Learning To Fly
.........................................................................................
I thought I had left it behind me, but there she was, big as life. Before I could speak she shot by me into my new living room.
"Nice couch."
"Get the fuck out."
"Please Jake, don't be ugly. I'm here to make peace."
"You want peace? Move to Siberia. You couldn't do that, could you? Far less married couples there for you to fuck up. Leave."
"It was supposed to be an adventure! We were sure you'd be into it, especially after you knew Janie and Deke were already fucking! We had no idea how badly you would take it."
"You could have fuckin' asked first? Then there would be no misunderstanding and maybe one more marriage still in the world. Know why I think you sprang it like you did? Because you knew there would be no way I'd go for it and the deed would already be done. Did I ever once say I'd be into swapping? I seem to remember a discussion about that very thing a few weeks before what happened. I think I was pretty emphatic with my opinion then."
"You were. But we'd done this a lot, and we were sure we could sway you. Janie was ready to go the first time we brought it up with her, but she didn't want to put her marriage at risk."
"A lot, huh? How many marriages have you two destroyed?"
The bitch flushed. "One or two, and they were just like this, miscalculations. And we always try to fix our fuckups. We'll pay for counseling, even a nice vacation to somewhere exotic. Fiji is really nice."
"So now you're offering blood money. Or is it payment for services rendered? Maybe it's because I'm naming you as codefendants in the divorce. I don't think your reputation in the community will be quite as stellar as it once was. After all, I've got a police report as backup. Should have gotten me farther away before you spilled the beans. You should have seen you face when I threw your phone out the window."
I paused, remembering. Now, I could appreciate the humor. "I think the last thing the cops expected when they showed up were two naked people running for their lives. Make no mistake, Jewel, if I could have gotten to Zeke that night, there would be no more swapping incidents."