ALL MIXED UP
Mike Barlow sat across from his wife Gina. She was twirling a glass of white wine on the table. She had asked Mike for a discussion. She had said, 'Mike, we should have a discussion of what we're going to do, going forward." She was a lawyer. So, she didn't just say 'We need to talk.'
But Mike got the message. And...he knew, more or less, what she was going to say.
He asked, "So?"
Gina said, "Mike, we're coming up on our twenty-fifth anniversary. I feel like things have gotten stale for us. We need to inject some excitement into our lives, now the kids are gone to school."
Mike's face was impassive, even stony. He said, "And?"
Gina was taken aback, a bit, by Mike's stoic response. She began to feel defensive.
She said, "I want you to know that I love you very much."
Mike nodded. He spoke not a word. His face betrayed absolutely no emotion.
Gina was further unnerved by that. She said, plaintively, "Aren't you going to say you love me?"
Mike gave a slight negative shake of his head. That was it. He was determined to make this as difficult as possible for his wife. In that, he was succeeding.
Gina had a sinking feeling about this entire undertaking, somewhat like the feeling as a jury returned with what she knew would likely be a bad verdict.
Mike was the jury. She wanted something from him, but, it was clear to her that he was in no mood for acquiescence. She began to become angry.
She blurted out, "I have a date Friday night. I want an open marriage." She thought to herself, 'There, I've said it.'
Mike gave a kind of diffident nod, followed by a very small movement of his shoulders that could have been interpreted as a shrug. Or not. He said nothing, and his face was as stony as that of the proverbial Sphinx. He stared at her, waiting....
Gina spat out her next revelation. "I'm going to have sex with him, and I'll be back Saturday." As she said this, she stood and loomed over him. He moved his head just enough that he could see her face. He also put both hands flat on the table, to be ready in case she tried a physical attack. She didn't. Instead, she turned and flounced out of the dining room, and up the stairs. Their bedroom door slammed.
A small smile crossed Mike's face, as he sat. He arose, cleared the desert dishes, and wine glasses, and took them all out to the dishwasher. He started the machine. Then he pulled out a cheap cell phone and texted one word - 'Six.'
Gina threw herself onto the queen bed. She was quivering. She had never expected the reaction she got from Mike - a total lack of reaction. She was stunned and fearful. She had believed that she could bring Mike around. An open marriage. He could fuck his secretary - if he wasn't doing that already - and she could fuck Bradley Dubois, a younger lawyer at her firm. If his reaction was too extreme, she could cancel until she brought him around. But now. Now, she was lost. She and Brad intended to go out to dinner, then some dancing at a hotel bar, then upstairs for sex. They'd be home to their families the next afternoon, after checkout. They had a reservation at a downtown hotel, far enough away that people from their area wouldn't know. Brad was not going to tell his wife. He was thirty-two, and had two young children. His wife, Blanche, thought he would be away on business. That was the plan.
But now. Now, she'd have to discuss this again with Bradley. The two of them had become close over a period of months while working on a case involving a massive tort claim. They'd had several lunches, each longer than the last. Discussing work - that was what they told the curious at the office. Two weeks before, Brad had professed his love for her...or, maybe only his intense lust for her. She was a woman who attracted that sort of attention. Tallish, at 5'8", with a slender figure and a sexy look to her round face. A natural blond. She was fit from gym work and some running. Brad was also fit, 6'2", medium build with soulful brown eyes and longish light brown hair. He looked younger that he was, and when she was with him, Gina felt like she was also young again, not forty-seven. She knew she didn't look her age, but when she was with Brad, she felt like she did when she was at college.
It wasn't as if Mike was a bad husband. She loved him and he satisfied her in bed. He was fit and adept, athletic. At 5'10" and 165 pounds, he was only average size. But Gina knew that women often went after him. Still, they'd been together for over twenty-five years, exclusive, and married for over twenty-four. She'd been feeling stale even before she was paired with Brad at work. All her life men had come after her, and she'd turned them away ever since she was with Mike. But not now. Not now. She needed a boost. She never thought that she'd leave Mike. She thought he'd agree, eventually. After some problems, maybe. She was determined not to deceive him about this. And she knew that he wanted his long-time secretary, Ellen Grove. She'd given him a hall pass, along with her own. And....he.....never said anything. She had no idea what he was thinking. It was way more than unsettling. It was scary. She felt as if she may have blown up her life, and she didn't like that.
Her life had been a very good one, and that was largely down to Mike. Mike had captivated her, in and out of bed. And he was still all she could have wished for....in a husband. Except, maybe he should be more understanding of what she knew to be a temporary mid-life glitch. Despite her awareness of this as a mid-life crisis that would pass, she wanted another man. She'd had many before Mike, and only Mike since they first met and fell into bed.
Gina had very good reasons to be frightened, but she was not completely aware of those. Mike Barlow was the product of a poor area of the city, which featured immigrants from various parts of Europe. Mike's father, Bart, was an alcoholic, who held down a job as a janitor at the local high school. His mother worked at the cafeteria in the same school, where, eventually, Mike went for his diploma. Mike had an older brother, John, who had barely made it through school four years ahead of Mike. John enlisted in the Navy, and got right out of the area. Mike was a very different matter. He was athletic and very smart. Also, the girls liked him. His teachers, who expected another John, instead got a boy who excelled at all academic endeavors.
Mike never went out for school sports, or other extra-activities. He had to deliver papers, groceries, and other things to supplement the family income.
He was a hard worker, and in school, he never got less than a top grade. That got him noticed. One part of being noticed was being resented. Mike was always on guard against the class bullies. He got his ass kicked several times. He could outrun any of them, but sometimes that wasn't good enough. He studied about the problem, reading books on fighting, called self-defense. Then he'd practice those things at home, out back where he had fashioned a large canvass bag to hang on a tree limb. He'd punch and kick the bag, from when he was ten years old. He got good at punching and kicking. One day he didn't run from Jimmy Dugan, a major pain in the ass. Instead, he knocked Jimmy Dugan around an outdoor basketball court, until Dugan's buddies pulled him away. That solved the bully problem.
And, it got him noticed even more by certain elements in the neighborhood. Paul Palotti, and his wife Rita noticed, as did their partner Tomas Bogandic. When he was fourteen, Mike was invited to eat dinner at the Palotti home. They had older kids, who weren't there when Mike arrived. Tomas was there, though. Mike, of course, had heard around that these people were shady, and not to be crossed. He was well dressed and polite throughout the spaghetti dinner. He was nervous, at first, but relaxed. Rita was a lively woman, very pretty, and Mike liked her. After a while he was actually having a reasonable conversation with these adults. Shady or not. They spoke about the area, and the people they all knew. Also, about local politics and the union. He had a nice time, but only vaguely understood why he had been invited. Two weeks later, Paul and Tomas walked up to him as he finished his grocery route. They moved him aside into a small park.
Paul explained, "Michael, we have seen you do so well for yourself and your family. We like to help out people from our area who deserve a shot at something a little better. So, if you'd like, we can help you out."
Mike was wary, as both men expected. "How? And, what would I do?"
Paul said, "We don't have anything you'd have to do. We want you to have more time to improve yourself. So, we could let you have the amount of money you make with the extra jobs, and you could have time for study."
Tomas, who scared Mike a little with his size, smiled at Mike and said, "And maybe you'd have a little time for fun. Girls....sports. Whatever."
Paul said, "We want you to be the best you can be...without joining the Army. If you do well, you could get a neighborhood scholarship to a college."
Mike said, "What's that?"
"A scholarship. You could be one of the few from this area to get a degree."
Mike thought it over for a few seconds. He never for a minute believed that he was being offered something for nothing. He said, "I won't...you know....kill anyone."
Tomas laughed out loud. "Oh, no. For sure, when you graduate, we may need your help from time to time, like if you're a lawyer or something. But never to get you into trouble. We look ahead, Michael. You just be yourself. And remember who helped you out."
Paul said, "One thing, Michael. I understand that you have an interest in, like, the stock market and bonds and stuff."
"Yes. Yes, I have looked at that. When I have the time."
"So, maybe spend a little more time on that, 'cause we could use some advice from time to time."
