She
must have called and texted Bob one hundred times. She first filled his voicemail box. Then the texts started. Around 2:00 AM Bob sent a terse reply, “Leave
me alone!” It was at this point Marsha
realized badgering the man would accomplish nothing. She decided to try to sleep but too many
spirits haunted her mind and it would not relax.
In
a fleeting moment when she drifted between this world and the land of slumber,
she heard the voice of a child wailing.
She rushed down the corridors of her mind to find and soothe the child
only to find herself awaiting judgment from a scowling judge. The jury laughed mockingly at the verdict
they sent. The gavel was about to slam
down when she jolted to full consciousness.
She felt so guilty for her failed life.
There was so much for which she must atone. At the moment, Marsha could only consider the
next small steps. She had to make
herself presentable and get to work.
Marsha
went to her desk and turned on her iPad.
She Googled “How to reduce eye puffiness.” There was a hit from wikiHow and she clicked
on the link. The first recommendation
was to put cucumbers on the eyes. There
were no cucumbers in the house. Scratch
that idea. The next two suggestions required
too much prep time. Therefore, Marsha
added ice cubes to two ziplock bags and applied them to her eyes. She had make-up to minimize the bags under
her eyes and would use it before she left the house.
Breakfast
could not be stomached on this morning.
Instead, Marsha popped a K-cup into the Keurig and started a cup of
coffee. She mused that had all of this
happened a year ago, she would need to calculate the amount of coffee grounds needed
to make one cup of coffee the old coffee maker.
Marsha’s mind briefly drifted to the percolator her parents had. She could hear the machine working and could
picture herself watching the café colored liquid entering and leaving the perc
view top. Then the sound of the Keurig
finishing her coffee returned her to reality.
The stress and lack of sleep made it feel she drifted in time for a
moment.
Once
coffee began entering her system, Marsha felt more at ease. She applied the finishing touches to her
wardrobe and face and viewed her reflection in the mirror. She looked good and was beginning to feel confident
things would turn around. She believed
she and Bob would reconcile. Perhaps
counseling would help. She was willing
to go. She still loved him and wanted to
make it work.
Driving
to work, Marsha remembered the need to stop at the ATM. There was a car there when she arrived and
another followed her into the queue.
Marsha used the time to retrieve her bank card. It was important to make good use of one’s
time. She was ready the moment she
pulled up to the ATM. She efficiently
inserted and removed her card and waited for the prompt to enter her PIN. Once done, she selected the Fast Cash From
Checking option. The machine whirred for
a moment and then the screen gave a prompt that said “Insufficient Funds.” She murmured, “What the hell!?”
Bewildered
by this turn of events, Marsha hopefully tried the Savings account. It also had insufficient funds. Now deeply concerned, Marsha pulled forward and
into a parking space.
Pulling
the phone from her purse, Marsha gasped, “What’s goin’ on?” She opened the app for her bank and looked at
recent transactions. Bob and Marsha had
a joint account but Bob also had a separate account to which she had no
access. Bob had drained the joint
account and put it all into his account.
She had no money.
A
white hot rage burned in Marsha’s brain.
She slammed the palm of her hand into the steering wheel and screamed, “Bob,
you bastard, how dare you! How dare you! I’ll get you!
I will get you you damn bastard!”
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