In the car the radio blared away gibberish at him, he heard none of it, he wondered about his life, but most of all he wondered about his wife. He knew he wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with, but lately his wife had retreated from him and the rest of the world. He could not seem to reach her at all. She seemed to connect with him least of all. It got him down further than he already was, the thoughts of the arguments they had over the weekend bogged him down further. He drove slowly towards the bank.

Standing in line he looked up at the TV, he never saw the image, only the dark thoughts in his mind. He went to the teller when his turn came and asked for change, he looked in her eyes and saw concern. Normally he was extra cheerful with the bank tellers, he wanted them to be happy to see him. He realized he was broadcasting some serious negativity with his face and body language. He plastered a smile on his face and tried to make it appear as genuine as he could, she was not fooled.

Before he got out at the store he became determined that he needed to straighten up and fly right, at least visibly. The store was a success and he actually felt better while smiling at people and greeting them politely. His fake happiness was making others genuinely happy which in turn was making him happy. By the time had the purchases in the truck and was back on the road he was feeling much better. His thoughts turned back to his wife and what she needed. It became clear to him that he could never guess what she needed and it was not likely that she would tell him. The least he could give her was a stable husband. He began to think about their recent arguments and the points they had bickered over. Who was really to blame? Then it hit him; it didn’t matter, what mattered was the eleven years they had been together and the future they had yet to live.

He drove back to the restaurant trying to think of a way to tell her that he still loved her, that he needed her more than ever. The methodology for this was escaping him, but it wasn’t important how he expressed himself to her, only that he did. Another phone call to Shannon, which ended better than the first, now that he had his head wrapped around the banquets that she wanted to talk about. Most of that straitened out he went back to his office. Pig had cleared the desk and moved the refuse pile into a corner, where he was curled up sound asleep. Andrew crept into the office and opened the Internet, it was time to talk to his wife.