The Young Man

By

Mark Jales

1582 words

Marsha and Tim had lived in the street for several years, their children, Jane, nineteen and Josh, twenty-two, had grown up there for most of their lives. They had attended the local schools and all in all they had a happy life together as a family.

In the last few years Tim had seemed to get bored with sex. His drive had gone down and although Marsha knew that he loved her she felt as though she was now put onto the side lines; she felt used and unwanted, unloved and uncared for. It had, as these things do, become an issue between them. Marsha had asked him to talk to the doctor about it but Tim refused almost as though his manhood was in question. He would try his best about once a week but his equipment didn’t seem to work well and if Marsha dared mention it or even show pity he would get cross and an atmosphere would emerge between them. She knew it was better just to keep quiet. Nevertheless she knew that they could not go on like this but she was out of ideas.

Jane was happy at college studying business studies and Josh had just changed his job. He had been offered a better position with one of the rival firms and he seemed happy in his new position. Marsha was very proud of her kid’s; they were both clever and were doing well. Jane was going out with a nice local boy who appeared to treat her well and Josh had a nice girlfriend that he had met at a local nightclub. He and his girlfriend often stayed overnight using the place a little like a hotel. Marsha often mentioned that she was just the person who washed clothes and cooked for everyone else’s convenience! But underneath that she liked having her son and his girlfriend around; if nothing else it was a distraction from the atmosphere between her and Tim.

Jane came home one night after college and announced that her and her boyfriend had split up. Marsha was shocked. She asked Jane why and Jane simply said that they had grown apart. It seemed a shame to Marsha as he was such a nice boy.

A couple of weeks went by and one evening Jane appeared and said that she was going out for the evening. Tim enquired where.