The Old Neighborhood

The boys were situated in front of the TV for the night so I sat at the kitchen table waiting for Marcie to finish cleaning up. She seemed to be taking longer than usual, but I didn't budge. Finally she turned towards me and sat with her elbows on the Formica top.

"What did you do with Rodney?" She wasn't mad or demanding, but seemed to be sincerely concerned. She looked at me when she said it and then looked across the room as she waited for an answer.

"I was in Atlantic City all week. I haven't seen Rodney since the party."

"You hurt him."

"I hope so."

"He was in the hospital for two days. You broke his jaw and his nose."

"He deserved it." She seemed to be out of questions.

"What were you doing with him in the men's room?"

I waiting a few moments, but got no answer.

"Why did he have his hand up your skirt?"

Still no answer. Marcie was wringing her hands and looking at the table top.

"Why aren't you at work, and what are then kids doing home on a school day?"

"I had to quit work. There was no way that I could go back there again. I took the boys out of school, because your mother said that you might be home today."

It was time for some confrontation.

"I told you that there was only one rule. You could not do anything that would humiliate me or my family. A simple rule. Why did you feel the need to ruin everything by violating it? The two of you just felt that you had to rub it in. Why?"

Marcie seemed to be getting a bit more nervous the longer we sat.

I slammed my fist on the table top really hard. "I said, why? Damn it. Answer me."

"I don't know why. I don't know why. It just happened. You were sitting in the corner like a lost puppy dog and we felt we could take advantage of the situation. We had no idea that you were going to go crazy. You acted like a madman. I was scared to death." At least I was getting a little emotion out of her. Of course, none of it made sense. I wouldn't even begin to analyze what she said. It was a stupid thing for them to do while I was there. They had weeks to get together before the party and I never would have known about it. No, the only reason they chose that time and that place was to humiliate me. All of her gibberish would not change that.

"Marcie, you have three choices: you can stay here and be a proper mother to your children: you can get a divorce and leave without the kids: or you can just disappear. If you stay, we will not be living as man and wife and I will not tolerate any more affairs with Rodney or anyone else." At the mention of Rodney's name, Marcie burst into tears. Before she could make a choice, she bolted from the room while bawling. I guess we would be finishing that conversation tomorrow.

Adjustments were made. I got a small apartment a few blocks from the house. It was close enough that the boys could walk over anytime they wanted. Carla moved in with me.

The police talked to me a few more times and then stopped bothering. Rodney Foote was picked up by a taxi cab outside the hospital and never seen again. His family offered a reward for any information, but got no response.

I had supper with Marcie and the boys every night and spent as much time as possible with my sons on the weekends. It was apparent to everyone that Marcie and I were not together as a couple anymore even though we were still married. Marcie spent a lot of time with her parents and her sister. I had no trouble with that. There was nothing to indicate that she was seeing anyone else. She quit her job right after the Christmas party and did not appear to be interested in getting another one. We never finished the conversation that we had the first night that I came home.

She played the part of a good mother. The house was always neat, the boys always ate well and they had clean clothing. I took care of all the lawn and outside work. Marcie got two hundred dollars every week to take care of home expenses, food, and her personal needs. I always asked her if she wanted more and she always refused. We no longer had any credit cards.

At Thanksgiving and Christmas, the boys and I were with my family. Carla usually joined us. Marcie spent the holidays with her family, but had Christmas Eve with the boys.

Things were awkward whenever Terry or Rick wanted to talk about the relationship between their mother and myself. Both of us refused to discuss it with them. I appreciated that on her part, but then what could she say.

The farce continued for years. Of course my meager explanation does not nearly convey things as they actually happened. There were complications and disagreements constantly, but we prevailed.

Things with Carla were fine to start with. As time went by, she started spending more time with her family in Philly and less with me. I couldn't blame her. I was indebted to her for all the effort she put forth to make the brake-up easier to take. The way things were going I could not divorce Marcie, and as long as the boys were still at home, I couldn't throw her out. They were all self imposed limitations, but I made myself stick with them. I hated the whole situation, but could not come up with an alternative. The boys, however, were able to.

Terry was sixteen when things came to a head. A new kid at school was related to my wife's former lover and insisted on provoking Terry about the situation. It was the first time any of this had every come up and he was not prepared for it. Rodney's nephew ended up at the hospital and I ended up having to pick up Terry at school. He was expelled for two weeks and was facing possible assault charges. Unfortunately, Rick was present when everything went to hell and insisted on trying to help his brother. He ended up losing two teeth, but gained his brother's admiration for the attempt.

Marcie met us at the door when I brought her sons home. Terry immediately started to tear into his mother for not leveling with them about what had happened years ago. Marcie offered no defense. She just stood and listened as her oldest son expressed his anger. I left them alone, to take Rick to the dentist.

Rick didn't seem too broken up about the missing teeth, but I was not too nuts about the dental expenses coming up. When we got home Marcie was gone. Her car was still there, but that was about it. Terry said she just grabbed her purse and walked out. She never said a word to him or offered an explanation. I took a week off from work to settle things down.

Marcie's parents and sister refused to even talk to me. After a week, I still had no idea where she was or what her intentions were. Carla and I moved into the house. The fact that we were sharing a bed was uncomfortable at first, but the boys accepted it far easier than I had imagined that they would.

Everything in the house that had been Marcie's or that was connected to Marcie disappeared one day while I was at work. I had no idea what Carla did with it and I never asked.

Carla took over all the duties that Marcie had been doing. I got her a few credit cards to make things easier. It was odd that I trusted my mistress more than I trusted my wife. I sold Marcie's car and bought a new one for Carla. Family gatherings were a lot less stressful with the new arrangement. Carla was a lot happier and my mother was elated. Terry and Rick had no further trouble at school and Rodney's nephew never returned. Things were finally looking up, but I was still married.

I waited two months before going to the police and reporting Marcie as a missing person. Actually, I just reported her as a run-a-way spouse so that I could use the report when I applied for the divorce using abandonment as a cause. I waiting two more months and then submitted the divorce papers. She had to be gone for a year before it would be granted. I was planning ahead.

Things normalized in the household. Terry and Rick had no trouble taking to Carla. They never called her mom, always Carla, but things were fine. We were more like a family than we had been for years. One day, out of the blue, my final decree of divorce was delivered. I was a free man. Two weeks later, Carla and I drove down to Elkton and tied the knot. We were a family again. Terry graduated from school and joined the Air Force. A year later, Rick decided to go to meat cutting school in Toledo. Everything went so fast. Soon Carla and I were alone. We never heard from Marcie.

Mom and dad moved to Ocala and made everybody promise to visit at least twice a year. There was no longer anything holding us to Reading, so Carla and I moved back home to Philly. Rick hooked up with a fancy butcher shop in West Chester after graduating from his school. We got to see him a few times a month and he always had something nice to surprise us with.

About a year later, one of Carla's nieces was getting married and we naturally had to go. An Italian wedding in the City of Brotherly Love is a big deal. By big, we mean attended by a lot of people, mostly relatives, but also a lot of freeloaders looking for booze and free food. It didn't matter, because there was enough to go around.

We were sitting with some friends, enjoying the evening when I noticed that Carla seemed a little nervous. I had seen her looking across the dance floor several times as if she was staring at something. I took a few quick glances and saw nothing. I forgot about it until my wife excused herself to go the ladies room. Something didn't seem right. I watched her walk towards the back of the hall and meet up with one of her old girl friends.

There was a lot of chatting and some posturing, but it all seemed on the up and up. Carla never went to the rest room, but walked over to one of Sal's personal assistants. Carla was gesturing over towards the table where her girlfriend just came from. There were three guys and three girls at the table. They looked like galooks trying to be something that they weren't. The girls were all over-dressed and on the sluttish-looking side.

Carla returned with a pensive, but confidant look on her face.

"Tony, we have a small problem."

"I figured that from your trip around the room. Care to explain it to me?"

"You have to keep your cool. In a couple of minutes one of the guys over at Gina's table is going to come over here and bait you."

"What the hell do you mean, bait me?"

"He is going to say some insulting things about me in order to get you mad. When you get up to fight him, the three of them are going to beat the crap out of you."

"What am I supposed to do? Let him get away with it?"

"Play along with him. At least, just until Bobby V and the boys can get in position. You might have to handle one of them, but that will be the worst of it."

"What do you mean by 'play along with him'?"

"Let him insult me and then agree with him. If he says that I am a whore, ask him how much he is willing to pay. Something like that. What ever you do, don't let him rile you."

"What brought all of this on? What did I do to these guys?"

"Look over at Gina's table."

"Yeah?"

"Do you see the bitch with the short platinum hair?"

"Yeah?"

"Look close."

"Holy crap! It's Marcie. What the hell is Marcie doing here?"

"Marcie's boyfriend is somehow related to the bride. It appears that she is still pissed at you, and she set him up to clean your clock when she realized that you were here. I guess she is looking for some kind of payback. While you and Sal's boys are taking care of business out here, Gina and I will be talking to Marcie back in the ladies room. It won't be pretty."

I didn't like the way things were going. This was a wedding. A young bride would be remembering this evening for the rest of her life. It was not fair for a couple of goons to ruin it for her. Ten minutes later I noticed the guy that was with Marcie get out of his chair. I stood up and excused myself to everyone at the table. Carla gave me a strange look, but seemed to understand.

I casually walked over to the side fire exit where everyone was going out to have a smoke. The boyfriend gestured with his head and the other two guys got up to follow him. What they didn't see was the three guys coming behind them, from the back of the bar, with the Louisville Sluggers that they keep behind the bar.

There were about six guys smoking outside the fire exit. When I told them to scram, they left with no protest. There was a sense of urgency in my voice, I guess. I walked about twenty paces from the door, stopped, and turned. They came out smiling, but not for long. A few seconds later, they heard the door close behind them. The smiles disappeared when they turned and saw three guys with bats and the father of the bride.

It was all over in less than thirty seconds. I never raised a hand.

"I am sorry for any inconvenience that I caused you or your family on this special night." I felt like a character out of the Godfather.

"Thank you for having the decency to take it outside." He shook my hand and went back to his daughter.

I thanked Sal's guys for their help and went in to look for Carla. They stayed to clean up the mess. I felt it was time to leave. Carla was not around and the table where Marcie was sitting was now empty.

Rick was there with a few of his friends and got wind of the commotion. He found me at the bar getting a fresh draft.

"Dad, what the hell is going on?"

My first impulse was to bite my tongue and not say a thing. It didn't work.

"Your mother was here with her new boyfriend."

"I don't need to know anything more than that." He smiled as he turned to the bar tender and asked for a beer of his own.

We sat and talked about other things for about an hour. Carla finally showed up, looking a little bedraggled.

"Where have you been?"

She gave me a wicked little smile. "Gina and I had to take your ex-wife to the hospital. She wasn't feeling too well."

Rick and I couldn't help laughing.

"Tony. Can we go home now?"

It was a long night, but it was a lot of fun. We never saw Marcie again. Carla and I are still together, in the old neighborhood. Life is great.