The Telecast

I knew it was time to end this whole thing and get out of the master control booth before anyone arrived to shut me down. If I hurried I could switch off the "live assist" mode and put the system back into the fully automated broadcast mode. Our local television audience had seen enough for one night. As soon as I had the system up and running normally I could get out of here and go get a drink. I needed a drink.

I also knew that there was going to be hell to pay. Hell to pay when I got home and hell to pay when the general manager and the FCC put it all together and came looking for me. I was already in hell so it didn't matter to me anymore. As I said, I needed a drink.

I drove to Frankie's on Roswell Road, a local sport bar hotspot, and ordered a beer. I sat there and watched the end of the Monday Night Football game while I had several more beers. There was quite a buzz going on at the bar and I knew what it was all about. I couldn't hear everything, but I heard enough to know I had clearly achieved my goal, I had them talking. Thankfully they didn't draw me into their conversations and I drank in silence and all alone while I watched the Saints beat up on the poor Falcons.

By the time 10:30 p.m. rolled around I was not feeling much pain, the game was over and my team had lost; New Orleans 23, Atlanta 3. I think the Saints must have been fired up about playing their first game in their stadium since the hurricane because they literally tore up the Falcons.

Our station had carried the game in addition to ESPN carrying it because we were one of the participants.

I asked the bartender if it was alright to leave my car in the parking lot and pick it up in the morning. He said it was the wise thing to do given the condition I was in. He called a cab for me since I lived only a short distance away in a nice residential section of Sandy Springs.

__________________________________

Well, that is pretty much the end of the story and I suppose I should start at the beginning so you know exactly what brought me to this place.

My name is Richard Head but my friends call me Dick. I am a broadcast engineer for WBDK, a local affiliate of CBS in Atlanta, Georgia. I have a graduate degree from MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and I received a second degree in Broadcast Technologies. Needless to say, I am extremely qualified in my field and have had several very challenging positions. My career started in the industry twenty two years ago and I have worked at several television stations on the east coast and have been here in Atlanta for the last five of those years.

If you are interested in a description of me, I am 46 years old, dark hair but graying at the temples. I have never felt the need to eliminate that gray, but I have a small mustache and yes I do use a bit of dye on it to eliminate the hints of gray in it. I am 6'3" tall and weigh about 190 lbs. I don't know for sure because it has been a while since I was on the scale. I am moderately attractive, but no Mel Gibson or Richard Gere. You notice I didn't mention any of the younger actors first of all because I don't even know many of their names and secondly because I just am not in that age bracket and it would be misleading. Anyway, I am good looking but not a Dr. Dreamy type either.

My wife Sharon and I have been married for 22 years. We have two daughters Melanie and Stephanie. Both girls are out of the house with Melanie being married and Stephanie a senior in college.

Sharon is around 5'5" tall, not an ounce over 135lbs. with long blonde hair down to her shoulders. She is very pretty and has a figure that makes my mouth water and turns most peoples' heads. On top of all that, Sharon is one of the sweetest women I have ever met. I cannot think of one person who doesn't like her.

She works as a secretary for our pastor, Rev. Bob Shelter and has for the last eighteen months.

Well, back to the story.

This all started last week Friday. I had a little extra time for lunch and I thought it might be nice to drop in on Sharon and take her to lunch. I parked at the side entrance to the church offices since it was raining and I could get closer to the door. She wasn't in her office when I got there but I walked in anyway.

While I was standing there I could hear her talking to Pastor Bob in his office. "I can't wait for Monday night baby. It is so great that Dick works the Monday Night Football games for the station. It gives us lots chances to get together. It has been so long since I felt that wonderful cock in me that I can hardly stand it. Have you reserved the room at the LaQuinta Inn yet?," she asked.

"Yes, it is all taken care of. I asked for the whirlpool suite again. I can't wait to get into that tight pussy of yours either. It has been a long time. Come here baby and let me get a feel of it right now. I love how you juice right up when I shove my fingers up inside you."

I heard a slight rustling of clothes and then I heard her moan. Right then you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Well, I was in shock, on the verge of throwing up and my rage was beginning to build so I knew I better get the hell out of there before I did something really stupid. I didn't think I could take standing there listening to a second more.

I wanted to rush in there and confront them, and maybe I should have just done that, but in the condition I was in right then I was certain that I would have killed them both. I didn't like the prospects of what would happen to me after that so I turned and left. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, I wanted to kill, but I just left. I was certain that neither of them saw me or knew that I had been there. They did have video cameras scanning both main entrances to the church but I had slipped in the side door so they never saw me come in. I slipped out the same way and drove away.

I was so shaken up that I knew I would be useless for the rest of the day so I called the station and let them know that I wasn't feeling well and was going to go home. I had to have time to think what I was going to do and home was as good a place as any. Sharon would not be there until after 4:00 p.m. so I had lots of time to think this through.

It was pretty clear that she was having an affair with Pastor Bob. Forget that shit, he would never be my pastor again. From now on in my mind he was Bastard Bob. It kind of rhymes with Pastor Bob and I liked the ring of it. What I needed to find out was the total nature of their relationship, how long had the affair been going on and why it had happened in the first place.

I know that some people don't want to know those things because they really do not matter but I am not one of those people. I wanted to know so desperately why this had happened in my marriage. The marriage I thought was so wonderful. Obviously Sharon didn't think it was as wonderful as I did. Obviously she wasn't the sweet person I thought she was.

Well, I would find out everything I needed to know and deal with it. I was no wimp and I would get to the bottom of this and both of them would be dealt with accordingly.

After I got home I made myself a pot of coffee and went out to sit on the patio and think. The weather was pleasant and I knew I could use the fresh air to help keep my head clear as I thought this through. I would figure it all out in time and I needed to settle myself.

I won't say that I didn't shed a few tears that afternoon because I did. I know I don't own her or her body but it devastated me to think that she would allow another man (or men?) to have her sexually when she had promised herself to me on our wedding day. Some might not take that promise too seriously but I did and I thought she did too.

Something like that makes you question your whole value system and ask yourself it you have been a fool your whole life to believe in fidelity and love and all that goes with it. No matter what anyone says, the most damaging aspect of a cheating partner isn't that they had sex with someone else. It is that you no longer can believe in them or in anything they say or do. You have no more trust in them. Throughout your whole marriage you thought they had your back but now you know that they don't and it leaves you vulnerable and frightened.

Oh yes, I might be 6'3" tall and 190 lbs but I felt vulnerable and frightened. And that further emphasizes what a cheating spouse can do to a person. It cuts you down at the knees like nothing else could.

As I sat there fighting with my emotions trying to remain calm and objective so I could work this through in my mind I realized that there were things that I had questioned in the past and let go because of the trust I did have in Sharon. They were little things that meant nothing then but now had piled up into a huge lump in the pit of my stomach as I put it all together.

How could I be so stupid? Trust, that's how. I had trusted her. Today that trust was destroyed and all those little clues congealed into a mass that I would have a hard time digesting.

Facts; facts is what I needed. I wanted to know why. I wanted to know how long and how often. I wanted to know where and I needed to know who else. Yes my trust was gone. I would get the answers I needed. I knew my marriage was a sham and I would deal with that too but I just needed answers.

I didn't think I could face Sharon yet without tipping my hand so at 3:00 p.m. I left the house so I wouldn't be there when she got home. I drove into town and stopped at the station to pick up a few of the things that I would need over the next few days. I stuck my head into my boss's office and asked him if he had a few minutes.

I told him that I was having a few problems and wasn't feeling all that well and that I would need a couple of days off early in the week to take care of it. He seemed ok with it so I left and went to Frankie's for a place to hang until I had to go home.

At 5:00 p.m. I called Sharon and told her that I was stopping for a few and wouldn't be home for dinner. She was a bit pissed at me and said, "Well that is your loss because I am really horny tonight and you were going to get lucky. But if you stop, there is no way that is going to happen."

Yeah right, as if I wanted that wet pussy made that way by Bastard Bob. She might be horny but it was because of him and not me. She could just go fuck herself for all I cared.

I said, "Honey, I already made plans to stop so you just keep it hot for me and I will take care of you when I get home." I knew that would get her wound up in a hurry.

She said, "Don't plan on it buster. If you think you can treat me like that, there will be nothing for you for a while."

I thought to myself that that is exactly what I wanted to happen. I wasn't going to have sex with her again until I found out exactly what had been going on and maybe I would never have sex with her again.

I got home around 10:30 p.m. and I was pretty well sloshed but not so sloshed that I didn't notice the bedroom door shut and locked. I grinned at that and hammered on the door to wake her up in case she was asleep which I doubted.

I yelled, "Okay, if this is how you want to play it, it will be a cold day in hell before I take care of your horny body sister; just suffer!" With that I headed for the spare bedroom knowing she would be fuming mad now. That would buy me quite a few days of not having to explain to her why I didn't want to have sex with her.

The next morning when I got up she was sitting at the kitchen table having a cup of coffee when I walked in. I am sure the temperature of her coffee dropped a few degrees at that moment because it got extremely chilly in that kitchen and her stare at me was ice cold. If I hadn't known she was an unfaithful slut wife at that moment her look would have sent icy shivers down my spine.

I smiled at her and said, "Don't bother getting up to make me breakfast honey I will grab something on my way to the golf course." I walked out the kitchen door into the garage, threw my golf clubs in the trunk and backed out of the garage and drove off.

Moments later my cell phone rang and I saw that it was her so I didn't answer it. A couple of minutes later I heard it beep and I knew she had left me a message so I listened to it. Damn she was mad.

"You bastard, how could you do that to me? Get your ass back here right now!"

Bastard Dick? No, it was Bastard Bob, not Bastard Dick. If anyone was a bastard it was him and not me.

I had no intention of going golfing but that bought me a few hours to do what I needed to do. I drove straight to my "former" church. You don't think I would ever want to hear Bastard Bob preach again do you? It was still pretty early when I got there so I knew there was little chance anyone would be around and I was right.

I let myself into the building (yes, because my wife worked there we did have a key to the church) and went directly to the offices. My goal was to plant the remote micro cameras and mini microphones in her office and in Bastard Bob's office. It didn't take me very long to get that accomplished and I hid the transmitter behind some old hymnals in the supply closet across the hall. I had the receiver in my trunk and I wired it into my car's electrical system. I would now be able to monitor their conversations and activities any time they were in their offices.

I was pretty sure that they wouldn't do much there in the church, but I was also certain that I would gain a lot of information by watching them for a few days and listening to their conversations.

When I was sure that everything would work properly I snooped through her desk but found nothing. There was however a large asterisk on her calendar on Monday. That fit right in with what I had heard on Friday. I would be ready.

Then I went into Bastard Bob's office and snooped around as well. I had very little luck finding anything incriminating but at the last moment I had an inspirational thought. (Of course I was in a church, why wouldn't I have been inspired?) I looked through the filing cabinets looking for receipts for church expenditures. Sure enough I located a file with several receipts for the LaQuinta Inn in Roswell. A couple of them were from the end of 2005 and a couple of them were from the spring of 2006.

I knew that I was pressing my luck being here so long so I quickly made copies of the receipts to take with me and I put everything back in order and got out of there.

I drove over to the golf course and parked in the general area I usually parked when I did play golf. Then I walked into the clubhouse and headed for the bar. I knew a few of the people in there and wanted to make sure that they would remember that I had been there. I found a table in the back and nursed a Sprite for a couple of hours. During that time I looked over the bills very closely and discovered that the two from late 2005 were both Mondays and the two from the spring of 2006 coincided exactly with dates when I went to New York to CBS Headquarters for a conference.

The thing that pissed me off the most was the fact that Bastard Bob had had the gall to charge those rooms to the church and labeled them "conference room" rental for meetings. He was fucking my wife in a motel and I had paid for the room. Yeah, we gave money to that church but I wouldn't be giving any more.

Their goose was cooked now. All I had to do was get a bit more evidence and the gavel was going to fall. I knew that this had been going on for close to a year at a minimum and probably longer. That too coincided with some of the hints that I had thought about earlier.

My guess is that Bastard Bob has been fucking her since before she went to work for him.

She had a good job at the Tellfore Corporation as a receptionist but she jumped at the chance to go to work for the church saying, "Honey, it will be so close to home and I will be working for the church. What could be better than that? And the pay will be very close to what I was making at Tellfore. How can I pass this up?"

Yeah, closer to home, working for the church, almost the same pay, but obviously it was the extra fringe benefits she was most interested.

As you can tell, I was getting angrier by the minute. I couldn't believe what a fool I had been. It made me angry but it also made me sick to think that this sweet woman whom I had adored my whole marriage could do this to me and not even bat an eye. Damn I was going to make them pay.

I figured it was about time to do a little checking so I went out to my car and logged my iPod into the frequency of the receiver I had in the trunk. Sure enough, after I had scrolled though a few minutes of data I saw Bastard Bob walk into his office. He picked up his phone and dialed a number.

I thought, shit, I should have put a bug on his phone but I hadn't. Oh well, I will have to be content to hear a one sided conversation for now.

"Yes Sharon, I am at the church. I came here right after you called me. Why don't you tell me why you are so upset."

(pause)

"Oh?, has he ever done that before?"

(pause)

"I see, what do you suppose set him off?"

(pause)

"You don't think he is suspicious of anything do you Sharon?"

(pause)

Laughingly, "Okay, well you can get even with him on Monday night."

With that he hung up and sat there contemplating something. I was just about to shut the transmission down when he muttered something that was barely audible but I did manage to get it. I made sure I saved that sound byte so I could use it to my advantage later.

After I shut down I drove home. I figured it would be a bit cool there so when I got home I just set out to mow the lawn and do a few chores down in the basement. She didn't say much to me when I walked in but it was obvious that there was still some heat there.

When I ignored her at the dinner table she just sat and stared at me. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and she tried to make conversation.

"Dick, what is going on with you anyway? Why have you been acting this way?"

"Sharon, you are the one who locked me out of our bedroom last night, now you can put up with the consequences. I have very rarely gone out with the guys and you blew up at me and threatened me the one time I did so this is on you and not me."

"Fuck you," she said, "Just fuck you!"

I looked her square in the eye and said, "Is that any way for a fine Christian woman to talk? Your actions are hardly those of a woman who is supposed to have a strong faith."

Oh my God, you should have seen the look she had on her face. There was guilt written on her face so thick that anyone who saw her would have known she was a cheating slut. How she could have thought I wouldn't see that I don't know. I will give her this though she did recover nicely and finally excused herself from the table. I thought to myself, "When I drop the gavel she will not recover so nicely."

A while later she came into the family room where I was watching television (don't tell anyone, but I was watching Fox, trying to get balanced news coverage). Her eyes looked a bit red and I figured maybe she had done a bit of crying.

The rest of the evening went on without incident and when I was ready to go to bed I simply walked down the hallway to the spare bedroom and went to bed. A few minutes later she walked into the room and stood there.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

"Aren't you going to come to bed with me?" she questioned.

"Nope, you made it clear that there was no sex in my immediate future so I might as well sleep in here alone and get a good night's sleep."

With that she ran crying from the room. Frankly, I didn't care.

Sunday morning she woke me up at 8:00 a.m. She was dressed for church and asked me if I was going to get up and go to church with her. I told her, "No, I am not going today. You go and be a good "church lady" and I will stay here and enjoy the day."