Friday afternoon! Tim was riding the bus home from work and feeling pretty good about life in general. He was debt free, had a stress free job that would allow him to start really saving some money, his golf game was improving each week and apart from a lack of sexual attention from his spouse, which was not unusual, things were pretty good. The last thing he expected was what happened when he walked in the door that Friday night in March.
As he neared the house, he noticed a Jaguar XJ6 parked just down the street. When he turned the corner, he noticed that their car was parked in the driveway. I guess we're going out for dinner was the thought that crossed his mind. When he entered through the back door, she was waiting in the dining room, a rather serious look on her face. Before he had a chance to say anything, she started talking.
"We have to talk, right now."
Her tone was even more serious than her look. Tim stopped in his tracks.
"OK, what is it that you want to talk about?"
She started slowly and he let her talk at her own speed without interruption.
"It's over. I can't handle this anymore. I want a divorce."
When he didn't immediately react, she continued.
"I've met someone. I really want to be with him. If we can agree on the property settlement, the divorce can be finalized in two months or less under the new laws. I would like to end this without a fight. Can we talk about it, please?"
A slow smile spread across his face. She had said please, a word she rarely used unless the subject was important to her. After a short pause, he answered.
"You seem to have given this some thought. Do you have a proposal or do we start from scratch?"
"I have a proposal." She said, handing him a small sheaf of papers. "I've written it all out. I think it's fair but we can discuss the details, if you like."
Tim accepted the paper and began to read. The basics of it were simple. She would move out immediately, leaving him the house and the car, both without any mortgages. She would retain the property in the mountains and would have first choice of the contents of the house, furniture, paintings, etc, leaving the remainder to him. She was also taking only her cat, leaving his. Each of them was to retain whatever money they had in their respective accounts, no alimony or other payment would be required.
Unless she completely stripped the house, which he doubted, this division almost split the property down the middle by value. It was too good a deal to pass up.
"It seems fair. If this is what you want, I won't argue about it. When did you intend to move out?"
"Actually, I was going to take a few things now and come back for the rest tomorrow, if that's all right with you."
"According to that, I get the car. Do you have transportation arranged?"
"Yes, he's parked just down the block waiting for me."
"I'll take the car now, then, and get out of your way. I'll also arrange to be gone all day tomorrow so you can pack without any trouble. You can have anything you want except those things that you know I consider to be mine. By the way, I would appreciate it if you would feed my cat tonight before you go. Goodbye."
Tim turned on his heel and walked out the back door. Once in the car, he turned in the opposite direction of the parked Jaguar, not wanting to see what her new man looked like. A block later, he started to laugh out loud. She actually thought I was going to give her an argument. Imagine that! I've been dreaming about this day for months. I need a drink. This is too good to be true.
When he returned home later that night, he found some of her clothes missing but that was all. Even her cat was still there. She did leave a message on the dining room table saying that they would be there about 9 am tomorrow and that they expected to file the divorce papers on Monday. He crumpled up the message and tossed it in the garbage. Before going to bed, he set his alarm for six am to be sure he was gone long before she arrived.
Saturday morning he awoke with the sun at 5:30 am. He turned off the alarm and started his regular morning ritual. He fed both cats, had breakfast, shaved and showered and was ready to leave by 7 am. He made sure her cat was inside the house before he left.
Loading his golf clubs into the car, he closed the gates behind him and drove off.
When he returned at 6 PM, he was surprised that she hadn't made off with the house itself. When he opened the back door, he was even more surprised. As he went from room to room, he began mentally taking inventory to determine exactly what she had taken. His cat, Tinker Bell, was still there, winding himself around Tim's feet as he walked.
For the most part, he discovered that she had stripped the walls of her paintings. It didn't appear that she took any furniture, which was amazing, but then her new beau probably had a houseful of furniture already. None of his personal belongings were missing. She had been very careful about that. She did take some of the silverware and glassware and all of the wine. Otherwise, it looked like she just walked away from it all. He was astounded!
On the kitchen counter, he found a note along with her keys to both the house and the car. It simply stated the obvious; that whatever was left was his. She did thank him for making it easy for her. He folded the note carefully and placed it in his briefcase with other important papers. Then he fixed himself a drink and sat down to watch television. Two weeks later, he was divorced.
They had to get the paperwork completed to transfer the house and car titles to him, but she paid the fees for the transfers. All he had to do was agree, which he quickly did. It was all over. Time now to start again.
Saturday, golf day! It was the best day of the week for Tim. Playing golf was like a religion. He got such a charge out of hitting the ball, walking the green fairways, hearing the birds, and looking at the blue sky. It was fantastic! On this particular Saturday, he was playing in the last of the required competitions for his AGU handicap card and he had parred the course. His official handicap was now two and he could file his nomination papers for the Masters Games golf competition, a preliminary event to playing on the professional golf tour.
At 8:15 that evening, he turned on the television to watch a movie that was due to start at 8:30 and, just for fun, switched to the channel that showed the Lotto drawing live. Division 1, the top prize, was $3.4 million dollars this week and, as he watched, one of his numbers was drawn first. Tim watched closely as the numbers were flashed on the screen one at a time. In the next five minutes, all of his numbers were showing on the screen. He had won. He was now a millionaire, or almost anyway.
Each division of the Lotto allowed multiple winners to share the prize so he had to wait so find out just how much he had won. At 9:15, the Lotto Board called to inform him that the entire Division 1 prize was his. He was the sole winner. Since he had a registered card, there would be no delay and the check would be ready for him on Tuesday.
After confirming where to pick up the check, and asking for anonymity, he gently replaced the telephone handset and startled the cat out of a sound sleep with his shout.
On Monday, he arranged a meeting with his bank manager to set up the deposit instructions that would be followed the next day. He wanted some of the money wired to his US bank, the largest portion invested in 12 month CD's, and the balance placed in his interest bearing checking account, that being just over $1 million dollars. This was to allow him to easily spend some of the money just by writing a check.
On Tuesday morning, he picked up the check, deposited it in the bank, and then reported for work where he informed his boss that he would not be renewing his contract when it expired at the end of the month. When asked, he stated that he was pursuing his dreams of playing professional golf and that would occupy most of his waking hours.
He took time off on Tuesday afternoon to buy a new car. He had a passion for convertibles so he ended up with a Ford Capri, green with brown leather seats, trading in the Hyundai. He also ordered custom-made sheepskin seat covers and a matching steering wheel cover. The car, complete with the additional options, would be ready for him on Friday. From the car dealers, he went straight to the golf course. At the second hole, he decided that this would indeed be his new "job".
April moved slowly. Nick was impatient to end his job and took more and more time off that month. In the end, he instructed one of his fellow workers in the rudiments of his contract position, showed them the files of the detailed instructions, and left in the middle of the month.
He had discussed his ideas with his local golf pro and a program of practice, playing, and physical workouts was designed to assist him in getting into better physical shape for his chosen profession.
Each weekday started at sunrise. He drove to the golf club and practiced specific shots for two hours, then played a full 18 hole round, keeping detailed scoring records so the round could be reconstructed and problem shots isolated. Three afternoons a week he spent two hours in the health club working out under the watchful eye of a fitness instructor. The other two afternoons he swam and otherwise worked out in the pool. The evenings and weekends he was free to do as he pleased.
By the end of April, this course of action was beginning to pay off. He found that he had more energy as the days went by and began to look for things to do with himself in the evenings. He checked the local tenpin bowling club and found that the Friday night mixed league needed additional bowlers.
He promptly signed up and purchased a new ball, shoes, and bag from the pro shop at the lanes. His first night of bowling would be Friday, April 29th.
He arrived at the bowling alley to find a beehive of activity. Players on several of the lanes were already throwing their warm up balls. The league took up the first sixteen lanes. Tim searched the group and found the league secretary, whom he had met the day he signed up, and started walking towards Lane 10.
Suddenly, he could not move. Just by chance, his eyes found and locked with the most gorgeous blue eyes this side of the ocean. She had just thrown a ball and was returning to the seating area when she looked his way. In that split second, when their eyes met from 40 feet apart, the entire world seemed to disappear, leaving just the two of them staring at each other.
Tim could hardly breathe. He was suddenly aware that his eyes seemed to have a similar effect on her and she walked straight into the scorer's table on her way back to her seat. That accident caused her to look away and break the line of sight contact, returning the world to normal. Tim was astonished to find that a look from that far away could be so devastating. He had to find out more about this woman but he also had to be subtle. He was sure she would think he was a nut if he just told her what had happened to him.
As casually as possible, after being introduced to his teammates, Tim began the task of identifying the blue eyed angel. First, he determined which team she was on. Then it was a simple matter of watching the overhead scoreboard when the session got under way to find her first name. Armed with this information, he checked the posted position roster to find her surname. It turned out that she was Kathy O'Riley.
According to the position roster, her team would be playing against his team next week. He was then content to watch her bowl the remainder of the evening, noting that she didn't pay any particular attention to any one person. Either she was single or her husband/boyfriend didn't bowl on this league. Which was it?
