Tag Archives: separation

Short Story, Teddy Bear

Ch. 10 – Series Teddy Bear

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Turning Points

In every person’s life there comes a time, a crisis in their life that becomes a turning point that tests their soul, their heart, and character.  At this turning point, you have to decide whether you will give in and let the challenges and evil defeat you or—rise above all of the darkness and fight, succeed.  You don’t know how, you don’t know how long it’s going to take, but you know without a doubt that no one will stop you. You know that you can do it.  You know you HAVE to, too much is at stake.

What you don’t know at this turning point is how it affects you for the rest of your life and at the moment you don’t care. Survival is the only thing that matters, you don’t care if you start building walls one brick at a time around your heart.  You don’t care if you stop trusting people.  You don’t care if others think you’re a bitch. You have a job to do, that is to live, that is to be a good mother, that is to raise them the best you can, that is to provide for them the best you can.  That day was my turning point.

Teddy Bear knew it too, he saw the change in me over the weeks and winter, I concentrated on my job, I concentrated on my finances, little as they were. I moved out of that apartment, and got a little duplex, it is more like a home to my girls.  I feel we are improving our life now, I have a babysitter that comes to the house while I am at work to watch the girls after school.  We are attending the small church down the street. I want the girls to have all the experiences they can, that includes religion and bible school.

Teddy Bear keeps in touch with me on a regular, discrete basis and lets me know when the ex is on a rampage. He tells me when to watch out for the ex’s strange behavior, but I don’t need that warning.  The ex came to pick up the children this Friday at the new place in a fury.  I guess he didn’t like me leaving the apartment, out of his control.  I don’t know. But he literally dragged the kids in the middle of the street and started yelling obscenities and calling me all kinds of names.  I can’t let this happen,  the children were crying and frantic, he grabbed them anyway and took off.   This cannot continue!  I’ve got to stop it.

Teddy Bear came over tonight, he knows Friday nights are my worse nights because of the visitation.  I’m really upset tonight, more so than usual. I tell him the scenario that just happened.  He takes me out to dinner and we discuss my options.  His name for the ex is DickHead, I call him Ricardo Cabeza because I don’t want the kids repeating Teddy Bear’s name, but it fits the jerk.  So anyway, Ricardo, I’ve got a plan now to deal with your temper and tantrums. YOU will NOT put my children through this again!

My weekend passes quickly, but I make a phone call to Ricardo.  He is to drop the children off at the church on Sunday now, not at my house and from now on all visitation pickups will be made on the church steps.  I talked to the pastor about this and he is willing to be my witness when the children’s father drops off and picks up the kids. No more scenes.

I work long hours. I need to be at work at 5 in the morning.  I finally got a job in a railyard.  I am the only woman working with 500 men. I am the chemist that analyzes the contents that are contained in rail tank cars. It’s a physically demanding job.  I have to climb on top of the rail cars to obtain samples, I have to go out in below freezing weather to obtain samples from water lines to obtain water samples, my hands freeze and bleed. I have to wear a hard hat, but they don’t provide a lab coat, so my clothes are always getting destroyed by the acid in all these rail cars. You see these rail cars come from a munitions plant and contain the acid used to make ammunition.  I have to make sure that the rail car is cleaned thoroughly so that the welders can go into the confined space and repair the cars. I am not only the only woman but the only chemist and the only thing keeping this rail cleaning facility in compliance with DOD and DOT. I have to wear jeans, flannel shirts, and layers.  It’s so cold this winter.

My first day there was eye opening, a rail car came in and since the workers had not been used to having a chemist on site, they proceeded as usual.  They poured water in the railcar without inspecting the contents first. What a disaster. And what an initiation for me!  Suddenly a big red cloud erupted from the railcar.  The workers ran for their lives and it was determined to evacuate the plant, except for two people. My boss and me.  I was supposed to determine how to dispose of the disastrous contaminated water.  If I could not get things contained we were going to have to evacuate the nearby town. My first real job, my first challenge of a working career. It took most of the evening, but I did it. I discovered the correct kind of neutralization steps I needed to take so it wouldn’t destroy the whole plant’s pipelines, I found the place to haul away the acidic water and the correct kind of tractor trailers that wouldn’t be harmed in the procedure.  I discovered my strength. I discovered I can do this! I can overcome adversity. This was one of many I know, but my confidence in myself had started to build.

 

 

 

Romance, Short Story, Teddy Bear

Ch. 9 – Series Teddy Bear

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The bubble bursts- again

“Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could I be so stupid again!”, I say to myself when Teddy Bear confesses his betrayal, his whole deception. I can’t believe it at first.  I’m in shock, but the conversation he repeats that I had with Bill is exactly how what I said. NO ONE heard that conversation.  I was so ashamed I’d dated a married man.  I was stupid then too. He had lied to me too.  God, I just can’t believe how naive I am. I always believed to trust someone until they give me a reason not to, but now a third time this year? I’ve got to change this, I’ve got to stop this. I wanted to badly to believe Teddy Bear’s intentions were true, his heart was true, I was really falling for him.  I gave myself to him, for God’s sake.  Oh, what have I done?!

He keeps talking, telling me things, I can barely pay attention, I’m so heartbroken, angry, mostly at myself for being stupid, and trying to figure out what to do next.  He keeps telling me to move the furniture around.  He tells me if I see a car following me not to come straight home, what? He keeps telling me to turn on the radio when I’m on the phone. He keeps telling me he loves me.

I see the pain in his eyes, when he looks at me, he wants to hold me but I’m just feeling numb right now, cold all over like the arctic wind has chilled me to the bone.  Such a contrast from earlier this morning, when I didn’t want to be out of his arms.  He was watching me sleep, I could tell, but I just stayed snuggled next to his warm, loving body.

He tells me the reason that my ex, the dickhead, has done all this is to take away the kids. To make me suffer, so that I will never see them again. He wants me to be seen in the worse possible light, to be seen as the worse mother in the world.

GAWD… Now this! How can I possibly continue to see him, if the dickhead knew that I was romantically involved with this shady character he would certainly take my children away from me. I have to tell Teddy Bear, it’s over.  It’s barely begun, but I now know, the battle has become evident to me now. It’s clear what I need to do. I have to fight with my last breath. I have to be strong, I have to be courageous more than I thought I would have to be. This isn’t going to be easy. I just got a job, it doesn’t pay much. But the ex doesn’t know my stubbornness.  He never saw me assertive before, I will be his worst nightmare.

I’m calming down, anger is smoldering beneath the surface, but not aimed at Teddy Bear. Mostly at myself and the ex. I have to be grateful that Teddy Bear confessed.  I know the stakes, I know the enemy, I know what I must do.

“Teddy Bear,” I say after a long silence, ” I can’t see you anymore, you know that,, right? You know he’ll use our relationship against me in court.  You know for sure that because of who and what you are  if we continue, I will lose my children. I can’t let that happen.  I care deeply about you.  I’m not mad at you. It hurts me that you betrayed me, but you have now let me know everything I need to know to prepare for the battle of a lifetime and this one I can’t lose.”  So right then and there, my life, my heart and my attitude changed.  I saw the hurt in his eyes when I said this.

“I understand, sweetheart,” Teddy Bear replies. As he turns to leave, I take him by the arm and look up at him with tears in my eyes. “I trusted you and for some reason I still do.  I don’t want you out of my life forever.” He pulls me into a warm embrace, “You’ll never be without me around, I’ll always be here for you, and you’ll always be protected.I really do love you, whether you believe it or not.” and we stand there holding each other tightly in silence with only two broken hearts beating next to each other.

 

Romance, Short Story, Teddy Bear

Ch. 6-Series Teddy Bear

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The Picnic

I’ve been seeing her now for a few months.  She’s pulled herself together really well, the crying has stopped and  you can see the determination in her eyes.  She’s getting healthier and stronger, the color is coming back into her cheeks and she’s got more energy now.  I see her try to smile and be happy for her kids, she has taken them fishing at the little pond nearby.  She tried dating some other driver but discovered he was lying to her and she shut him down real quick.  I laughed at that and was really happy when she stopped seeing him.  I’m falling for this woman, I’ve got to come clean to her, I wonder what will happen. I don’t want to lose her, I don’t want to lose her friendship.

We’ve become close friends and her husband was all wrong about her.  Now I know he was having the affair, with a seventeen year old girl no less. He was trying everything to get Tender Touch out of the house, compromising her reputation with the neighbors, compromising her reputation with friends, degrading her personally, and compromising her health with drugs.  She found the jar of drugs one day while she was in the marriage home trying to retrieve some of the dishes and cooking utensils.   She told me she had gone back to the doctors last week for a checkup because of her serious condition and the doctor had told her that if he had known that was going to happen, he would have immediately checked her into the hospital because she was that ill. He then wondered about the cause of the illness and wondered if it had been natural causes after all. It sounded and had all the symptoms of poisoning.

I’ve got to come clean with her. How?  Maybe at the picnic?

Saturday afternoon finally is here, I am so nervous to see her. I’ve got everything ready for her.  I can’t, I just can’t. Not yet. I want to be with her so much, I want her to love me. She’s so precious to me. I’m taking her to the canal,down by the water and the treeline.  It’s beautiful there and now at the end of summer, it’s still warm but there’s a breeze off the water.  We can watch the yachts sail down the canal and have our picnic.  I see her waiting for me outside the apartment, she has that beautiful smile and her eyes are sparkling.

We get to the canal, it’s a little muddy where I park, but where I want to settle down is dry and just perfect.  I hand her the blanket and basket and swoop her up into my arms. She’s so tiny. She laughs in surprise and tries to hold on to my neck with one arm.  I laugh,
“What, haven’t you ever been carried before?”  “No!, it’s the first time”, she says, “not even on my honeymoon night”, she’s still laughing.  I set her down on the ground and we lay out the blanket and the picnic. We have some cheese,fried chicken and some fruit.  We linger in each other’s embrace and have a great conversation and a wonderful kiss. Her lips tasting like wine are so soft, she’s so trusting and innocent and her hands so small in mine. I cannot confess to her yet, but I must. Soon.

Romance, Short Story, Teddy Bear

Ch. 5-Series Teddy Bear

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Tender Touch Gathers Strength

It’s been a few weeks now, I got a rickety old table at a garage sale for my dining room and the kids and I can eat our bacon and eggs for dinner together there. I can’t afford a whole lot for groceries so our diet is pretty meager. Good thing they like hot dogs without buns. That first weekend was pretty miserable without them, it killed me.  My heart felt like it was torn into.  I don’t think I ever have felt the emptiness inside me so badly, the loneliness, the despair.  It was something I’ve never felt before. I dread every weekend. And every Sunday night, the girls come back in such a state, all weekend their hair hasn’t been combed, it’s a tangled rat’s nest. Their clothes are filthy dirty and not the clothes I sent them to him with and he doesn’t return the clothes back. It’s so frustrating. They come back all upset and in a terrible mood. My youngest was potty trained and now she’s having accidents and cries in her sleep at night. I just wish I was a fly on the wall in that other house. I wish I knew what was going on. I went over there one weekend and he slammed the door on my face, saying I wasn’t allowed while he had visitation with the kids, I slapped him.  I was so angry. I have never been so angry in my life. In fact, I have felt so many new emotions these last few weeks it’s almost overwhelming.  I feel like I’m becoming a whole new person. I am becoming a whole new person.

The only good thing that has happened in the last few weeks is that I met a wonderful man, his name is Teddy Bear. Well, that’s his CB handle, it’s not his real name. But I like it better than his real name. He’s sweet, he’s kind, and he’s really good-looking.  He’s about six-foot-three, black hair, brown, gentle eyes, darker, olive-skinned man. He’s Italian.  I think I’m liking Italian men. He’s got a beard and a mustache and it’s very soft, not scratchy.  He’s kissed me good night a couple of times.  We talk every day on the CB and have coffee whenever we can or whenever he’s in the area.  He delivers gravel and his route in right in front of the apartment building.

He’s been good for me when the kids go to their father’s, staying in my apartment alone is nerve-wracking. I need my children.  I was made to be a mother.  It’s what I was meant to be. His conversation and coffee dates have occupied some of my time, he is planning to take me on a picnic next weekend.

Job hunting has not been very successful, I’m an overly educated, under-skilled woman. No one wants to hire me. But, I am determined.  Also, funny thing, over these few weeks in the apartment, gradually my sense of taste and smell is returning. I’m still pretty weak, and the rash is going away. I still get tired easily, but that’s probably just the stress, but food now tastes much better, maybe it’s just my own cooking now and not my husband’s. It is odd.

 

 

 

Short Story, Teddy Bear

Ch. 3-Series Teddy Bear

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Tender Touch’s Strange New World

I watch my husband drive away with his friend leaving me there in my new “home” with the girls and nothing but the clothes on our backs. Wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do now. I don’t have a job, he gave me a little money for groceries and he said he’d pay the rent and utilities until I got a job. I’m so sick. The doctor ordered complete bed rest for me, for me not to even get out of bed to eat, only to go to the bathroom and only to be on the main floor. How am I supposed to cope with all this?

We go up to our apartment and try to settle in.  The girls have a couple of their favorite toys, I’ll go back to the house tomorrow while he’s at work and get more things for them.  I don’t have the strength to do more or to argue with him.  We look around at the empty apartment.  The girls will sleep on the twin mattress, I’ll take the floor with a blanket.  Did I have one? There were some in the van.  I don’t have any food, I need to go shopping.  But I don’t have any utensils, dishes or anything.  Paper plates tonight, the house tomorrow.  Make a list of the essentials.  Get yourself together, girl, you can do this.  You don’t want to be with him, you know he’s cheating. You know he’s been acting strange lately. You know he’s been going out late three or four nights a week to “retirement” parties and going out for “doughnuts” early on Saturday mornings and not coming home until late.  You should have seen this coming.  You thought maybe he’d leave.  Not kick you out.  But lately, you’ve been getting so sick. You’ve had such bad headaches you couldn’t see straight, you’ve had to call him to watch the kids while you wished you could die.  You can’t taste anything, nothing smells good, everything smells like rotten eggs.  Your heart literally hurts, your body hurts, your bones hurt, you have a rash all over your body, you can barely move.  Yet he does nothing to help, except cook your meals. That he has helped with, thank goodness.  You can’t stand the smell of food.  You’ve lost a lot of weight.

Seeing the doctor yesterday was alarming to the doctor even, he was really worried about me.  Told me not to even try to drive home, I was in too bad of condition. An infection around my heart, myocardial infarction, I think he said and a bunch of other things, I can’t remember. I was about to pass out.  I waited in the bed of the van, I waited so long.  Finally, my husband came to pick me up at five o’clock.  We picked up the girls from the neighbors and he fixed dinner, I laid down on the sofa to rest. They watched TV.  When the girls went to bed, he came to the sofa while I was dozing and forced himself on me.  I told him no, over and over again. I was too sick, I hurt too much. But it didn’t matter to him. Then he went upstairs to bed and left me there. I stayed, I didn’t want to sleep with him. I couldn’t move anyway.

What am I going to do now? I’ve never lived on my own, let alone with two little ones depending on me.  I am alone, no family for thousands of miles, no friends, and a new world before me.