Lucy, dressed in her best clothes looked at her reflection in the mirror. I look dowdy she thought. My mother wouldn’t even wear these to clean the grate out, and would never wear them outside, even to do the gardening. She sighed heavily. She had been doing that a lot lately.
Steven, her husband of what seemed like five long years, shouted, “Get a move on, I said we would be there at 11.30.”
She sighed once more before pulling on her well-worn boots, and checked her reflection before hurrying down the stairs. They set off across the park. No matter how late they were Steven would never pay for a taxi or even get on a bus. She had thought in the past that his frugality was a good thing. Having lived with it she now knew he was just a very mean person, and she had had to live by his rules.
As the park was very crowded that morning, so she felt safe enough to ask him. She knew that he would never cause a scene at such a public space.
“Steve, I want …”
He cut her off before she could finish.
“The answer is no to whatever it is that your asking.” he stated “and don’t call me Steve in front of my father, you know how much he hates it.”
Almost as much as I hate him, she thought, but was very careful not to say it out loud. She wondered why she was going to a place that she was never made welcome, and had to put up with his overbearing father and a mouse of a mother-in-law. That thought stopped her in her tracks, as she thought of herself in the same role.
“Stop dawdling, hurry up.” Steven said as he strode off.
“Steve, slow down! I want to talk to you.”
He turned abruptly with increasing annoyance showing on his face.
“I want… I want a divorce!” there she had finally said it and found that it had not been as hard as she had imagined. A warm feeling started in her body and her confidence grew.
He didn’t reply straight away as if he was thinking what she had said through.
“Did I hear you right, you are actually asking me for a divorce.”
“No” she replied, feeling much stronger, “I’m telling you.”
He looked very confused, she had never stood up to him before. He didn’t know quite what to say. Then noticing that time was passing, he hurried on to his parents house, knowing the wrath of his father was now a certainty.
She called out once more, just to make sure he fully understood, “and Steve, just one more thing, it will cost you!” she turned and laughed to herself, and set off smiling in a direction to her mother’s house, where she knew there would be a warm welcoming and a complete understanding.
