A Young Wife with Thick Glasses
Jack Harrison
It was a cold day in March, when I met her. My boss, William Andrews, introduced her as our new analyst Marybeth Ferguson, call me Beth. Due to her body being concealed by a thick blue parka, I couldn't tell much about her appearance. She was slender, dark hair in a pixie cut, and horn rim glasses with coke bottle bottom lenses. Consequently, it was her intelligence and personality that impressed me first. She told us that she was looking forward to working with all of us come Monday morning. Somewhere along the way I did notice the double rings on her left-hand ring finger. She was the fourth analyst to join my financial analysis section which also had a secretary/receptionist/file clerk. Donna, my secretary and her were the only females under my supervision. My second impression was how easily Beth chatted with Donna, giving no hint of condescension. My other analysts varied between curt orders and flirting, both behaviors seeming a bit condescending. I focused on Donna being an important member of our team. It seemed that I might have an ally in that pursuit.
I had first met her in my boss's office but left the interview when the HR salary analyst came on the scene. My boss did ask me in a short phone call if I was all right with joining my team and since I had already seen her impressive resume, I acquiesced. She already had two years of experience while her husband was finishing grad school, she was hired as a Financial Analyst II, at a salary equal to the highest of my three Analyst I's.
To say she hit the ground running would be an understatement, by the end of two weeks, it was clear that she my second in command. She quickly acquired an understanding of our current projects and was often assisting the other analysts while in waiting for her own projects. Our department dressed informally, although I usually wore slacks and a dress shirt, and kept a tie and sports coat in my office for significant meetings. Her first day at work she wore a sweater and jeans, and it became abundantly clear that she had both ample boobs and bottom. It was still hard to tell about her waist, but I estimated her to be around 34B-23-34, a bit more sexy than my first impression indicated.
By the middle of her second month, I had no doubt that she could do my job as well as I could, which my performance reviews indicated was extremely good. I was never worried about her trying to undercut me, and her behavior seconded that view. I started taking her along with me to some meetings, and occasionally, she had deeper insights into a project than I did. At six months, we were in a quandary as to whether to promote her to Assistant Department Head or Analyst III. One of my Analyst I's was being promoted to Analyst II, and he had almost as much experience as she did. We didn't want him to feel under compensated, so we made her Assistant Department Chief, which she was already, in all but name. Everyone in my department got good raises, including my girl Friday, since our department's performance had been exemplary.
At the company Christmas party, we finally got to meet her husband. It turned out that he was an instructor at a branch of the local community college. He was a good-looking guy, tall and slender, and somewhat guided her around. She had worn very flattering black dress, which showed that she not only had cleavage, but nice long legs at least the part between her high heels and mid-thighs. She admitted she could only see a few feet without her glasses, and so she compromised by mostly hanging the glasses around her neck.
There were many attractive wives and employees at the party, but Beth was easily the belle of the ball and spent a good part of the evening dancing and chatting with executives and other would-be Lotharios. I could tell that Scott, her husband, was getting irritated by her endless popularity, and so I tried to engage him in conversation. His interests were primarily in English Lit and teaching. Our English Lit conversation lasted about five minutes, based on the last novel I had read, and the teaching conversation lasted about ten minutes, based on the teaching part of my departmental supervision.
Things came to a head after one suitor was a little handsy during a slow dance. When she returned to our table, he let her have it with both barrels, "I told you your boobs were hanging out, and every hard dick in here has felt your ass!"
She replied, "William Riddick! Neither of those statements is completely true! Now sit down, and let's talk."
He exclaimed, "I've said everything I have to say. I'm going home with you or without you." He drained his drink and stalked toward the door.
She said, "William, wait!" She headed after him and tripped over a chair. She pulled on her glasses as I helped her to her feet. "William!" she shouted again. He continued his rapid trek to the door.
She asked me, "What's wrong with him?"
I told her, "Beats me. Do you want me to take you home?"
She said, "Damn! It's not even eleven. This thing isn't over until one. He's never acted like this at a faculty party."
I explained, "I can't help you with that, but I can give you a ride home. Now or when the party's over. He seemed awfully hot."
She replied, "I think we're going to have raised voices whenever I get home. I'm having a good time, and I want to stay until it's over."
I went and got her a drink. When I returned, it was clear that if anything her popularity had increased. Although she frequently sipped it between dances, it lasted until well after twelve. She then told me, "I guess I'm ready to face the music. If you don't mind, I'm ready to go home."
I had a five-year-old Corvette that I had purchased very soon after starting my job. She seemed appropriately impressed.
Once we were underway, She said, "Nice, Ride."
I admitted, "I bought it to impress single women. It's done its job!"
She replied, "I bet it has. It even impresses this married woman."
I responded, "Good to know."
She continued, "I love my husband even if he does have some jealousy and anger issues. I'm not about to stray from the marital bed. I'm telling you, Jack, if I ever did stray, you would be high on my list."
I was surprised, but managed to say, "Thank you for the compliment. I think you're one of the most amazing women I've ever met."
She answered, smiling, "Even though I'm almost blind."
I said, "I guess that makes you even more impressive."
She told me, "I never asked for retinopathy of prematurity, but thanks anyway, and thanks for the ride. This is it. You can drop me at the curb or in the driveway."
It wasn't a good sign that he was waiting for her at the door, unsmiling. I waved at him. He didn't wave back. I couldn't help them anymore after the door closed behind her. I hoped she wouldn't have a black eye when she got to work Monday morning.
She didn't. She did walk into my office and shut the door behind her, "Do you want to hear what happened Saturday night?"
I said, "Only if you want to tell me."
She replied, "I do. If nothing else, I'm afraid our problems might affect my work."
I replied, "Knock yourself out!"
She began, "He never threatened me physically, but he did move into the guest room. Sunday morning, he was gone when I woke up and he stayed away all day Sunday. Sunday night he came back around ten. He had been drinking but wasn't polluted. He told me, 'I'm still angry with you. We'll talk tomorrow night.' This morning, he was gone again before I got up. I have no idea what he's doing today, but he does seem awfully put out with me."
Tuesday morning, she again came into my office first thing and shut the door, "He gave me the word last night. He said he discussed it with his attorney and decided to give me a second chance, but only because of Allen. Allen's our three-year-old son. He seems to think the matter is closed, but now I'm the angry one. I think I'm going to talk to my attorney. I haven't done anything to deserve this, and if he wants to be a horse's ass, I think Allen and I both will be better off without him."
All I could think of to say was, "Maybe he'll cool off in a day or two. He probably hasn't thought about all of your good attributes."
She said, "We've been married four years. He's had plenty of time to be aware of all of my good attributes. It's true he hasn't pulled a stunt like this before, but unfortunately, I knew he had a jealous and angry streak even before I married him."
I told her, "I think everyone will be better off if you don't do anything to inflame the situation. Just give him a few days to think things through."
She said, "Thanks for listening. I think I'll try what you say. But if he doesn't change his tune by the weekend, I'll not think twice about booting him to the curb."
I thought about trying to talk to William but decided against it. I didn't know him well enough to give him marital advice, or even to know what would make things worse. Best for me to stay out of it as much as I could, being supervisor at work, and perhaps, a bit of a friend.
From my perspective, nothing happened until she again gave me a heads up on the following Monday morning. She began, "He's being a real knucklehead. I suggested I didn't really do anything to deserve the way he was treating me, and he totally lost it. He cursed and called me names. When he finally let me say something. I asked him if that's how he wanted to leave it. His reply was, 'Yes, exactly." I'll be seeing a family law attorney this afternoon, if I can take a couple of hours off. I see no reason to put up with anymore of his bullshit."