Take Out the Trash
By blackrandl1968
This is a preview story for NoraFares' "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" event. If you wish to read other stories of this type, tune in on June 8 for stories by some really good authors. It's just a short bit of fun, not intended to be anything but fun. If you enjoy a short bit of fun, great. If you're looking for high drama, try something else.
Thanks to my team. Harddaysknight is my mentor and gives me a critical review. SBrooks103x also gives me a pre-post read. My editors are Hale1, Girlinthemoon, NoraFares, and GeorgeAnderson. I thank you all. Randi
I felt pretty good when I left the dealership. They were the proud owners of a Prius hybrid, and I was the ecstatic new owner of a new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT. I pulled up at the stoplight and sat there, a huge goofy smile on my face. I knew what I was going to do. When the light changed, I put the accelerator on the floor and held on for dear life. The 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi howled, and I ran it up until it shifted for the fifth time. I pulled it back down to the legal limit and the smile was permanent.
When I pulled into my driveway, I didn't pull it into the garage. I was going driving again in a minute. I walked inside and I could smell something cooking. It smelled like spaghetti. I never liked spaghetti much. It was a good thing I had plans. I didn't yell, "I'm home," as I usually did. I just went upstairs, changed into my golfing clothes, grabbed my clubs out of the closet and started toward the front door. Rachael came out of the kitchen when I was headed toward the front door.
"Charles, where are you going?" she asked. "Whose car is that? Dinner's almost ready. Why are you dressed like that and why do you have your golf clubs?"
"Well, dear, I'm going golfing, that's my car, these are my golf clothes and you need clubs to play golf."
She gaped at me as if I'd lost my mind. "You didn't say anything about going golfing," she said. "What about dinner?"
"I'm eating at the country club later," I told her. "Have a nice dinner."
I heard her voice just as I was closing the door. "What do you mean, 'that's your car'?"
I had no time to answer trivial questions, so I went on my merry way. My phone began to ring, almost immediately, so I turned it off. I got to the country club, enjoyed a very nice dinner with Ralph and Pete and played nine holes. I hadn't played for a long time and it showed. I was beginning to get my swing back by the time we finished and felt good about the next time.
We made a date to play 18 on Saturday morning, had a couple of beers and I went home. I knew there was quite a thunderstorm brewing in my house. I pulled the SRT into the garage and went in. A very angry looking Rachael was sitting in her chair, watching TV.
The lightning flashed from her eyes and frizzled my eyebrows. "What the hell is wrong with you, Charles?" The thunder rolled from her lips.
"Nothing at all," I said. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
This rebellion seemed to take her aback. I must mention that I am not usually so argumentative. I'm an easygoing guy. If I don't give a shit about something, I have nothing to say about it. I don't give a damn about the color of the appliances in the kitchen. She wants stainless steel instead of black, so long as we can afford it, I couldn't care less; stainless steel it is. I felt certain she had taken my general lack of opinion as a lack of will. I was probably to blame, to some degree. Not anymore.
She stared at me in astonishment for a moment. "'What the hell is wrong with me'?" she practically hissed. "You come home, driving that monstrosity of a gas guzzler, tell me you're going to play golf, skip the dinner that I've prepared and you have the nerve to ask me what's wrong?"
I thought about it for a minute. "Yes," I said.
"'Yes'? What do you mean, 'yes'?" She was practically foaming at the mouth.
"Yes, I do have the nerve," I said.
Her face was turning blotchy and red. "Are you drunk, Charles? Are you taking drugs or something?"
"I had a couple of beers at the country club," I said. "No drugs, though. Did you have some drugs you wanted me to take?"
She seemed to be at a loss for words but quickly recovered. "Maybe I do. Maybe you need to be taking some anti-psychotic drugs!" She stalked away and opened the door off the kitchen to the garage. She must have been impressed with the SRT.
"Isn't it beautiful?" I asked.
She snorted. "Are you having some sort of midlife crisis?"
I thought about that one for a minute. "Yes," I said.
"Yes, what?" she wanted to know.
"Yes, I'm having a crisis, and I suppose 41 could be considered midlife."
"Well, what is it?" she demanded.
"What is what?" I asked. "'It,' is a pretty vague pronoun."
"What is the crisis?" She seemed very exasperated at my correction of her grammar. Most people dislike having their grammar corrected, I have discovered.
"It's a secret," I told her.
"So you're having a crisis and you're keeping it a secret from me?" She seemed to be beyond belief.
"No," I said.
"Stop being an ass," she yelled. "What do you mean, 'no'?"
"I'm not keeping it a secret from you," I said.
She threw up her hands. "I'm not going to waste my time," she said. "What is that stupid toy doing in our garage, and where is the Prius?"
"I traded it for the SRT," I said. "I hated it, and I love the SRT."
"We agreed that the Prius was eco-friendly and economical," she said. "It's the kind of car responsible people drive. You need to think about how you're going to look pulling that monstrosity into your parking spot at work. All the executives drive hybrids. What are they going to feel when they see you driving that dinosaur?"
"Envious," I said.
"We agreed on the Prius," she snapped.