I love writing exercises. Yesterday I posted an anti-loving wives story. Today's is a normal LW tale. I am interested in your reaction to the two. The title is another Hemingway short story. It hints at the outcome - enjoy β DT
*****
The Rising Storm
There are lots of ways a guy can find out that his wife is cheating.
There's the ever popular, "unexpected arrival home". Then there's the tried and true, "a friend clued me in." And of course there's the time tested, "overheard a conversation."
Me? I was tipped-off by The Washington Post.
That might seem a bit bizarre. But most guys aren't married to a woman who is fucking a U.S. Senator.
Personally - I work in the private intelligence business. We do the same kind of thing that the alphabet agencies do. But it pays ten times better.
I started out as a 35-lima with the 704th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Meade. Military Intelligence might sound like an oxymoron. But my unit was headquartered at the same Fort as the NSA. So I took part in some serious technological shit.
I was just a 23 year old kid - fresh out of Carnegie-Mellon and the 97-bravo course at Fort Huachuca.
Needless to say I was totally full of myself. I had a badge to go with the title "Special Agent." But I was really just a Rot-C nerd from the little city of Madison, Wisconsin.
Madison might be the State Capitol and it might have a big university in the middle. But you don't have to drive very far out of town to be hip deep in cow shit.
So the Beltway culture was both a target-rich environment and kind of overwhelming for a Wisconsin farm boy.
I hung around with another shavetail. He was named Art. Both of us liked to drink and party and there was always a lot of that going on in the student ghettos around the University of Maryland.
Nonetheless we favored the Fells Point section of Baltimore. First of all, it was a lot easier to get back to our off-base quarters, which were in Glen Burnie. And there was nothing to match the perpetual party atmosphere of the Broadway Square area.
One night I was sitting with Art in "The Horse You Came In On Saloon". How can you NOT patronize a place that advertises that it has been "serving drinks since the 18th Century?"
We both had a little buzz on. But it was nothing like we were planning for later that night.
We were scoping out a table full of girls. There is nothing like a covey of visibly blasted chicks to attract the predators. And the wolves were beginning to gather.
As I watched a few of the women were dragged off to dance. It was clear that everybody was in a happy-place. That is until one of the more obviously wasted dudes decided to cut-out a woman who was not interested in dancing.
There was some pulling and a little yelling followed by a shriek and a loud slap.
As the fracas started I nodded an "I got this" to Art and wandered over toward the table. The slapee was about to do something really stupid when I grabbed his upraised arm.
I said in the calmest voice I could muster, "You need to leave, Sir."
He was pissed and clearly not in the mood. So he spun violently to confront me. I just continued his momentum, do-si-doing him around until his arm was twisted up between his shoulder blades.
I showed him the badge, which I was holding in my left hand. I wanted to encourage him to reason with me.
He gazed at it blearily and muttered, "But she hit me Officer."
I said, continuing the cop tone of voice, "No harm - no foul, Sir. You've ALL had a little too much to drink. Why don't you and your friends just find some other place to do it?"
He looked at the rest of his crew. They shrugged and started toward the door. I released his arm and he staggered after them.
Fortunately none of them had gotten around to noticing that the badge was issued to an Army Counter-Intelligence Special Agent, not a Baltimore cop. I had the jurisdiction to arrest him if he was involved in High Treason. But at "The Horse" it was just a piece of tin.
The woman still looked shaken. Physical confrontation does that to people. I sat down in the empty chair next to her and said, "Are you okay? Can I get you something?"
That was the first time I actually looked at her. I could see why the college dude had been so insistent.
Women like to think that men pay attention to qualities that they can control - like dress, hair, or makeup. That's true if there is nothing more intrinsically appealing.
But let me assure you ladies. A massive pair of perfectly shaped titties is the ace of trumps when it comes to getting noticed by a guy.
And this woman had a pair that even under a modest white silk blouse might set-off civil insurrection in some countries.
I had to stifle the urge to put my face in between them and go "Brrrrrrrrrrr."
She was sitting. So I couldn't see anything south of her chest. But once I tore my eyes off her bouncers I saw that she had a really lovely face.
She looked Italian or Greek by extraction. She had dark auburn hair dusky complexion and beautifully proportioned features with huge, luminous dark eyes.
Those eyes were currently clouded with a mix of anger and fright. She was struggling to calm herself.
I put my hand sympathetically on her forearm and said, "It's okay. I understand that must have been scary but you're among friends. Nothing is going to happen now."
The fact that she didn't yank her arm away was a sign that she was getting back to normal. I said, still trying to calm her, 'What's your name? My name is Paul."
She looked up and actually focused on me for the first time. And I was lost. The crackling blue spark that jumped from her eyes to mine must have lit up the whole interior of the bar.
She said shakily, "Janet." I wasn't sure whether the shakiness was caused by her recent ugly experience - or what had just passed between us.