Chapter 28

            “Cheryl, this is Terry,” she said as she spoke into her cell phone as she paced though her home.

             “Hi Terry,” came the response from the other end of the line.   “You guys are back from Hawaii already?” she asked.

             “Yeah, it was lovely, I’ll have to tell you all about it.  When is Aaron coming in?” Terry asked.

             “It should be tonight,” Cheryl replied.  “But you have a copy of the original schedule, don’t you?”

             “Oh yeah, I had just forgotten.”  She lied.  “You know how to play it when he gets in, don’t you?”  Terry continued.

             “Well,” Cheryl began, “I know you think I should give him the cold shoulder, but I do miss him, and I was hoping we could just make up and forget what’s happened.”

             “What!?”  Terry almost screamed into the phone.  “Girl, he hurt you, he walked out on you and almost as much as said he was considering another wife!”

             “Yeah, but . . . maybe . . .” Cheryl began again before being interrupted.

             “Yeah, but nothing” Terry said firmly.  “If you let him get away with this, he’ll always treat you like trash.”

             “Umm . . I don’t know . . .” Cheryl started again before Terry continued.

             “You give him the cold shoulder, then hide all the food in the house in the guest room closet.  Don’t cook him anything.  Then tell him if he wants food in the house he’ll need to get it himself!”

             “Well . . .” Cheryl began again.

             “Well nothing!” Terry insisted.  “Have I proven that I am the master manipulator of men or not?”

             “Uh, yeah . . you’ve proven that alright” Cheryl agreed.

             “Well, do what I say” Terry demanded.

             “Okay . . . I’ll do it.  Good bye” Cheryl responded before hanging up the phone.

             “I’m home!” Aaron called out.  He’d seen the light on in the upstairs bedroom and he rung the door bell several times, only to have to fumble for keys and let himself in.  Tossing his bags in the front door, he called out again.  “Honey, I’m home!”  Still there was no answer.

             He marched up the stairs into the master bedroom.  There Cheryl sat wearing a long pink night gown, and stroking her long blondish brown hair with a brush. 

             “Sweet heart, I am home” he repeated.

             “I heard you the first two times” she said dryly.

             She never turned but continued to stroke her hair with the brush.

             “Are you really going to treat me this way, when we haven’t seen each other for a month?” he asked incredulously.

             “You . . ” she started “You walked out on me!”

             “Walked out?  Walked out?” he repeated.  “It was a ministry trip that had been planned for a long time.  You were supposed to be with me!”  Aaron said as he began to raise his voice.

             Cheryl turned partly around so she could see him out of the corner of her eyes.  “I asked you not to leave and you went anyway!”  She spat out, and then returned to looking in the mirror and stroking her hair.

             Aaron was turning red, he could not believe his wife could have such venom after a whole month.  He started to say more and then thought better of it.  He turned on his heels, walked out of the room, and went back down the stairs to the kitchen.  He’d had a long flight with tiny airplane type meals and he was hungry.  Opening the refrigerator, he found it nearly empty except for a half gallon of milk and a few carrots.  Proceeding to the food pantry, he found it also empty.

             Where is the food? He thought. Then, letting his thought be verbalized, he yelled out “Hey, where’s the food?”

             There was no answer.

            He went to the intercom that connected the kitchen to the bedroom and pushed the button asking again.  “Hey, honey, where is all the food?”  Still there was no answer.  He bounded up the stairs and into their bedroom, where he asked once again.

             “Dear, where is all the food?” He said through clenched teeth as he tried to keep his anger under control.

             “I suppose the grocery store has plenty,” Cheryl replied coolly.  She didn’t want to lie but according to Terry’s plans, she wasn’t supposed to tell him the whole truth.

             Aaron clenched his fists, took a deep breath, counted to ten in his head, then turned and headed downstairs and to the garage.  As he pulled out in his Corvette, Cheryl was on the phone to Terry.

             “Terry, he’s gone and he’s mad.  What do I do now?”

             “Did he say where he’s going?”

             “I suppose to Carville Grocery where we always shop” came the reply, “but I think I really upset him and I . . .”

             “Cheryl, I can’t talk now, I’ll call you in a little bit.” Click.

             Cheryl heard the phone hung up in her ear.  She redialed Terry but there was no answer.

             Reaching the store just minutes after Aaron, Terry grabbed a cart and put a few things in it to pretend she was shopping.  She then went down the end of the rows looking to see which one Aaron was in.  Finally she spotted him in the cereal aisle.  She thought to herself, I’ve got to time this so I run into him at the end of the aisle. 

             Her timing was perfect -- her cart was run into his.  As he was about to say excuse me she beat him to the punch. 

             “Oh excuse me, Oh Aaron!”  She said as if in surprise.  “You’re back” she said cheerily.  Aaron was in no mood for socializing but still he didn’t want to be totally rude.

             “Hi Terry,” he said dryly.

             “Kyle and I took our trip to Hawaii” she announced as bubbly as she could.  “It was so much fun!” she went on.  “Here, I have some pictures in my purse . . .” she said as she opened her purse to take them out.

            “Excuse me Terry, but I really don’t feel like looking at a lot of pictures right now” Aaron began his reply, but before he could finish it appeared that Terry stumbled and dropped the pictures on the floor.  As they hit the floor they scattered.

             Being the gentleman that he was, Aaron bent down to help gather them.  This too had been part of Terry’s anticipation and plan.  As he began to pick up the pictures, he saw scattered among pictures of Pearl Harbor and grass skirted Hawaiians were pictures of his wife.

             “What are these?” he questioned. 

             There was one of her getting in the limousine.  Another of her getting out of the limo with Mr. Becker.  Another of Mr. Becker helping her into his personal airplane.  And finally one of her kissing Mr. Becker on the cheek while he had his arm around her.

             “What!”

             “Why?”

             He felt like he’d been hit in the stomach with the fat end of a baseball bat.  His head began to swim.  He felt nauseous.  He grabbed the pictures and looked at Terry with tears in his eyes questioning what had happened in his absence.

             “I’m sorry” Terry said, “you weren’t supposed to see those.”  She lied.  “Give them back,” she pleaded.

             “No way!” he said as he stumbled to his feet.  And leaving the cart behind, he ran outside to his car and drove madly toward his house.