Julia held her coat closely around her face as the fierce sleet threatened to soak her in ice. Finally, she reached her destination - the bridge over the swift Red River. She was almost frozen solid. The only thing keeping her moving was her intense desire to end it all. Julia was counting on the shock of her suicide to make her ex-fiancé feel the guilt, the shame, the horror of her action and be inconsolable in his grief. Murder-murder-suicide of her fiancé, his new lover, and herself had been a close second choice to her solo suicide. The deciding factor was the projected length of time of his suffering. Julia hoped he lived a long life with her memory of what he did to her haunting him the whole time. A quick realization that he was going to be shot dead right before she pulled the trigger would be of little consolation for her.
It took a while for the desolate young woman to maneuver around the iron rail and steel beams. The bridge's designers obviously wanted to make suicide attempts difficult. Julia was sweating underneath her parka-covered clothes by the time she got to a point where she would be able to jump into the swift river water instead of hitting a post along the way or get stuck on one of the concrete bases used to anchor the support posts. She was exhausted, so she took a break leaning against a beam to gather her strength and courage. A severe gust of the cold wind quickly turned her sweat into an icy bath. Julia knew she needed to get it over with as soon as possible. As she hung out on the ledge with one hand, she yelled to the sky as loud as possible, "Fuck you, Hank!"
Just as Julia was about to jump, she heard a man nearby scream, "Damn. You nearly scared me to death! Who the Hell are you and what the fuck are you doing here?"
Julia almost slipped and fell from the shock of hearing him. She looked over to her left and saw a man perched on another ledge like the one she was on. She yelled back, "Stay where you are! Don't you dare try and stop me from jumping. You can't talk me out of it. This is the only way for me."
"What the Hell are you talking about? I'm not trying to talk you out of anything. I came here to jump all by myself. Go away from here and leave me alone!"
"You copycat, I got here first. If anyone needs to leave, it's you."
There was a period of silence during the stand-off while the wind and cold further penetrated their clothes.
The man finally spoke, "Damn, if they find two of us committing suicide, it will take the attention away from my death and my reason for committing suicide. I want my back-stabbing bitch wife to suffer as much as possible. Your suicide will confuse the issue. I'm sorry for getting angry at you, but please go away and let me jump by myself. You can come back some other day."
"I don't think I can. I've got to jump tonight. I'm not sure I can get the courage to do this again. Besides, I don't have anywhere to go. That cheating bastard kicked me out."
After thinking a moment, the man offered, "I've got an idea. You can go to my place. My wife left to go live with her lover. I'll give you the key to my house. Oh, if you don't mind, could you drive my car to my house? It's parked down at the far end of the bridge. I didn't think about it earlier, but I really don't want to leave it here. Someone might hit it accidentally. I don't want someone else to suffer because of me except my wife."
Julia started crying, "Damn you. You . . .You've messed up all my plans."
"I've messed up YOUR plans? You've messed up MY plans. Everything I wanted to do tonight is all fucked up now. As a matter of fact, nothing I have wanted to do lately has gone my way. Why should tonight be any different? Listen, we're both freezing out here. Why don't we both get away from here and figure out what to do. We can always jump later if we want."
"If you don't mind, I could really use a cup of hot coffee. I'm really cold."
"Where's your car?"
"I walked here after being leaving my car at the diner down the road. I think it's still open if you want to go there."
"Good grief lady, you must be frostbitten by now. Let's get in my car and go to the diner to get some coffee."
"Okay."
Julia had some trouble getting off the bridge. The man had his car pulled close to her by the time she got free. Luckily for her, he had the heat going in his car by the time she got in. It took a few minutes with the car heater for Julia to get warm although her toes, fingers, nose and ears were still feeling the effects of the freezing weather. She looked at the man and answered the unasked question, "Julia."
He looked back at her and smiled, "Kyle."
There were only three other customers when they hurried into the warmth of the 50's style diner. A large buxom woman behind the counter greeted them with a big smile. She had on a uniform and name tag that said 'Betty.' "Hey, what brings you two out in this miserable weather? Bird watching?" Her grin showed her lipstick that had rubbed off on her teeth.
Kyle replied nonchalantly, "Suicide. We came to jump off the bridge." Julia was shocked at his willingness to reveal their intent. He was smirking at her expression.
The waitress, Betty, deadpanned in response, "We get a lot of that here these days. My advice is that you should wait until it's warmer and there's enough light for people to see you. If you jumped at night, it might be weeks before your bodies are found. What's the point of a suicide if no one knows about it? So, you two, is this one of those lovers' things -- committing suicide together to be joined forever in the afterlife?"
Julia spoke up, "No. We just met. It was just a weird coincidence. I was planning to jump alone until he showed up and ruined my plans."
Betty reacted seriously, "Hell, I was just joking about you two committing suicide. Were you two really trying to jump off the bridge?"
Kyle said, "Just kidding. Gotcha."
"Good one. You know, they say it's bad luck to jump off the bridge on an empty stomach. You want to see a menu, or do you guys know what you want?"
"Coffee with sugar for me. Julia?"
"Coffee with lots of milk and sugar."
"How about some pie? I make it myself. I guarantee my apple pie and homemade ice cream is the best you will ever have."
Julia remarked, "I can't. I'm watching my weight."
Kyle started laughing out loud.
"What?"
"You were going to commit suicide and you're worried about counting calories?"
Julia grinned. "That doesn't make sense, does it? Ms. Betty, I've changed my mind. I'll have that wonderful apple pie with two scoops of ice cream, please."
Kyle volunteered, "Same for me."
In a few minutes, the two would-be jumpers sat across from each other at a booth that had duct tape covering the tears in its vinyl bench. The apple pie a la mode was delicious as advertised. Betty couldn't help teasing the couple, "You know they say my pie is worth dying for. If you two do decide to jump, do you mind leaving a note that says my apple pie was the reason why you jumped?" All three giggled.
Kyle turned serious and asked, "Julia, if you don't mind me asking, why did you decide to attempt suicide?"
"Hank, my boyfriend, sorry, make that ex-boyfriend, and I have been exclusive for three years. Now I find out I was the only one being exclusive. Anyway, I was sure he was my one and only. I moved in with him two years ago when we got engaged. After a year, I started asking when we were getting married. He kept saying it wasn't the right time yet and got angry any time I said anything about marriage. I found out why. One night when I returned to our apartment after work, my fiancé sat in the living room with a curly blonde bimbo with huge tits and ass almost in his lap. He announced he had decided to move his new girlfriend in and kick me out. I didn't have a clue he had another girlfriend until then. I guess my boobs and butt weren't big enough for him. Anyway, it was his apartment so I couldn't legally stop him from showing me the door. I begged and groveled and cried. I mean I did a lot of crying. On my way out, Hank laughed that he had already cleaned our joint bank accounts out too.
"I was devastated and had nowhere to go and no money to get there. I was too ashamed to call anyone I knew. I especially couldn't call my parents because they hadn't liked Hank in the first place. They told me I was a fool to move in with him without being married. The prospect of hearing 'I told you so' was too much for me. I was feeling bad enough as it was. At first, I wanted to get revenge on him and his new slut but didn't have the guts or gun to kill them. Then I figured the best revenge I could inflict was to haunt them for the rest of their lives by committing suicide. I thought the easiest way was to jump off the bridge."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I don't know, now that you stopped me. I'm back to where I was when I left his apartment. I don't have a place to go or know what to do. I bared my soul to you, now what's your story?"
Kyle started with a deep sigh, "Carol and I dated for several years and were married as soon as we graduated from college. I came home after work this evening to see a different car in the driveway. I didn't have a clue what was waiting for me. In the living room, I saw my wife, Carol, sitting next to a man I didn't recognize. Her packed suitcases were waiting besides the door. I barely got a 'What the Fuck?' out of my mouth before she shouted for me to shut up and listen.
"Kyle, I thought I loved you when we were dating, but what I really loved was to get away from my parents more than anything else. When you and I started having sex, it was so good I thought I had it all. Good sex and getting away from my parents - that's why I agreed to get married. It didn't take long, however, for our lives to get B-O-R-I-N-G. As the boring years living with you got even more boring, I decided that I deserved more that just 'settling for you.' I wasn't sure what I deserved until Darryl came to work for our company. Our personalities clicked almost immediately. It didn't take long for us to become intimate. When we had sex, it was spectacular compared to what you and I had. Kyle, you are a nice guy, but Darryl is handsome, charming, intelligent, rich and a stud in bed -- well, he's everything you're not. Believe me, by me leaving our marriage now I'm doing you a favor although you may not see it that way now. My leaving now gives you plenty of time to find a woman who is willing to settle for nice and boring. I'm moving out tonight. I've already taken half the money in our checking and savings. You can have the house. Our lawyers can work on the rest."
