I slipped out of bed, peed, brushed my teeth, and pulled on a shirt, one of my well-worn "weekend" shirts, a button-down Oxford cloth washed so often it was almost silky, and my jeans. I didn't bother with shoes or socks.
Then I waited.
I watched as her eyes fluttered open, and offered my hand, helping her out of bed while she yawned and stretched.
"Daisy," I said, using her name and establishing our positions, "what are you required to do when you get home on Friday evening?"
I could see the confusion on her face as she struggled to focus her eyes, and her mind on my question.
"Ah gets home an' changes, suh," she said, literally shaking her head to clear it. I could see her eyes flick up and right as she struggled to get her thoughts in order.
"Walk me through it," I said, working hard to sound calm and reasonable.
"Wellllll," she said, still thinking and organizing her thoughts, "Ah gets home an' goes straight to the bedroom. A takes off mah clothes an' puts them away or in the dirty clothes. Den Ah puts on dat thang you made fo' me an' comes ta see what you wants me ta do."
For the first time since I had known her, I deliberately hurt my wife. I reached out, glad for all of those hours in the Shaolin Do school
daochang
(in the Chinese martial arts training is in a
daochang
led by a
sifu
. The more common Japanese forms are done in a
dojo
led by a
sensei
. Those learning the Korean forms do so in a
dojang
(obviously similar to the Chinese
daochang
) led by a
sabumnin
) that taught me the control and quickness to do it with precision, and grabbed her ear.
"Tell me," I said, putting all of the intensity they had taught me first in NCO school in the Air Force and then in methods and techniques classes as I was working through the curriculum to be a teacher, "step-by-step. If you leave anything out you'll regret it."
Her hand was at her ear, not pulling at my hand but trying to comfort herself.
"David," she cried out and I twisted harder.
"WHAT did you call me?" I snapped.
Tears ran down her cheeks and her eyes were big when she said, "Please, Massah, no mo'."
I eased the pressure on her ear a little but knew I was still hurting her.
"Now tell me, Daisy," and I gave her ear a quick twist, drawing a cry from her, "EXACTLY what you did when you got home yesterday."
"Ah come in an' went ta da bedroom, lakh you wants me tuh," she started and something stirred deep in my mind as her accent thickened almost becoming unintelligible. She was truly Daisy now, and part of me wondered if I would ever be able to get Latitia back.
But, okay, let's be honest here. The little head between my legs was in charge now and I was enjoying Daisy too much to worry about it right then.
She told me, her accent getting thicker and thicker, what she had done.
"An' den ah comes in heah, tuh y'all," she finished.
I twisted her ear, making her cry out.
"Did you think you could get by with lying to me?" I asked.
"Owwwww, JESUS, nah suh, ah ain' lyin'," she sort of wailed.
I had a moment of self-reflection. It kind of scared me how much I liked her look right then. Her eyes were red and her tears were flowing. Her nose was running and when she spoke thick strings of silvery saliva and mucus connected her upper and lower lip. I can't say she was pretty, but she was more perfectly feminine, more utterly female, than at any time since I had known her.
I twisted, forcing her to look down.
"You're lying," I said.
"OWWWWWWWW, nah, nah, Suh, ah ain'," she wailed.
"God damn it, girl, look at your fucking toes," I said, emphasizing every third word or so with a twist on her ear.
I could see she finally realized what I meant.
"Oh, God," she said, her voice breaking, "Ah fohgaht. Oh, suh, I's sorry."
"So you admit you've been lying?" I asked, my anger replaced with calm now.
"Ah wan't lahin'," she said, meeting my eyes, "Ah just fohgaht."
I held her eyes, deliberately holding the tableau, I did a slow count to thirty - - one Mississippi, two Mississippi...