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This story is about a woman who finds out, one year after the death of their daughter, that her husband has committed adultery. The story is about the power of forgiveness and redemption - and how faith is strengthened through suffering.
Here is an excerpt from the story. It is when Carmen (the wife) tells her two boys that she needs time apart from their father. The scene begins with her picking them up from school. And since I can't double post, it's cut off short.
“Why are you here Mom?” Logan asked, his forehead creased together in worry. The last time Carmen had picked them up from school without warning had been the day of the accident. It was funny how they all referred to it that way – as if afraid to call it what it really was. She pressed her lips firmly together, trying to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat when she saw her two sons escaping from the throng of students pouring out the front doors of their school. Gabe and Logan went to Mt. Zion Christian School. Carmen couldn’t believe that her eldest would be inundated to the public school system in only two years. High school would be here before any of them knew it, and although Gabe might be ready in two years, Carmen felt quite sure she would never be.
Both boys exchanged worried glances at their mother’s expression. Over the course of the year, they had grown accustomed to the face she made when she was trying hard not to cry, and she was wearing it now. Alarm bells went off in both of their heads. “Mom.” Logan spoke gently from the backseat, his eyes growing wider by the second. “Mom, what’s wrong? Didn’t you have to work today?”
She gulped and took a deep breath, willing her voice to sound even and controlled. “I thought I’d pick you up.” Her voice, like her face, betrayed her. It quivered as she spoke, as if something was stuck in her throat. “I thought we could go to Jerry’s.” Jerry’s was a pizza parlor that served pizza so greasy you began to worry about the condition of your heart after eating it. The boys loved it.
Logan’s eyes lit up; his worried expression vanished. But Gabe wasn’t such an easy sell. Always her doubting Thomas, he looked at her with a face filled with skepticism. His eyes, which were so much like her own, narrowed in suspicion. Pizza on a Thursday after school? She knew exactly what he was thinking. What gives? But he didn’t say anything as she pulled away from the curb. He didn’t say anything on the short drive to Jerry’s Pizza Parlor, and he didn’t say anything when she parked the car and unbuckled her seat belt. Instead, he slumped silently in the front seat, stealing suspicious glances at his mother from the corner of his eye.
Logan jumped out of the car, his rich golden hair flashing in the sunlight as he ran towards Jerry’s front doors. Logan would eat pizza every day of the week if his parents let him. Carmen remembered his eighth birthday party, almost six months ago, when he tried to convince her, while shoveling hot, gooey, pepperoni pizza into his mouth, that he was getting all the important food groups. Cheese counted for dairy, pepperoni counted for meat, tomato sauce counted for vegetable and the lime flavor in his Sprite counted for fruit. He had said this all with a straight face, ticking off each of the four food groups with his greasy fingers. She had to give him credit for his creativity.
It wasn’t until after the boys played four arcade games each and ate their fill of sausage and olive pizza, that Carmen took the last sip of her diet soda and cleared her throat. Gabe looked up immediately at the sound, like a doe hearing the coch of a rifle. All through their meal Carmen brooded over the horrible position Ben had placed her in. She forced herself to eat at least one slice to appease Gabe’s suspicion, who sat glowering over his plate, furtively studying his mother. How in the world was she suppose to explain to her boys the events that had transpired that day? Anger and hurt gathered inside her, swirling faster and faster until she felt a tornado of emotions spinning her stomach into a ruined pile of debris. Everything was happening too fast. Carmen wished she could just catch her breath. But Logan sat down his glass, smacked his lips, and looked at Carmen expectantly. He had just finished gulping down his fruit punch and now a bright red rim decorated his upper lip. It made her want to laugh and cry all at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, she fought for composure. “I have some bad news guys.”
“I knew it,” Gabe mumbled under his breath, slouching further down into the booth and crossing his arms over his chest. Logan’s eyes grew big as he looked from his brother to his mom, confusion and alarm mingled in his eyes.
Carmen figured there was no easy way to say it and perhaps, if she just said it nice and fast, it wouldn’t be as painful. Sort of like a Band-Aid, she thought. Fast and hard – a quick burst of pain followed by momentary shock, and by the time you acknowledged anything was wrong, the pain had already dissipated. But Carmen knew this wasn’t like a Band-Aid. The pain would not miraculously vanish. How could it? Ben hadn’t just cheated on her; he had cheated on their entire family. “Your dad and I need some time apart.”
Logan continued his frantic head dance, his eyes leaping from his mother to his brother, not satisfied with the looks of either one. “What do you mean Mom?” he asked, his small chin giving a feeble quiver.
Carmen reached across the table and covered his small, warm hand with hers. Gabe continued to sit sullenly across from her, his face turned away from hers. He had gone from not being able to stop staring at her to looking away in the opposite direction. She wanted to justify herself. Tell him it wasn’t her fault. That it was Ben’s. But she knew she couldn’t do that. She cared more about her sons’ emotional wellbeing than pointing the finger.
This post has been edited by ktmac: Mar 23 2008, 09:04 AM
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"The only malady Severus is guilty of subjecting me to was a rather uncomfortable slug situation that your friend Ron must be far too familiar with." ~Albus Dumbledore~
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Mar 21 2008, 10:20 AM
They are really good, and very well written!
