Here it is…
Part Three:
Frank entered from the bathroom in fresh pajamas. He walked over to Marian and gave his usual kiss. Then as Marian know he would… as he always did… Frank Banner reached for his book and settled into the bed to read. Marian starred from the love seat across the room and waited. Her heart continued to pound in her chest; and Frank lovingly turned the pages. He was drawing to the conclusion, the climax of the novel. His excitement grew, and his body position became more upright. Marian was very still… just watching, waiting. And then it happened.
Frank turned the last page that was available. He realized that something was missing. His eyes grew big. His breathing changed and his chest began to heave. He became excited but didn’t speak. He looked as if he was in pain. Real pain. Marian had expected him to be upset… but not this.
“Frank! What’s the matter,” she cried.
Frank could barely get the words out…. “911,” he said. the book fell from his hands to the floor. His eyes became distant. And then he was gone.
********
Marina couldn’t stop wearing the black clothing that had been her garb for seven weeks. She wandered from room to room looking for any sign of the man she loved. She went into the closet and took his clothing from a hanger. Burying her face in it, Marian inhaled deeply. Her eyes filled with fresh tears and she sobbed for the loss of him.
Her legs crumbled and she fell to the floor next to his side of the their bed. She lay there on the floor subbing until it seemed she was void of any emotion. As Marian began to rise from the floor her hand touched something nestled just under the bed. At first she froze and then with trembling hands she reached for it, touched it, and then clutched it.
The book was closed. Her pages were stilled. Marian rose from the floor, with book in hand. She pulled it close to her bosom. Again her eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know what to do!” She cried aloud. “I am so alone and I long for him Why must I be alone? Please! I beg of you… anyone… give me someone to love! I can’t stand it anymore. Or kill me! Come for me too!”
A passionate plea. There was no voice to answer her and yet she heard it… like a snake hissing in the grass… “Read it.”
To her amazement, Marian obeyed and opened the book. Her eyes scanned the title and then the first chapter. Then came the second and third chapter. He husband’s lover was talking to her, soothing her. Before she knew it, Marian had read the entire morning away. She read away the rest of the day and into the night. In fact reading was all Marian wanted to do. The housekeeper came and went while Marian buried her pain in this new friend. No more tears were shed. Her unfinished projects lay everywhere. She didn’t want them anymore. She had found a replacement and it soothed away the painful loss of Frank in a way she had never known.
Without food or water, Marian reached the last chapter. Her pace quickened to get to the end of the book and see what happened… and then it came to her. Those last five pages!
There was no logic to her thought… just panic.
“I can’t lose this too!”
Consumed by her fear, she frantically scurried through the house trying to remember where she had dumped them… Yes! The laundry room! Where she kept the scissors!
Marian ran to the laundry room, book in hand. Her heart was full as she opened the door. She thought of the beloved book that needed to be put back together… not for it’s self alone but for her! More and more she clutched the book to her body… She couldn’t stop herself from saying aloud, “I’m so sorry, little book. I’m so sorry I did that! Everything will be fine in just a minute.”
In what seemed like an eternity of seconds she reached the laundry room and flung open the door.
No pages. Not anywhere. Only a note from the housekeeper left on the washer:
“Mrs. Banner, since this is trash day I cleaned up in here for you and put out the trash. Have a good day… so sorry about Mr. Banner.”
In the distance just outside the house and through the washroom window, Marian could hear the trash truck arrive. There was a slow moaning, whirring sound that she recognized as the trash truck lifting the trash can and then placing it back down. Her breathing came faster and faster. It was as if she couldn’t breathe. She felt sick and then faint and fell to the floor. For a moment she struggled to recover and then… nothing. All was quiet inside the house and out. The trash can was empty and Marian lay sprawled on the laundry room floor with her husband’s lover lying atop her dead body. A breeze fluttered through the window. The pages of the book moved in the wind as if the were alive… and laughing.
******
Interesting that I would write this since it is not something I would take off a shelf and bring home. And yet it makes me wonder… if things that seem to be only an object can in some way have a life of their own.
We do this, don’t we? We name our cars, some of us. We have what are called lucky charms… do they think or feel? Probably not. Yet when we are weak and tired, we are tempted to do these things and scratch the itch that should never be scratched instead of looking up, for a better solution.
Have a beautiful weekend!
Best… Carolyn Thomas Temple