Miss-Communication

Mike was oblivious to the life changing moment, which was about to happen. Sitting in his favorite rocker reading the paper and sipping iced tea his world was perfect or so he thought.

It was midnight. A humid July type of midnight when even with the windows open no air moved through the house and you found your clothes sticking to your skin as if you had just showered in them.

In the distance he could hear the song of the coyote's and the accompanying cricket orchestra. On the radio Art Bell was debating the existence of UFO's with Rob from Rochester.

The children were away at camp and Linda was asleep upstairs. For as long as Mike had known Linda she required a minimum of ten hours sleep per night, without it her mood swings matched the pressure changes in Oklahoma before a tornado. As for himself he was and always had been a light sleeper requiring no more than five or six hours per night.

Midnight had become his private hour. His time for unwinding from life's stresses time. Some nights he would escape with a good book. On other nights he would watch an old movie or maybe sit in the old porch swing and see how many shooting stars he could count. The activity was not important the time alone was.

Noticing that his iced tea glass was empty Mike wandered into the kitchen for a refill. He heard the floorboards upstairs squeaking, looking at the clock he assumed it was Linda coming down for a glass of water. Sure enough before he finished preparing his tea she shuffled sleepily into the kitchen.

"Can I get you some water, sweetheart?"

"I'm not thirsty I actually came down so we could talk Mike. We never seem to talk anymore so I waited until the girls were away at camp so we could have a private conversation."

Needing to talk was Linda's warning flag signaling that someone was in trouble and usually that someone was him. Suddenly Mike had a hollow feeling deep in the pit of his stomach. With budding trepidation he sat at the kitchen table waiting for Linda to drop her bombshell.

Without preamble she began; "Before the girls left for camp I discussed the possibility of us getting a divorce with them."

He was in deeper trouble than he thought. Where had the idea of divorce come from?

"Don't look so shocked Mike you know we have not been communicating well and for quite some time we have shared the same house while living separate lives."


Divorce, the girls and a lack of communication suddenly Mike did not feel so hot. "What shocks me Linda is not that the thought of a divorce crossed your mind . What shocks me is you being selfish enough to discuss something like that with the girls before they left for camp or for that matter discussing it with them at all. It would have been nice if we discussed it first and than if necessary share our feelings with the girls, not you arbitrarily and alone but us together."

"You see Mike this is why we never talk you are always making a mountain out of a molehill. We had a conversation, mother to daughters, no lawyers involved. I just thought they should know what I was feeling."

"That what it always comes down to Linda, what you feel, what you think, what you want, in your mind its your world and the rest of us are welcome to it. You are skipping a few steps in your little tirade here. Like communication, talking about our problems, our fears and our concerns."

"Mike what do you expect from me. I am at the end of my rope. I have not been happy for a while and I just wanted to discuss possibilities with our girls. I am not even sure what road the discussion would take but I thought it was only fair."

Even having spent the better part of his adult life attempting to translate Linda's thought pattern into reality was not helping him here. To her discussing divorce with their daughters was no different than debating, which flavor ice cream to select at Coldstones.

"Linda you are not playing fair. Not only did you talk to them behind my back but you waited until they were gone to tell me. Who knows what fears or confusion you planted with your little talk. Now there is nothing I can do for them until they return. You really do take the cake Linda, you really do."

"Don't talk to me about fair Michael Hammond. Is it fair that we spent four out of the last five years taking care of my mother? Is it fair that after all we did for her she still left the bulk of her estate to Annie? Is it fair that just when we got our life back you ruptured two discs in your back? Is any of that fair Mike? Well I am sick and tire of life being unfair and if your feelings get hurt along the way so what. I am looking at the backside of my thirties and I do not have much time left to have fun and if that means having fun with someone else than so be it."

"GOOD NIGHT MICHAEL!!!"

Mike sat shaking at the kitchen table. Her voice still echoed in his head even as he heard her footsteps stomping up the stairs.

What happened to the innocent and loving girl I married?

Where did all of her pent up poison come from?

What had he done to draw such wrath from her?

What am I going to do?

Those and other questions followed Mike outside where he sank into the porch swing. As he looked up at the stars he thought to himself, "The sky does not appear to be all that clear this evening." As his hand absent mindedly wiped the moisture from his tear filled eyes.