|
I re-read the comments Rod posted on this, so I edited it and wanted to see what everyone thought.
The rain poured outside like a hurricane. Occasionally, a rivulet of water would run down the window, once enough splashes had accumulated on the glass. Laurie thought they looked like tadpoles, because they had a round head and a long tail. She flinched at the thought, knowing Jerry would call her stupid for trying to see things that weren’t there.
Everything was stupid to him. TV was stupid, at least soap operas and Oprah. Sports were good watching, as long as it was football or baseball. Golf was a fag sport, he said. NASCAR was okay, but only when something caught on fire or crashed.
Laurie smiled to herself as she finished cleaning the last strands of silk off an ear of corn. She even let out a quiet laugh when she thought that Jerry wouldn’t find car crashes and fires so funny if he was in one. The thought of him burning and flailing around made her chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” he snapped. Laurie’s good mood evaporated instantly. “Nothing, Hon.” Jerry sniffed sarcastically. “Right… Oprah tell a man-hate joke, or something stupid?”
Laurie shrugged and dropped the corn into a three gallon pot of boiling water. Jerry’s steak was almost done, and she had to get everything on the table at once. “You gonna answer me, Laurie?” he said. “No, Jerry.”
“No, you aren’t gonna answer me? ‘Cause you just did, genius….”
“No, Jerry… I wasn’t laughing at a joke.”
“Good. I hate that fucking show… Bitch makes women think too much…”
Laurie sighed as quietly as she could. As she began to fish out corn with her tongs, she winced. She had a nasty bite on her left forearm. It was wrapped in gauze, which was starting to seep through. She kept it to herself. Whenever she mentioned it hurting, Jerry yelled at her for being stupid enough to try and feed animals she didn’t know.
When she woke him up crying because it hurt that night, he blew up. She made the monumental mistake of talking back. She yelled at him, “My arm hurts!” Jerry didn’t agree with women yelling at men. Despite her obvious agony, he punched her right in the mouth.
The memory of his red face, the rage in it, was still vivid. She’d been good ever since. It hurt, and had made her arm hurt even more. She didn’t want it again. Laurie arranged his mashed potatoes next to the steak, along with an ear of corn. She poured rich, meaty gravy over the potatoes and meat, taking care to not get any on the corn, which she topped with butter and salt. She carried it over to the table to set down for Jerry.
On the way over, the gauze on her arm pulled, and tugged on the healing flesh. She gasped in pain, and the fingers on her left twitched and she lost her grip on the plate. She didn’t drop it, but the gravy poured across the plate and got on the corn. She set it down on the table.
Jerry stared at the plate. “God-DAMNIT!” he glared at her. “You do this just to get back at me, don’t you?” Laurie shook her head vigorously “No”. Jerry jabbed his hand, palm up toward the plate as Laurie went back to serve herself. “Stupid goddamn woman… A man works all fucking day, and all he wants is his fucking dinner, and you go and fuck it up!”
He sneered at her. “Why didn’t you go to the damn hospital for that?”
Laurie was shaking now. “You said we couldn’t afford it… we don’t have insurance, and we…” Jerry looked at her shaking, trying to get her plate, not able to get her fingers to work properly; scared out of her mind. “Hey babe, come here, let me see that.” Laurie put her plate down. “You sure?”
“Sure babe, come here. Maybe I can help.” He held his hand out for her. “Let me see that.” He repeated. He took her wrist and began to tug at the tape that held the gauze together, short little tugs, like one would use to remove a band-aid from a particularly hairy body part. Laurie winced every time he pulled, but didn’t dare make a noise or pull away.
Jerry unwrapped the wound. She had deep punctures on both the top and bottom of her forearm. “Jesus Christ, Laurie. Why didn’t you go to the emergency room for this?”
“You said...”
“Don’t lay this on me, Laurie, I didn’t force you to do anything… Why didn’t you go?”
“Well, we d-don’t have innnsurance and I didn’t think we could afford….”
“What?! You think I’m a fuckin’ pauper?!”
“No!” she cried desperately. “I don’t honey, I just … just thought.”
He tossed her arm away and turned back to his food, ignoring her cry. “Godammit, I don’t have time for your bullshit, or your insults. Why don’t you fuck off and let me eat my meal in peace.”
Laurie didn’t react to what he had said. She was crying over the sink, trying to rewrap her arm that was now bleeding freely again for the first time in days. “Did you hear me!?” Jerry roared. Laurie jumped at the sound but didn’t move. She was still trying to stem the blood and rewrap her arm.
“God damn you, you bitch…” Jerry stood up out of his chair and slapped the plate off the table. It crashed on the floor near Laurie’s feet. She jumped and spun to see he husband stalking toward her. “You ruined my meal for the last time, god damn it!”
Jerry grabbed her forearm and dug his thumb into the bite. Laurie howled in pain and dropped to one knee. Jerry punched her in her cheek the kicked her to the floor. “Why can’t I have ONE! ONE god damn meal without having to listen to your shit!”
He had blown way past reason already. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Laurie knew he had been drinking all day. After losing his past few jobs, jerry had begun drinking heavily. She had suspected he was getting drunk on the job, but couldn’t confirm it, and was deathly terrified to snoop around to find out. Now, it was obvious. He lost his mind when he was drunk.
Jerry kicked at her several more times, and then began stalking around the kitchen, yelling obscenities and kicking and hitting whatever objects were nearby. She began to get up, and Jerry ran over, holding his balled fist in front of her face. She stared at it out of the corner of her eye, but kept her face turned away. He growled incoherently, and she could see his hand trembling with barely contained rage as he held it threateningly in front of her, almost drinking in her fear.
“Pussy.” He sneered and stood up straight and walked away.
She tried to contain her sobs. This was the worst Jerry had exploded in a long time. Laurie cried quietly as she lifted herself off the floor. She stared at the doorway where Jerry had left. She crept slowly toward the phone, shaking and watching for Jerry. She had to call for help. If she didn’t, she would never get away.
She almost couldn’t walk, she was so gripped by fear, but she forced herself forward. He hand was now numb, she couldn’t move her fingers. Her skirt was stained with blood, and her face was beginning to swell. She kept glancing nervously at the phone.
She finally reached it, and lifted the receiver as quietly as she could muster. She cradled it on her shoulder with her ear and slowly, shakingly dialed “9”. She reached up and dialed “1”, then stopped just short of pushing it again.
Standing in the doorway to the kitchen was Jerry, appearing almost to be a rabid animal. His head was held forward and down, his eyes staring up at her with a feral glint.
“Oh no…” came the weak, tiny words from Laurie’s terrified mouth.
|