Just a little flash story implementing some seeds planted in my mind by Anon-Don and Anon-JB.
Thanks to all who leave meaningful feedback, and a special thanks to those who email suggestions.
After careful research I've confirmed that every word in this story has been used in someone else's story. So it's not your imagination if you think you've seen them before. That being said, there's a definite possibility of a cliché' or two in here.
Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford: "I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night."
+ + + +
We live in the foothills between Denver and Colorado Springs. Well, not exactly the foothills. Its twenty miles into the mountains. The closest structure to our house is three miles as the crow flies and about twelve miles by car. Look up 'remote' in the dictionary and you will see a picture of our cabin. I don't know why all houses in the mountains are called cabins. This is a house, and a large one at that.
Part of living like this is that you are much closer to nature. We walk the trails and collect edible mushrooms, nuts, and berries during our strolls. We would be myself, Landon, and Cheryl, my wife of twelve years. I'm proud to be that geeky amateur mushroom forager. I do the cooking in our home and I use most everything found on our nature walks.
The reason I was out walking alone today was to blow off steam, and scheme. My mind is so scrambled right now. I'm not sure what to do. We had a talk last night.
"Honey, we need to talk."
I spotted, near a lingonberry bush, a rare and deadly mushroom growing. If this is what I suspect, it's called a 'destroying angel' and is extremely toxic. Less than an ounce can destroy your liver and adversely affect your kidneys. What makes this one especially deadly is that the early symptoms are easily confused with diarrhea. Left untreated for even two days, you won't recover and die a very painful death. Unfortunately people just don't associate diarrhea with mushroom poisoning and by the time they seek treatment, it's too late.
The destroying angel mushroom is pure white and has a smooth stem and cap. It has a ring-like membrane near the top of the stem and is slightly bulbous on the bottom of the stem. I spotted three of them and each was a textbook example. I hurried home, found some latex gloves, and returned to harvest the deadly little beasts. I put them in a small cooler.
+ + + +
When we were going steady, Cheryl harped on fidelity and how her father had trashed her upbringing. Her mother had divorced him and poisoned her children's minds against their father. My uncle had divorced his wife and that's about as close as I could come to relating to what Cheryl had gone through.
Regardless, the thought of ever sharing Cheryl, intentionally or otherwise, was disgusting to me. We both made it known that infidelity was a game killer.
While we were doing the dating thing, we agreed that our sexual past was just that, in the past. Cheryl was too gifted in the art of pleasuring me, to be a virgin. Although I wasn't' a virgin, I had completely neglected learning how to please a woman. I've gotten much better, or at least Cheryl has me believing that.
Cheryl is beautiful and shapely. Fresh out of high school she landed a television commercial but that's where her acting career ended. She is now a project manager at an Information Systems & Computer Skills Training company. She is quite active in the Women in Government movement.
I am just a corporate accountant. Boring, but it pays well enough. I've been Mr. Geek from early on. I knew deep down that if I had a dollar for every woman who thought I was too geeky to date, sooner or later they would all want to date me. I'd watched from the sidelines as the ladies flocked to the money.
Thankfully Cheryl saw potential in me and we were now enjoying life together. Talks about starting a family were happening more frequently.
+ + + +
'Honey, we need to talk' kept banging around the insides of my skull.
As your life flashes before your eyes, an overwhelming sadness descends upon you. Happily ever after might not be so happy. I sat on one of the stools by the island counter in the kitchen.
Cheryl had no tears and didn't even look like she'd been crying. Determined would be the word I'd use to describe her face.
"I'm sitting, go ahead."
"I know we never talked about our sex lives before we met. We agreed that it was in the past. I'm ashamed to admit I was less than a 'good girl'. When I was trying to start my acting career, I spread my legs to land the television commercial I starred in. I wasn't successful every time I spread them."
"And I care about that now because?"
"One of the agents who fucked me is trying to blackmail me."
It's not like she didn't already have my attention, but I sat up straight "How is he trying to blackmail you?"
"I answered a call on my cell phone from what supposed to be my mom. The caller ID said it was her. It was only after I hung up that I realized the actual number was not my mother's number. Anyway, the guy said he had a video of me that was ready to be shared. He knew what that birthmark on my inner thigh looks like. Not many people know about that Landon. So he says if I treat him real nice, once a month, he'll keep that video under wraps."
I dreaded what was coming "What have you done since he contacted you?"
"I told him to call me back tomorrow. I just got off the phone with him. What have I done? I'm doing it now. I'm telling you."
My heart was pounding in my chest. Inside I was chanting 'yes', 'yes', 'yes'.
"Come here."
We kissed and hugged.
"Did you know it was being recorded?"
"Never had a clue. I don't know which agent this might be. Should I contact the police?"
"Hold off on doing that. I suspect that video could surface if things don't go according to his plan. Is there something in that video that I wouldn't approve of?"
Cheryl hung her head and the tears started flowing. Inside my chant had changed to 'shit', 'shit', 'shit'.
"One of the agents did my ass. I've never let you do that. I hated it. It hurt. A lot. I don't know if it was this guy. Everything else was just blow jobs and fucking. Sometimes there were two guys doing me. If you want, you can do my ass."
"Cheryl, under a different set of circumstances maybe we can explore that option. Right now isn't the right time. We need a plan."
+ + + +
I drank shots until I was too drunk to continue scheming. The only thing we agreed on was that when he called tomorrow, she would tell them that I wanted to watch when they got together. That was the farthest thing from the truth, but we agreed that would give us more time to put an end to this threat.
I took the day off and went out to do my nature walk. I returned with my small cooler filled with the 'deadly angels'.
