marty's. I had never been so full and stretched in my life! Then I saw the time and hurried to clean up and get home. I got clean, but I didn't get home. I was about half way there when a tire blew out. Luckily I was close to a farm house and the nice people let me call Marty. Marty changed the flat and followed me home. He never asked why I was so late. Charlie and I started seeing each other about twice a week instead of going to study group. Glenda noticed, but kept her mouth shut. I'm sure some of the others also noticed, but I didn't care. I got to have my huge cock and Charlie was still helping my studies. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I stayed too late and then I would have some kind of car trouble going on. After we graduated, things slowed down a lot. But they never stopped. Sometimes he would come to me and sometimes I would drive over to see him. Luckily for me, I didn't have any car trouble. When I became pregnant, I called him at home and told him. I was pretty sure it was his baby. We decided to stop seeing each other for awhile. While I was pregnant, Charlie met Brenda. They fell in love and they got married. He had her pregnant in the first six months. Denny is about eight months younger than David. After about a year, Charlie called me at home and said we needed to talk. We agreed on a place and time where our spouses wouldn't know or suspect anything. Yep. Sex, sex, and more sex dominated that 'meeting'. We started right back where we left off and bang, I got pregnant again. About six months later, Brenda got pregnant with Janey. If hindsight is 20/20, yes, there were a lot of coincidences. It is really hard to see the forest for the trees if you are a tree. As I said, our son David was born first and Darla came next. Yes, both kids have red hair, blue eyes and are really tall. I tried to convince Marty that it was from an uncle on my side of the family. Marty and I had a few intense discussions about hair and eye color and recessive genes. Eventually, we ended up in my parent's attic looking at old photographs. Can't tell much about hair color in black and white photos, but we did find a few pictures of him and we'd heard enough stories from my family about his red hair to settle the issue. I still got some strange looks from some of my family. Still do, as a matter of fact. Especially at family reunions. Thankfully, nobody ever broaches the subject and that is just fine with me. After a while it didn't seem to matter any more. They were our kids and we loved them. I do think that those recessive genes have been a sore spot with Marty since they were born. But, even if he occasionally thought about it, he kept it to himself. It wasn't the elephant in the living room, but I'm certain it was a monkey hanging in the corner that just wouldn't go away. Finally, the kids graduated from high school, one right after the other. They both graduated with honors and scholarships. We are so proud. David's graduation was held outside at the football field. I know, you've been through that routine also. Marty and I sat together, but Darla saw some of her friends so she sat with them. I saw Charlie when he arrived towards the end of the ceremony. He had told me that it wasn't fair for him not to see David graduate. I didn't push too hard for him to stay away because I understood his feelings. I just hoped that he would get away before Marty got saw him. Whenever I felt Marty looking that direction, I tried to divert his attention towards somewhere else. I really hoped that he didn't suspect anything. Finally, as we stood up to leave, Darla came up from somewhere behind me to join us. I saw Marty looking around again, but Darla and I kept moving with the crowd, so he decided to stay caught up with us. Thank goodness Charlie was long gone. The following year it rained, so the graduation was held in the gym. This time David sat with us between Marty and me. Finally it was over and we stood up to leave. I'd been furtively glancing around during the ceremony and hadn't seen Charlie anywhere. I know how much seeing his kids meant to him, especially on such a big day as this one. I took Marty's arm to help me get down from the stands when I felt him tense up. I didn't even look that way. Instead, I was answering some question from David. It had to have been Charlie. That idiot!! I couldn't believe that he had stayed this long. What was I going to tell Marty? Thank goodness Marty didn't say anything at all. We just went home to celebrate Darla's graduation with our parents and some friends. Now they're both enrolled in the same college I attended. They are both taking computer classes and are hoping to get IT jobs with some big company. David drove back and forth for the first year he was there as I had, but when Darla started school we found an apartment for them. They moved in together to save on expenses. They still come home for most weekends, though. I was really worried for a time that David and Darla would see Denny or Linda at the college. Charlie's kids decided to go to college there, also. Charlie told me what they were taking, but I didn't much care. They stayed at home, saving money for when they moved away. Knowing how small the school is, I'm really an idiot to believe that the kids wouldn't see each other. I was living in some kind of fool's paradise. Over time, I had moved up through the ranks at the hospital. Now, I'm the nursing supervisor and spend most of my time shuffling papers. I also started volunteering at the local library on Thursday evenings and the town museum on Saturdays. Of course, I told Marty each Thursday evening and every Saturday. The library meeting was every other Thursday and the museum was supposed to be all day on Saturday. I did spend a lot of time there, but more often I was spending time with Charlie. But the truth was once a month for either of them. The garage was open Monday through Saturday, so I wasn't home anyway. This particular Saturday, Charlie called me at home right after Marty left for work. He had to come to town for something and wanted to see me. He even offered to get us a hotel room. Hah! We'd been doing this every Saturday for months. I told him he ought to buy a condo in town since it would be cheaper than a hotel, and safer too. When I arrived, he was already sitting in his car waiting for me. We were holding hands and laughing when we left the parking lot and went into the lobby. It was really nice. Charlie had made the reservation, so he paid and got the room key. We went straight upstairs to the room. We tore our clothes off and hit the bed running. Charlie was on top of me pounding away when the side of the room started to disintegrate. BAM! BAM! BAM! We were stunned, and I couldn't move at all. We just held still for a moment waiting to see what was going on. All of a sudden, the door came clear off it's hinges and broke the frame. And there was Marty in a pile on that door. He leaned back against the wall and put his shoe on. It occurred to me that he had knocked with his shoe. That explained the noise. Charlie rolled off me and pulled up a blanket to cover our nudity. "Plan on staying here you lying whore," Marty finally said. "I'll have someone bring some clothes over for you. Don't think you are coming back to the house, now or forever." I felt Charlie move and Marty said, "Don't even think about it, shit paper. Tomorrow when I go to the lawyer to get divorce papers against her, I'm also going to ask for a lawsuit to be filed in District Court against you. You owe me child support for both kids back to when they were born. I'll let the lawyer estimate the punitive damages." Marty glanced around the room and saw the clothes. He took Charlie's pants and retrieved his wallet. He took out the driver's license and dropped the wallet. Then he picked up all of my clothes and backed towards the door. "You can get your license at the check-in counter when you leave, asshole. Since I broke the door, I'll pay for it. The clerk is going to photocopy this for me for my lawyer. I need to know where to send the lawsuit paperwork. I think I'll send along a copy of the divorce papers also. Since you have a wedding ring on, I'll bet your wife would like to know where you are and what you are doing. What do you think?" Marty grinned at Charlie a moment, then he turned and went back downstairs. Charlie pulled on his clothes in a hurry. "Wait a minute, Charlie. What about me? I need some clothes here," I cried. Charlie finished putting his shoes on, then looked at me on the bed and said, "Use a blanket. People steal towels all the time." Then he turned and left. "You son of a bitch!" I screamed. So, I did what he said. I took a blanket and hauled ass out of there. I went to the lot, got my car and headed towards home. I had my wallet and the route home passed by a Salvation Army store. Luckily for me, it wasn't crowded and the staff was very kind and compassionate. We got me some clothes and I left them the blanket. Then I hurried home. The door was locked and my key didn't fit it, so I started making noise. I pounded on the door with my hand and kept pushing the doorbell. I knew he was home and I had to talk to him. I didn't want to lose him. He had been mine for my entire life. I just knew that I could convince him that he was the only one I had ever loved, because it was true. Charlie was just a big cock I needed occasionally. Then the door chimes stopped. 'He must have yanked a wire,' I thought. It didn't matter. I kept pounding on the door until the police car arrived. The female officer came and took me back to the patrol car. I really didn't want to talk to her, I wanted to talk to Marty. I saw the garage door open and the male officer went inside with Marty. After a little while, the male officer came out to the patrol car. He explained that Marty had gotten a restraining order against me and I couldn't come near the house. I had to leave. I tried to get them to let me talk to Marty, but they refused. I didn't want to go to jail, so I got in my car and drove around awhile. Finally, I went to a cheap motel to get cleaned up and to think. It sure looked like things were over between us. I couldn't believe that I had thrown away a perfectly good marriage for a big cock fuck. The next week, I drove to Batesburg to see the kids. They weren't real happy to see me, but they did let me in the house. David was on the phone when I came in, so I waited until he was through before I told them what was going on with me and their dad. They weren't happy with me at all. David went to the kitchen and brought back a glass of iced tea for me. I was feeling a little better. Then the door bell rang. David went to answer the door. When he came back into the room, he had two other kids with him. Denny and Janey. I looked at four people in the same room who were over 6' tall, red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. "I met Denny last year here at school," David said. "We actually thought it was neat for awhile. But then I went to their house and met Janey. Their mom wasn't home, but their dad was. I don't think you need to say anything more, mom. After the four of us discussed things, we decided that we really don't want to see you that much. I'm not sure if Brenda knew about us, but since dad sent copies of every thing to her and here to us, I'm sure everybody knows the whole sad story. Whatever happens here with us kids, that will be our decision. As far as I'm concerned, you've abrogated every parental right to any of us." Then David took a deep breath, blew it out, and then said, "I think you should leave now, mom. We have some things to do here, and I don't think you will be welcome for a long time." A few weeks after that, I called the house and said, "Marty, it's Helen. May I come over and talk to you, please? I have some things I need to say and we need to discuss." "No Helen," Marty replied, "you don't have anything to say to me about any of it. You know there is a restraining order. If you need something or other, you are supposed to contact my lawyer." "Wait," I cried. "Please, don't hang up. I really need to talk to you." "Oh what for," Marty growled at me. "You don't have one thing to say to me that will change anything that happened. Not one thing! You cheated, you whored yourself out and then you lied about it. You had his babies and let me raise them as mine. Now, what's left to say? Let me guess. You never loved him, only me? Or this isn't what it looks like? Or this is all a big mistake? Or this was the first time you ever cheated and you'll never do it again? I let the police over there serve the lawsuits. And you know which picture I sent along don't you? The picture we took at the lake with both kids standing behind us. Do you think his wife will have any doubts as to the parentage of those kids?" I was crying on the other end of the line, but Marty couldn't stop himself from heaping on the disgust and venom. "Remember when I said I was going to sue him for child support? Well, after talking it over with the lawyer, I actually sued him twice. Once for 'alienation of affection' I think the lawyer called it and the other was for child support for eighteen years for each kid. I gave a sample of my DNA for testing. I also obtained samples from the kids and I took some hairs out of your brush and submitted them all for testing. You'll never guess what the tests showed. And before I forget, I asked for a duplicate copy of each legal action filed with the court be forwarded to the kid's apartment. I also sent them a copy of the DNA results. I want them to see exactly what is going on without having to hear two sides of the same sad story. I haven't heard from them since that day, so I presume you contacted them. With a copy of the paperwork, they won't have to try and decide who did what and when. I also made sure they know what the final court date is so that they may attend if they so desire." "Now what do you want to say that is so damned important?" he rasped. "I know all of that, Marty. I went to see the kids and they told me that they had received all of the paperwork," she said softly. "They are disgusted with me and my actions. I also know that they moved into a bigger apartment." I looked at Charlie, sitting on his couch. The sorry son of a bitch had refused to talk to me, so I waited until he was gone. I got in the house by telling Brenda I was selling stuff for a school fundraiser. While we were talking in the living room, Charlie came home and started ranting and raving. Brenda had no idea what was going on until I pulled the gun out of my purse. She lost all color in her face. Charlie stopped yelling and just gaped at the gun pointed at his midsection. At that range, he knew I wouldn't miss. I waved him to the couch so he could sit next to Brenda. I kept the gun pointed at them while I went to use the phone to call Marty. "I know, Marty. I just wanted you to know that I love you. I'm so sorry I hurt you. I'm so sorry for everything that I did. And finally, I wanted to say ...... good bye." I held the phone in my hand next to the gun as I pulled the trigger. Surprise Award Ch. 03 Prologue An eighteen year old Charlie sat on the side of his bed holding his head in his hands. He was an emotional mess, crying and laughing in turn. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was alive. God, how could he go on. In the next room he could hear the racket the old bed made as his parents pounded each other with the violence of their love making. If, indeed, making love was what they were practicing. He wasn't sure, most times, whether it was sex or two people using each other's bodies for small relief and lustful vengeance. If they weren't drunk they were fucking, and as soon as they finished fucking they started drinking. They couldn't get enough of each other if they were sober before sex, but after sex they hated each other. Talk about a fucked up life and here he was right in the middle. Of course, he was the reason they hated each other. His parents were relatively short with brown hair and eyes, and had rather dark skin. He in contrast was 6' 5" in his stocking feet with the reddest hair anyone had ever seen and blue eyes. Yes, he also had that fair skin that burned so badly and the freckles. God, the freckles. All over his body and that included his cock. Since he had lived here his whole life, everyone knew him and his red hair. If his folks had only moved somewhere else so he could change his hair color, the teasing and name calling might not have been so bad. Of course, the main problem was that nobody in town looked like him. Nobody knew where his genes had come from. His mother maintained it was recessive genes from an uncle on her father's side. His father was convinced that she had cheated with a 'carny' when the circus came to town and he'd been stuck raising some fucker's bastard kid. Whether it was true or not, Charlie ended up as the object of scorn and derision and he became a target for his parent's endless emotional wars. They didn't know who he was, just what he represented in their pathetic lives. Charlie had graduated from high school today and they hadn't shown up for the event. Big deal, they never showed up anywhere. He arrived home to find the ubiquitous brown bag with a few unopened bottles of booze still sitting on the table. Judging from the noise in the bedroom, they had been at it for quite a while. He wanted to get to his room before they finished. He hated that angry time between sexual satiation and the end of the first bottle. That's when the 'Ronald McDonald' comments started. They both hated him, their only son. Most of the time they were still somewhat lucid during the first bottle, but once they started on the second bottle it eased up a little bit. They had trouble being coherent until they passed out. He didn't know who they hated more at that point, him or each other. He came home tonight because it was necessary. Just another one of those things on his to do list. He'd really hoped they would be in a drunken stupor when he arrived. Well, he could wait a little longer. He was going to put a stop to all the misery, both theirs and his. He was leaving for school in Batesburg. He'd managed to get himself enrolled early without them knowing. He knew he was never coming back. His clothes and personal stuff that he wanted were at Benny's house. He'd been secretly moving them for the last month or so. He didn't take everything, it wouldn't look right if he did. He noticed that the noise had peaked and had started to lessen. 'They must be finishing up,' he thought. 'Now it's my turn to finish them.' First he dressed in one of his mother's full aprons from the kitchen and tied it in the back. After pulling the latex gloves on, he stood up and retrieved a gun from under his pillow. It had been cleaned, loaded, and wiped down. He slipped off the safety and headed towards his parent's room. He walked to the side of the bed and looked down on them laying there in their smelly body fluids. Surprisingly he didn't feel a thing. He felt emotionally numb and empty. He raised the gun and two shots rang out. First to go was his mother, one shot to the head. His dad recoiled from the noise and the splatter, but he didn't hear the next one. It went in his temple before he could react. When Charlie finished, he placed the gun in his dad's hand and wrapped his dad's fingers around the grip. He stepped back while taking off his gloves. Blood splattered the walls and soaked the bed. Not a lot of anything touched the white apron. Perfect. Dad shot mom, then turned the weapon on himself. The police would believe what they wanted to see. Going back to the other room, he took a full bottle of scotch from the bag and, after opening it, took it in and set it on the nightstand. Then he put the apron and gloves into the bag with the other bottles of booze and walked out the door. He stayed in the alleys on the way to Benny's house. He opened various garbage cans and disposed of the gloves and apron first, then started disrobing and disposing of his clothes. Never more than one piece of clothing in a can and never two cans together. He wanted the evidence dispersed as widely as possible. He arrived at the back of Benny's house and deposited his boxers in the can. He slipped into the house naked and headed to the shower. He knew he wouldn't be able to get the gunpowder residue completely off his hands, but he still tried to wash the stink off of his body. He would never be able to wash the stain from his soul. Eventually the authorities would find him at Benny's house and inform him of their recent demise. Then he just had to go to a double funeral and leave town. It would be different in the future, and he was never coming back. Chapter 1 Two years later Charlie had managed to maintain a 3.4 GPA while taking some pretty tough classes. He'd been lucky when he found a nice two-bedroom apartment about a mile from the school in a relatively quiet neighborhood. He saved his money instead of spending it on a car and insurance. Walking to school was also some good exercise for him. He managed to separate his school life from his home life and had a relatively easy time staying away from most of the other students. He considered most of them assholes, anyway. At the start of the third year at school, Charlie was in a couple of classes with a woman named Helen. She was a semester or two behind him. He was fascinated by her quick wit and her relatively easy grasp of the material. He asked around and found out she was in a study group, so he decided to join it one evening. A couple of the other students knew him and his high GPA, so they asked him to stay. He wouldn't say that working in the study group was a real fun time for him since he turned out to be more of a tutor for the others, but he did get to hang around with Helen. It was after about a month after he joined the group that he was working on one of his papers. The rest of the group had packed up to go home, but he was tweaking this paper a bit. Since the topic was one of the few easy ones available, he thought he'd push it extra hard to pull in the easy grade. He finished up and put the paper in his bag while looking around. The only one left was Helen and she was just sitting there, watching him. "Hey you." "Hey yourself." "I thought you'd be gone with the others," he said. "I was, but I went back over my paper. I have to get those easy grades when I'm able to, you know?" she replied. "Yeah, sure. I figured you would be gone by now, seeing as how you are a married woman and have a long trip home," he stated. He was watching her eyes while he talked. She just looked steadily back at him. 'Was this a dare of some sort?' he wondered. "Well, if you don't have to go home right now, how about giving a needy student a lift home? It is only a few blocks from here and not out of your way." "Sure. Get your stuff and let's go." The drive was quiet except for Charlie telling her where to turn and then pointed out his building. Charlie could feel some tension in the air, so he thought he'd take a chance. "Want to come in for a minute?" he queried. She sat for a moment, not answering. Then she turned the engine off and smiled at him. That said it all. He walked her up to his door, unlocked it and ushered her inside. He dropped his coat on the chair, his backpack on the floor next to it and motioned for her to sit down. He went towards the bathroom and said, "I'll be right back. Put your stuff anywhere." She slipped off her coat and her backpack. Her stomach was full of butterflies and her mind was in turmoil. 'What the hell am I doing?' she thought. 'Marty is waiting for me to come home and I'm in some man's apartment. For what? Why?' Just then Charlie reentered the room. "Would you like something to drink?" he offered. "I have some sodas or some water if you like." "A glass of water I think," she replied. "I seem to have a dry throat and I wouldn't want to get sick. It would be a waste to learn how to prevent disease and then get sick because I didn't use the information they gave me." He nodded and returned with two glasses of water. They sat across from each other, saying nothing and taking the occasional sip. He was sitting in the easy chair and she was sitting on one end of the couch. Abruptly, as though he had made a decision, he drank down the rest of his water. He set the glass on the table, stood up, and walked over to the couch. She hadn't said a word, but set her glass down when he moved. He held his hand out to her. She looked at it for a moment, then took it and stood up. He put his arms around her and kissed her gently on the lips. She kissed back, at first tentatively, and then harder as the passion kicked in for both of them. At the end of the kiss, he leaned back from her a bit. She stared back, rather hungrily he thought. Taking her hand again, he turned and walked to the bedroom. She didn't resist. They stopped next to his unmade bed and both began taking off their clothes as fast as they could. She beat him but just barely and they fell together onto the bed, legs, arms and tongues entwined. There wasn't a lot of foreplay, just a quick grope to check out each others body and then a fast coupling. It wasn't so much passion as basic lust. Woman needs man, and vice versa. Less than half an hour later, Helen got back into her car and started home. They didn't have sex often. They didn't try to rationalize the affair or even try to put it into words. They would see each other on campus and would just know that they would fuck each other after class. And that is all it ever was, just sex. Charlie graduated a semester ahead of Helen. Luckily he found a job at the local hospital so he wouldn't have to move. Things were going all right and they continued the same routine as if he were still in school. Then the routine changed when Helen called him at work. She asked him if he was in a private area, then whispered in his ear, "Hi, daddy. Boy, I'm glad to talk to you. You'll never guess what happened to us." Charlie felt the floor coming up to meet him as a nervous knot grabbed his guts and squeezed tight. 'Shit, now what's going to happen to me?' "Daddy, huh," he said back. "You sure it's mine? After all, you do have a husband who presumably is capable of the same accomplishment as I am. Or is there something else going on that I'm not in on?" "Oh, yeah, it's yours all right," she confirmed. "Ok, spill it," he said, "How are you positive that it is mine? Not that I'm not happy for you, but this is an unplanned occurrence for me. Sorry, I'm not good at responding well to such news. As a matter of fact, that's the first time I've ever heard that." "Well, I'm sure it's yours because Marty was sick in bed that whole week and we didn't make love for another week after he got well. The only one during that time was you," she laughingly replied. "I didn't tell you because I didn't think you'd care that Marty was sick. We've been trying for about three or four months now, so this is great!" "Yeah, well, um… yes, it is great news. I'm happy for you both. Of course if it is mine, how are you going to explain away my obvious characteristics if they show up in your child? I mean, Marty and I don't look anything alike. Have you thought about that?" "Of course I have, Charlie. I had an uncle with the red hair and he was really tall. Don't worry about Marty. Everything will be just fine," she said back at Charlie. He could almost see her smile. "Now, lighten up a little bit. I've got to get back to work. I just wanted you to be the first to know the good news." He started dating a girl he met at work soon after Helen gave him the news. Brenda was about six feet tall and had blond hair with the deepest dark blue eyes he'd ever seen. She had a nice figure, but was a little on the large size. About the third week they were dating he finally let her see his apartment. He popped her cherry on a Friday night, so she stayed the entire weekend with him. It wasn't real love for him, of course. He knew that he would never be able to love anyone. He kept his inner self closed off from everyone. He bought an engagement ring for her at a pawn shop and proposed at a neighborhood restaurant. In due course, Helen gave birth. A boy, David, with red hair and blue eyes. Brenda became pregnant almost immediately and Denny was born at the usual time and about eight months after David. Yes, he had red hair and blue eyes. When David was about a year old, Charlie called Helen and asked her to meet him. They had some things to talk over and would prefer to do it face to face. Yep. Right back into the sack they went. They both had unaware spouses they were cheating on and both had babies at home, but that didn't matter. At least she never gave Charlie the line that 'he completed her'. That would have been just too much since they were both in it for the sex. A short time later, she was pregnant again. About six months later, Brenda became pregnant also. It wasn't as though Charlie planned the kids that way, it just happened. He fucked them, planted his seed, and children were born. Isn't that the way things are supposed to happen? It was a little strange that the first kids were boys and the second were girls, but hey, serendipity was fortuitous or something like that. After the girls were born, they were both too busy with their own families to get together very often. Just as marriages become comfortable, so did the affair. It didn't totally fade away, but they got together maybe two or three times a year. Neither one could explain why they kept things going for so long. It just happened to turn out that way. Finally, David reached graduation day and Charlie was torn inside. He really wanted to attend the ceremony and see David graduate. After all David was his son and he was really proud of him for completing the journey. He told Helen that he wanted to go and about his plans. She tried to dissuade him, but she knew how he felt about his kids. He had decided to be off on the side where he wouldn't be noticed and arrive just in time. He thought he could pull it off without being spotted. He went to the graduation at the football field, showing up just as they finished being seated. He watched in pride as David accepted his diploma. The end of the ceremony came upon him and he wasn't quite expecting it. He knew he had to get out of there fast and made it to his car without anyone spying him. The butterflies in his stomach slowly settled down in proportion to the distance he put between him and them. He felt really proud of David and his accomplishments, even though he hadn't been the one to parent him. Helen had told him that David would be attending school in Batesburg, but not to worry because he would be driving back and forth. He also didn't worry about it because the school was on the opposite side of town from us. The next year, Charlie and Brenda attended Denny's graduation. He felt just as proud of Denny as he had been with David, but this time he got to sit in the bleachers. He did become a somewhat worried when Denny announced his intention to attend school in town. Charlie wondered that Denny would see David and then, somehow, put things together. It was during that first semester that Denny came home one Friday afternoon with a strange look on his face. "Dad," he started, "I have someone here I'd like you to meet." He stepped to one side and David walked through the door. I felt the blood rush from my face as the implications hit me. I sat there feeling numb for a moment, then jumped up and sticking out my hand I said, "Hello David. I'm glad to meet you. Please come in and sit down." David looked at me oddly, then reached out to take my hand. I looked at them both for a moment then asked, "What's the matter, boys? Come on in and sit down." Denny just stood there for a moment and then said, "Dad, I told you I had someone I wanted you to meet. I didn't give a name. How do you know him?" "Because I know his mother Denny," I quickly replied. "We were in school at the same time just as you are. She and I have kept in touch over the years and I knew she had two kids and their names." I decided to shut up because I was rambling. The boys nodded their heads at me and I thought that I had convinced them, and then Janey walked into the room. 'Damn,' I thought, 'now it hits the fan.' But no, I was lucky. Denny introduced David to Janey and they went to Denny's room to use his computer. I sat back down and tried to watch the game, but the only thing I could think about was my close call and thank god that Brenda wasn't home. That would have been really nasty. I really wanted to call Helen right then, but knew I couldn't. I would have to wait until everyone was gone. I didn't get an opportunity to talk to Brenda alone until the middle of the following week. By that time, I had managed to stuff my concerns back down inside and I really felt that I had managed to sidestep that little problem. Of course, that's what I told myself. Denny didn't bring David back to the house or even mention his name. Janey never said anything about David either. The following year was hectic because both girls graduated. Charlie and Brenda proudly watched Janey graduate. She was the class valedictorian and gave a really nice speech. A week later, Charlie was in Moorgate to watch Darla graduate. Bad luck, it rained so the ceremony was held in the school gym. He was able to get in without being spotted and stood by the doors. He was beaming when Darla accepted her diploma. Just as he had previously, he was one of the first people out the doors and felt that he hadn't been spotted. It looked as though he'd gotten away with attending both graduations. He would have to tell Helen that her fears had been totally unfounded. He hummed to himself all the way home. Janey started at college that fall. Brenda and I had told them that they could still live at home while they were in college. They had an old car for transportation that Denny had fixed up while he was in high school. It wasn't great, but it got them back and forth across town to school. Sometime in there, Helen and I got back together on Saturdays. The kids did their thing, Brenda was working, and I was off fucking around again. Brenda was off on Sunday while I worked. Helen told me that she was volunteering on Saturdays, so she could meet me anytime. Marty 'knew' she was at her volunteer place, usually all day, so we could fit whatever time we needed into that schedule. I always called a nice hotel in Moorgate and made a reservation. I always paid cash and was careful to destroy the receipt. The hotel had an indoor pool and a Jacuzzi area for guest use that we used occasionally. More than once we fucked in the Jacuzzi too for a little bit of spice. Surprise Award Ch. 03 We met on that famous Saturday in the parking lot next to the hotel. I usually arrived fifteen or twenty minutes before Helen did, but I had run into some traffic outside of town which slowed me down. We went inside and I got the room key. Once inside, the clothes flew into their respective piles and Helen and I bounded onto the bed. I was pounding into her when I heard the loud bangs on the door. I froze where I was inside of Helen, looking at the door when it exploded inwards. A very upset looking man landed on the destroyed door, then he hurried to stand up. He didn't take his eyes off of us for a moment while he put his shoe back onto his foot, just staring at us. I finally realized where we were and we were naked, so I rolled off Helen and pulled a blanket up to cover us. "Plan on staying here you lying whore," he finally said to Helen. "I'll have someone bring some clothes over for you. Don't think you are coming back to the house, now or forever." I started to say something but he cut me off saying, "Don't even think about it, shit paper. Tomorrow when I go to the lawyer to get divorce papers against her, I'm also going to ask for a lawsuit to be filed in District Court against you. You owe me child support for both kids back to when they were born. I'll let the lawyer estimate punitive damages." I watched him looking around the room and he saw our clothes in a pile on the floor. He walked over and picked up my pants, then he took my wallet out. I watched him take my driver's license and then he dropped the wallet. He picked up Helen's clothes and backed towards the door. "You can get your license at the check-in counter when you leave," he said. "I broke the door, I'll pay for it. The clerk will photocopy this for me for the lawyer. I need to know where to send the lawsuit. I think I'll send along a copy of our divorce papers also. Since you have a wedding ring on, I'll bet your wife would like to know where you are and what you are doing. What do you think?" He just grinned at me as I felt sick to my stomach. I jumped out of bed and started pulling my clothes on. I was moving quite a bit faster than Helen was, but then she didn't have any clothes to put on. I didn't care. I ran out of the room and downstairs to the lobby to get my driver's license back from the clerk. He just gave me a big smirk as he handed it over. I ran to the car and drove home as fast as I could. When I arrived home, Brenda was ready to put supper on the table. I asked her where the kids were and she told me they were at some school friend's apartment. I went to the bathroom, dropped my pants, and cleaned my crotch the best I could with just a wet washcloth. Now I know why it's called a whore bath. I was really nervous for a couple of days, but when I didn't hear anything from anyone, I started to settle down. Good thing too, because Brenda had taken notice of my nervousness and asked me a couple of times what was going on. I put it off to stress from work. Then I developed a real big brain fart. 'I haven't heard anything, so nothing is going to come here,' I thought. 'He might not even divorce Helen. If they get back together, I won't have to worry about what if?' Yeah, I know. Really stupid of me to think that. That's why they are called brain farts. The following week I happened by the house just as the mailman was filling my box. We waved at each other, then he continued his route. I pulled the mail out and was looking through it while walking to the house. What I saw froze me in place. A large envelope I thought to be an advertisement of some kind had a return address of some lawyer in Moorgate. I raced inside to open it. After looking through the paper work, I realized that I was screwed. I was big time hung out to dry. Everything Marty said he would do, he did. Or rather his lawyer did. A copy of a DNA analysis report confirmed all four kids were mine. After looking at the financial numbers, I realized I would be bankrupt. For the first time since my parents died in that awful murder/suicide, I cried. I mean I bawled like a big baby, huge wails of hurt and pain forcing their way out of my body. I cried for over an hour, wandering around the house I would lose, and finally ended up in my bedroom. I put the papers in my nightstand, then lay back on the bed. I didn't mean to, but I fell asleep. When I awoke, I smelled dinner cooking. I went into the bathroom and threw cold water on my face, then put drops in my eyes. Putting on a nonchalant smile, I went to the kitchen. Brenda didn't notice a thing. It was a few weeks later when Brenda and I were both home. The doorbell rang and I heard Brenda answer the door. I heard some talking and then I heard the door close. Feeling a presence, I looked up and saw Brenda standing in the doorway. Her face had lost all color and I saw her hands trembling. I sat up, perplexed at what I saw. Just as I started to ask her what was wrong, she jerked into the room as if she had been jabbed. That is when I saw Helen for the first time. I started to stand up, but Helen's look stopped me. "Umm, Brenda … ," I started to say. Helen pushed Brenda from behind towards the sofa where she turned and sat down. Looking back at Helen, I now saw that she had a gun in her hand. She almost looked like a bag lady. She was wearing a bulky cloth coat. It was unbuttoned and revealed an old dress. She had on a pair of shoes which looked too big on her feet and almost worn out. As accessories, she had on one of those pill box hats from back in the forties complete with a small black veil, and wore an old pair of white dress gloves. She looked almost a hundred years old. "Helen!" I exclaimed. "For pity's sake, what are you doing with a gun in my home." "Shut up you weasel unless you are spoken to first. Got it?" She looked like she was on the edge of a precipice and I didn't want to push her over. Her hand holding the gun trembled, but I didn't know if she was nervous or ready to mentally explode. I just nodded and sat back in the chair. Brenda just sat there with a vacant look on her face, looking back and forth between Helen and me. After Helen stood there looking at the two of us, she nodded slightly to herself. "Did you get the papers, Charlie?" she asked. She almost sounded normal. "Yes I did," was my reply. "They came the following week. I'm bankrupt now. Is that what you wanted to know?" "No, what I wanted to know is how Brenda took the news. Just by looking at her I can tell you didn't tell her anything. You slimy bastard, how could you do this to her. Or us for that matter. Did you tell the kids? No, you didn't. I visited them the other day and they already knew. They don't want to see me again. Ever. I'm going to stand here and wait for you to go get the papers and give them to Brenda. Your loving wife wants to know what the hell is going on here." She just stood there with the gun pointed at Brenda. I used a wide path to get around her, retrieved the papers, and handed them to Brenda. She looked at the return address and with a hateful glare at me, she opened the envelope and read the top sheet on each packet. Looking at me with an evil look in her eyes, she asserted, "So, this is what's going on here, Charlie. You slimy, two-timing bastard. You fathered children with this slut and finally got caught. Now you are being sued for back child support and for your part breaking up that marriage." She looked back in the envelope and spotted something else. Pulling it out, she reacted with a gasp. It was a picture of Helen's family taken outdoors somewhere. She stared at it a moment, then turned it for me to look at. It was obvious to both of us that the kids in that photo were mine, even with the DNA report. I was screwed. My body turned back and forth from burning up to icy chills. My mind was in a tormented whirlwind, but I managed to keep looking at Brenda. I really didn't want to look at that gun. "You sorry excuse for a piece of shit, they also look about the same age as ours. Did you get your jollies from knowing you had two women pregnant at the same time? You and your damned male ego. You can rot in hell for all I care anymore." Then Helen cleared her throat. Startled, we both looked at her, having forgotten she was in the room. "How touching," she said. "You look almost as upset as my husband was when he broke down the hotel room door. At least you are wearing your shoes." Then she looked at me and asked, "Well now Charlie, what are you going to do? Hmmm? Those papers will bankrupt you, Brenda is going to divorce your ass, and none of the kids want to see either of us. I'd say that makes it a pretty depressing day, wouldn't you? Well, I'm tired of being depressed. I lost my job when Marty called the hospital and informed my boss of the unfortunate circumstances. I spent the last forty dollars I had on this gun. Yes, it is loaded. No, I am not that good of a shot, but you would get hurt if you tried anything." She just stood there, holding a gun on me and Brenda, looking as though she were lost in thought. The hand still trembled and her eyes were unfocused. Brenda moved slightly and tossed the papers onto the coffee table. I could see her pain and suffering, even though she didn't look directly at me. The soft noise the papers made when landing on the coffee table seemed to startle Helen. She reacted with a jerk and only saw Brenda sitting back on the couch. I don't think she aimed, I think she just reacted. The result was the same though as Brenda sank back even deeper into the sofa, a red stain spreading out from her chest where the bullet hit her. I couldn't move. The shock of seeing Brenda shot in my own living room turned me to stone. I looked back at Helen and saw she was pointing the gun in my direction. "Don't even think about it Charlie," she said in a hollow voice. "She is going to die whether you do anything or not. Face it. She was going to be gone, one way or the other. This way you don't pay alimony." The last was said with a small laugh at the end. "I am going to use your phone. You are going to sit there quietly while I do." Checking over her shoulder first, she backed to the phone stand and picked up the cordless phone. I looked at Brenda. The blood wasn't spreading very fast anymore. I just gripped the arms of the chair and watched as she slowly faded away. Dialing the phone with the same hand she held it with, Helen called her husband. "Marty, it's Helen. May I come over and talk to you, please? I have some things I need to say." I could only hear this end of the conversation, but could figure out that he'd said no. "Wait, please," she cried. "Please, don't hang up. I really need to talk to you." I sat there while she listened for a long time to Marty screaming at her. He was so loud that I could almost make out what he was saying. While he was talking, Helen started crying and pacing around in the room. She was almost oblivious to me sitting there, but I wasn't going to move an inch. Finally, she stopped pacing almost next to my chair and then snuffled a bit before she blew her nose. Then she quietly said, "I just wanted you to know that I love you. I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry for everything that I did. And finally, I wanted to say …… good bye." I was looking at her and trying to decide whether to try and get the gun when I saw a flash and then everything went black. Epilog The dowdy looking lady with the old hat and quaint white gloves came out of the house and went to a car sitting at the curb. She stopped and glanced around the area, then got into the car and drove away. Inside the house in the living room, a woman was slumped on the sofa. The red stain attested to the gunshot wound she had received in the chest. Sitting in the chair next to her was her dead husband, a bullet hole in his head. He had obviously shot his wife in an argument over some lawsuit paperwork and divorce papers which were in the middle of the coffee table, covered with blood spatters. Then he had turned the gun on himself and took the coward's way out. The gun was still in his hand, resting on his lap where it had fallen after he had ended his life. At least he was sitting down when he did it. As the lady drove away, she failed to notice an older car slowly moving up behind her. It pulled to the curb in front of that same house. Four tall, red headed young adults got out and went into the house. Thanks to Wanderer and Papa Toad for their encouragement and insights. I appreciate all feedback, especially the anonymous ones, as they provide more fodder for my other stories.