Invisible
She found it in the garden.
It was a beautiful May afternoon and she had been working furiously on
removing the bush her husband had given her three years ago for their
anniversary. She no longer wanted to
look at it. It had been a last minute
gift and it meant nothing to her anymore.
All the branches were cut down
and she just had to dig out the roots and she’d be done with it. The sun was warm on her back as she bent to
her work. It was comforting and welcome
after a long cold winter. As she thought
about him walking into the kitchen that day with a twig he had found along the
roadside she felt her anger flare up.
It didn’t matter that it was a lilac bush, her favourite, she doubted
David would have even realized that.
With one last angry thrust of her shovel, the root popped up out of the
ground…and so did something else.
Jenny picked it up to examine it more closely. It was a small brown earthenware jar with a
lid. Curious, she brushed off the dirt
and pulled the lid off. Inside was a
piece of paper rolled up like a scroll and tied with a worn piece of
string. She set the jar down and
unfurled the paper. There was writing on
it:
Name
me now your superpower
It
will be yours till the midnight hour
Jenny laughed and wiped her sweaty brow with a dirty hand. Probably some kid she thought as she dropped
the paper back into the jar and put the lid on.
Some kind of joke. But why was
she finding it now? It wasn’t there when
she planted the little tree. Although
she wouldn’t have had to dig so far down.
Maybe it belonged to a child who lived in the house before. It was an old house, so who knew how long the
jar had been there. It looked old and
the writing on the paper was very formal.
But superpower? All the kids were
into that these days. Still…how did it
get under the tree? She shook her head
and set the jar aside and finished her gardening. By the time she went inside to clean herself
up, she had forgotten all about the jar.
The phone rang as she was coming into the kitchen to start
dinner. It was David telling her he was
working late and wouldn’t be home till late.
Did he really think she was stupid enough to fall for that old
line? Apparently so. She didn’t give him
a hard time about it, just said fine and hung up. There was no point, it wouldn’t change anything. So, there she was, alone again.
Jenny felt tears come to her eyes as she thought of the
lonely evening ahead of her. She’d had
such hopes for her marriage after the kids left home. In her mind, she pictured her and David
living a life of freedom and adventure.
They would travel and go out to dinner whenever they wanted or go see a
play or a movie. David wouldn’t have to
work so hard once the kids were gone and on their own. Maybe he would even finally retire. But that hadn’t happened. He still worked as hard as ever and was
rarely home. Just like it had always
been. He never had time for her or the
kids. But he always had time for other
women. Jenny swallowed her tears and
went to the freezer for her dinner.
That’s when she noticed the jar sitting on the counter.
She gasped. How did
it get in here? She didn’t remember
bringing it in from the garden. Her
memory was faulty these days but surely she would remember that. She looked at the jar more closely. All the dirt was gone from it and it was a
beautiful terra cotta colour. Jenny was certain
she had not cleaned it! She opened the lid.
The piece of paper was still there just as she had left it. As she unfurled it again she gave a cry of
surprise. The note was now written in
golden script and looked as though it had been written with an old fashioned
quill.
Name me now your super power
It
will be yours till the midnight hour
There was something very strange going on. Jenny thought of the people she knew who
might be playing a joke on her, but she could think of no one who would go to the trouble
of burying something under the tree…no it just didn’t make sense. Had someone been in her house while she was
showering? She was very careful about
locking her doors and when she checked they were still locked. Jenny read the note again. It started to glow. She rubbed her eyes and looked at it
again. It glowed again. Okay, this was freaking her out. She decided she was having some kind of psychotic
break.
Some kind of mid-life breakdown brought on by an empty nest and a loveless marriage to a compulsive philanderer.
Jenny decided to play along since she was going crazy anyway. She looked at the note in her hand, with its
glowing font and thought about a superpower.
When she was a child she had always wished she was invisible. It seemed like the coolest thing ever to be
able to go wherever she wanted sight unseen.
She had so many big plans if only she could be invisible. So she held the note up in front of her and
said
“Invisibility!”. And waited. Nothing happened.
She felt the same as always and she still appeared to be
visible. Laughing sheepishly she tossed
the paper in the trash and went upstairs to dry her hair. When she walked into the bathroom and
looked in the mirror, she fainted dead away.
Coming to a few minutes later, she slowly stood up and looked in the
mirror again. All she could see were her
clothes!! Just hanging there in mid-air!
She was invisible! But when she
looked at herself without the mirror she could still see herself. Jenny went into her bedroom and sat on the
bed, thinking about what to do next. The phone rang and she
answered it.
“Boss wants
me to go to New York overnight” David said. “I will see you tomorrow”. No hello, no how are you, no apology. Jenny felt anger stir deep inside her.
Jenny knew exactly where David was going and who he was
going there with. Suddenly she had an
idea of how she was going to use her superpower. This was going to be the last time that man
ever cheated on her. She began to
formulate a plan.
Several hours later, Jenny arrived at the restaurant David
loved to take his mistresses. She saw
them at a small table in the corner, looking very cozy. She walked over and sat down with them. Sitting next to David, Jenny
settled in for a bit of fun.
“You
said you were going to tell her about us” the woman said petulantly.
“I
told you it’s not the right time….” David sounded weary.
“We have tonight to be together. Can't you at least be happy
about that?”
“No,
I can’t and you know it. You are always
saying it’s not the right time!” the
woman shook her blonde mane of hair in frustration, her ample cleavage heaving.
“I have to get her to sign the life insurance papers
first. I can’t just do that and then walk
away. It won’t look right.” David reached across the table and took her
hand.
Life insurance papers!
What was going on here? He wasn’t just planning on leaving her, he
wanted her dead!? Oh this was not going
to happen.
“Becky I love you more than I can say, please trust me, this
will all work out for us I promise you.
We need that money. I can’t do
this any other way.” David’s voice was loving and soothing, just like when he
first seduced Jenny all those years ago.
Becky reached for her wine and Jenny reached across and
moved the glass just enough for Becky to miss it and knock it over, red wine
splashing all over the red linen tablecloth and Becky’s tight white dress. Chaos ensued as David tried frantically to
clean up a sobbing Becky and waiters came to their rescue. It was all Jenny could do to not laugh out
loud. This was fun.
With Becky suitably calmed down, they continued their dinner
in silence. Jenny wanted to do something
else, but she needed to bide her time.
She could wait for the finale.
David and Becky left the restaurant and Jenny got in the cab
with them. When they arrived at the hotel,
Jenny followed them up to their room and went inside with them. Becky ran into the shower to change and
rinse her dress. While she was in there
Jenny reached in and turned off the hot water causing Becky to shriek. David came running in and got things under
control and Jenny went to over to the bed and climbed in.
Jenny heard laughter coming from the bathroom as the two
lovebirds talked about the fiasco of the evening. Then there was silence followed by soft moaning. Jenny felt her blood boil. That rat!
That piece of scum! She always
knew he cheated on her but hearing it first hand was infuriating. But she needed to be calm. She looked at the clock and saw that it was
almost midnight! What if they didn’t come
to bed in time? She heard David murmur
something and Becky giggled and then they came into the room. There was much kissing and grabbing and
carrying on as they made their way over to the bed. Jenny felt like Cinderella as she waited for
the clock to hit 12. It infuriated her
to see David’s response to that little slut.
He hadn’t been able to get it up for her in weeks, but he was clearly quite
excited now. They landed in an erotic
heap beside Jenny and ramped up the passion.
11:57, 11:58, 11:59….
“Hello, David! Nice to
see you.” Jenny said.
“What the hell??!!!??” David yelled as he saw his wife
appear in the bed with him and his lover.
Becky shrieked and ran to the bathroom.
“H-How did you get in here…where did you ….” And suddenly he grabbed his chest and collapsed
on the floor.
***
Jenny hid it in the garden.
By the light of the moon, she dug for hours until she had a hole big
enough. She dragged her cheating
husband into the hole, covered him with the lime she had bought earlier that day,
and tossed shovels of dirt on top of him.
When she was done, she planted another lilac tree right on top of
him. Being invisible had been
everything she’d hoped it would be.
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