Shit Happens

Sometimes, shit happens.

Did Dave Calister take his wife for granted? Hell, no! He most certainly didn't! Which, in a way, was one of the reasons why he could not come to terms with the idea that she had stepped out on him. Had taken a lover and had acted like a lovestruck teenage girl.

Dave and Alison had been married for 20 years. They'd met at their then workplace, they'd dated for a couple of years and had then married in a wonderful ceremony at the large church in the centre of town. Their parents had gotten on well together and had decided to split the cost of the wedding between both families.

There then followed 20 years of wedded bliss. There were one or two bumps on the road, but nothing major or too serious. And they were always able to talk their way through things.

Dave was a director at a large and well-to-do architectural firm and Alison worked as a senior accountant at a major multi-branched accountancy firm.

They had a daughter, Katie, who was 18 and who had just graduated from High School with exceptionally good grades.

Earlier that week Ali had spoken to Dave about how her sister Kendra was going to be decorating her home. "Since she got divorced from Philip, she's got nobody to help her with decorating, so I was wondering if..."

"If I could help out at the weekend?" interjected Dave, grinning.

"Oh, god, no, Dave!" Ali had spoken with a laugh. "Not at all! You work hard enough, honey! I was thinking of going over to stay with Kendra and helping her to the decorating myself. I have some extra time off, what with the overtime we did for the tax returns.

"Then, when I get back on Saturday morning, we could spend the entire weekend fooling around!"

"Great idea!" said Dave, enthusiastically. "But what about Katie?"

"No problem! We'll just give her some money and tell her to take off and have a good time with her friends!"

They had both laughed.

After Alison left on Tuesday morning Dave found her mobile phone in the charger in the bedroom. He shook his head and smiled to himself. "God, Ali! You are so ditzy, sometimes! If it wasn't screwed on, I swear you could lose your head!"

The lack of mobile phone was not necessarily a problem as Kendra had a phone at her house and she also had a mobile.

Alison called him using Kendra's phone to let him know she had arrived safely. "Hi, honey!" She trilled. "Just phoning to let you know I got here, safely! Kendra sends her love!" He heard Kendra in the background.

"Hi, Ali, hi, Kendra!" he replied. "By the way, Hon, you left your mobile phone, here! On the dresser!"

Alison laughed. But her laugh sounded, what? A little forced?

"Damn! Well, that's good news! It answers my question about where I left it! We are going to make a start on Kendra's kitchen now! Got the walls to prep! I'll try to phone each evening at about the same time. But if I don't manage it, please don't fret. We'll just be covered in paint or wallpaper paste!"

They finished the call with "I love yous" and so the first day wound down to a conclusion.

Dave often worked from home and now, with her classes over, he was chatting with his daughter about the options facing her after school, over their breakfast of toast and honey.

"Daddy," said Katie, tentatively. Dave looked at her, quizzically, before he spoke. "What is it, honey?"

"Oh, it's nothing bad! You know my boyfriend Newton?" Dave nodded.

"Well, his uncle is an entrepreneur. One of his business interests is the big, fancy nightclub over in Bakerville, the Blue Mood Room. Well, Stanley, Newt's uncle, promised Newt the free use of the nightclub's VIP area for a special celebratory party tonight for our study group, but only if we got really good grades. "

"Aren't you all below the legal age for drinking?" asked Dave, sceptically.

"Oh, that's not a problem, Daddy! Stanley is a real sweetie! He has made it very clear that the VIP area will, for the purposes of our party, be entirely alcohol free! He has arranged for food and snacks and soda pops and alcohol free beer and wine to be available. There's even going to be some alcohol free Champagne for us, too! And we'll have our own VIP area security and serving staff, so everything will be guaranteed 100% safe! Oh... go on Daddy? Please say yes?"

Dave nodded. "I know Stan through the Chamber of Commerce. I have to say that doing business with him is a refreshing experience, as he is a man of his word. So, yes, of course you can go!"

Katie squealed with delight. "Thank you, Daddy" she called out. "I'll probably be late back and as there'll be food at the club, so don't worry about dinner for me. We'll be taken by limo to the club."

Dave grinned, but there was a certain pang in his heart. His little girl was growing up! He thought about phoning Alison, and telling her of their daughter's plans but he thought better of it. If going to help her sister decorate her house was more important than the week Katie graduated from high School, well, that was up to Alison!

Katie left at about 4pm, the group of friends were going to meet at the home of Newton Chance and they'd go on to the club from there in a limo that Stanley Chance had laid on.

Before 10pm, Katie was back. Her make-up had been ruined by tears and the expression on Newton's face was a mixture of sadness and sympathy.

"Jesus, Newt!" gasped out Dave. "What the hell happened to her? Was she... hurt?"

Before Newt could answer Katie looked at her father and burst out crying. Through her tears she was able to sob out: "It's not me that's hurting Daddy. Though, to be truthful, I am hurting. It's you! You are the one who'll be hurting. I just found out this evening that mom is stepping out on you! She's seeing another man!"

"You must be mistaken, Katie! Alison would never cheat on me! She loves me!"

Katie shook her head. "Sorry, Daddy, but it's true. The VIP area is a sort of weird thing. It's like a control module in the centre of the club. It's fully surrounded by glass, but it's mirrored. People inside it can see out, but people outside it can't see in. And they have video screens set up which show the dancers on the four different dancefloors around the VIP area.

"And I saw that there was some people I recognised at a couple of big tables. They were people I'd gotten to know at cookouts and parties at mom's firm. Then I saw mom and that young guy who works as her assistant, Dean Salzar, they were dancing, daddy. Only it wasn't just friendly dancing. Anyone dancing like that at school would have been escorted off the premises, damn quick! They were dry humping!"

"It's true, sir!" said Newton, nodding."I am really sorry, but there's no room for doubt or error. We know what we saw. And I err... I took the liberty of asking Uncle Stan to secure copies of the security tapes so you'd have them as evidence, should you require them. I also took some photos and some videos on my Android phone."

"Oh, God!" Said Dave. "What the Hell has happened?"

"Daddy," said Katie, tears pouring down her cheeks, "It gets even worse. They left the dancefloor and we followed them outside. When we caught up with them, he was doing mom over the hood of his car! He was doing her outside, like some damn cheap street walker! Newt got some video of that on his Android phone."

Dave looked sick. "Oh, honey, I believe you. I am just so sorry that you had to witness this. I am going to call her, now!"

He used the speed dial for Kendra's phone. It went to voicemail. "Kendra. This is Dave. I know that the story about you and Alison decorating your house was a load of horse shit. I know where she was, I know who she was with and I know what she was doing with him. I have video evidence! Tell her to get her ass back here, now!"

Newton comforted Katie. He said: "Look, Katie, I think it is important that you and your dad spend some time together to figure this out. But if you need me, just call. Even if it is the middle of the night. I'll keep my phone with me on my pillow."

Before he left he did an Android to Android data share and gave the evidence to Dave.

Dave watched the video. He was surprised at the quality. He watched in full and gory detail as his wife was taken on the hood of a sports car, by her young lover. There was no doubt who owned the red car, as the registration plate read DeanS.

An hour later Kendra and a furious Alison, arrived. Kendra seemed slightly hesitant as if she'd rather not have been there.

Alison decided that the best form of defence was offence and she immediately started shouting at Dave.

"How dare you have me followed! What the Hell were you thinking? Have you got some dirty little private dick on me, trailing my every move? Did you get off on that, huh, you perverted little bastard? Did you get nice and hard when you saw me fucking Dean? I bet you did! Did you wank over the images of my lover giving me hotter sex than you have ever given me in our entire marriage? Oh, in case you are wondering, he is hung like a horse and can fuck me three times in an hour. Which is more than you ever did, including when you were Dean's age!"

Dave looked at Alison. He felt stunned by her outburst. He looked at her and shook his head. "What the fuck has got into you?" "Dean!" She interjected, cruelly. "He's got into me!"

Dave shouted: "Alison! For god's sake! Katie is here! What the fuck are you doing?"

Kendra looked stricken, she glanced round the large room and saw that Katie was sat, huddled in a deep armchair, partially hidden from view. She wanted to go to her and comfort her but her sister's outburst had paralysed her.

Alison said: "Well, Katie, now you know your dear daddy is having me followed round by a slimy piece of shit!"

Before Dave could stop her, Katie leapt out of the chair and rushed towards her mother, her face white with fury. She got into her mother's face and shouted: "You stupid, stupid, dirty woman! Daddy didn't have a detective following you! He had no idea you were an adulterous whore! As for who told daddy, who gave daddy the evidence of you cheating on him? It was me! I was, what did you call me? 'a slimy piece of shit' I think it was!"

Alison screamed back: "You are full of shit, Katie! There was no way you were at the Blue Mood Room!"

"I was there at a private party in the VIP area! I saw you on the dancefloor dry humping Dean, your assistant! Then when you two love birds left the dancefloor, me and my friends followed you. We followed you to the car parking area, and we saw you getting... getting fucked on the hood of his car! Mother, my friends were with me! Can you imagine how humiliating it is to find out in front of all your friends that your mother is a whore?"

There was a loud crack as Alison's hand connected with Katie's face. The blow was so severe that it sent her crashing to the floor, where she lay, stunned.

"That's enough!" Shouted Dave, loud enough to shake ornaments in the room. "You will never, ever hit my daughter again! Do you understand that?"

"But she had no right to call me a whore!"

Dave dashed over and helped Katie to her feet. He touched her cheek which was already starting to bruise. "Are you OK, Katie?"

Katie took his hand and said, calmly and brittlely: "I will be just as soon as that thing is out of the house!"

"But honey," whined Alison, "I never meant to hit you!"

"Bulshit!" sneered Katie. "You meant to hit me, same as how you meant to fuck Dean!"

The argument raged on for twenty minutes until, in the end, Dave clutched his head and said: Enough! Enough of your shit, Alison! You are giving me a headache! Kendra, please take Alison home with you. After all, I am sure you have a great deal of decorating to get finished!"

Kendra's face reddened, but she did not respond to the barbed remark.

She steered Alison to the door. Nothing was said as they walked out, shutting the door behind them.

The whole situation felt weird to Dave. He had never had a fight like that with Alison before, in all of their 20 years of married life.

He realised that Katie was talking to him. "Sorry, honey, what did you say?"

"I said 'how's your head'?"

"Not too good, baby girl. In fact, I think I'll take a couple of aspirins and go to bed. I can't deal with this shit, now. I am so sorry you got caught up in this."

They said their goodnights and retired to their rooms.

Katie was lying on her bed, dozing, fitfully. She could not comprehend how her mother, her apparently decent, faithful, loving mother could, and this was how it seemed to Katie's mind, suddenly turn into a violent, adulterous bitch. And with someone only several years older than Katie! She shuddered at that thought. If her father divorced her, technically speaking that would mean that Dean would be her stepfather! And that was just so wrong!

She heard a strange noise coming from her father's room. What was happening? She jumped out of bed and hurried to her. She snapped the light on in his room and saw that her father was struggling. The left side of his face seemed to be broken, somehow. He struggled to speak and a strange gurgling noise was all that came out of his twisted mouth.

She realised that her father was suffering from a stroke! She ran to the phone on the bedside table and punched in the three figure number and was almost immediately connected. "It's my daddy! Please come quickly! He is having a stroke!"

She answered some simple questions and gave the address details to the operator who said: "The paramedics are on their way. Please make sure your door is open to they can quickly access the patient."

The paramedics were at the house within eight minutes and as they quickly assessed Dave they asked Kathy for some background. Had he ever had a stroke before, did they run in the family?

She said: "I don't think there's a history in our family. But He had a bad shock this evening. We found out that mom is cheating on us and that gave him a headache."

"What did he take for the headache?"

"He took some aspirins."

"Thank god for small mercies! That'll help! We're gonna start administering stroke busting treatment, now. This will be an immense help in ensuring he has the best chance possible of pulling through."

At just before 3am a very distressed Katie was waiting at the hospital. She had phoned Newt who, (bless him!) was walking through the doors of the waiting area.

"Thank God you came, Newt!" sobbed Katie. She'd sort of been able to hold it all together but when Newt took her in his arms she lost it and began sobbing her heart out.

"How's your dad doing?" asked Newt, sympathetically.

"They don't know, yet. They have him all wired and tubed up. They aren't sure yet if he will even survive the stroke. It seems it was a pretty bad one, you see?"

Newt nodded and squeezed her hand.

She said: "I suppose I'd better phone aunty Kendra and ask to speak to my mother."

She called Kendra who's response was a bit bleary. "Katie? What the hell are you doing calling now?"

"Aunty Kendra, it's my daddy. He's sick. I need to speak with my mom right now. Can you put her on please?"

For some reason Katie decided to put the call on speaker phone and she was grateful that she did.

"Hello?" shouted Alison. "What the fuck are you doing, phoning in the middle of the night?"

"I thought you would like or need to know that daddy is in hospital, in the ICU. He's really sick. He had a massive stroke and he... he might even die."

"Good!" Shouted Alison. "Then let the bastard die and let me get on with the rest of my damned life!"

The call was suddenly terminated. Katie sat their stunned, too numb to speak.

She turned to Newt and eventually found her voice. "I can't believe she actually said that. That she wants my father, her husband, to be dead. If only I could have recorded that call!"

Newt held up his Samsung S4 phone and said: "I recorded it, honey. I have your mother on tape, as it were." He shook his head. "I can't believe she could have said that.

"Christ, Katie, I know this might not be the ideal opportunity to bring this up, but a couple of months back, your mother made a pass at me. Your dad was at work, you were upstairs getting ready and your mother made a pass at me. When I rejected it, she made out that she was joking around and I accepted that it was a joke, but now? Well, now I am not so certain it was a joke."

Katie shook her head. "Oh, God, Newt! What am I going to do? I was going to go away to university, but now my daddy is sick and mom has turned out to be a slut, what can I do? I have to stay at home and look after him, don't I?"

"Yes, Katie, you do. You are right. Yeah, I know a prestigious university would be good, but we can always go to the local college and get our degrees there, can't we? After all, it's not a bad place, academically speaking."

"What do you mean, 'we' can go to the local college?"

"Katie, I love you, and I don't want to think of you struggling alone at home, trying to look after your dad whilst trying to run the house and get an education. I want to be here for you, to help you. For the rest of our lives."

He stood up, opened a lidded ring box and went down on one knee in the bright lights of the waiting area and said: "Katie, will you please marry me?"

She burst into tears and said yes.

The nurse at the reception clapped and cheered. She left her desk and walked up to them. "Honey, you have a good man, there! And young man, you have a good woman. You're both young, maybe some would say too young, but not me. I think you have the staying power to be in a forever marriage.

"I heard what your mother said to you. Your daddy is in the best possible hands and he will get better. Tell him to dump his cheating wife. Life's too short for a man to carry a whore round on his back. Sorry for calling your mother a whore, but if it quacks and it waddles..."

She walked back to her desk and Katie and Newt returned to canoodling. Presently, they both drifted off to sleep.

They were woken at 7am by a tired looking doctor. "Hi, good morning to you both! I am Dr Spengler and I am the lead surgeon of the team who has worked on your father, Katie. Good news, we expect him to make a full recovery. Your father had a haemorrhagic stroke. There may be problems with walking for a while, but that's something he can learn to do again, with help.

"I'll be honest, it was touch and go for a while, but we managed to stop the bleeding and fix the problem. We'll keep him in the hospital for a couple of days and then have him transferred to a rehab facility."

Katie asked the doctor if the news of his wife's infidelity could have caused the stroke? The surgeon thought for a few seconds and then nodded.

"In general, it's a myth that stress can cause strokes. However, if the stress results in a dangerously high spike in blood pressure, that could cause a haemorrhagic stroke when a blood vessel bursts, which is what happened to your father."

They thanked the doctor and as he walked back into the ICU, they were surprised to see Kendra approaching them.

She rushed to Katie and to Katie's shock, she hugged her, tightly. "Oh, Katie! I am so sorry! So very sorry! When Alison said what she said about wishing that Dave would die, I could not believe that my sister, my own flesh and blood, could say something so evil!"

Katie patted Kendra on the arm as they disengaged. "Is she with you, Kendra?"

Kendra shook her head. "No. She isn't. After I grabbed my phone back off her we had a really evil row and I threw her out. Dave is a good man and an excellent husband. If my Phil had been half the man your father is, we'd still be married.

"Your mother fed me a lot of bull about your father. She had me convinced that he was having affairs and that this lover of hers was just a revenge affair. But now I realise she was just using me to cover for her cheating on you guys!"