A Sudden Storm

In the complicated world of relationships a heartbeat is time enough to fall in - or out - of love.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in April, the kind of day when the very air you breathe fills you with a sense of hope, wonder, and contentment. Jim was in the kitchen. He was standing at the sink drying a frying pan, and watching his wife Gloria as she dusted a bookcase in the family room. They had just begun their spring cleaning ritual. She was wearing old jeans, one of his college sweatshirts and flip-flops. She had a scarf wrapped around her head to protect her lovely auburn hair from the dust. He had just thought to himself that she looked adorably disheveled and was about to cross the room, lift her up in a big hug and give her a long wet kiss. But then it happened. She took down a very large book. It was a retrospective on the important events of the nineteenth century. It had been printed in 1902. Seventy years later when he was thirteen he bought it at a garage sale with money he had made mowing lawns. His wife studied it closely, examining its tired, cracked spine and its yellowed pages. Then, wordlessly, she walked to the kitchen and tossed it in the trashcan at his feet.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “I’ve had that book since I was a boy.”    

“And I’ve never seen you look at it once. It’s too old, it’s too big, and I’m tired of dusting around it. It’s time to unclutter our lives.”

Jim looked down into the trash can. The book lay on a pile of coffee grounds, egg shells and paper towels wet with bacon grease. He felt as if it was looking back at him, silently pleading to be saved.

“Don’t even think about it,” his wife said. “It’s got to go. We need to say goodbye to useless things.”

Jim turned back toward Gloria. The eyes were still a vivid blue. The nose was still sweetly turned up at the end. The left eyebrow was still just a fraction of an inch higher than the right. It was still the same mouth that had said “I do” at the altar and had cheered “Go, Jim, go!” during all those touch football games with his brothers and cousins. But something was very different.  The warm glow he had always seen in her face was gone, having suddenly disappeared like a candle flame, blown out by a chill wind. In its place was something new and unsettling. The only emotion on her face was grim determination. The tiny lines around her mouth were rigid, determined, icy. Somewhere, Jim thought he heard the faint sound of a page being turned. 

                                      © 2016 Stanley R. Teater

                                  All rights reserved

Reviews

[Valentine]

This is really a good write and it tells how easily we can see a person in a different light. Valentine

[Patricia Wedel]

dear Stanley, your story is sad, but unfortunately
true to life. Many an antique book is worth it's
weight in gold. Many a broken heart can never be
be mended. However, I would place gilded edges
around your written words and give you a Pulitzer Prize.
truly, Pat

[Stanley R. Teater]

Many thanks.

[Patricia Wedel]

You are welcome...