Another We Need To Talk
Thanks, kenjisato, for editing.
From working in my carpentry shop without a mask, I picked up a low-level chronic nasal drip over the years, so I keep a box of tissues in every room. Isobel, my wife of twenty years, doesn't mind the tissue boxes in our bedroom or family room, but in the rooms where we entertain guests, she hates them.
Yesterday, a Saturday, I sat in the living room to soak in the feeble rays of a rare winter sun with my laptop, catching up on my emails (code for reading erotic stories) when Izzy appeared in front of me with a deep scowl.
"Graham!" (that's me, Graham Brody, 45, owner of Brody Carpentry.)
"Yes, dear?" In every successful marriage, the man always has the last word, that being 'Yes, dear.' That's what makes (or made) our marriage a happy one.
"We need to talk."
Oh shit. What now? I roll my eyes out of her sight, but can't hide the sigh. Yes, I've read enough stories to know what's coming. Nowadays it seems I'm doing something wrong all the time. "Where and when?"
"Right here and right now. Look where you put that tissue." She points at the used one I'd set on the coffee table.
"What about it?"
"Don't set a wet tissue on the wood. It'll leave a wet spot and you know what wet spots do to a wooden surface."
Oh spare me. Wood is the thing I work with every single damn day, and her voice sounds like a first grade teacher scolding a stupid kid. I don't need this. Without a word, I get up and go into the workshop behind our garage. I pick up a short piece of scrap 2x4 and with all my power whack it against the edge of the workbench. Two pieces break off and fly through the air. There. I exhale. Better.
On a whim, I draw a quick plan for a new coffee table, similar to the one we have, but with a thin Perspex top.
As usual, I draft a list of material I need, get into my pickup and head off to Lowes. Doing something with my hands is a great way to clear any steam blowing around inside my head. What the hell? Izzy and I have lived in this house for more than our twenty married years. I'd inherited it when Grampa passed away, and we'd slowly fixed it up and modernized it, adding two new bedrooms for our kids. In all that time, my tissues on the coffee table had never bothered my beautiful wife. Why today? Something is happening, but what?
It's not about tissues. If it was, she'd have complained about it ten years ago... and never let up. It has to be a new thing, a new disapproval of who I am and what I do, but what? We've always done well financially, so Izzy has never lacked for anything. In the bedroom, both of us reach satisfaction as often and as intensely as we want, at least to my understanding. Neither refuses the other, and mutual happy sighs always end the proceedings. Other than brief disagreements now and then, we never fight, and we've always liked the same things and each other's friends. So... what?
Something deeper has to be bothering her. Wandering through Lowes and picking out the lumber and hardware I need, my mind keeps rolling over possibilities.
As I load the stuff in my truck, the Fry's across the street catches my eye. It's still more than an hour before lunch, so I stroll over and meander through the aisles for electronic gizmos. When I'm done, I return with a few voice recorders, baby monitors and cameras, all wireless.
Back in the shop, I connect everything with an old laptop, and drop one of the voice recorders in her car's console. While she fusses in the kitchen with lunch, I hide a camera and baby monitor in our bedroom and the study we share.
Lunch is tense and quiet, until she sighs. "What's bothering you, Graham?"
Wrong question, wrong time. "You."
Her fork falls into her plate and her mouth drops open. "What are you talking about?"
"Take the snotty tissue you whined about this morning."
"I didn't--"
"Let me finish. Yes, you did. You were all over my ass for supposedly ruining the damn coffee table. For more than ten years I've put tissues on the coffee table. More than ten years, Iz, and never a word from you. All of a sudden, today, it's a big deal. And no, it's not about tissues. For the past few months you've found fault with me for dozens of niggling little things. You are not happy with me. I don't think I've changed, but suddenly I'm not good enough for you anymore. The one who changed is you. I've been good enough, as is, for more than twenty years, now suddenly I'm not. So, long answer to your question of what's bothering me, it's you."
Izzy's hand that had held her fork droops, tears dribble down her cheeks. No sound from her open mouth.
"Thanks for lunch." I stand and return to the workshop to give her space to process my bomb, and continue with the new coffee table.
After a half-hour or so, her voice floats over the intercom. "I'm going shopping." No apology or wanting to talk some more.
"OK." No normal terms of endearment from either party.
When her car leaves, I take some electronic gear and set it up in the kitchen.
Back in the workshop, I follow her location on the phone finder app we both have on our phones. She ends up in an upscale residential area, far from any shopping. Hmm, interesting.
I get in my truck and drive past the house.
