Three Faces in the Mirror

Everything about this night had a surreal quality to it and strangely that served to only add to the heightened adventure of the night ahead. From the moment I left my house until the moment I had arrived at our previously agreed upon destination I had felt the detached reality of it all. I remember thinking that 'This was it. This was the point of no return'. Other ridiculous thoughts entered into my mind at that time; stuff that didn't make any sense at all. Random, disconnected thoughts like 'here is where the rubber hits the road' and 'if you had any sense at all...you'd run like the hounds of hell were on your heels.'

But I paid no heed to the last minute warnings and imaginary flashing caution lights in my head. Right...(no...there was nothing right about what I was going to do); so wrong or whatever...I was here I was going through with it and there was no turning back. I came to divide and conquer and that was just what I intended to do. There was one small pesky thought that had popped up in my mind just before I left home. I had finished dressing and was taking one last look at my makeup in the bathroom mirror, and as I started to turn away from the mirror something caused me to look back at my reflection.

I stood there and stared at myself for a moment and I did form a mental picture of myself...three pictures actually. I looked at myself as a warm and loving mother and grandmother, a helpful and pleasant co-worker and (this was the latest addition) a wanton and unscrupulous woman. The smile that I had on my face right then assured me that this was the most fun personality I had and I was certainly looking forward to my rendezvous and I was determined to squelch any feelings of trepidation or second thoughts.

My heart beat seemed to match the click of my high heels against the pavement as I walked across the hotel parking lot. Excitement and nervousness competed with each other inside of me. I felt so alive; more alive than I had felt in months! I was going to block everything else out of my mind and just allow myself to feel whatever he made me feel. I would not think I would only react. He would be the puppeteer and I would dance for him, and he could make me into whatever he needed me to be.

The closer I got to the entrance the more I detached from the person I normally am. The everyday...average nice person. I would be someone else tonight. I'd be a sexy, outrageous, hot and desirable woman. It had to be that way because it was all a part of the master plan for revenge. When he and I had first made our plans for our hook-up, I imagined I'd have to detach and zone out so I could be with him and not have him suspect that I was only going through the motions. But then, the more we talked about it and the more he convinced me he wanted to be with me the easier it became to truly want to be with him. The fact that I was going to bed with my friend's husband was the ultimate satisfaction, but the fun was going to be mine and a perk that turned out to fit the plan perfectly.

I was inside the lobby now, and heading toward the elevator. I got on as some other people got off
and pushed the button for the twenty-first floor, heading for room twenty-seven-twenty-two. There were no other patrons in the beautifully decorated hallway. The thick carpet muted my footsteps as I walked to my right and toward my destiny.  There it was. And he was behind that door. Waiting for me. I'd gotten a call from him minutes after I'd left home and he took that opportunity to recount the things we would do when we got together.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked softly on the door. He opened it almost instantly. Smiling at me with that drop dead smile of his he stood there looking at me up and down like a hungry dog eyes a meaty bone.

"Hello Claudette".
"Hello Stanford".

"Come in"....


What are your thoughts and comments? Did you see that coming?

First He Lies, Then He Cheats...

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! And if you tell one lie, you’ve got to tell another…and another…till even you don’t know the truth. Well all of this is so true, and whether or not Mr. Cheater gave a second or even a first thought to any of it when he came face to face with Alexis. Literally, it was not face to face because they were several feet away from each other when he came out of one of the private rooms all hugged up with another woman. But something had charged the atmosphere causing him to look around and when he did he looked smack dab in the face of his “one true love”.

Ever hear the expression “time stood still”? I think it’s supposed to describe something totally different than what was going on here though. It’s supposed to refer to to when two people who meet and immediately discover a mutual attraction for each other; in a good way of course. This situation was anything but beautiful but it sure was memorable!  Alexis looked at Frank, Frank was looking at Alexis, (Raquel who is Alexis’ friend) was looking back and forth between Frank and Alexis while the unidentified playmate with Frank just stood there wondering where to look.

Nobody moved for a full minute. Thankfully, Raquel had the sense to make the first move. She gently but firmly took hold of Alexis’ elbow with the intention of steering her into the next room; where they had originally been heading. She quietly urged her to come along and not cause a scene that would only make a bad situation worse. 

At first, Alexis resisted the movement, but when she did allow her friend to lead her away, she moved on, but was continuing to look over her shoulder at the retreating backs of her boyfriend and the stranger he was still hugged up with and now he seemed to be whispering something in her ear.

Here’s a little back-story to catch you up. Frank had called Alexis earlier on this Saturday night and begged off on a date because of car trouble. He had said that he would get the car fixed by a friend who could only do it right then and afterwards he’d call her. She was none the wiser, so she had settled down for the evening when her friend Raquel called and persuaded her to accompany her on a night out to have drinks and maybe get into a card game. This is how they ended up at Abe’s’ Place.

It goes without saying that the evening that had begun as a fun time had definitely lost its’ flavor for Alexis. She couldn’t concentrate; she was upset and still couldn’t believe what she had seen. Worst of all, she had a pain in her chest  brought on by realizing that Frank was just like the many men who had hurt her, lied to her and cheated on her in her past. There was no use in her staying here now. There was no way she would be able to concentrate on the card game. And she didn’t want to make conversation with anyone else right now, so she asked Raquel to drive her home.

She was very quiet on the ride back to her house. Raquel was respectful of this, so she didn’t ply her with the usual platitudes that one dishes out at times like this. She merely touched her hand while they were driving along, and when they got back to the house and before Alexis had gotten out of the car, she simply told her friend “Call me when you want to talk. Anytime, you need me; just call”. Alexis had nodded her head and let herself into her house where only hours before she had left in such an upbeat mood.

So, she made herself and cup of herbal tea, and changed into her pajamas. Curled up on the couch in her family room, she didn’t turn on a lamp. The lamp she always left on in the dining room shed enough light into this room. Besides, she needed the dimness to frame a backdrop for her little pity party she was about to throw. 

Putting her head back against the cushions and making herself comfortable, she blew out a big sigh, and just let her thoughts free fall while she sipped the delicious pungent brew of her tea. For a moment she had considered spiking it with a healthy dose of brandy, but nixed that idea for several reasons. After her pity party, she was going to have to put some things into serious perspective and she wanted to be sober for that. She let out a wry chuckle because the mellow buzz she had gotten from her drinks at Abe’s had quickly faded away the moment she caught sight of Frank and his little honey.

Yes, it was time for a close introspection and possibly a plan of action. She knew that there had been times in her life when she thought she knew how to make the right choices, but she just knew all of that was behind her. There was only a slight issue here; should that plan of action be revenge or the decision to simply move on?

Cheating in the Next Room

It's an unfortunate woe that has been around since time began and it has been a dreaded and feared situation for every couple that has fallen in love. It can creep into a seemingly happy and committed relationship, and it can blindside one or the other of the couple who have pledged their troth to each other, and maybe have settled into a bit too much complacency. It has happened to my best friends, and for those of you who follow this blog, you probably have read about Helena's brush with the dark side of infidelity and about Claudette and her discovery of another woman in her intended's life. Yes, I am talking about cheating, and this time I want to tell you about one of the times it happened to me.

I have to admit albeit grudgingly that men can be quite innovative when it comes to two timing in a relationship. I still don't know if they have to plan and scheme for it to happen, or if they are just some Svengali with a penchant for being on the wrong side of right and they can just fall into it without thinking. Judging from the excuses I have heard from my real life experiences, I'd have to say "no" because the most popular excuse seemed to be " I don't know, I didn't plan for this! It just happened!". These guys do their dirt without fear of being outed and caught in the act. Have you ladies heard that sorry line before from a pathetic creature? Who hasn't?

Here's what happened to me a while back, but I still think about it from time to time. My steady beau and I had to cancel our plans for a Saturday night date because he had something wrong with his car, and needed to work on it right away, at his friends house because he had all the necessary tools and know-how to get the job done. So, without any suspicions I said fine, I'd talk to him later, and he said sure he'd call later. I made myself content to spend the evening watching television and just chilling out because I had no reason to doubt his word. About an hour later, my friend Raquel called and when I told her I was on my own, she suggested we go hang out at Abe's Place and have a few drinks and play some spades.

Abe's was located in a building on the property of a guy whose name was Abraham Flower and he had it all decked out to resemble a club. You could listen to some low-down blues music, buy alcoholic beverages and what not ( no defining the "what not"), play cards and order chicken wings and fish sandwiches. It was commonly known as a juke joint and they were quite popular back in the day. Okay, I agreed to let her pick me up and we'd go hang out at Abe's for a while, and I liked the idea of getting in a good card game. Within an hour I was ready and she was blowing her car horn for me to come out.

The joint was rocking and popping and I felt in a party mood as we took our seats at the bar and ordered our drinks. It was scotch rocks for both of us. Raquel asked Abe ( who happened to be tending bar at the time) if there was a card game open, and he said that both of his "card rooms" were occupied at the moment. A serious high stakes poker game was already in progress in one of them and the other was rented out to a female friend of his who wanted to make a few extra bucks with some "friends" of hers. Raquel and I exchanged a look that said "Yeah, right! We know what the deal is"And really; it didn't take a stretch of the imagination to understand what that meant!

So, we nursed our drinks, and just sat around enjoying the music and the upbeat rhythm of the night for awhile. Some people that Raquel knew stopped by and we shot the breeze together until Abe came over and told us a room was opening up and a new card game was ready to start. We told him we were in and got down from our bar seats and picked up our fresh drinks. As I turned to follow the group to the card room I glanced across the room and gasped. At the same moment I dropped my drink and this action caught the attention of everyone near me. Oh no; I can't believe what I'm seeing!
Rooted to the spot, all I could do was cry.

Stay tuned to find out what Alexis saw...

Sisters Interrupted...The Last Chapter

And so by now (if you have been keeping up with the story), we are in a state of semi-shock over what has been said thus far. There is a whole new side to our friend that we had no idea existed! Far from us to be judgmental, but this was information we were simply not prepared for. Needless to say, we had to top off our drinks, and make them doubles by now. So, the story continues...

Bonnie then said that it didn’t take much cajoling on Waverley’s part to get her to join him.  He probably figured that she was getting back at her sister and frankly it was all the same to him. Whether out of spite or not, or who was using who was totally irrelevant at this point. That they got together was all he wanted. So off they went together, but out of a sense of decency; they retired to Bonnie’s old bedroom.

She spent that night and the rest of the weekend with each other with Waverley as her starter husband, and she caught up in a web of deceit, sinful lust and misplaced spite. But, as she was packing to return to college on Sunday afternoon, it hit her and it hit her hard about what she had done. The acts of betrayal were like a bitter taste in her mouth. She had no misconception about what she had done, she did not question her behavior, and no misplaced blame on her brother-in-law, she accepted her part in the dirty deed. Nevertheless, after it was all over, they avoided each other all Sunday morning. Before she donned her hair-shirt in self-recrimination, she informed him that she was going to tell her sister about what had happened.

Of course he begged her not to, but she was determined to at least get that much off of her conscience. After she had finished packing and made herself a light meal, she sat down in the living room to wait for the family’s arrival. Earlier, Evie had phoned Waverley and let him know they would be home in a couple of hours, so the time was very near...in about twenty minutes or so. He stayed locked way in the room he shared with Evie. When the door opened and her father walked in , Bonnie knew the hour had come.

She hugged and kissed her parents and gave her sister a weak smile but no intimacy passed between them. Amid her Mom’s questions and attempts at conversation, Bonnie asked Evie to come into her room upstairs. Long story short, she broke it down to her about the weekend with her husband, and although she was sorry she had hurt her, she wanted to leave with a clear conscience. Well, Evelyn Yvette wasn’t about to let it go that easily. She hit Bonnie smack dab in the face, and Bonnie hit her back. After that it was punch for punch and lick for lick. A real knockdown drag out cat fight. 

Their parents came up and broke up the fight, sat them down and tried to understand what had caused this. So of course the whole sordid tale was repeated, her Mom was mortified and she cried and nearly passed out, her dad was ready to kill Waverley and Evie vowed never to speak to her again. They shared the same parents, but they were no longer sisters. It had been that way until this day. Bonnie admitted she had made several attempts at reconciliation over the years, but Evie had not responded. 

Yes, she had truly repented of her sins, and God forgave her and after a time she forgave herself. It took a while, but she and her parents had put the past behind them and Evie and Waverley were still married, but she never saw them. Bonnie had paid the price for a brief time of reckless abandon and the cost was extremely high.

She missed her sister. Never would she have believed she would feel this way, especially after the way their relationship was anyway...tolerant but not bonded in sisterhood. After a few moments of silence, we pulled ourselves together and Alexis got us all to hold hands and we got down on our knees and prayed for healing of this awful family rift, and we asked God to restore these sisters to a relationship better than it was before. To give them back what had been lost between them, and then we all had a beautiful tear fest...after all what are friends for?

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Sisters Interrupted...A Confessional (Part Two)

We remained in full rapturous attention mode while Bonnie began her story...or as she opened with; "her confessional". The telling involved her, her older sister Evelyn Yvette ("Evie" for short) and Evie's husband Waverly Knight. When Evie and Waverly began their wedded life together, it was on a shoe string budget, so the new couple lived with the bride's parents. Of course this arrangement was supposed to be temporary just until they could save up enough money for a down payment on a place of their own.

Bonnie is the youngest of three girls, making her seven years Evie's junior, because Evie is the oldest daughter. So, she was at this time a young, beautiful and impressionable nineteen, and a sophomore at college. One particular weekend she came home unexpectedly because she was bored beiong on campus and was a little homesick for her parents. She had called her Mom but when she didn't get an answer she decided to just come on home because she knew her Mom would be thrilled.

Bonnie didn't really care about visiting with Mr. and Mrs. Knight at all. Actually, she didn't really like her sister all that much anyway. Evie had always thought herself entitled as the oldest daughter in a female dominated household. She was practically a bully to poor Dyane (the middle daughter called 'Delicious' for short), but Bonnie didn't take no wooden nickels from her. And as for Waverly; well he was so conceited and vain until it was totally beyond thought how any woman could stand him.

Now at this point in the story, we all paused for additional refreshment and to fill up our snack plates. after we had settled back down, having had potty breaks and all, Bonnie continued. Okay...on this weekend Bonnie arrived home around 3pm on Friday afternoon. She was tired and hungry after her four hour drive from school and she made a beeline for the kitchen and the fridge. She was standing there checking out the leftovers in the fridge when she felt the prescence of someone else in the room. Turning her head towrds the door, she saw her brother-in-law leaning against the door jamb looking her over like she was a piece of meat.

She said hello to him and asked if he shouldn't be out looking for work. To this he replied that he had finished combing the streets for today. When he said this, Bonnie's first thought was "combing the streets for what?' she wondered and let out a chuckle. He made no pretense that he was coming on to her; he came over and backed her up against the sink. He placed his arms on either side of her and said how fortunate he was that she came home because otherwise he would have had to spend the next two days and nights alone.

"Where's everyone at? Where's Mom and Dad?' she asked as she pushed him away and walked over to the table to sit down. He got out a couple of cold beers from the fridge and passed her one and said that they had gone down to see Aunt Maddie for the weekend. Aunt Maddie's son had called and told Bonnie's Mom that she was very very ill and needed to see all of her family. Naturally Evie went with them since she was family, and naturally he didn't since he wasn't.

Now, like she had said earlier, she didn't care for her sister and her high fallutin ways, and it was a stretch to be around Waverly, but something in her (probably her alter-ego) found this situation interesting. She met Waverly's direct gaze and returned his smile as they clink their beer bottles together in a mock salute. What is going on here? Well she would be finding out soon enough...


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Broken Promises...Broken Vows

The four of us have been as close as sisters for most of our adult lives. We have shared heartbreaks, heartaches, and cried together so many times I would never be able to count. We have shared our family troubles, our individual joys, our collective laughter and overall good times with each other. In other words, we have been down in the valleys and up on the mountain tops holding hands, praying or celebrating and not one single time has any of us had to be alone whether in sorrow or in joy. That is why three of us from our sisterhood are feeling side-swiped, confused and hurt...so very hurt over what we have just discovered about our dear friend Helena Clayton.

We knew about the extramarital affair she had been involved in for a while now. She never did try to hide it from us. She told us about how this man she had met had expressed interest in her and she was going to take him up on his offer to have lunch. After a few causal lunches with him, she admitted to us that he had told her that he wanted to become more intimate and that he was falling in love with her. I guess it could have been sheer excitement, the thrill of an adventure or just a death wish on her part that made her agree to cheat on her husband. She was falling hard for this man named Griffin McCoy.

It certainly was not because she was a neglected wife; real or imagined because anyone who personally knew Stanford Clayton knew of his unwavering devotion and his deep love for his beautiful wife. And he loved her just because she was who she was to him and not because she was an exceptionally beautiful and sexy woman. Now that I take stock of this situation, for the very first time in the history of our friendship, I am beginning to realize that Helena had a whole other side to her personality, and I'd wager that neither Claudette or Bonnie had a clue existed.

Stanford had snapped when he came face to face with the bitter truth about where his wife was spending her afternoons, and recently a couple of entire weekends. He had been duped not only by the woman he was married to...supposedly for life but also by a man he had called friend. True, Helena was really unaware that her husband and her lover knew each other.

 He never let on that he knew Stanford beyond speaking with him when he was at the Audi dealership (of which he was part owner) shopping for Helena's new car that he bought as a surprise birthday gift last year, when in fact he had played golf with this man and had attended several professional basketball games later that year at his invitation. When Stanford and Griffin found out they both had the same favorite NBA team, they became fast friends as a love of sports will do for most men.

Helena suffered several lacerations and bruises, a concussion and a broken arm and collarbone; souvenirs from the violent outburst and subsequent fight between her and Stanford. He has been arrested and is now out on bail pending a court appearance. Their children and grandchildren are devastated, embarrassed and hurt, as well as bewildered. They cannot imagine why their beloved Mother would cheapen herself and stoop to an affair while being married to the most wonderful man on the planet.

And worse they are still trying to wrap their head around the fact that their Father...a man who was always like a solid rock for the family, had never laid a hand on any of them growing up, and rarely raised his voice at anyone could become this angry monster who in a fit of rage nearly killed his wife.

When he realized what he had done, Stanford called 911 and reported the whole thing himself. He didn't resist arrest when the officers took him away. Fortunately for him, his attorney was already at the jailhouse and saw them bring him in, and it was not on a weekend so Stanford was able to arrange bail expeditiously. His attorney and long-time friend called Claudette because he knew that out of the four of us, Claudette and Helena are the closest.

We have been to see our sister in the hospital and have done our best to be cheerful and supportive of her at this time. We still love her no matter what. That's the depth of our friendship for each other, and when she is released she is going to stay with Claudette for a few days until all of this sorry mess can be addressed.
Til death do us part. How many couples repeat these words to each other in sincerity and in what we know at the time to be an unfailing love?

These words are meant to refer to natural causes in the life cycle, or circumstances that are acts of God. How many couples are faced with the realization that sometimes it can come from their own hand or the hand of the one they love? Love is a many resplendent thing but when it takes a wrong turn on an off ramp of lies and deceit it can be a very, very dangerous...thing.