This is my fifth installment on my first submission. This chapter is from the point of view of Paul Beckson again. I would like to thank Redwing2655, LKHooker, and MarionRed for their editing help. I hope you enjoy.
***** Saturday 5:20PM , 10/21/2006, 8 hours prior to the end of chapter 04 *****
It was signed and done! I, Paul Beckson, was longer married to Tonya! I was free! I had walked away with 65% of the assets of the marriage, a little farm and a bonus check for $83,458.92 that wasn't even included in the agreement!
I was more than happy with my lawyer Carol Bernstein. She'd figured out that Tonya's lawyer was doing something screwy, and that she might have squirreled away some money that was at most one tenth of the bonus check. Carol could have gone after that money, but would've had to include the bonus check in the settlement. I knew Carol was good, but never thought she'd get a 90/10 split on the bonus check.
It also came out that Tonya had been planning the divorce for a while. According to Carol, she had secretly put aside little amounts of money for the last two years to pay her lawyer. She'd started to divorce me two years ago. This bonus check was the first I'd ever received as a commission for landing an account. If she'd divorced me two years ago, she'd have no claim to it. I felt the money was completely mine.
I also felt right about getting an annulment. This meant that I was not at fault. The basis for the annulment was that my wife refused to bear children, my main beef with our marriage. I had outlined to Tonya, in very plain terms, that she could (1) have a career as a dancer, then (2) have children, and (3) become a school teacher. Tonya had skipped part about having children.
My lawyer Carol, my two friends Mary, Sherri, and I had a great time celebrating at dinner. It was supposed to be a divorce strategy dinner, but it ended up being an annulment celebration. Sherri felt bad about causing the fight in the parking lot and insisted on paying for the meal. Carol and I could not tell her that Morton Packaging was not mad at me at all. In fact, Richard laughed through the "termination", knowing how much of a farce it was. I'd be back at work again in about 5 months, after getting my life back on track.
After dinner, I found out that I was going to switch rides. Carol had driven me to this dinner, but Sherri and Mary were going to take me back to my hotel. Carol had a concert to get to, with a one hour drive to get to the town it was in. I was going back to my hotel room in the big white van I'd seen in the at Morton Packaging parking lot from time to time, but not every day.
As we approached the van, I became more curious about it. "Mary, I thought you drove a Jetta."
"I do, this isn't mine. The van belongs to Sherri's sister. We swapped vehicles for while."
Sherri opened the door and clicked the unlock button. Mary was shotgun, I was in the back. When I opened the sliding door, I saw that only one of the bench seats in the rear was still in place. There must have been 8 feet of empty space behind the bench. "What's the story on the van? Are you moving somewhere?"
"Paul, we could help you move your things tomorrow if you like, but that's not why my sister owns the van. She's a freelance jeweler and sells her stuff at art fairs. She uses the rear of the van to haul her booth to shows, but art fairs are seasonal. Right now, she's on a road trip to restock consignment stores. We swapped cars so she could save on gas."
Whoa! Sherri's sister was in the arts and crafts business! I was now very interested in Sherri's sister. She knew the ropes. I had never thought about how cyclical the business might be. I was going to start taking classes in fusing glass in two weeks. Now I was starting to figure out why it was being offered at this time. This was the down time for the artists, and courses like the ones I was taking would allow new skills to be developed for the next season. I had aspirations of developing an independent business with Beckson Glassworks. Now, Mary and Sherri may have a contact that I needed. I could work on my craft for the next five months, and then start to develop the business while working at Morton.
I didn't trust Mary and Sherri completely, but, at this point, I needed them as contacts. They were a tie to Morton and a potential business consultant. They wanted me to sell them my sperm and give up parental rights to any children I might sire. But, I didn't want to start their family, I wanted to start mine. I needed stay on friendly terms with them and string them along about using me as a sperm donor. The idea of using them to move some of my stuff started to appeal to me.
"Sherri, I have made arrangement with the Kendo team to help me move things out of the garage on Monday. But, I could use your help to move the more fragile things, like my craft stuff. I have a lot of glass to be moved, and I think you two would be a lot more careful than the Kendo team."
Sherri nodded as she drove. Mary turned around to face me. "Sounds good to us, it seems like the van is going to help you. You weren't very talkative at dinner. You haven't talked about how you're day went. I went through a divorce a year ago. Do you need a sympathetic ear?"
I shook my head. "Actually I am actually having a good day today. I worked out with my Kendo team this morning, and convinced them to help me move my stuff tomorrow. I also signed up for new classes at the Dojo. This afternoon I went out to the farm I inherited. The people building my workshop had started drilling holes in the ground and filling them with metal rods and concrete. I am almost out of my marriage, and had a great dinner with you two."
"What do you mean almost out, Paul? It's over!"
"Not until I sign over the house, and she gives me the balance of the funds. Then, and only then, will it be over."
"You're still hanging on a bit, aren't you? You're talking about what you did, but not how you felt about what's happening to you."
Mary turned back, "If you're not ready to talk about how you feel. I understand. Paul. I've been through it. But, it's going to hit you in a couple of days. When you're ready to talk, give me a call. I know we did a sneaky thing with the STD test, but I want you to know we wanted you to have hard evidence in your hands, not just my word that Tonya and Ben were doing the big deed behind your back."
Sherri chimed in, "Oh, that's right! We have your test results with us!"
"I don't think I need them anymore, Sherri."
"That's OK, I want to give them to you, anyway, plus we have a gift for you, too!"
We pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and I got out. Mary went to the back of the van and retrieved an overnight case with a bow on it. We both walked around to the driver's side of the van, where Sherri was gingerly stepping out.
We started walking up, and Sherri lagged behind a bit.
I turned around, "Sherri, are you OK?"
"I'm in a little pain, but I'm OK. I'll be better when we get inside."
We went straight to my suite. I was a little worried about Sherri, but Mary insisted that she knew about Sherri's condition, and that she was OK. They had me sit on the couch so that they could give me my present. Mary opened the overnight and produced some papers, and handed them to me.