Ugly American

Three Parts already submitted

. Thanks to

mikothebaby for her editing magic

.

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What is worse than having the flu so bad you can barely get out of bed?

Not being able to locate the TV remote, when you have the flu so bad you can hardly get out of bed.

And what is worse than having the flu so bad you can barely get out of bed, and no TV remote?

Having the flu so bad you can barely get out of bed, and no TV remote, and your wife of 13 years leaving the TV on some inane Woman's Morning Talk show!

As I lay in bed debating if the expender of energy was worth changing the TV channel to Sports Center. On TV, the female talk show host was praising some author pimping a new book.

The two ladies did the hug and cheek kiss routine, which always reminded me of two prizefighters shaking hands before a match, then author then launched into a spiel for her book.

"A mere 16 days after my youngest son's third birthday, I walked out the door of my Brooklyn, N.Y. brownstone with one piece of luggage. I was leaving my family. Two sons, age 5 and 3, and my childhood-sweetheart husband, my partner for 20 years. I had been awarded a grant to live in Japan for six months to interview the survivors of the atomic bomb. It was an honor that my husband had encouraged me to apply for, and we were in complete agreement, in fact he insisted, that I should go."

"How exciting for you!" the TV host exclaimed.

"You would think." continued the author. "But while I was in Japan I would get a phone calls from my husband saying that the kids had throwing up all night, and were pillows washable? I didn't like that -it was very unpleasant. I then found I like being out on my own. Just me being my own person. Not labeled someone's wife or mother. I had this idea about motherhood that it was just going to take me over, completely swallow me up, and now I saw it was true. What began as a research trip, turned into a journey of immense self-discovery, that ultimately caused me to put an end my 20-year marriage."

"Wow that was so brave of you to finally act on your true feelings." The host prompted.

The author sighed before continuing . "Everybody has their own choices, but my choice works for me. I think it's not so selfish for women to say 'okay, I would like to have my own priority, I would like to have something in my life, I would like to be able to do my job,'" she said. "I've had a lot of women write to me to say 'thank you for telling your story,'. They may not have the exact same story, but they've been ambivalent, they've struggled."

The host was nodding her head like a bobble doll, than chimed in. "Women feel pressured to get married, have children because that's what they're 'supposed' to do. I feel bad for you, because you obviously felt that pressure. Maybe thought it would be different than what it really was. At least you have the courage to do the responsibl¬e thing, leaving instead of being miserable, dragging your family into misery."

If I had not had nausea from the flu, this babble from the TV would have made me vomit.

"When the kids came to visit me it was a disaster." The author continued. "I had no idea what to do with these bouncing balls of energy. Even feeding them, finding them a bathroom, was a challenge. After a mere four months on my own, I found that I no longer wanted to be a "full-time mom."

The host took the author's hand in sympathy. "That must have been a very hard decision for you."

The camera went in for a close up, as the authors kept talking on. "A male full-time caretaker is a 'saint,' but a female full-time caretaker is a just another 'mother.' It is an equation we do not question; in fact we insist on it. We punish the very idea that there are other ways to be a mother. I believe that by not being there all the time, I am now a better mother to my children."

"I know our audience has some questions." The host said, as the camera cut to a standing young women, with a mic being held in her face."

"I love your book." The young lady began. "I have two children age 4 and 7. I have been offered a medical residency, but it is in another state, this will mean being away from my family for a year. What should I do?"

"I cannot make that decision for you." The author began. "But why not go for it? Look at it as a win-win situation in your favor. You get a year to be yourself, a chance to decide if you want the whole family, Mommy thing. If so --then you just go back home. If not, you are that much farther in your career, without the anchor of kids, and husband holding you back."

"Yes." The host broke in. "You can always go back to hubby, and kids if you change your mind years later down the road. I mean seriously, what's hubby going to do -turn down your return? It is not as if a divorced Dad with two kids is a babe magnet. You on the other hand, will be a young, successful, single, unattached medical professional, with lots of future prospects."

That was it- I couldn't take this noise anymore. Summoning up a reserve of strength, I launched myself off the bed, changing the channel to Sports Center.

+++++

A few days later Anita my wife and I were doing dishes after dinner. Our son AJ was in the living room working on his schoolwork.

I began to give Anita a hard time about leaving me with no TV remote control, when I sick in bed earlier in the week. I reviled her about the talk show, and book pusher I was forced to endure.

"Oh she is my FAVORITE author!" Anita blurted out-surprising the heck out of me. "Darrin I so much enjoy her writings. She is such a valiant, bold, courageous lady."

"Anita please tells me you did not pay money for that piece of drivel."

"Darrin it is not drivel! I'll have you know the first time I read her book, I checked it out of the library. Then I enjoyed it so much, I went to meet her at her book signing, buying a copy of her book to sign."

When I made a face, Anita added. "I used the gift card your mother got me for Christmas."

"Jeeze Anita." I began. "Wanting to meet an author because you like their work, is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate'."

Anita laughed, she had that high musical tone that I loved so much.

I put away the last dish before speaking to her. "OK Anita for the 'Special Needs' member of us in the class, that takes the short bus to school -can you explain to me what you found so fearless about a mother walking out on her two preschool children, and marriage of twenty years."

"Darrin you have to read the book to understand. She had to leave her children to be a better mother. Do you know that now when she has time to be with her children, she never takes phone calls or texts. For those 4 or 5 hours, she totally devotes her full attention to the children."

"Damn Anita she is a regular Good Housekeeping 'Mother of the Year'." I said with sarcasm. "It's like somebody who adopts kittens, realizes that they are work, and drops them at an Animal Shelter. Somebody who dumps their kids because they want to "realize" something is a selfish flake. Putting somebody like that on TV is like putting somebody on TV who likes raising dogs to fight them."

Anita slapped me playfully with the dishtowel. "Forget about that part Darrin. I got into her part about traveling the world, meeting different people. You know what we were going to do before..." Anita tapered off and pointed with her chin toward AJ in the living room.

We had been high school sweethearts. Anita and I had married, when I knocked her up during a R & R from my first, and only Navy hitch. We did the right thing, getting married. AJ our son was a blessing, we saved and scrimped to put together a nest egg. We had planned to travel the globe for a year, showing AJ the world, while enjoying our time together as a family. At 4 years old AJ was diagnosed with cancer.

Our life became a worrying blizzard of tests, treatments, hospitals and specialists. The insurance from my small company was not very good, the medical bills almost broke us. We sold everything we had of value, begged or borrowed any money we could. I got second, and third jobs to pay for top specialists, the best medical care. One of my jobs, a weekend gig cleaning grease traps -was the worse. I never seemed to rid of the smell. But that dirty job got me waste oil I converted to biodiesel. This saved us on fuel costs for our one shared car, a used rusty VW Jetta. We had sold off Anita's car, and my truck, in effort to add funds that gave AJ a fighting chance at survival.

AJ beat the cancer-then relapsed. Adding to the misery, Anita's parents passed away. As an only child this whole ordeal was a lot for her to bear. We gave up our home, moving into my Moms house. More treatments, more chemo, and more bills. Then the miracle happened --AJ defeated the malignant cells. He was now cancer free for over three years-at 10 years old AJ was a typical preteen boy. I became "Mister Dad" --the scoutmaster, school parent, even being coach on every team, every sport AJ was on. I did not want to miss a minute with my son. I was not a great athlete, but as the saying goes "Those that can Do. Those who can't -Coach."

When Mom retired to Florida, Anita got a job, so we had a more normal life. Together we were chipping away at the mountain of debt, but sill managing to salt away some savings.

I grabbed Anita around the waist giving her neck a kiss. "Anita you have been through a lot, but we need to be patient. We will get there, it is just going to take a little more time, let's get this debt down some more before heading off to Bora Bora."

Anita gave me a sad smile. "I know Darrin, it's just hard. I don't want us to end up like my parents -with empty passports, always planning, but never going anywhere. They died with a box full of travel brochures, living off the postcards of others."

We had this conversation countless times, so I tried to inject some humor into the situation. "Anita most folks travel to faraway places, to look with fascination at people, and customs, they would ignore at home."

This always got a laugh out of her, but not this time. I tried a more serious note. "You know I want AJ to see the world beyond his laptop, but we'll do this as a family."

"OK Darrin" Anita said giving me a kiss

+++++

The distinguished older lady, sitting across my kitchen table, had just crumbled my world. She was the wife of Wesley Stanford, one of the three partners at the real estate law firm Anita worked at. Originally a small outfit, they had expanded greatly during the housing boom, adding staff, and offices at an alarming rate. They had expanded into home inspections, insurance, even household moving, and repair. Anita had gone from being a part time temp, filing papers to a full time assistant, in less than two years.

Six months ago Anita came home so excited, announcing she had been chosen to help with a seminar being put on by her firm. Anita would be travelling to the capital, to assist her boss Wesley --who was speaking on new ways to get mortgages to buyers who normally would not qualify. Our state capital was not exactly Paris, or London, -but to a small town girl like Anita, it might as well have been.

For the past half year now, at least once a month, Anita accompanied her boss Wesley, who had been speaking at conferences around the state. Wesley was in big demand on new exotic mortgages. Anita said it gave the firm great exposure, touching a new client base. Apparently that was not all Anita had been touching.

In front of me on the table, were copies of four Hotel registration sheets. Each one was in my wife Anita's neat handwriting, they read, 'Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Stanford."

"Surely there is some explanation." I asked the lady in front of me. Maybe they were suites with several bedrooms..that kind of thing." I was grasping at straws.

She looked at me, giving a sigh. "I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but these are single rooms with one bed. Wesley is too cheap to spring for anything nicer, as he would have to explain the additional cost to the firm. As you can see Wesley even cheapen out on the Hotels, these barely make AAA's ratings."

I was grasping at straws. "Are you sure it was Anita?

She took a deep breath before answering. "Darrin you seem like a nice man, with a fine family. I just thought you should know what your wife has been doing on these seminars with Wesley."

I looked over the papers again, as she continued. "As for me I have already been down this road once with Wesley, when he turned forty. Back then it was hair plugs, a flashy sports car and screwing the secretary after hours. When I busted Wesley then, he agreed to a post nuptial agreement. It pretty much leaves him nothing, if I caught him stepping out again. I am 63 years old, and have no intention of going thru that again, or staying with his lying ass."

She stopped to look at me. "Darrin, I only have definite proof of Wesley with your wife, these past four trips. There are photos also I can make available. Nothing graphic, just kissy face -lovely dovey touchy feely stuff. But if you have any thoughts of saving your relationship, I would not look at them."

She got up, collecting her purse to depart. "I am serving papers on Wesley the minute he tries to walk in the door today from this trip. I leave it up to you if you wish to repair, or abandon your marriage." She put her hand on my shoulder. "I wish you the best of luck on your decision."

I walked her to the door, than slumped back into a chair at the kitchen table. I was still in the same spot hours later, when Anita walked into the house, wheeling her luggage, while holding a computer laptop bag.

Thanks God AJ was at my brothers for the weekend. My brother had twins that were home schooled and AJ's age also. AJ thought spending the time at his cousin house playing video games, watching DVDs, were just this side of Heaven.

"Hi" Anita said breezing in, giving me a quick kiss. "What are doing you doing sitting at the table?"

I ignored her question, than asked in a monotone voice. "How was your trip?"

"Same old same old." Anita said opening the refrigerator "Interest rates this, Deductions that."

"How about the hotel, how was the room?"

"About the same." Anita sat down from me with a soda in her hand. "Nothing special. Why do you ask?"

"Must have been something special in the room. What kind of beds?" I inquired.

Anita gave me a face. " Um.. I don't remember..maybe couple of double beds I guess. What kind of question is that?"

"Must have been crowded in the one bed for you and Wes then, Anita. Or did you only screw in one bed then sleep in separate beds after banging each other?"

"Darrin his name is Wesley. And what are you talking about?" Anita said as a look flashed thru her eyes. "Nothing is going on. This was a seminar for God's sake. I go on them about once a month now. You know that, you agreed to it. Stop being dense."

"How long you been fucking Wes?" I asked pushing the Hotel forms across the table at Anita. "Or should I call you Mrs. Wesley Stanford."

Anita picked up the Hotel papers, leafing through them one at a time. She then pulled a cell phone from her purse, pressing a speed dial. Turning away from me she spoke into the receiver.

"Wesley -yes it's me. It's about Darrin ..he knows." A pause. "What? -she did what? Served you right there?" another pause. "OK then I guess we got to do it now. I'll be waiting for you."

Anita closed her phone, then turned to faced me. "Darrin it was not supposed to be this way. I wanted more time to prepare you for this. I just didn't..didn't have my exit strategy fully planned out yet. Looks like I'll going to have to wing it with what I got now though."

I was still in a state of shock as Anita retrieved her suitcase. "It's not your fault Darrin. I love you and AJ, but I just not in love with you anymore. I need to get away-go places. You'll see it will be better this way. I can allocate a lot more time and attention to AJ as a part time mother then I can now."

I was surprised I could speak. "Anita you can rationalize it any way you want. You are doing nothing but abandoning your son and family for a man old enough to be AJ's grandfather. Does the viagra make Wesley that good in bed?"

I could see I hit a nerve as Anita flinched. "Don't go there Darrin, It has nothing to do with sex. Those occasions never took away from my time with you or AJ. I only starting sleeping with Wesley a couple of times at the last few seminars,-no other instances. And really only then because..well..it just seemed like the thing to do. You know for all the places he was taking me. "

"Anita are you telling me you whored yourself out for frequent flyer miles?"

Anita waved her hand at me before answering. "I don't want to talk about that Darrin. Just know that I will be there for you and AJ whenever I can."

"You intend to be a part time wife also."

Anita bit her lip and looked at her watch before answering. "Darrin we can still be friends. We have been together for almost 12 years. That should count for something."

"Judas was one of Jesus first and longest apostles. Did his seniority matter in that betrayal?"

Just then Anita's cell phone tinged signaling a text message. She looked down, then grasped the handle of her luggage rolling it to the door.

I saw a white Lexus pull up to the curb as Anita opened the front door. She turned to me. "Darrin it's time for me now, this is something I need to do. We'll always have our memories. I'll send you postcards."

++++++

I called my brother, explaining what was going on. He instantly agreed to keep AJ for the day. I spent the rest of the weekend in a stupor. I called in sick on Monday so I could make plans.

I was trying to figure out what to do. Cancel credit cards? Get the money out of the bank? Contact a divorce attorney-if so who do I hire? A million decisions but I was frozen in place. My whole world was upside-down. It's as if I had lost all equilibrium, was off balance. The front door bell interrupted my thoughts, I almost welcomed the break from my contemplations.

Surprise surprise-looking thru the peephole I saw my wife's boss Wesley on porch with two other guys.

"Jesus H Christ" I muttered. "Just when I thought things could not get worse."

"Hold on a second!" I yelled thru the door. I wanted to take a minute to get my act together, I had no idea why this A-hole was on my porch but I wanted to be prepared.

It took more than a second, but finally I was pretty sure I was half way organized, or at least I was somewhat ready. Taking a deep breath I opened the door. Wesley was standing there flanked by two guys. A large panel van with a lift gate was at the curb, I could see a white Lexus parked in the driveway. Wesley looked every inch the successful lawyer decked out in a suit, salt and pepper mane, with every hair in place. His two companions' resembled refugees from a gym, as both guys were huge with bulging muscles, one had a tee shirt on from some weight lifting establishment.

"Darrin." Wesley began speaking. "I have come to remove your wife's personal belongings from the residence." He held up a sheet of papers in one hand, then tried to hand me a folder with his other hand.

I made no move to accept the documents, which seemed to irritate Wesley. "Look Darrin let us try to make this as painless as possible. I have brought some movers from the office with me. Anita has given us a detailed list so we will be in and out quickly." Wesley motion to the two monsters who began to move forward.

I put up my hand to stop their motion while addressing Wesley. "Listen Wes." I purposely called him Wes- recalling my wife Anita telling me how Wesley hated that version of his name. "This is my house, and I am not giving you or your boyfriends permission to enter-let alone remove possessions from my home."