I’d seen the colour draining from Scottie McFadden’s face as I’d been talking and he finally dropped his eyes. As soon as he’d done that, I turned to my boss.
“You’ll have my resignation on your desk first thing on Monday morning, you hypocritical, pretentious, high and mighty piece of shit. And I guess it would be safe to assume that Jimmy Brown won’t be returning to work on Monday. I wouldn’t attempt to try to cheat him out of his entitlements by claiming that he didn’t provide sufficient notice. Using your penchant for pedanticism to justify such an action would, I believe, prove to be counterproductive.
“And you two,” I said, aiming my glare at the pair of councillors in the group, “would be ill-advised to run for office at the next election.”
Having said my piece, I turned and walked out of the Uranus Lawn Bowls Club, never to return.
—oooBJSooo—
My wife was astonished by the news of Marleen’s long-term infidelity and the destruction of her and Jimmy’s marriage when I told her over breakfast the next morning. She’d been asleep when I arrived home.
“I had a feeling that there was something off about their relationship,” she said. “And I didn’t see any resemblance to Jimmy in any of their kids; not even the oldest one.
“Should I go around to their place to see if here’s something we can do to help?”
“I think the best thing we can do is to stay the hell out of it,” I answered. “If I’m any judge of character, Jimmy will be long gone. Whatever love he had for her ended last night. My guess is that she never loved him. Recognising his love for her, however, she sucked him into a relationship when she discovered she was pregnant to someone — either some married man or the parish priest — and told him the baby was his.”
“Why do you say the priest might have been involved?” my wife asked. Neither of us was religious in any way. But we’d heard about how well the previous parish priest had known some of the girls (in the biblical sense) at the church’s local boarding school and was known to have fathered at least two children. We also knew that Marleen had been brought up in ‘the faith’ and had attended that same school.
“It was just something that was said last night,” I answered.
“I’d say she has continued along her wayward path during the whole of their marriage. She’s let Jimmy believe they were his kids, when in fact, their real fathers were either unaware or didn’t care that someone else was raising their bastards.
“If we were anywhere else in the country, I’d put my money on the former situation. But, since we’re talking about Uranus, I’d say they simply couldn’t give a rat’s rectum.
“That might have to change if Jimmy has done what I believe he’s done and she no longer has his financial support. She might have to go searching for her children’s real fathers. Either that, or she’ll have to start charging for her favours. Maybe — assuming she has more brains than I believe she has — she’ll do both.”
My wife was disappointed that I wouldn’t let her offer our help to Marleen — she’s a mother hen, and that’s what mother hen’s do — but she was pleased to learn that we would soon be leaving this most inhospitable of places.