“Good Night for a Change”
Jun 11, 2018The door slammed as Jennifer ran into the hall sobbing. She ran down to the other end, hands covering her face, and stopped at the stairs. She heard the door open as Jim yelled for her to come back. He came running around the corner and she continued on, running down the stairs.
She nearly ran into a woman walking her small dog as she bolted out onto the sidewalk. Her car was just across the street. She ran to it and tried the handle before realizing she left her keys upstairs. She looked back and saw Jim appear from the stairwell and run into the woman, who was bending down to console her dog. Jennifer ran down the street.
She was fast. The air was drying her tears in streaks across her face. Snot flowed from her nostrils and she just wiped it away with her hands. She didn’t bother looking back to see if Jim was running after her. She knew he would be. And she knew he would eventually give up cos he was a fat slob and couldn’t keep up with her.
It was supposed to be a good night for a change. She had the afternoon off from school and spent a couple hours cooking before Jim would be home from work. But, of course, he got home and he was shitfaced cos he and The Boys went down to the bar after work and knocked back one too many. Except there’s never one too many for Jim once he gets going.
Jim had been stressed about his boss selling the company a few months ago. He was being placed into a management position that he had no desire or qualification being in. But he had been with the company for a long time and his boss didn’t know who else to give the position to. Why his boss cared at this point was a mystery to Jim since he’d be off to some European resort with his new mistress. He just needed one last thing to jam into Jim’s face.