Molly & Jeff (standard:romance, 2622 words)
Author: BENTLINK	Added: Jul 08 2005	Views/Reads: 3791/2613	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Molly leaves Jeff a message on the slipcovers.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

work quilt Molly's mom and her friends had presented to Molly and Jeff 
as a special wedding gift.  "At least let me help you get undressed and 
cleaned up before you go to sleep" Molly said. That ill-timed offer of 
help was what Jeff had been waiting for!  That was all that he needed 
to set him off. He ranted on about how she was too proud to have a 
husband that got dirty on his job, she thought her self too good to 
work at a real job instead of part time. He went on with his tirade 
till he grew short of breath then walked quickly to where she stood and 
backhanded her hard across the mouth.  She stumbled backward two steps 
and fell over an ottoman onto the couch.  It was hard to say who was 
the more surprised she or Jeff who stood staring at her with his mouth 
forming a big "O"!  Jeff had ranted, raved and postured several times 
over the last few months, but only when he was drinking. A month ago he 
had griped her shoulders and shaken her, he apologized the next day 
when he saw the bruises his strong hands made on her upper arms.  Till 
this moment he had never struck her, even in their sometimes very rough 
foreplay they never hit each other.  She had known Jeff for years, they 
had gone to elementary and high school together, played in the Rush 
creek swimming hole, stolen apples from the Potter's orchard.  After 
high school they dated for a year while he studied at the local trade 
school then married at twenty. She thought she knew all about him, he 
was her soul mate, her grow old together soul mate.  Being hit by Jeff 
in anger and on purpose was beyond her imagining.  The blow to her 
mouth was so forceful she literally saw stars for several seconds then 
the pain in her lips and teeth caused an upwelling that replaced her 
surprise with white-hot anger. This pain driven anger snapped her back 
to reality. 

This was the last straw, Molly's father had slapped kicked and degraded
her mother in front of Molly and her two brothers for all the years 
they were growing up. Molly was not going to live a life that would 
leave Jeff Jr. with memories like hers! 

JEFF 

Jeff awoke to; a splitting headache, an overfull bladder and what
sounded like coat hangers being pushed to and fro along a rusty metal 
closet rod inside his skull.  He lay face down; so weak he could not 
seem to get the strength to turn over and see who or what was making 
those God awful coat hanger sounds.  He must have been very ill and for 
a long time because no matter how hard he tried finding the strength to 
just roll over he was unable to move. After several attempts he 
realized he was being held tight onto the bed by a web or net of some 
kind. At almost that same instant he remembered in all too clear detail 
hitting Molly in the face with the back of his hand. Had that really 
happened?  Was it just last night?  "Jeff, are you awake?"  It was 
Molly's voice but under ridged control with an odd ice edged sound that 
he had only heard once years before. Molly caught him kissing one of 
the other girls back in high school and spoke only one word. "Fine" she 
had said before turning on her heel and walking away.  Her voice then 
had sounded the same as what he had just heard, ice and steel. He made 
no sound pretending to still be passed out cold. What had he done last 
night? Hit Molly! What else as if hitting his wife were not enough?  
Spent a big part of his paycheck for drinks for some of the guys in the 
bar.  "Don't forget about the big tip and cash loan for that new girl 
tending bar" his always anxious to be helpful guilty conscious 
reminded. 

Jeff was in a year long, headfirst downward spiral with no bottom in
sight. He didn't think he was sick but for months now he felt tired all 
the time, before, during and after work, bone tired. Jeff had always 
thought he was lucky to have his job and luckier still to have someone 
like Molly that cared about him. Jeff's Dad must have said it a 
thousand times "Jeff is a pretty boy that will never be worth a dammed 
for anything, a Good Time Charlie that will always be out of work and 
broke. I feel really sorry for any woman that takes up with Jeff she'll 
end up pregnant and barefoot and Jeff will be nowhere to be found!"  
Somehow Jeff's new boss could see what was there hiding under the 
surface all the time, a pretty boy failure waiting to happen.  Each 
time he talked about how he felt about things at work with Molly she 
took his side and tried to make him feel better. Poor Molly had fallen 
in love with and married a loser. Jeff had trained for over a year at 
the local trade school and was the most skillful of his companies' 
machine tool programmers; still he felt under trained and deserving of 
the criticism the new floor manager handed out each day.  He almost 
felt guilty taking the company's money on payday. A lot of the guys he 
worked with knew the boss was constantly on Jeff's case and gave him 
some sympathy when they went out drinking at the "Bar None", they were 
there at least as long as Jeff was buying most of the drinks. 

Jeff was glad he was tied face down, he was not yet ready to look into
his wife's eyes and ask her to forgive him. As long as he was tied down 
he could avoid what he knew was to be the most painful thing he would 
ever have to do. God how he regretted hitting Molly!  Thankfully the 
rusty hanger screeching had stopped but it was soon replaced by the 
sound of dresser drawers being pulled out then slammed closed and 
random sea sickness inducing motions of the bed as Molly did something 
just out of his line of sight. Finally the sound of suitcase latches 
snapping closed alerted him to the true extent of just how bad things 
had gotten between them. 

Molly 

After knocking her down and standing over her for several minutes with
the stupid O look on his face Jeff staggered away and made his as 
predicted way into the bedroom fell into the bed face down fully 
clothed in his greasy work uniform and passed out cold.  Molly climbed 
to her feet walked to the kitchen got a cube of ice for her split lip 
and sat down to think. She opened the red wine drake a half glass then 
started listing the things she would need to pack into her car before 
Jeff woke up.  While searching in the old farmhouse attic for her 
luggage she came across a small fishing net used to catch baitfish. The 
net was strong and fit fully over the bed with enough slack to be 
firmly tied along both sides and at all four corners. As she was 
putting the last clothes from her closet into her suitcase she was sure 
she saw Jeff move a little and test the nets hold on him. She contained 
packing the last of her under things from the dresser into the suitcase 
at the foot of what had until last night been her marriage bed. She had 
thought things through pretty well while Jeff was sleeping off his 
drunk. Jeff was not totally to blame for the way things had been going, 
she had insisted on working even after the baby was born and also 
insisted on having her own money in a separate bank account; thinking 
it would be best to pay her mom for baby sitting and other job related 
expenses without confusing the money with what Jeff earned. Jeff at 
first seemed to agree with all of this but later her working seemed to 
hurt his feelings. She had poured all her energy into being a good 
mother, good wife and homemaker. She had even done some sewing, first 
making curtains and then a matching set of flowered slipcovers for the 
big upholstered chair in their bedroom. 

Before turning to leave the bedroom she checked the closet one final
time and discovered the 12-gage pump action shotgun sitting in a dark 
corner.  She eyed the shotgun wondering if it was loaded, then 
wondering if she should leave the only thing she owned that had 
belonged to her father. Flawed as he was, he had been her father and 
most of the time kind to her and her brothers. Jeff again moved a 
little and she felt a flutter of doubt about leaving cross her mind, 
quickly followed by a moment of cold fear.   It was then she knew it 
was time she finished here and moved on. She grabbed up the shotgun 
pulled the slide firmly downward and back driving the single remaining 
shell into the firing chamber. At the sound of the slide action of the 
shotgun Jeff stiffened and became ramrod straight with only his 
forehead and the toes of his grease smeared work boots touching the 
hand-sewn quilt. Molly thumbed off the red safety lever of the big 
shotgun  turned and as tears filled her eyes blasted the overstuffed 
chair she had worked so hard making slipcovers for. 

Jeff 

The metal on metal sound of the shotgun slide was unmistakable and he
tensed his body, waiting for what he knew was coming, knowing it was 
exactly what he deserved for hitting her. He was unsure how long he 
waited, it seemed a long time from the sound of the guns slide working 
until he heard the unmistakable click of the shotguns safety lever 
being released and longer still until the deafening blast. The shotgun 
blast in the closed space of the bedroom was unbelievably loud and in a 
flooding yellow gush Jeff's over stressed bladder surrendered its 
contents. 


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