This is a true story. Could Trigger
It’s spring. There are tiny leaves on the trees. We’ve turned off the heat, opened the windows, fixed the screens, dug up the yard and put up new wind chimes. I’ve planted my tomatoes, bought a few herb plants, and even started spring cleaning. I did start spring cleaning. Anyhow, I believe it was spring that made me think about Rhonda because I hadn’t thought of her for years.
About thirty years ago, at the beginning of spring, my mother’s friend Rhonda broke up with her live-in boyfriend. Boyfriend was distraught. He cried and begged Rhonda for another chance. When that didn’t work, he got angry. Then he got mad. Lover-Man told Rhonda he would never, ever let her go. Rhonda ignored his tantrums, packed up her children and moved out.
A week or so later Rhonda went back to the house to get some belongings she’d left behind. Lover-Boy was there; he knew she would probably come back to get the rest of her things. They had a very heated argument that ended with Lover-Boy pulling out a gun. Rhonda told him to go to hell and left the house. Lover-Boy kept yelling at Rhonda and she ignored him.
Have you ever heard the Steely Dan song “With A Gun?” It’s on the Pretzel Logic album I bought about thirty years ago. Lyrics
Rhonda was walking down the sidewalk when she felt a burning sensation in her back. She fell face down on the pavement, and blacked out. When she woke up she was in the hospital. The doctor told her she’d been shot in the back; Rhonda couldn’t believe it. Eventually, Boy-Friend was arrested and convicted of attempted murder.
Years later, when Lover-Man was released from prison, Rhonda took Boy-Friend back because he truly sorry, so so sorry. He told her so in all the letters he wrote from prison. She felt she had to forgive True-Love. After all, we all make mistakes and Boy-Friend did shoot her out of love and pain. He couldn’t control his emotions. Actually, it was mostly an accident. Right?
The earth keeps turning. Season change, but some things stay the same.
What I want to know is:
What in the world did her children think?
Was Boy-Friend the children’s father?
Did she and the man who tried to murder her stay together?
If and when they broke up, did he shoot her again?
I hope I’m not too pessimistic.
