Strands of Gray

A call to his cell phone reached his cheerful voice mail and Penny screamed in outrage and hung up.

It was Tuesday morning, after a quiet, bitter weekend, after a lonely Monday when Richard Boudreaux knocked on the front door of the Richards' home.

"Hi, I'm Richard Boudreaux," the smiling man said. "Ma'am, what kind of flowers are those? I just love how they're striped like that."

"Peppermint camellias," Penny said, looking at the flowers next to the front door.

"Ma'am, you're Penny Richards, aren't you?" Richard asked.

"Yes, yes I am," Penny agreed, still looking at the flowers.

"And you've been served," Richard said, handing her a large manila envelope. "You have a nice day."

He snapped her picture with a digital camera.

"I sent my Bernie a picture of them flowers; I bet before ten minutes she'll be telling me we got to have some," the man smiled as he opened the door of a Ford Taurus.

He laughed a happy laugh.

"That woman, I tell you," he said. "She knows all she's got to do is ask and it's hers."

At lunch time, William did retrieve his cell phone. Penny's tearful message broke his heart and he almost deleted it.

But, in the message, she did admit to her dalliance with Harris Phillips and William saved her message for his attorney to hear.

Trevor Williams, his divorce attorney had pointed out that, unless Penny, or Harris admitted to an affair, Penny could deny it ever happened.

"It's a 'No Fault' state," Mr. Williams," William said.

"True, true," Trevor agreed. "But adultery does give us more leverage in regards to alimony."

"God, he gets the damned house," William snapped. At least until Jennica decides to go to college. What more does she need, huh?"

"Sir, according to you, Mrs. Richards has not worked since, uh, since the birth of Rachael, uh, twenty two years ago, right?" Trevor said.

"High time she got back to the work force, don't you think?" William snapped.

But, now, listening to her tearful voice, hearing the anguish, the fear in her voice, William felt no sense of victory, no sense of moral vindication.

On Wednesday morning, Jennica quietly suggested to her mother that she might want to see an attorney, look over the petition for divorce, and make sure everything was fair and equitable.

"Nothing about divorce is fair, Jennica," Penny snapped.

"Maybe not, but still, you might want to see one anyway," Jennica said quietly.

"You're right, sweetie," Penny said heavily.

Nicole Banks, an attorney with Coutre and Associates, had availability at eleven that morning.

And as she was brushing her long brown hair, Penny saw another offending strand of gray. She savagely yanked it out. Then yanked at the two other gray strands she spotted along the part along the left side of her head.

Nicole Banks was an attractive young woman. The attorney didn't look much older than Rachael and Penny actually felt resentful as she spoke with the young lawyer.

"Your husband hasn't frozen the accounts, has he?" Nicole asked.

"God, you don't think... William wouldn't, he knows I need that money," Penny stammered.

With Penny's permission, Nicole did check the family account and the two credit cards. They had not been tampered with.

Nicole quickly filed an order of stay, to protect Penny from any attempts to freeze the accounts.

She also petitioned to have marital counseling ordered.

Even though Nicole's youth still rankled Penny, Penny did thank the young attorney.

"Mrs. Richards? I sincerely hope this counseling works," Nicole said. "But I want you to prepare yourself for the fact that it might not, okay?"

Despite Trevor Williams' objections, Judge Marie Robichaux did order counseling, declaring that a minimum of eight sessions must be attended by both parties.

Dr. Sylvia Hooperstein was notorious for siding with the women in her counseling sessions, was notorious for 'determining' that more sessions may be needed, often recommending as many as twenty one sessions, the maximum that most judges would sign off on.

Penny sat and wailed and sobbed and apologized to William for the first forty minutes of their first session.

"Will, I can call you Will?" Sylvia asked.

"Mr. Richards will be fine, thank you," William drawled.

"I uh, well, I don't see that we need to be so formal," Sylvia rankled.

"Well, DOCTOR Hooperstein, when you're the one paying me? Then you can make that decision," William said. "Since I'm the one paying you, since it's my paycheck paying the bills? I'm the one makes that decision."

"Fine," Sylvia seethed. "Do you have anything to add to what Penny just said?"

"No, not really," William said. "She was screwing the next door neighbor, had his cock in her mouth. An eighteen year old boy. No amount of 'I'm sorry' and 'It didn't mean anything' is going to unblow him, going to unscrew him."

The second session was very nearly a mirror image of the first. The third session, Sylvia decided to let William go first, rather than letting Penny go first.

"She was giving this eighteen year old boy a blow job," William said tiredly. She screwed the next door neighbor. No amount of 'I'm sorry' and 'it didn't mean anything' is going to undo any of that."

He turned and faced an angry Penny.

"But, gee, just for the fun of it, let me ask you something, huh?" William said. "Let's say you'd gone out, gone to the grocery store, then saw that you forgot your purse and came back home and let's say, you caught me in bed with that little Theresa Prejean, huh?"

Penny visibly jerked, face tightening.

"Uh huh," William said. "Not so easy, is it?"

"But she's just a child," Penny snapped.

"She's eighteen, same age as Harris; perfectly legal," William responded.

He smirked.

"And always walking around, shoving them huge boobs in my face every chance she gets," William continued.

So the next forty three minutes was taken up by Penny's complaints about the neighborhood Lolita that obviously had a crush on her husband.

In the beginning of the eighth session, Sylvia mentioned a possibility of requesting more sessions.

"You do and I'll have your records subpoenaed," William threatened.

He got to his feet.

"I'm sure the courts would like to see how many extensions you've requested that ended up in divorce anyway," he said.

"Where are you going; we have forty eight minutes," Sylvia snapped.

"Is another forty eight minutes of listening to her, or to you spouting horse crap going to unscrew Harris Phillips? Is it going to make my wife's cheating on me never happen? Is another forty eight minutes of this tedious blathering going to make her infidelity disappear? No? Then I'm done," William said and left the office.

Because he did not complete all eight court ordered sessions, Sylvia maliciously informed Judge Robichaux of William's dereliction. Because William was a teacher, Judge Robichaux declined to issue a bench warrant for his arrest, but did order that he complete the final session.

William was true to his word; a subpoena from Trevor Williams appeared, requesting all records of court ordered marital counseling in the previous five years.

"I told you not to do it," Penny said to Sylvia as William sat in the doctor's office. "Just like he refuses let anyone call him anything but 'William,' he's totally stubborn."

Penny got to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Sylvia asked.

"I'm sorry, William," Penny said, fresh tears coming to her eyes. "I really hoped, I really hoped you'd see I was willing to fight for our marriage, but I guess not."

"But not willing keep your legs closed," William snapped.

Penny walked out of the office.

"Well, I guess that's it, then," Sylvia sighed. "You can go, William."

"Oh no ma'am," William chuckled. "You ordered me to come back for one last session. Well? I'm here and we still have thirty seven minutes to go."

So for thirty seven minutes, William sat and stared at the doctor. At first she tried to maintain eye contact. After three minutes, she busied herself with other tasks.

Finally she snarled, "Go, all right? Just go. You win, all right?"

"Have a nice day, Dr. Hooperstein," William said and left the office.

Super One Foods hired Penny Richards to work evenings. William quickly found out that there was more to being a house wife than just sitting around and cleaning house. Even though Clay drove, he was often dependent on others to feed him, clean his clothes, finance his social life.

Jennica could not drive, but was involved in several activities and constantly needed a chauffeur.

So, if there was any silver lining to the cloud of this divorce, it was that William became more involved in the lives of his two younger children.

And, finally, the marriage ended with a few scribbles on some legal papers.

Penny would keep the house until Jennica reached twenty one years of age. Then the house would be sold and the proceeds split fifty-fifty. William's retirement accounts would likewise be split fifty-fifty upon his retirement.

No one really won any victory. No one felt any sense of satisfaction, of moral superiority.

One evening, while scanning a middle-aged woman's groceries, Penny noticed a box of hair coloring among the items

'Chestnut Brown'

"Wish I'd thought of that," Penny said out loud.

THE END

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my pleasure; I post them here for your enjoyment. I thank you for reading my stories.

I especially thank those that take the time to rate my stories that take the time to leave comments.

I am sure that the BTB—burn the bitch crowd and the SE—scorched earth crowd will despise this story. But you know what? Most divorces are not of the BTB and SE variety.

Most marriages that die do so very quietly.

Have a Lorielle, Nice N' Easy kind of day. Can you tell which twin has the Toni?