Life Preserver

They arrived home. Both soaking, as the rain kept on falling down on them. Stepping under the covered porch, puddles formed beneath their feet as they finally stopped walking.  One shake of his head sprayed droplets into fractured patterns against the shadows, intermingling with light from the hanging lantern.  He stopped after a moment and glared at her drowned form, shivering next to him.

"So let me get this straight..." His voice carried loudly above the continual patter of water hitting the ground.  "We had to take my car in for service this morning, because you got a coupon for twenty five percent off that expires today."

Her limp hair moved slightly as she simply nodded.

"Then, you are an hour late to pick me up from the office, because you lost your car keys at work."

Another vertical movement of her head allowed tiny streams to pour down her cheeks with zigzag currents.  Caring, if it was rain or tears, didn't seem to be his goal at the moment.

"After you find your keys, you get in the car, drive to my office but never once glance at the gas gauge?"

She started to speak, but he held his hand up to stop her.

"The orange flashing light does not get your attention once.  We run out of gas on the longest stretch of road without any street lights and not a gas station for five miles."  He is pulling off his jacket and wringing the water from its shapeless form.  His words gain an octave as emotions spill over each other.

"Now that we've walked two miles to get home, you tell me that you don't have the house keys?  Why wouldn't they be on your car key ring, for God's sake?"  Exasperation dripped from the words keeping time with the barrage of raindrops on the roof.  "You have got to be the most idiotic woman who ever walked the earth!"

Her head lowered on her shoulders almost losing her neck.  Not rain but salty drops poured over her cheeks mixing with the moisture in her soaked dress.  Her best dress, not that he had noticed.  Her finest shoes, not that he would care.  Her hair glorious a few hours ago, from the attention given a masterpiece, hung in wet dreadlocks down her face and back.  His ungratefulness, while not unexpected, stung as each word pierced with precise aim.  She felt her body become the target, with her heart the bull's eye.  His perfect score continued as he fired off more ammo.

"Do you hear me?  I have had it!  You never think about anyone but yourself.  This is the last time that I put up with your nonsense.  I don't know how I have lived with you this long!  Ten years is enough!" 

All the years of pent up frustrations turned to rage for her, but she refused to release it.  Five more minutes and it would be over. 

"Why don't we have a key hidden?  It isn't like this is the first time that you locked yourself out, is it?" 

Feeling the scorn behind his tirade, she flinched inwardly.  His years of abuse didn't make her immune to verbal pain, though her brain told her to ignore it, she could not.  She relentlessly attempted to please him, over and over with the same result.  Isn't that the definition of insanity?

She inched towards the door silently while his rant continued.

"Since this is going down as the worst day of the year for me, let's just make it a landslide.  Your family and friends still think we are the perfect couple, don't they?  Well, I'm going to leave you, my dear and the best part is, they will all take my side!  You've made them believe that I'm the best husband in the world, haven't you?"  Wildness spewed from his eyes as a plan formed in his cruel brain.

Another trivial nod slipped from her as she stood before the front door. Hand reached towards the knob, a tiny quiver visible on her lips.

"That little smokescreen is going to backfire, my sweet.  They'll never believe you now if you tell them I've mistreated you.  You are lucky that I have put up with you this long!  Say adios to the good life as you know it, baby, and hello to a life where family and friends believe you chased away the one decent thing in your life!"

She grasp the doorknob in her fingers and began to twist.

"The kicker to this great day, is that it is my birthday and you never even acknowledged it.  What kind of wife forgets her husband's birthday, I ask you?"

"You tell me."

The latch on the door clicked loudly as she pushed it wide open.

Shocked expressions stared back at him in horror.  A sea of revulsion pushed outwards slamming into him with a definite conclusion.

"Surprise."

Nearly drowning by the downpour, life flashing before her eyes as he had pushed her under the rough water again and again, the sweet breath of life filled her lungs with a second chance as the smile on her lips reached up to her eyes with relief.  The life preserver unwittingly thrown by a brutal husband in a fit of rage.