Authors: Patrick Abbruzzi
“I’m just so down right now, Charlie, and I don’t know whether or not it will pass.”
“Annette, you know I have been talking to Lt. A. about this for a while. He really cares about us and listens to every word I say. He suggested we go see someone that he also went to years ago when he was having a similar problem with hi
s
wife,” he explained.
“Who is it, Charlie?
”
she asked.
“It’s the priest he became close with when he was a cop years ag
o
in the 120
th
, the one who was in the concentration camp in Poland. I don’
t
know if I ever told you about it, but Lt. A. says the man is truly specia
l
and thinks we should go see him.”
“I don’t know, Charlie. A priest?
”
she asked quizzically.
“Lt. A. says he is more than a priest, honey,” Charlie replied. “He believes Father Josef is a very specia
l
human being.
“I’ve made the decision that I want to save our marriag
e
and have a life with you, Annette, and I am willing to do all that I can i
n
order to achieve this. I know you did, too. You proved it by getting th
e
transfer to another branch of your firm.”
He paused as he took her hands in his.
“Annette, honey, please don’t let these gifts I sent Terry during that time ruin our chances now. I think we
can
save our marriage and rekindl
e
our romance, but if we are going to do it, we have to both try and work at it.”
He was sure to remember to neither speak of nor mention whether or not his wife had ever received any gifts. He was sure she had but was smart enough not even to broach the topic with her.
“Charlie, just give me a few days, okay?” she asked quietly.
“Okay, sweetheart, whatever you need,” he answered lovingly then he kissed her on the cheek and made his way to their bedroom. He had just enough time to recharge his mind to be ready for whatever the night ahea
d
would bring, so he lay down and slept for a few hours. When he woke up, he showered, shaved went downstairs, where he found Annette, sound asleep on the couch. Although he wanted to kiss her goodbye, he decided it was best to not disturb her and left without waking her.
He arrived at the precinct at his usual time and climbed the rear stairs to his locker. It was becomin
g
increasingly difficult for him to gaze at Annette’s picture, which still hung inside the metal door, night after night knowing if she didn’t go to Fathe
r
Krackowskiwith him it meant she had made the decision not to eve
n
try to save their marriage. He had to remain positive, though, just as Lt. A. ha
d
advised him to do weeks before.
After roll call Charlie and Lt. A. hit the streets. The boss had to make
a
few visits to the cooping prone locations, which he did early in the tour.
“How about some coffee, Charlie?” Lt. A. asked as they headed out. “You look like you could use a cup; maybe even something even stronger.
”
Charlie nodded and said, “I do, Lou. I brought up Father
Krackowskito my wife earlier.
”
“And?”
“And she said she wanted to give it a few days.”
“Okay, well that’s not a ‘no,’ Charlie. Just give her time and stay positive. And remember, a sulking man is not very attractive,” said Lt. A with an encouraging smile.
“I know you’re right, Lou, but it’s still hard to do,” Charlie answered honestly. “I just feel so helpless right now.”
The lieutenant nodded. “How’s it going with Terry?”
Charlie ran a hand through his hair.
“Well, the last contact was her mailing the envelopes. I guess she figured my wife would consider it the last straw. She probably figured if Annette left me, I would go running back to her, but I swear, Lou, if my wife left me tomorrow, Terry would not be on my list to people to contact. Not ever. I don’t want an
y
part of her or of anyone who would go out of their way to harm a
n
innocent person.”
“That’s a big decision on your part, Charlie, but I think you made the right choice based upon what you said she’s done. Terry knew you were married. Yo
u
both acted as adults at the time and made choices, right or wrong. You
r
wife was always the innocent victim. For Terry to hurt her after the fac
t
was mean and cold-hearted,” Lt. A. explained.
“I totally agree, Lou.”
After a moment of quiet, the radio dispatcher’s voice suddenly broke the silence in the car.
“120 Lieutenant.”
“120 Lieutenant, standing by,” responded Lt. A.
“120 Lieutenant, please respond back to the station house on a 10-2,” directe
d
the dispatcher.
“10-4, message acknowledged.”
When the lieutenant arrived back at the station house he was informed that the desk sergeant had reported sick and went home. This meant th
e
lieutenant would have to assume desk duty, and since there wasn’t any other sergean
t
on patrol, the 122
nd
patrol sergeant would now cover both precincts. Charlie was silently glad this had happened because the boss would silently allow him to go down to the police officer’s lounge to watch TV or gra
b
a few winks of sleep.
Every once in a while, Charlie would come up to mak
e
a coffee run for the house brigade. Of course, when he did he bypassed the Dunki
n
Donuts shop where Terry worked. He didn’t even drive by because he didn’t want to risk seein
g
her. It wasn’t a question of temptation on his part; he truly didn’t want anything more to do with her.
The night was a beautiful one and Charlie even managed to get a few good
,
solid hours on his back. As his shift came to an end, he was in a hurry to get home so he changed int
o
his civvies before sign out time in order to get a good head start. He drove hom
e
not knowing what to expect from Annette but hoped with all his heart tha
t
she had come to some kind of decision. She wasn’t the type to mope abou
t
for days at a time when she had something on her mind.
A soon as his house came into view, the first thing he saw was his wife’s car still parked in the driveway. He parked his own car next to hers then walked in and found her sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea. He greeted her by simply saying good morning. She said hi an
d
asked how his night went. Normally he would have said it was busy o
r
rough but this morning he said he had a great night, thanks to Lt. A., and could take advantage of it by staying up longer with her than h
e
normally would.
“Charlie, tell me some more about the priest,” she said as he sat down at the table.
“Well, Lt. A. met him years ago when he worked with his partner, Frank. After that initial meeting, the lieutenant would regularly visit Father Josef because he was a man of pure love and joy who had suffered and endured so much when he was a young priest in Poland. He had been interred in a concentration camp but escaped and finally immigrated to the United States. Lt. A. also described how he and his wife had some of their own marital problems and went to see the priest. He told me those visits were better than any marriage counselor – they worked wonders for
he and his wife. He encouraged us to go and said if we do, he would happily call the priest to set up a meeting,” explained Charlie.
“Okay. I’ll try it once, Charlie.”
He was suddenly on top of the world. She
did
want to save her marriage! If not, she would have never agreed to go to see Father Krackowski. Charli
e
silently said a prayer of thanks, then said one more, asking for the priest to still have a little bit of magic to spare for he and Annette.
As he sat there looking at his wife, Charlie realized he had never felt as alive as he did at that very moment. He wanted to gra
b
Annette and just hold her in his arms, but he didn’t want to scare her away and seem overly optimistic. She had agreed to go with him but she had also said, quite clearly, that she would try it once. One shot at this might make or break that final straw.
Charlie felt well rested and as high as a kite because of her decision and willingness to go with him to see Father Josef. Although he was a bit tired, he had no doubt that if h
e
did go up and lay down, he would just toss and turn, so he decided t
o
stay up and complete some chores around the house, which he had been procrastinating abou
t
for weeks. He needed to replace some loose tile in the bathroom as well as some caulking around the tub. He figured he might get tired by doin
g
some of his tasks then could lay down for a while before he ha
d
to go back to work.
It was about 2:00 P.M. when he finished and decided to lie down for a few hours. As he was walking out of his downstairs bathroom to go u
p
to his bedroom on the second floor, he caught sight of the mailman walking u
p
his driveway to place their mail in the mailbox. The uniformed man was carrying not only the mail but also a huge, manila envelope. When he saw it, Charlie’
s
stomach dropped.
“What is she sending me now?
”
he said aloud.
He ran to the front door and opened it as the mailman was just about to dro
p
the mail into the mailbox. When he saw Charlie, the uniformed man handed him the huge envelope, said, “Good afternoon!” Then, with a parting smile and a nod, he turned and walked back down the walkway.
Charlie looked for a return address on the envelope and was relieved to see it was from the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which routinely sent out pamphlets on all kinds of helpful information.
He didn’t even bother to open it. Instead, he climbed the stairs and went into his bathroom and showered. While he got ready for work, all he could do wa
s
continually gasp sighs of relief and say silent prayers, thanking God that the package hadn’t been anything sent by Terry. He reminded himself that he ha
d
to remain positive and keep negative thoughts out of his mind. After his shower, he went i
n
to the bedroom and pulled down the room-darkening shades then turned th
e
TV on low but loud enough to drown out any street noise. He slept soundly until 8:00 P.M. then went downstairs, he found Annette sitting on the couch watching TV.
“If you’re hungry, I made some broiled scallops with broccol
i
and rice. It’s on a dish in the microwave,” she said.
“Thank you. That sounds delicious.
”
He went into the kitchen and heated his dinner then took his plate back into th
e
living room on a tray where he sat and ate in Annette’s company. She seeme
d
pleased that he chose to be nearby and not alone in the kitchen
.
She gave him a slight, silent smile and continued watching television.
“It’s delicious. Did you have some, too?
”
he asked.
“Yeah, all of a sudden I got hungry. I had to make them before the
y
went bad anyway and I know how much you love scallops. Remember, that’s what you alway
s
ordered when we used to go to Atlantic City.”
Charlie was simply beaming. In fact, he was ecstatic. When he finished hi
s
dinner he got up and put his plate in the dishwasher then walked back into the living room. He moved slowly towards her, as if to wait for her permission to kiss her goodnight or be ready for a hand in his face tha
t
would tell him, “Not now!” He bent over to her and quietly said goodnight then moved to give her a kiss, which she did return, although hesitantly.
“Charlie, be careful, okay?
”
“Thanks, I will,” he answered.
He walked out to his car and couldn’t wait to tell Lt. A. about his progress with Annette. He drove down Burgher Avenue, but this time chose a different route to take him into the precinct. He made a left onto
Hylan Boulevard and drove about a half mile to Reid Avenue to McCleanAvenue then made a left onto Fathe
r
CapodannoBoulevard. For some inexplicable reason he wanted to take
a
scenic route. He knew it was a little bit out of the way but traffic was light and he thought he might have been able to tak
e
in the scene of the full moon over the Verrazano Bridge. His luck and timing were perfect. The round, white orb in the dark sky shone directly over the bridge and it
s
bright reflection shimmered in the Narrows below. It was like a sho
t
of energy for his soul.