I guess you could say I'm not a lucky woman. My name is Gail, and I've been told that I have a perfect body. I was a beautiful baby at birth, a delightful child at age two, and a charming little girl at age five. Then I was an angelic little darling at age ten, a lovely young lady at age fifteen, and a stunning young woman at age twenty. I am now a radiantly alluring married lady at age twenty-six. I think I could be dressed in baggy coveralls, covered with mud from head to toe, and some guy would nudge his buddy and say, "Hey dude, check her out!"
In some ways, I'm pretty smart. Most guys seem to think that I'm blonde and beautiful, and dumb. I gave up trying to convince them differently years ago. I met Paul, my husband, about three and a half years ago. I fell in love with him, and we got married. He's very good-looking and reasonably smart. He likes to tease me about being a dumb blonde, but I just laugh along with him because I know that he doesn't really mean anything by it. At least, I thought he didn't. I'm not so sure now.
I think my marriage is over, and I don't have anyone but myself to blame. I have had four different lovers in the past five weeks. Paul leaves early every Thursday morning to visit one of his employer's four satellite stores. He stays overnight and returns late on Friday afternoon. That gave me a 24-hour window in which to experiment, and experience what it was like to have a different lover.
Paul found out what I was doing and really raised hell with me last night. He had pictures of me with all four men. He was very upset that I had cheated on him, and he's demanding a divorce. He was so mad that he went somewhere else to sleep last night. He says that the divorce papers will be served at eight o'clock this morning, and then he's going to move me out of our home. Well, it's 8:30 and the papers aren't here yet, but I just heard his truck stop in the drive.
Paul came in through the front door and found me sitting at the kitchen table. I looked up at him over my coffee cup, and said:
"Hi, honey. I'm glad you're home."
"I'm sure you are. Well, I'm home to stay but you're leaving today. Get your stuff packed and in the truck. I'll take you where ever you want to go."
"But, dear, I just don't understand why I have to leave."
"Because, you dumb fucking blonde, you've been sleeping with other men! You've broken our marriage vows. There's no way that I'll have anything to do with a woman that does that. Didn't you read the papers that were delivered this morning?"
"What papers, honey?"
"The divorce papers, you idiot!"
"I'm sorry, honey, but no one has been here this morning but you."
He was really starting to look confused. The papers were supposed to be here at 8:00, but it was about 8:45 now. He had to be wondering what had gone wrong. He kept looking through the dining room at the front door, like he was expecting something or some one. He must be psychic because the doorbell made its irritating buzz at that moment. He jumped up out of his chair and made a dash for the door. There was some anxious whispering, and then he returned to the kitchen with a rather large man.
"This is Max Cook, my private investigator. He's here to be sure that you don't do something stupid. He's also here to see to it that you leave today, just like the divorce papers say."
"But, dear, there aren't any papers. Now why don't you fix Mr. Cook a nice little drink, and we can sit here and talk about your nice little problem."
The envelope he brought the pictures in yesterday was lying on the counter behind me. I reached back, and laid it on the table in front of me. Paul just rolled his eyes and gave Mr. Cook his best "What's this dumb blonde going to do next?" look.
"Look, you dumb bitch, I don't have a problem. You're the one with the problems. You've been sleeping with other men for at least the last five Thursdays. You have been unfaithful. You've broken our marriage vows. I'm kicking you out and divorcing you. Like I said before, I won't have anything to do with an unfaithful bitch."
I removed the first few pictures from the envelope and spread them out on the table in front of Paul and Mr. Cook, and asked:
"Do you suppose Ann's husband feels the same way about Ann as you do about me? You just said you wouldn't have anything to do with an unfaithful bitch, but you're fucking her every Thursday night that you're in North City. Are you telling me that it's okay for her to be unfaithful, but not me?"
"Holy shit! Where did you get those? Damn you! You had no right! I'll fix you. So help me ...!"
He started to get out of his chair, but Mr. Cook grabbed him by his arm and told him to sit down and calm down.
"Notice the date on the first one, dear. That was your first trip to North City after our honeymoon, wasn't it? It didn't take you very long to break our vows, did it?"
I turned the envelope upside down and twenty more pictures fell out onto the table. I didn't give him time to say anything.