The Ripple Effect

                                     


                                        The Ripple Effect

                                          By: SM Ferguson



    My fist slammed the bar. Drinks spilled. Glasses flew. Smells of old smoke and spilled beer turned my stomach. Mirrors reflected my set face, hair red as flame gone wild. Eyes like blue lasers.

    “ So, you lied to me.” My voice dripped ice.” Anna never gave you any message.”

    “ It’s not that simple Bobby.”  Debbie said, as she turned pale. “ Her ex-husband planned it. We thought you would ask her if it was the truth.” 

    “ Thorenson, calm down. There is more you should know.” Ray met my eyes.
” Anna was upset when you left.

  “Really?” I ached to punch him. He’d known how I felt about that girl.

    “Anna crashed her car heading home. She spent seven months hospitalized.” Ray said.” She refuses to see anyone at all.”

    “That involves me how?” I watched them.

  “Anna might see you, she really cared about you, Bobby. I heard she never really recovered from the accident.” Debbie spoke haltingly, ”Ray and I wanted to make things right. We never should have taken the money from her ex-husband to set you up.”
    I was sick of them both. All this time I had cursed Anna for using me to bring her husband to heel. The night Debbie and Ray had told me Anna was already married, I’d simply walked out of the bar and out of her life. I hadn’t spoken to her since; I’d fallen into their trap like a drugged grizzly.

    “Does Anna know what you did?”  My blood felt like broken glass pumping through my veins.

    “None of it. She thinks you dumped her for someone else.” Ray looked away.

    I stood so fast my chair tipped. Rage filled my soul. I despise liars and malicious people. Betrayal of friends is kin to murder in my book. They looked nervous. Ray had good reason. He knew I ran a martial arts school and he was certainly familiar with my sense of justice. My lips curled into a snarl, let him worry. Nobody spoke as I stalked out of the bar. I needed to see Anna. Eight months is an eternity to think someone you trusted betrayed your faith.

Why should I expect her to listen to me tonight? I hadn’t given her that courtesy the last time we’d been together. Hell, I hadn’t even given her as much as a goodbye.  I believe one smile can create great hope years into the future and one small hurt a massacre. That is the ripple effect. That's Bobby Thorenson’s philosophy of life in a nutshell. However, more urgent matters awaited me tonight. As I fired up my old 1968 GTO Judge, I searched my mind for a way to make things right. The words I needed eluded me, but I would try to explain my betrayal to her. With my last breath if it came to that.

    My Norse heritage was kicking in. I was raised on the old legends for bedtime tales, they taught me honor. I would need the strength of those old gods tonight. I prayed they watched over a fool like me. Parking in Anna’s driveway, fear washed over me. Now there was a new feeling for a macho guy like me.

    Anna’s door opened before I could knock, it startled me. Hope soared until I caught the look
In her chocolate colored eyes.

    “Eight months you were gone.” She spit it at me.

    “Anna.” My hands shook.” I have to talk with you.”

    “What could you possibly have to say? ” She hesitated, raking back long, blonde hair.” I remember you let actions speak for you last time we met.”

    “ I was set up, your ex-husband paid off Debbie and Ray to get me out of your life.” I could feel moisture building in my eyes.” Anna, I swear I didn’t know what they’d done before tonight.”

    Anna stared at me like I was some specimen under glass. My insides clenched and suddenly I understood. This bitterness was all that was holding her together. My heart twisting inside, I prayed for the right words to get through to her.

    “ Anna, just ten minutes so I can explain, please.” My throat felt raw.

      Face pale, she stepped back, waving me inside. Anna stopped in the living room I remembered so clearly. Thick green plants surrounded with the rose scented candles she loved, the rich aroma of fresh coffee reminding me how badly I could use a cup of it rightnow. As she settled on a sofa, Anna turned to me.

    “Talk, Bobby.” Her voice sounded like acid hissing through stone.

    I did not like how this was going. She was keeping too much distance between us, physically and emotionally. She looked thin and scared. I realized I was only going to have one chance to set things right. Slowly, I told her everything, how our best friends had convinced me she was still married, using me to make her husband jealous because he neglected her. The idea they’d implanted in my mind that she was laughing at me behind my back, that I meant nothing to her even though she’d become my whole universe.  Finally it was all said. Anna remained still, tears pouring in torrents down her cheeks.

    “ Anna,” I spoke hesitantly,” Can we start fresh?”
   
      “How could you believe those things, Bobby?” Anna said. “ Why didn’t you even stop to ask me if it was true?”

    “ I was so jealous that if your husband had walked in, I’d have beaten him to death.” I said.  “Ray convinced me it was better to just leave. I never even heard about your accident Anna, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

    “ You don’t know what happened to me after the car accident?” Anna went stiff. Slowly she told me the legacy left to her from that night.

    Throat injuries that impaired swallowing along with permanent, degenerative
nerve damage. She feared being forced to exist by having a feeding tube surgically implanted in her stomach, she couldn’t swallow anything but liquids and pureed food and it was never going to get better. Her doctors couldn’t tell her she would live six months or sixty years. I listened to it all. I could only imagine the pain my jealousy had created for her. She had coped with it all alone, until tonight. I moved to sit beside her on the sofa, pulling her onto my lap. Quickly I pulled the chain from my neck, it held our salvation.

    One cannot stop those ripples once they’re set into motion. Only through actions their effects might be changed and tonight I would begin to correct their course

    “How could you possibly want me, knowing all of that?”  Anna sounded exhausted.

    “Through strength born of love” I said. “ I planned to give you this eight months ago.” My voice was strong as I slipped the ring off my chain and onto her finger. “ Will you marry me Anna?”
 
    She was my light and I would be her strength, never again would I allow anything to come between us

      Anna looked from her hand deep into my eyes.

    “ Bobby, are you sure?” she waited silently.

    “ Certain as I need to breathe.”  I wrapped my arms tighter around her.

      “I missed you.” She looked peaceful.

    “ Enough for one dance at our wedding, lady?” I grinned, knowing her response from the night we met

    “I never dance Thor, “ she swatted my shoulder.

    “Heard that line before,” I replied innocently. “ I remember you changed your mind a couple weeks later.”

    For a moment I thought I heard the old gods laughing.



Word Count: 1,288