Pete and Jane had gotten married when they were 18. They had 3 children, and after 25 years of marriage it seemed to Pete as if he had the perfect life. Then he got sick.
Pete didn't think it was that big a deal at first, but after a while he started to realize that things were getting worse and not better. Pete had been able to hide the sickness from Jane because he didn't want her to worry about him when there was no need.
Pete finally went to the doctor for a full exam and tests to determine what was wrong with him. Two days later the doctor called Pete and asked him to come to his office so they could talk about the results.
The family doctor that had taken care of Pete and Jane's children when they were younger had recently retired and this new doctor was a younger man that Pete had never met before he got sick. As Pete sat down in the doctor's office he wished his old friend Doc Roberts was there, because he knew that Doc Roberts would tell him the truth, he wasn't sure about this new kid.
"Mr. Miller, thank you for coming in, I felt it was better to do this face to face then over the phone." Dr. Evans says.
"Am I going to be okay Doc?" Pete asks.
"Yes, you're going to be fine. I'm going to put you on some antibiotics for a couple weeks and they'll clear this little problem all up. Mr. Miller, when was the last time you and your wife made love?" Dr. Evans asks.
"What kind of question is that?" Pete asks angrily.
"Mr. Miller, it's important." Dr. Evans says.
"A week or so before I started feeling sick I guess, why?" Pete asks.
"Mr. Miller, I'm afraid you have an STD and given when you last made love to your wife I am going to have to strongly suggest that you have her come in to be checked out as well. Oh, and any other partners you might have should be told to consult their doctors immediately." Dr. Evans says.
Now it seemed clear to Pete that either Dr. Evans assumed that Pete was cheating on his wife or he was trying to be nice and not suggesting that Jane was having sex with someone else. Pete knew that he had never cheated on his wife and he didn't want to believe that Jane was cheating on him, but what other explanation was there?
"Doctor, my wife has no idea that I came here today, she certainly doesn't know that I have an STD, is there any way we could have her checked out without having her know what you're looking for?" Pete asks.
"Mr. Miller, I understand your concern, but if your wife has been infected it is important that she starts treatment immediately. I know how difficult it will be for you to talk to your wife about this, but for her sake you have to do it." Dr. Evans says.
"Yes doctor, I understand." Pete says.
Pete leaves the doctor's office and drives home. When he gets home he parks in the driveway and can't bring himself to get out of the car, he just starts crying.
It's over an hour later before Pete finally heads inside.
Nobody is home. Pete sees the picture of him with Jane on their wedding day; he takes the picture off the wall and looks at it. The pain is terrible in Pete's heart. Jane has been cheating on him. Questions run through Pete's head. Who gave her the STD that had now infected him? Was that guy the only one? How long had she been cheating on him? Was he responsible for her cheating? Did Jane know that she had infected Pete with an STD?
Pete poured himself some Scotch and drank it down. He thought about his life with Jane, he tried to think of any signs that she might be cheating, he could think of none. He had no reason to believe that she was unhappy, no reason to believe that she didn't love him, no reason to believe that she had found their sex life unsatisfying, as he drank down his third Scotch the front door opened and Jane walked in.
She saw Pete sitting there and the bright bubbly smile that was always on Jane's pretty face became a look of concern.
"What's the matter honey? Is everything okay?" Jane asked.
She walked up behind Pete and wrapped her arms around him lovingly. Pete usually liked it when she did that, he enjoyed feeling the warmth of her body against his back and he liked to smell her perfume drifting forward encompassing him in a fragrant cloud of happiness. Today however Pete was saddened at her touch and the perfume only caused his stomach to churn.
"Pete sweetie, maybe if you tell me what's wrong I can fix it." Jane said.
"No, I don't think you can fix it this time." Pete said.
"Are you sure? I'm pretty good at fixing things, come on, tell me what's wrong." Jane said.
"Okay. I went to the doctor today." Pete says.
"I thought it looked like you weren't feeling well. Are you okay?" Jane asked.
"No, I'm not okay." Pete says.
"Is it cancer? There are new treatments coming out all the time, we can beat this together." Jane said.
"No, it's not cancer." Pete says.
"Then what is it?" Jane asks.
"It's an STD." Pete says.
"Oh." Jane says.
She releases her tight hold on Pete.
"I take it by your reaction that you understand the implications of this." Pete says.
"Yes." Jane says.
She starts to cry.
"I want to know everything." Pete says.
"Are you sure?" Jane asks through the tears.
"I think I'm entitled. After all you repaid my years of faithful love and devotion by giving me an STD; I think that gives me the right to know." Pete says.
"You're right; you do deserve to know...for the past 8 years I've been a call girl." Jane says.
"You mean you're a prostitute?" Pete asks.
"No, I don't walk the streets looking for anyone that's willing to pay; I work through a service that screens out clients to ensure safety." Jane says.
"I'd say that they should try to be a little more thorough. How and why did you get involved with this?" Pete asks.
"I got involved by talking to Grace, the woman across the street, she runs the service. She and I used to talk a lot and one day she told me what she did and what the girls that work for her did and asked me if I was interested in working for her not as a call girl, but as an agent. Well I wasn't working at the time, she offered to pay me in cash, and I could do it during the day when you were at work and the kids were at school so I took the job. For the first six months I helped screen new clients and set up the dates, but then one day a situation came up where one of the girls was injured in an accident and Grace needed someone to fill in. I let myself be talked into it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I got paid $5,000 for that one time so I told Grace that I would keep doing it. I've been doing it ever since, and I've made a lot of money doing it." Jane says.
"What have you been doing with all of this money?" Pete asks.
"Grace has it set up so that we get paid in foreign wire transfers that take place completely outside of the country so that we don't have to pay taxes on it and it can't be traced back to what we're doing. All of the money I've made is in a bank account in the Cayman Islands." Jane says.
"And what exactly did you intend to do with this money?" Pete asks.
"I was trying to think of a way for us to get the money without you being suspicious. I'd decided to have my mom give it to us when she died." Jane says.
Pete looks at the floor, shakes his head, and takes a deep breath.
"Did you know that you had given me an STD?" Pete asks.
"No, I insist that the clients always wear condoms and I always wash thoroughly with antibacterial soaps afterwards. Pete I am so sorry about this." Jane says.
"Do you like what you do?" Pete asks.
"What?" Jane asks.
"Do you like what you do? Do you like having sex with people for money?" Pete asks.
"I don't mind doing it, you know how much I enjoy sex, and sex is all it is, there is no emotion involved. I've never been happy about keeping my job secret from you and I've always been concerned about what it would do to you and to our marriage if you were to find out." Jane says.
"I'm sure you really cared what I thought." Pete says coldly.
"I did Pete, honestly I did. I know it sounds stupid, but if I had thought for one second that you'd ever find out I never would have done it." Jane says.
"You're right, that may be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You're done with this, it's over, do you understand?" Pete asks.
"If that's what you want, I couldn't bring myself to do it now that you know anyway. I'll have to tell Grace." Jane says.
"No, I'm going to tell Grace, in fact I think I'll do that right now. Stay here; I'll probably need bail money in a few minutes." Pete says.
"Pete, don't hurt her, it's more my fault than it is hers. She gave me the opportunity, but I'm the one that said yes." Jane says.
"After what you've done to me Jane I have to hurt somebody, I'd much rather it is her than you." Pete says.
Pete goes to the garage, gets his sledge hammer, crosses the street, walks up onto the porch of Jane's pimp Grace Johnson and rings the doorbell.
"Hi Pete, what can I do for you?" Grace asks.
"You can step outside for a little while; I don't want you to get hurt by any of the debris that will be flying around." Pete says.
"What are you talking about?" Grace asks.
"You've been making money on my wife's infidelity, including getting paid by whichever one of them gave her the STD that she passed on to me. Needless to say I'm pretty pissed off by all of this, so since I won't kill you I'm going to destroy your house, now if you would be so kind as to wait outside." Pete says.
Grace is stunned to be found out, she is also afraid for her safety as Pete is a big guy and has a sledge hammer in his hands so she steps out into the front yard and looks back at the house. Pete walks inside and starts swinging. Jane comes across the street and stands next to Grace.
"How did he find out?" Grace asks.
"He wasn't feeling well so went to the doctor. It turns out that he's got an STD. He knows that I had to have given it to him, which meant that I'd had to cheat on him to pick it up. He demanded to know the truth so I told him everything." Jane says.
"I suppose this was bound to happen sooner or later, one of the husbands finding out I mean, this STD business is a shock to me. Do you have an idea of which client might have given it to you?" Grace asks.
