reality of my life.
“Bailey is going to love him isn’t he? Will you bring him here around tomorrow?”
CHAPTER SIX
That night, I returned to Bailey who was eager to be walked and fed. Beth remained with Jonathan at her parents’. Much as I had tried to stay calm, the Shadowed Soul had joined me on the bus as I drew closer to home.
“Well, Thomas, she really wants her dog back,” said the Shadowed Soul smugly. “She wants to get her entire life away from that dump heap of yours as quickly as she can, doesn’t she? I don’t think she’s ever coming back. Suppose it’s just you and me from now on, buddy, the old team back together again.”
“Piss off,” I muttered angrily. An old lady seated across from me glanced up then avoided eye contact with me. After a couple moments, she found herself a new seat that had opened up at the far end.
And even though I blocked out his virulent insinuations I could not help but believe what my longest companion in life was telling me. In my opinion, well, the opinion given to me by my tormentor, Beth had not really fought to stay with me at our apartment. Her real home was with me, yet she had accepted her parents’ offer with an unseemly speed.
“If it feels like betrayal, Thomas, it probably is,” noted the Shadowed Soul scratching his back side.
“Jonathan is my son, my flesh and blood and the idea of my son staying in a house with Beth, Pete and Dorothy is bad enough but now she’s taking my best friend away. Bailey’s my fucking friend.” I heard myself whispering angrily.
“That’s right, Thomas, she just wants to take everything you need. Now you’re getting’ it.”
“How could she do that to me?”
“Oh, she’s just a beesh ,” snickered the Shadowed Soul.
I got off the bus and marched to my shitty little apartment and threw open the doors. Bailey immediately raced over wagging his tail, his big tongue lolling. I avoided his greeting. Brushing his torso and shoulder with my leg, I entered the kitchen. I needed something but had no idea what it was I was looking for. Coffee? Beer? What the hell was it I wanted? Grimacing, I looked inside the fridge; there were a few cans of soda and I briefly considered opening one but I didn’t want one. I slammed the door so hard Beth’s favourite magnet fell to the floor: Las Vegas .
“Gaudy piece of crap,” I hissed in short, angry breaths. I gazed around the kitchen. “Nothing here I want.” I turned to see Bailey gazing perplexedly from the doorway. As I approached him, his ears perked up. But he was leaving me tomorrow and I wanted nothing to do with him. I barged past him, ignoring his plaintive eyes and I stormed through to my living room.
“It’s mine now, not hers – mine !” I looked around the room and noticed some of Beth’s stuff. “If she wants Bailey back tomorrow, I’ll take her crap with me, too.”
My tantrum continued. I dashed back to the kitchen for a garbage bag and stuffed it full. It would be easier not to see reminders of Beth. The Shadowed Soul blocked my mind from the fact that Beth was still exhausted from the physical drain of having carried a child for nine months, followed by 37 hours of serious labor whose punch line was a surgery that forever altered her abdominal wall. Recovering from her Caesarean section, enduring severe pain with each movement, Beth had also refused pain killers and sleep aids in order to nurse Jonathan drug-free. All the while her sleep was interrupted every two hours to nurse our son or change a diaper. And yet, my Shadowed Soul had me convinced that I was the one being inconvenienced here.
“It’s all crap,” I snorted, flicking through TV channels. Cops, spaceships, reality shows about over-eaters, and yet I gazed at the screen. “What a bunch of shit!”
Bored or thirsty, I wanted a soda. I brushed past Bailey again on my way
“Bailey is going to love him isn’t he? Will you bring him here around tomorrow?”
CHAPTER SIX
That night, I returned to Bailey who was eager to be walked and fed. Beth remained with Jonathan at her parents’. Much as I had tried to stay calm, the Shadowed Soul had joined me on the bus as I drew closer to home.
“Well, Thomas, she really wants her dog back,” said the Shadowed Soul smugly. “She wants to get her entire life away from that dump heap of yours as quickly as she can, doesn’t she? I don’t think she’s ever coming back. Suppose it’s just you and me from now on, buddy, the old team back together again.”
“Piss off,” I muttered angrily. An old lady seated across from me glanced up then avoided eye contact with me. After a couple moments, she found herself a new seat that had opened up at the far end.
And even though I blocked out his virulent insinuations I could not help but believe what my longest companion in life was telling me. In my opinion, well, the opinion given to me by my tormentor, Beth had not really fought to stay with me at our apartment. Her real home was with me, yet she had accepted her parents’ offer with an unseemly speed.
“If it feels like betrayal, Thomas, it probably is,” noted the Shadowed Soul scratching his back side.
“Jonathan is my son, my flesh and blood and the idea of my son staying in a house with Beth, Pete and Dorothy is bad enough but now she’s taking my best friend away. Bailey’s my fucking friend.” I heard myself whispering angrily.
“That’s right, Thomas, she just wants to take everything you need. Now you’re getting’ it.”
“How could she do that to me?”
“Oh, she’s just a beesh ,” snickered the Shadowed Soul.
I got off the bus and marched to my shitty little apartment and threw open the doors. Bailey immediately raced over wagging his tail, his big tongue lolling. I avoided his greeting. Brushing his torso and shoulder with my leg, I entered the kitchen. I needed something but had no idea what it was I was looking for. Coffee? Beer? What the hell was it I wanted? Grimacing, I looked inside the fridge; there were a few cans of soda and I briefly considered opening one but I didn’t want one. I slammed the door so hard Beth’s favourite magnet fell to the floor: Las Vegas .
“Gaudy piece of crap,” I hissed in short, angry breaths. I gazed around the kitchen. “Nothing here I want.” I turned to see Bailey gazing perplexedly from the doorway. As I approached him, his ears perked up. But he was leaving me tomorrow and I wanted nothing to do with him. I barged past him, ignoring his plaintive eyes and I stormed through to my living room.
“It’s mine now, not hers – mine !” I looked around the room and noticed some of Beth’s stuff. “If she wants Bailey back tomorrow, I’ll take her crap with me, too.”
My tantrum continued. I dashed back to the kitchen for a garbage bag and stuffed it full. It would be easier not to see reminders of Beth. The Shadowed Soul blocked my mind from the fact that Beth was still exhausted from the physical drain of having carried a child for nine months, followed by 37 hours of serious labor whose punch line was a surgery that forever altered her abdominal wall. Recovering from her Caesarean section, enduring severe pain with each movement, Beth had also refused pain killers and sleep aids in order to nurse Jonathan drug-free. All the while her sleep was interrupted every two hours to nurse our son or change a diaper. And yet, my Shadowed Soul had me convinced that I was the one being inconvenienced here.
“It’s all crap,” I snorted, flicking through TV channels. Cops, spaceships, reality shows about over-eaters, and yet I gazed at the screen. “What a bunch of shit!”
Bored or thirsty, I wanted a soda. I brushed past Bailey again on my way
Similar Books
