Waking up in the quaint motel on the Pennsylvania Turnpike the next morning we discovered two feet of snow on the ground. Good thing we had stopped for the night. Even though it was the part of the country where road crews hardly let a snowflake lay on the roads longer than two minutes it would have been a tough drive. Besides we were not supposed to be back at the house until sometime that Tuesday anyway.
It was a beautiful drive back to Detroit. The sun was out, the roads were clear and the newly fallen snow made everything look peaceful. Living north of the Mason-Dixon line had turned me into a person who loved winter and thought there could never be enough snow. It was, however, going to be nice to go home since Wally nor I had been home for ten days.
Pulling up in the driveway it looked pretty much just like the garage with the house attached to it as when I had left but there was certainly a different feel to it knowing no one else would be there. Well let's say that there were no people but we were greeted by Sylvester and Elvis, the two cats. They were very glad to see their people but that never seems to last very long. They were no doubt disturbed by things in the house changing. Cats have an inborn reaction to have to investigate anything that is out of place. Put a piece of paper on the floor and they spend an hour sneaking up on it, finally sniffing and are
never sure why it appeared.
I sort of felt like one of the cats as I toured the house to see what furniture had made the move. Not too bad, family room sofa, kitchen table and chairs, bedroom furniture and a few pots, pans and dishes were gone. I
would have thought that more than that would have been gone or that something I really cared about would be missing. My guess the apartment was small and Dennis was not really thinking but
just trying to get out. The answering machine informed me that he would be by after work to trade cars - oh boy and there were three calls about potential jobs for me which was a hooray.
Dennis showed up about 5:30 for the switch of cars I had dreaded all afternoon. He didn't look too happy as Wally and I met him on the porch. He had that look like he wanted to discuss something with me but with Wally there I think he knew better. We had never really argued in front of the boys before and now was certainly not the time to start. There was an exchange of a few pleasantries, he talked to Wally for a bit and then handed my keys to me and left. Interesting that he did not offer nor did I ask where he moved to or a phone number if I needed to reach him. He did make plans to see Wally the following Saturday which was fine.
The weeks after Thanksgiving into Christmas slid by rather quickly. Wally was happy back in school with his friends and in Cub Scouts. I was really busy as everyone wants to totally redecorate their house before Christmas. Of course we were still going skating every Wednesday night and some Sunday afternoons. The Wednesday night sessions were followed by a large group of us going to the Big Boy Restaurant across the street. I never realized that putting ranch dressing on french fries was so popular. Not one of my favorites as I am a ketchup sort of person. When I could manage it with work I went on Tuesday and/or Thursday mornings with the adults who used skating as a replacement for Mall Walking. I was a pretty nice group of people. Funny thing about the skating rink was that we nicknamed it "As The Wheels Turn". Always seemed to be some good piece of gossip about some of the skaters and who was currently paired up with whom.
I had picked up or dropped off Wally at Dennis' several times and if Wes was home he was certainly hiding. Dennis wanted Wally on Christmas Day which I had no problem with. Wally was funny in that he never said much about his Dad or Wes. Wally only tells you what he wants to and leaves out anything that is or he thinks would be upsetting to you.
That Christmas he headed off with presents for his Dad and brother. When he came home he did not look so good. He said he had thrown up and his stomach still hurt. When I asked him a few questions I found out quite a bit I did not know.
Evidently when Dennis started disappearing from the house back in the early fall he was going to some divorce recovery meeting at a local church. That in itself was interesting since in the twenty years we had been married he only set foot in a church for weddings or funerals. By chance in this group was a lady whose husband had run off with the secretary and left her with three children. Dennis' trip over Labor Day with Wes was actually to go to some lake with her family. Of course he needed six days to move out of the house over Thanksgiving and needed my Bronco. He needed to Bronco as they were going up north and the Bronco was great in the snow and I guess he somehow managed to move all the stuff on Monday and Tuesday although I never could picture that.
Maybe he thought if he told me he was seeing someone I would be upset. Little did he know that it was a relief not to have him around every night after I filed for divorce. Perhaps if I had known before the mysterious drawing of the dead bird I would not have gone to the attorney and had him thrown out of the house. I also would have stopped washing and ironing his work shirts months before. He could have taken them to the cleaners or let her iron them up.
So when Wally came home Christmas afternoon with an upset stomach I made the instant decision to put a little humor into the situation. I quizzed him on what he had eaten. It was the usual Christmas dinner stuff except for green peas. Personally I never served green peas at Christmas since Green Bean Casserole is much better. So I told Wally that perhaps she was trying to poison him with green peas. His little eyes got big and I could tell that he was beginning to think the green peas were what made him sick. Needless to say I do not think he ever ate green peas at her house again. It got much worse through the years than peas but I always made a humorous side to everything that happened to him from then on.
Things got more interesting after the first of the year. I was asked out on a date. I had no idea whether to go or not since I had not been on a date in twenty years. My attorney called an said our final court date for the divorce was the end of the month.
Then there was always the question of what happened to Barney.
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