The Beginning
It was a beautiful day in the Colorado Rockies - a blue sky with no clouds, a light wind that wouldn't turn last night's three inches of powder into a blizzard, and an unseasonably warm day on the slopes. He wasn't able to ski as often as he would like because of the demands of his job as an aircraft mechanic for a major airline, but he saved up his vacation time in the summer to have at least a week skiing each winter. This year he chose the Purgatory Ski Resort in Durango. He had never been there before but after fighting the crowds at Aspen Ski Area last winter he decided to go with a smaller ski resort this year.
He pushed off with his poles and accelerated downhill. When he was halfway down another skier flashed in from the left and cut him off. His response was to turn to the right where he found himself headed straight for the pine forest. He tried to slow down, but it was too late. He skied directly into a large tree trunk and slammed into it. He wasn't knocked out but everything in his vision was spinning around. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't hold him so we went down again.
He was about to try again when he felt a hand on his chest.
"Stay down. Don't move or you might exacerbate any injuries. Let me check you over first."
He followed the arm up from the hand until he saw a woman's face with a very serious expression. He tried to sit up again but the hand pushed him back down.
This time she said more forcefully, "I said stay down. I'm a doctor. Let me check you over for serious damage. He gave up his struggle and laid back into the soft snow.
The woman started with his neck and felt her way down the rest of his body, asking repeatedly "Can you feel that?" or "Does that hurt?"
He kept answering "No," or "Not much."
"Well, I don't feel any broken bones but we need to do a CAT scan to be sure there are no brain injuries. She held up four fingers and asked him how many, to which he answered "Eleven."
Her eyes opened wider in shock until he smiled. She responded, "I can see that your sense of humor isn't broken. I'll get the Ski Patrol up here to take you down the hill. I'll have an ambulance waiting."
As I lay on the CAT scan table waiting for the thumping to stop I thought "Damn! I didn't even get her name. . . . From the little I saw of her she must be a good-looking woman. I'll have to hunt her down so I can thank her . . . And maybe ask her out.
# # #
My name is Erik Martin and what I have told you so far is about how I met my wife, Kirsten, nine years ago. I didn't have to pursue her very hard because we both knew from our first date that we belonged together and after six months we were husband and wife. I thought I had won the Power Ball lottery. Kirsten is absolutely amazing with her blonds hair, blue eyes, and a sexual appetite that seemed insatiable.
So far it was just the two of us because she didn't want children to interfere with her medical practice, and I didn't want them get in the way of our love life. We both had strong libidos and even after nine years we still both wanted to make love four or five times a week. It was like clockwork . . . until it wasn't.
It wasn't something I noticed right away . . . actually I did notice . . . but I thought it was probably because she was working too much. Two or three nights a week she called and told me that her patient workload was backed up and she it would be another hour until she could get away and come home. The result was that she was too tired to accept my requests for some fun under the sheets. This cut our lovemaking to once every couple of weeks.
This went on for almost six months when she told me the hospital had lost one of their doctors and she would have to work even harder. Now she was getting home two or three hours late. At first I tried to have dinner waiting for her but then she said that she had eaten at the hospital cafeteria and wasn't hungry. She just walked in the door, went upstairs to take a shower, then crawled into bed and fell asleep . . . at least I thought she was asleep. When I came to bed her eyes were closed and she was snoring lightly. When I tried to slide in behind her and snuggle she rolled over on her stomach and pulled the covers tighter around her.
After a few months of this I came home to find Kirsten and some man I didn't recognize sitting at the kitchen table sharing a bottle of wine. I immediately felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, alerting me to impending disaster. Then I heard the fateful words,
"Sit down Erik, we have to talk."
As I did too often in our relationship I complied with her request . . . or was it a demand?
"Erik this is Dr. Steve Sorensen. We met several months ago when he transferred to our hospital. We became friends, then lovers, and now I want a divorce so I can marry him."
I sat there frozen for a minute or two with no reaction whatsoever. I didn't say anything or attack him because I knew it was over.
"Are you sure about this Kirsten? Can't you wait awhile before you act on this? Give us
time to talk things over?"
"No"
"Why"
"Because Steve and I are expecting a baby."
I sat there for another thirty seconds before I told her, "I'll give you one chance to change your mind . . . you have ten seconds."
"Erik I didn't want this to happen, and I still love you. But the love that Steve and I share is stronger than anything I have ever felt for you."
"Nine . . . eight . . . seven . . . six . . . five . . . "
"Erick, be reasonable. There's no reason to act like a child here. We can still be friends"
"four . . . three . . . two . . . one . . . zero."
With that Erik stood and headed toward the front door.
"Don't you want to talk about it Erik?"
"No, but I will find a way to respond."
As he closed the door behind him Kirsten turned to Steve and asked, "What do you think he meant by that?"
Erik backed out of the driveway, turned left, then drove off. But he circled around the block, parked his car in an alley, and walked back to his house where he hid behind some bushes. He wanted to hear their conversation as they left. They walked out the door laughing.
Steve said "What a fool. He actually thought you were telling him the truth about being pregnant. But it was a great idea - telling him we're going to have a baby so he won't contest the divorce and let it go through quickly."
"He always was naïve. Whatever I tell him he believes, especially about why I was working late so we could go to your place and screw for a couple of hours."
"Well, we won't have that problem anymore. You'll be living with me and we will be married . . . I am a little concerned about one thing though. If you cheated on him to be with me, how do I know you won't cheat on me?"
Kirsten wrapped her arms around him and answered, "I love you too much to ever be unfaithful. You're it for the rest of our lives."
# # #
Erik took two weeks of annual leave and spent it trying to figure out why he didn't feel anything. He at least expected to hate her, or want to attack her lover, but all he felt was hollowness - devoid of feelings for her. Deeper in his thoughts he wanted revenge on both of them, but those remained buried . . . until a friend stepped in.
Erik was stretched out on the couch trying to force himself to fall asleep, but he knew that, just like every night for the last two weeks, he would lay awake most of the night. Then he heard a knock at the door. He ignored it. His friends had been calling and stopping by to help him get through the emotional trauma, but it got old real quick. The knock was repeated, more loudly this time. After a couple of minutes it stopped and he thought,
Finally, they took the hint.
