February: Wrath of Jim

Like a lot of fans of February Sucks, if you're not familiar with it, there are more than 70 alternative stories. A friend of mine past away this week, and he had a secret life that only my wife and kids, his wife and a few others knew about. He was a good man in all ways, but his occupation would be more 'solider of fortune' and less Ward Cleaver. So I wondered if something like this might have happened with his first wife. (Sorry, no sex.)

Wrath of Jim

To everyone that met Jim, he was a perfect gentleman, great husband, wonderful father. His lawn always looked perfect. Shrubs neatly trimmed. Cleaned his gutters regularly, and waved to everyone that he meets.

His work made him travel regularly each month, but he was always excited to get home to Linda and the children. They were the safe port to which he anchored his ship. The anchor that secured his sanity in this insane world in which he worked.

February had been a bad month for Jim and his family. The weather seemed to put the entire world in stasis. Record snowfall that almost shut their quiet world down. He was stranded the first week of the month in Toronto. One of his employers had an issue to be resolved there. Jim liked to do the job, and go immediately home to his family.

His wife's friends, and I mean her 'friends', as Jim didn't care for them, especially Dedriah, or Dee. She was a trouble making, no good slut, as far as he was concerned. The Friends wanted a "Leap Year" get together down town at the Madison Hotel, which was only blocks away from the downtown Club scene for their city.

Of course, they were going. It was never a question. He didn't mind the idea since they would get a night away from being parents, and be lovers instead. Jim and Linda were able to do that a few times a year. Her mother had insisted that they do that to keep the 'fires burning'.

On this particular evening, Jim didn't drink as was his norm, in his industry, it paid to be alert. Linda and her friends with their husbands drank enough, too much probably.

He watched the group of four local city football players enter the nightclub. People clapped and waved to the great heroes of the gridiron. The group broke up and went around the club in different directions. Jim noticed a hunting pattern when he sees one.

"Look, he's coming our way!" screamed Dee as one of the big men approached their table. He thought Dave would jism himself as he tried to shake hands with the football star. The player ignored Dave as he locked eyes with Jim. He knew that Jim was not unlike himself. So he needed to prove that he was the Alpha.

Without a word, he took Linda's hand and lead her to the dance floor. As Jim stood, Dee grabbed his arm, and pleaded. "Let her have this, it's a once in a lifetime event!"

"Son-of-a-bitch didn't even ask for permission." He pulled away from Dee as everyone begged him to not cause a scene. Jim took a deep breath and sat down.

One dance turned to three, and he was not happy. His phone buzzed in his pocket. It was probably a job request. When glanced at the phone, It was the sitter, the kids wanted to say good night.

When he looked up, he saw his wife kissing the player on the dance floor during a slow dance. So this what she does on 'girl's nights' registered in his mind. He had always assumed that she loved him enough to not do something like this when the girls went out but that cat was out of the bag.

As he stood everyone at their table knew what he was going to do. Dave and Phil each grabbed an arm and tried to stop Jim. He struggled with them as he watched the Player escort his wife toward the rear emergency exit.

His wife was leaving the club with another man, and he would not stand for it.

Dave and Phil fell faced down onto the floor as Jim jerked his strong arms and pulled away from them. He made a beeline through the couples on the dance floor. He heard their sneers and comments. He didn't care. He was focused on only one thing. He reached into his trouser's right front pocket and removed a small canister, like camera film used to come in. He opened it and removed a pair of latex gloves which he pulled over his hands as he headed to the rear door.

When he came through the emergency exit, he saw them getting into the luxury SUV at the end of the alley. Jim assumed that this Celeb parking was allowed every time he came to this club.

The Player looked at Jim as he closed the driver's side door. Linda never looked forward to see Jim. He could see through the windshield that the man was probably undoing his trousers. He wanted to humiliate Jim. As Jim started moving toward the car, he saw the player pull Linda's head to his lap while looking directly at Jim.

Jim knew what she was doing. He was probably fifty or sixty yards away when the motor started up and the headlight blinded him. The car was moving straight towards him, and picking up speed.

Standing straight, he reached behind his back and pulled out his work piece. Taking a breath and holding it, he took his shooting stance. Jim fired one round into the driver's side windshield.

The SUV went past Jim and crashed into the large trash dumpster.

He watched the steam drift up from the engine's gaping hood. The Player never intended to stay long. His motor was still hot from the drive over.

The passenger door opened easily. He looked inside. His wife's head was in the Player's lap but covered by the deployed airbag. With the light from Jim's phone, he saw the severed penis in the driver's floor board. Linda had bit it off during the collision. He looks at the gridiron hero and watched as blood gushed from his neck wound running down his expensive shirt covering Linda's back and shoulders.

He reached over to move the man's head to look at him. The eyes were glazing over. If possible he wanted this predator know who killed him. The man's head dropped down onto what was left of his neck.

Jim reached down to the passenger floor board and retrieved Linda's clutch. He stick it under his arm as he walked away.

As he started his truck, Jim took out his phone. The bluetooth activated and he started a call. He was glad that it was quite ten pm. "M". The phone number for "M" dialed.

"Is there a problem?"

"Yes, I never thought I would need to do this but I need an extraction.

"Jim, you've worked with me for a long time, so I'm sorry for whatever happened. Do you need clean up?"

"No, the cops will be there soon. It's too public."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"LW, Linda left me tonight for one of the Sharks. He tried to run me over, so I reacted."

"He picked the wrong man to humiliate." Said the voice. "I have issued a team to extract your belongs from your house. Do you want burn the house to the ground?"

"No. I need the house for Linda's humiliation."

"Assumed she was dead as well. My mistake." After a pause. "Reservations are made for your 'vacation' to a Disney resort for the next two weeks. Your new identities will be delivered to you there next week. I'm glad I was able to convince you to get new identities made for the children. Those birth certificates weren't as easy to record."

"I guess I will need a live-in Nanny for my new life, LW."

The children were asleep in their car seats as the sun rose in the east. It was a two day drive to Florida, but Jim was sad as he drove. Linda was the love of his life, but he was glad that LW convinced him to not tell her what he did. It was better that she believed Jim a simple salesman. He would miss her, but he could never trust her again. She knew his opinion about cheaters, yet she did it.

The children and Jim were having breakfast with Micky when Linda woke up from medically induced coma. The airbag and steering wheel from the collision had caused brain swelling and a slight fracture in her upper spine. As far as the hospital was concerned she was a Jane Doe.

Looking around the hospital room, she fumbled around the bed for the nurse's call button.

The nurse got her contact information, and attempted to contact her husband Jim, but received the message that this number was no longer in service.

An hour later, Linda's parents arrived.

At the nurse's station Linda's parents waited, the police officers were finishing taking Linda's statement, they wanted to see their daughter. They learned from the nurse that she arrived from a fatal car crash with brain swelling a slight fracture in her spine, and a fractured arm. That she had no identification at the scene, until she woke there was no way to a notify next of kin until Linda told them her personal information.

Linda learned that her 'boyfriend' was DOA. He bleed out from the gunshot to his throat and penis detachment. The police ask if her husband might be responsible. Linda admitted that she had not seen the shooter because she was occupied. but she did tell them that if it was Jim, he would have screamed her name, and she would have noticed that. She cried out in fear as reality finally sank in of what she had done... to Jim, and her family.

Her mother upon entering the hospital room tried to console her daughter, but Linda would not tell her what she had done.

The nurse knocked on the door before entering. She ask if there was another way to reach her husband? His phone was disconnected. Linda cried out again. She knew what she did, and she knew his stance on cheating. Dee said that Dave always got mad then got over it. She got to have her fun, and her husband. As simple as that. Dee said Jim would get over it like Dave always does. Dee didn't know Jim very well.

Her father drove to Jim and Linda's house to check on Jim. He rang the doorbell several times, but he didn't hear any noise. The kids always screamed to see who would get to the door first. He took out his key, and unlocked the front door.

As the door swung open, he knew that this wasn't good.

He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but Linda's father told her that the house was empty. No furniture, or signs of life. No clothing or toys. There was food in the cabinets and refrigerator. The only other things were Jim's wedding ring, and a note to Linda.

Linda cried and sobbed most of the day. She refused to read the letter until she was alone. As visiting hours were over, Linda broke down and told her parents what she had done. How she had dumped Jim to go have a night of passion with a sports star, and that someone had shot her "date"? while she gave him oral.

If her father screamed at her any louder, security would have been called. "You cheated on the best son-in-law, a father could ask for. I don't fuckin' blame him for leaving you! You disrespected him in the worst way! Now, I'll never be able to take my grandson fishin'! Shit, I'll never see them again, and it's because you couldn't keep your legs closed." That said, he left the room.

"It wasn't supposed to be like that. He's supposed to be a home waiting to reclaim me. Dee said so."

Her mother picked up her jacket and put it on. "Jim is a proud man. What did you think he would do? He gave you the Moon, and you shit all over his manhood." She walked to the door.

"If they release you, I'll be back. Don't expect your Dad. In a month or two, he may calm down enough to speak to you. You'll never find another Jim." She closed the door behind her.

As the door closed, Linda looked at the envelope. Taking a deep breath, her chest hurt from the crash, and her hands were shaking as she pulled the hand written note from the envelope. She had expected a long letter, but it was only a short note.

'Linda,

I thought that you loved me but tonight, you proved to me that it was all a lie. I had my suspicion that you were cheating on Girls Nights, and the easy at which you ignored me and left with him proved it to me.'

'I wonder if the children are mine. I will get them tested, for sure.'

"As you tore my heart out tonight, I will now tear yours out. I am taking the the children and leaving. Don't try to find me because you never will. I want your heart to ache every time you walk through our empty house knowing that you will never see your children again.'

'I will instruct LW to file for divorce on Abandonment, so you will be free to fuck as many men as you want. Maybe you'll get pregnant again and have a new child to replace ours.'

Her scream brought the nurses running.

Jim Carlisle exited, and Jim Thompson arrived driving a new SUV to the small neighborhood where tall trees lined the streets. It was smaller city of around 60,000 citizens, and only an hour away from their old city where Jim and LW had their business. It was a college town with lots of activity.

Jim got the kids out of their car-seats, and they walked to the front door. Turning the key, and opening the door, the children ran in and felt right at home. All their belongs moved into this house, gave them a feeling of 'home'.

LW came from the kitchen with a couple cups of coffee, and a woman that appeared maybe five to ten years older than Jim. "Jim, I would like you to meet Brenda. I took it upon myself to hire a nanny for you. She understands her duties with the household and the children. She understands that you will sometimes travel for several days each month, and it will require her to be here 24/7."

Jim assessed the woman. A very pretty face, pleasantly plump figure on what he would guess as five-two, and a very warm smile. She reached out her hand, and Jim took it. "It's nice to meet you, Brenda."

"I look forward to running your household, Mr Thompson."

"It's Jim. Please call me Jim."

"Yes, sir. Jim. I will take the children outside and let you gentlemen have your meeting."

LW smiled. "I thought that you would like her. She reminds of that girl that you dated before you met Linda."

Jim nodded that LW was right. "Yes, she does."

As time passes, as it does. LW did get Linda a divorce on grounds of abandonment after two years had past. Jim had learned during that time, that Brenda was a widow. Her husband and children had passed in horrible car accident, and she had difficulty recovering until she started being Jim's nanny. The love of Jim's children healed her loss, and she didn't mind that they wanted to call her, Mommy Brenda, and over time only Mommy. By the time that the divorce was granted, Jim was having feelings for Brenda. She was a genuine good person.

Over longer time, Jim would court and marry Brenda, and they would make a picture perfect family.

Linda would always have a upper back injury related to that accident. It ached every morning as she rose, but it was nothing to her like the arch in her heart. She wondered every day about her children. She kept their home, it was paid for, and hopefully, one day, the children might come back here to her. Somehow, some time. The guest bedroom walls were lined with birthday presents that she bought on the children's birthdays. She spend most nights at home alone. Her father had been right, she hadn't found another man like Jim. Jim wasn't perfect but until she screwed it up, he had seemed to love her more than anything. The men that she brought to her bed didn't love her. She was just convenient.

Even later, Emily, formerly Emma, was engaged to marry to nice young man. She had traveled to the big city with her mother, Brenda, to shop for the upcoming wedding. Linda was never know that the woman that drew her attention that day, in that store, was her daughter. Linda felt sad inside as she watched the mom and daughter excitedly shop.

Another decade passed, both of Linda's parents had now passed away. She had put off closing down the house, but she couldn't put it off any longer. She had accepted an offer on their house. As she was packing away her mother's bedroom, Linda found a framed photograph from a wedding. As she looked at it, to the bride's right were her parents, an older Jim with some woman. On the groom's left was a tall young man and his obvious wife.

She dropped to her knees, and cried. See had seen her children or been apart of their lives for over two decades, but her parents had. She couldn't understand why Jim would include them, and not her. Why hadn't her mother told her?

As she sat on the floor, she looked under the bed to see a shoebox. Opening it, she gasped as it was full of snapshots of Emma and Tommy as they grew up. If mother had kept these there had to be an address somewhere for her children.

After spending two days searching the house, she gave up. There were no addresses to be found.

She took the group photo from the wedding and looked at it. It should have been her, not this woman. She was about to smash the picture frame when she realized that the woman and the bride were familiar. It came rushing back that she had sen them before, years ago, in some shop. It tugged at her memory, that she had been so close to her daughter, and never knew.

Hugging the picture to her breast, Linda began to sob.

For those that might wonder how my JIM could be so cold, it is as simple as my buddy was a right or wrong guy. There was no grey areas for him. No regrets over bad decisions, he'd say "I learned somethin'". A believer in 'Tuff Love'>