Engelska novell baserad på en CNN-artikel

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The life of Gerald and Nancy Cole just before the bitter end

Gerald Cole sat at the breakfast table this early Tuesday morning in Albuquerque as usual since he retired from the judgeship, drinking his first cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Though he didn’t really read it; he just let his eyes sweep over the articles and snapped up a few words and sentences and in that way understood the meaning of the news that were printed. He was watching his wife, Nancy Cole, as she cleaned up after their breakfast: bacon, toasts, sausages, pancakes and every side dish you could possibly imagine, and of course black coffee.
“She sure is a terrific woman” Gerald thought. “She never complains about anything. She never asks anything from me. Not to vacuum, not to stay sober, not to pick up after me, not to cook, not to pay the bills, not to go out running to keep in shape, not anything. I’m a lucky man.” He observed her as she bent down to wipe up some water, that she just spilled, from the floor. As she stood up again she turned her head towards him and Gerald looked into her eyes and gave her a little, almost invisible, smile and she replied by giving him a big smile, almost laughter, and turned around again to the pile of dish. “She hasn’t changed a bit since we married and that was 40 years ago. I mean, look at me; I’m as fat as a pig just before Christmas! Not at all like the adolescent that I used to be with a well trained body, glowing eyes and that charming laughter of youth and excitement. But she, she still has her looks and you can’t even see a trace of any wrinkles though she is 65. She is an amazing woman, and God knows I still love her.” He kept looking at her until she left the kitchen and went into the living room to remove yesterday’s beer cans that her husband had left behind in front of the television.

“Oh, I hate this. That pig can’t even offer to help me. In the 40 years we’ve been married he hasn’t lifted a finger to help me or ask me how my day has been. Not once he gave me a complement for my hair style or my new makeup. He doesn’t appreciate me at all. Well, Gerald, let’s see how you’ll manage without me. You just sit there and drink your damn coffee and read your dumb paper because soon you won’t have the time or you’ll live in a pigsty which actually would fit your image perfect. No one to do your laundry (I wonder if you even know how to work a washing machine) or to clean up after you. Then you’ll appreciate me and you’ll be begging me to come back, but I won’t. I’ll be at Hawaii with Helmut – my German hero and saviour. Oh, I can’t wait to get out of this house and start a whole new life, better late than never. I wonder how Gerald will take it. Will he be angry? Will he be sad? Or maybe he’ll be unconcerned?”
She bent down to wipe up some water from the floor and as she stood up again she slowly turned her head to get a glimpse of the man she would be leaving. He gave her a lame and almost laughable smile. “Sure, darling, you just sit there and smile your self-satisfied smile with your coffee in your hand. Haha, you’ll sure look dumb when you stand in front the coffee maker, pressing all the buttons and screaming your rage out, into the thin air without anybody listening or comforting you, or helping you for that matter. I would give almost anything to see the expression on you face when you, if you, survive one morning without your precious coffee.” She gave him a plastic smile back and could barely keep herself from bursting into laughter at the thought of how he would go to Hawaii, standing on his knees, begging her to come back, not because he loved her, no, she was sure that he didn’t, that he just saw her as his made. No, he would come to Hawaii to try to win her back so she would make him his food, coffee and grocery shopping (beer formerly). “Oh my God, he would certainly die without me. Hah, what a pleasant thought.” She suddenly felt ashamed. How in the Name of Jesus Christ could she think these terrible thoughts about the man she once fell in love with and then loved him for 37 years, with other words, before she meet Helmut. That reminded her that she has to go testify.
Helmut was a man in his early 70´s and was very rich. She had met him at a cooking-course three years ago and they had found that they had much in common. They started to see each other more and more and Nancy realized that she told Gerald that she were going out shopping or to meet up with her friends. After a while she and Helmut had a beginning of an affair, and it happened some times that she fell asleep at his place and she was worried that Gerald would ask anything or give her a hell of an attitude, but every time she came home she found Gerald passed out in the couch with several beers at the coffee table and the TV on and he couldn’t remember a thing the day after, or he just didn’t ask, she didn’t bother to think about it. Helmut knew about Gerald and he had promised Nancy that the two of them would move to Hawaii and live happily ever after. That was the reason Nancy lived through the days in Gerald’s home – the thought of going to Hawaii with Helmut. Everything was already fixed. Helmut had bought a big wonderful bungalow at the beach (AT the beach!) and in her drawer in her bedroom she hade a plane ticket to Hawaii in two weeks – one way. She had already, two month ago, filed a petition for divorce, of course without Gerald knowing. Her plan was to tell Gerald the very same morning when she stood with her bags ready to leave, with Helmut waiting in his car further down the street and then just before leaving giving him the petition and make him sign it. She didn’t think that it was going to be that hard because she expected him to be in too much of a chock so he wouldn’t realize what he was doing. But it didn’t turn out that way...
“I’m going out for a second, honey. I’m going to see Lily, Jojo and Gemma.” She peeped around the corner between the kitchen and the living room. “Sure thing, you do that. But don’t be home to late. I want dinner. I’m already hungry. I hate waiting. Have fun.” Gerald replied. Her thoughts was running through her head – “oh, that bastard. That selfish son of a *****” She stopped as soon as she saw the door and remembered that it was time to meet up with Helmut, and her mood went straight up immediately. She put on her shoes and coat and left the house as fast as she could.

“I’m going out for a second, honey. I’m going to see Lily, Jojo and Gemma.” That beautiful and caring face peeped out, looking straight at him with lovingly eyes. “Sure thing, you do that.” He said as softly as he could and looked at her in amazement. “But don’t be home to late. I want dinner. I’m already hungry. I hate waiting. Have fun.” “What would I do without her?” He could hear the door slamming after her and as he drank his last sip of black wonderful and tasty coffee he folded the paper and put it careful at the table. He went into their bedroom to get dressed (he always drank his coffee in his rob), and as normal he didn’t have any clean socks. He had never really understood where all his socks went – they just disappeared. He cursed over the ******* washing machine that he always said ate his underwear. He looked through the whole drawer without any luck. He turned around and saw Nancy’s chest of drawers standing there and got the idea to borrow a pair of her socks (not one of those nylon, a regular pair), or maybe some of his socks where hiding there. “What are they so afraid of?” He went over and dragged out one of the top drawers. He put his hand to the bottom and started to poke around in it, but then he could feel a piece of paper against his fingertips. He grabbed it and pulled it up and then went in to the kitchen, put on his glasses and started to read.
“What the…?” One ticket to Hawaii in Helmut Grangers’ name. One way. And that wasn’t all. Divorce petition between Mr. Gerald Michael Cole and Mrs. Nancy Mari Cole and that one was already sign by Nancy Mari Cole. Gerald didn’t need to think about it at all. He knew that Nancy had met a man named Helmut at a course (“what course was it? What the **** was it?!)” about three years ago and they had become friends, he thought “oh, Gerald, you stupid, stupid man.” He was glad that he sat down, or else he probably would have fainted. He was in total chock. She didn’t love him any more. She had another man. She made love to another man. She had been cheating on him! A man from Germany and he was two years younger than himself. He nearly puked. Then he took a deep breath and it was almost like his eyes went black for a second and then turned back to the original colour again. He calmly got up from the chair and put the papers at the table and the slowly went towards their bedroom. His thoughts had disappeared; there was just a black empty space in his mind as he walked into the bedroom and stopped, standing in front of the wardrobe door and just stood there for a minute or two before...