Three Sides of the Tracks by Mike Addington

that what I just told you to do a
few minutes ago?”
    Betty stood quivering in front of the huge Dr. Phil and managed to nod.
    “Okay, Betty, let’s try it again. What are you going to say to your
husband when he threatens you?”
    Betty looked up at the towering figure and seemed to gain confidence.
“I’ll tell him, if he don’t quit acting up, I’ll go get Dr. Phil. He’s just as
mean as you are, and, when he jerked on me, he hurt me just as much as you.”
    The audience erupted in laughter.
    Dr. Phil shook his head in exasperation, never comprehending that the
crowd was laughing at him and not the woman
    Despite his nerve-grating personality, his advice to the women agreed
with Caroline’s thinking, which was to get out of the situation as quickly as
possible by using whatever means available short of violence, unless the women
feared for their lives, which some did.
    That was the beginning of Caroline’s deep concern. She knew her mother
had been abused for years. They’d even talked about it. So Caroline decided to
try and understand her own situation.
     On all of her dates with Thurston after that, she paid attention to her
thoughts and actions and tried to figure out why Thurston was so demeaning,
bossing or making pronouncements instead of conversing. Was any of her behavior
giving him reason?
    Maybe subconsciously Thurston thought that, when she asked him where he
wanted to eat dinner or what movie he wanted to see, she was being submissive
instead of merely polite. Perhaps he mistook her refusal to continue an
argument as weakness instead of just distaste for unnecessary turmoil. She
wasn’t excusing his behavior. Certainly, no one else spoke to her the way he
did.
    She’d had four dates with Thurston after that and then confronted him
with his behavior, which he denied. “She was stupid. She was imagining things.
She had PMS.” It was always her.
    This morning was it, and she ended their relationship.
    Floating in the pool, she concluded that, altogether, the relationship
had been a good thing. She learned a great deal about herself. Early enough in
life to not make a bigger mistake later.
    The phone rang, and, in a few moments, the housekeeper came out. “Miss
Caroline. A young man wants to speak with you. Richard Turner. You know Richard
Turner?”
    Caroline was speechless for several seconds. “Tell him to call back in
thirty minutes, please, Harriett.” Richard’s kind eyes flashed through her
mind. “Or take a number,” she called out. “Either way is fine.”
    “Okay, Miss Caroline, I’ll tell him. Sure is good to hear a polite voice
for a change. All that gruntin’ and bossin’ bout got on my last nerve. Hope he won’t be callin’ here no more. Sure do. Uh huh. Sure do.”
Caroline kicked and pulled herself out of the pool in one motion.
    “Why didn’t I say ten minutes,” she scolded herself as she dried off.
    Harriett pushed open the sliding glass doors and handed Caroline a piece
of paper with Richard’s number on it. “Sure hope he’s better lookin’ than that
gorilla what’s been comin’ round here,” she said and rolled her eyes.
    Caroline grinned. “That gorilla won’t be coming around anymore, Harriett.
You can rest easy.”
    “Whuuuu me; thank goodness. Best news I’ve heard in a long time. You
finally had yo’ ears cleaned out. Thank goodness.”
    Caroline surprised herself by being both curious and excited at Richard’s
call. She waited another five minutes, which seemed to go by very slowly, and
dialed the number.
    “Richard, this is Caroline,” she said recognizing his voice.
    “Hi, Caroline. Thanks for returning my call. Um . . . Um, Caroline, I
realize we just met this morning, but I overheard some other students talking
about you and the tough guy breaking up, and, you know, it might be a little
early, but I’m hoping you might do me the honor of going to the dance with me
Friday night. Is it too soon after breaking up with your boyfriend, or