Hey there! Did ya miss me? Time to find out what Marian is doing!
Marian Marian Marian… I thought about her a lot today. Did you? Poor stupid Frank! He just doesn’t seem to get it, does he. Let’s see what she’s up to, shall we?
Bedtime with the Banners – Part Two
It was 7:00 in the morning. Marian watched Frank’s car drive away from the house. She waited until it had gone the length of the block and had turned the corner. Then she too turned and headed toward the bedroom where his lover lie languidly waiting. The book was sprawled peacefully spread-eagle on the bed-stand where he had left her last night. Marian picked it up and held it in trembling hands. Her fingers roamed over the cover.
She began to turn the book over and over. A deliciously nasty smile slithered across her face while her mind considered her iniquitous deed. “How to do this,” she thought.
(Well dang! She’s scaring the heck out of ME!)
Marian began to pace the floor. She continued to turn the book over and over. She thought; she plotted. “If I just get rid of her, it isn’t really solving the problem. I need to send Frank a message that his behavior with her is not acceptable… Besides…” and she looked down at what was in her hands… “I can’t just… kill her. Can I?”
She continued to manipulate the book in her hands as she walked to other rooms in the house. And then she walked into the sitting room. Marian looked up at the entire wall of books… Frank’s precious collection. Again that same smile crept across her face. She stood staring at the wall of books that decorated the room and looked down at her. “Hmmmm… ” she mused. “His pride. His joy!”
Immediately Marian left the room for boxes. By the time Frank was pulling back into the driveway, the deed was done. And, she waited calmly in the kitchen preparing the evening meal. It didn’t take long for the reaction she expected to explode into the room.
“Marian! Where are my books! What have you done!”
She looked up from her preparation and responded. “Why Frank, you’re not upset over that are you?” She played the innocence card to her advantage… “Sweetheart… My love… How was I to know you’d feel this way? Look at you. I’m so sorry!” She lifted her eyes to his from her work over the kitchen sink. She made that face all wives know can drive a man to his knees.
“The public library was having a book drive so I decided to empty those shelves for the good of the community. You don’t really mind, do you?” All of this she said as she caressed the back of his neck. ” Besides, I needed space for some of my collectibles and our family photos.”
Marian continued to smile; and then she reached out for his hands. He suddenly looked like a lost puppy and she gave him the comfort that he seemed so ready to take. She brought him into his arms and held him. More smiling. More touching. She felt victorious. Tonight he was hers! Success, she thought.
But that night after the dinner was over and life had been put away for the day, Frank again kissed his wife, fluffed his pillows and reached for the book instead of his wife. Marian lay there next to him watching her husband respond to the words she said to her beloved. She witnessed that half-cocked grin on Frank’s face as he read that use to be just for his wife of thirty years.
Marian’s jealousy grew to a raging inferno. His lack of response called for more drastic action, so the following day Frank’s wife removed his novel from the house… she gave it away.
Seven o’clock the next evening. Frank hollered from the bedroom, “Marian, where’s my book? I can’t seem to find it anywhere.”
There were giants all around her in her mind… guilt, rage, envy, lust… but she silently crept out into the light of the room to answer him. “I have no idea, Darling. Are you sure you put it up last night,” she said. “Maybe the housekeeper did something with it.”
And that night, Frank did pay attention to his wife for there was no lover other than Marian to be found. He held her, kissed her and gave her the attention that his wife longed to be given.
(Yeah… oh yeah… all that “kissy kissy shoo shoo bop stuff!” Woot! He was the MAN!)
The next morning Marian went about her household duties with a renewed sense of energy. She felt beautiful and sexy and triumphant! She was rid of the lover. Frank was hers again. But that night when Frank came to her and put his arms around her, she felt something in his hand that touched her back. The embrace ended and she stepped away to see that he had gone to the bookstore and bought something. It was her! Nothing had stopped him from his passion for her. Marian began to consider even more drastic measures. So while Frank prepared for bed, Marian did the deed.
In enmity she crept into the bedroom and stole the book. She raced to the laundry porch. With scissors in a shaking hand, Marian sliced away the last five pages from the story. They fluttered to the floor of the laundry room. There was no blood. There were no screams. But Marian knew she had killed that night. She had committed murder to keep her man!
“Marian! Where is my book? I would really like to finish this story tonight.”
“Darling, did you look in your office? By your brief case?”
She waited until she knew she could hear him in his office. Then she silently dashed for the bedroom and placed the book on the night-stand. A sigh escaped her lips. She retreated to her side of the bed and waited for Frank to come back and undress for the evening.
Her heart raced… she could feel her blood pounding through her temples. It seemed like forever before he returned empty-handed.
“There’s your book, Frank. I can’t imagine how you didn’t see it.”
He looked with anxious joy at her. His fingers lightly touched the cover; Marian shuttered. Then he retreated to the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed.
***********
Well this isn’t the end. We have to go into three parts! I was thinking about this triangle of trouble on the way into town today… and it came to me! There’s so much more to this story! We have to go for part three… oh… you’re gonna LOVE this! Well I hope you do. (Besides, I gotta go swim the mile tonight. No more writing until tomorrow.)
May you be blessed by all you know, kissed by those you love, and cherished by those who mean the most to you! Until tomorrow,
Best… Carolyn Thomas Temple