Mrs Whittler heaved a sigh of relief as she put down three very heavy shopping bags on the kitchen counter. The groceries she had just bought would do just nice for James and her for the week.
She was faintly annoyed. She had asked James earlier to go with her to the store to help her pick up the items. But he had dawdled and put on a most reluctant face, so she had told him to ‘Forget I asked. I’ll go pick up the stuff myself’.
That was one thing about James that she really didn’t like after more than twelve years of being married to the man. He didn’t pull his own weight or contribute to the house chores very much. He just shuffled along, yes just shuffled along – he was best at that.
It was that she was making James out to be a selfish or self-centered kind of person; he was by most measures, a good husband. He worked hard at his job and brought money back on time to maintain the family. But he just wasn’t all there.
When they had met, she had known that he was no Casanova or Romeo; he wasn’t particularly bright, but quite loyal like a puppy wagging its tail. He was never romantic or passionate and making love to him was like having a slow picnic in the park, you knew exactly what was in the picnic basket and you just gave it time for the picnic to play out.
Thinking all these thoughts made Sally feel almost unkind, on another day when she might have felt more spiteful towards her husband of twelve years, she would have thought to herself that she would let him go without his supper and let him go hungry.
Suddenly she heard the doorbell going off. It must be her sister Martha, she said she would drop by to visit her and bring her some tea cakes. Sally loved her sister’s tea cakes, they were small and delicious with the aroma of fresh butter.
Opening the door, it was Martha alright, but she was looking almost disheveled, the sight of her usually perfectly groomed sister in such a state of appearance startled her quite a bit.
She quickly usher Martha to a cosy cushion seat in the sitting room.
‘Give me a minute! I’ll just put the kettle to boil and bring you some tea’.
Sitting from across Martha, she noticed that she looked like she hadn’t slept in years! Both her eyes were tired and bloodshot, and in the corner of her right eye, it looked like she had cried and she had traces of mascara left over.
‘Come on dear, tell me what happened.’
‘Roger talked to me earlier, he said very simply that he was going away. He said he couldn’t stay with me anymore and he was leaving. That’s it.’
‘Oh dear, how did that come about? You both always seemed so good with each other?’
‘Oh I don’t know, I really don’t! I know Roger seemed unhappy with our marriage for some time now. I just don’t know what to do. I try to be a good wife to him, cook him what he likes and keep the house neat and tidy for him. I just don’t know what I am not doing or what I am doing to make him so unhappy with me! I just don’t!’
‘There there sweet. Do you want me to ring him and try to talk to him or something? Or do you want James to ask him out and let him try to sort Roger out? Things can’t be that bad surely. I am sure we can still salvage matters.’
‘No you don’t understand Roger, he is an intensely private person and he doesn’t like washing dirty linen in public. He said he won’t divorce me or anything, he’ll just go live abroad and I can tell people that he is away on a work assignment. That way we can still keep up appearance. But I can’t stand it! Why doesn’t he see that I am in love with him still? I love him very much and he is all I have! I can’t stand for him to leave me just like that! That would kill me Sally, you know it would!’
Seeing Martha all worked up and in tears like that really made Sally upset. She did care for her younger sister very much as an elder sister should. She found herself thinking about her James, in comparison, James’ lameness in not helping out around the house didn’t seem all that atrocious now. Shopping for groceries alone wasn’t really all that bad. She made up her mind then that she would cook James a nice supper this evening.
She stood up and went to the phone, she knew Roger’s office number by heart. She had called him a number of times in the last couple of months to chat about things.
‘Hi Roger, this is Sally. Martha is over at my place. Can I invite you over this evening for supper together with James? No, no I won’t take no for an answer. It will just be a quick supper, nothing fanciful. I should be most grateful if you would oblige.’ Great, I’ll see you at half past seven then.’
She gave Martha a small glass of brandy and made her rest up awhile in the guest room. After that she went down to the kitchen to prepare supper for the evening.
She made up her mind that it would be a special supper. It would be a labor of love for Martha and Roger.
After everyone had settled down at the table, Sally served out the poached vegetables and potatoes first. She had made roast chicken flavored with rosemary and thyme. She knew both Roger and James enjoyed that dish immensely. As a special side, she had also made baked Portobello mushrooms drizzled with cheese and topped with smoked salmon.
Dessert was Martha’s favorite, baked custard pudding with just a light caramel crisp on the top, drizzled with caramelized brown sugar.
While Martha went to get the coffee for everyone while James excused himself to the bathroom, Sally said to Roger ‘So you finally did it. Well you know that’s the right thing to do. You never really loved her. You always did love me better. It will all be alright now dear.’
There was a terrible clang as a tray of tea cups and freshly brewed coffee fell to the floor. ‘That must be Martha’, Sally said in a matter-of-fact way.
‘I’ll go check on James, he’s taking an awfully long time in the bathroom.’
After awhile, Roger heard Sally calling out to him in a light sing-song voice, ‘oh dear me, James is dead. My, my…’
