Chapter 10
Travis Highgate
Monday: 6:05
P.M
.
“Let us bow our heads,” Phillip said. “Dear Lord, we thank you for bringing us together at this moment in time. Only you, Lord, know the outcome of what will happen within the next few days, and we thank you for the divine intervention you'll impart into all of our lives.
“We also thank you for this food we are about to receive. Please bless the hands that prepared it, and let it be nourishment to our bodies. In Jesus' name. Amen.”
Travis looked down at his plate filled with two turkey cutlets, mashed potatoes, and salad. He didn't have an appetite. Ever since his conversation with Beryl, he hadn't felt like doing much of anything.
“Shelby, these turkey cutlets are good,” George said.
“Thanks,” Shelby said.
As the couples sat around the dinner table making small talk, Travis merely nodded his head on occasion. He didn't feel like making small talk with any of these people. He needed to talk to his wife and get her to understand his point of view. He had to get her to understand his side of everything.
She just wasn't giving him a chance to do so. He couldn't understand why she was in such an uproar about the way things were going. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to look for work. And it wasn't like he hadn't worked most of the time they'd been married. He'd been a limousine driver until he got the speeding ticket doing sixty-five miles per hour in a thirty-five mile per hour zone. Then he'd been an apartment grounds keeper until complaints had been made to his boss about him not being on the grounds too often during work hours. He figured one of his jealous co-workers had made the complaints against him.
Next he'd been a newspaper carrier until he got fired for delivering the papers to the wrong houses and because of the number of times he'd gotten up too late to deliver the papers in a timely manner. It seemed that some people actually wanted their papers to read while they were eating breakfast. Travis had never really been a morning person and couldn't understand why anyone would want to get up so early to read a paper when the words on the page would be the same at noon as they were at eight.
He had also worked as a taxi driver, meter reader, and as a security guard at a few businesses. And for one lame reason or another, he was let go.
“Hey, Beryl, are you feeling okay?” Shelby asked.
“Uh, yeah. I'm good. Why do you ask?” Beryl offered a disbelieving smile.
“The way your eyebrows are furrowed, it just looks like something might be wrong,” Shelby said.
“No, I was just thinking about something,” Beryl said.
Travis felt eyes glancing over at him. He knew everyone had probably heard Beryl ranting earlier. He was embarrassed and wanted to crawl under the table. He still couldn't understand why Beryl was the way she was. When they'd been dating, he hadn't been working and she'd seemed to understand how hard it was for a black man to find a job. She'd even understood when he lost the first couple of jobs in the early part of their marriage.
He had to admit that Beryl was different from the women in his family. Travis's sisters had always understood how hard it was for him. They'd always been helpful to him whenever he found himself between jobs.
Actually, he couldn't remember a time when his sisters weren't there for him. They'd stepped right in after their mother died, taking care of his every need. He never had to worry about where his meals were coming from, never had to worry about having clean clothes, or a place to live. His sisters made sure their brother hadn't wanted for a thing.
In the beginning, Beryl had been like his mother and sisters. She'd catered to his every need. Cooked for him and cleaned after him. But after their first child was born, the meals degraded from full courses to get it yourself. And she stopped picking up his clothing, telling him it was time to start pulling his own weight.
Travis had tried to cook, but burned everything, even down to pots of boiling water. He'd tried to wash clothes, but washed the whites and colored clothes together and in the wrong temperature. Not only had the white clothes turned out pink, but the colored clothes had shrunk to an un-wearable size. Beryl fussed for weeks about the money she'd had to spend buying new clothes to replace the ruined ones.
She'd finally taken over washing the clothes again, but Travis was lucky if she folded his clothes or put them away. She had totally flipped the script, and he hadn't felt it was fair.
Travis had tried speaking to a few of his friends about his ordeal, but they'd just said he had been spoiled since he was a child, and it was time for him to grow up. They sided with Beryl, saying he needed to help out more, especially with the kids. His friends said all this even though he kept stressing the fact that his wife had flipped the script. Their reply to them was that everybody flips some sort of script during marriage, and Travis just needed to go with the flow.
Travis knew most of his friends were just jealous of the fact that his mother and sisters had been so loving and caring to him. And because he'd found a woman who was also attentive to his needs and they hadn't.
“Travis, what's up?” Phillip asked.
Coming out of his thoughts, Travis looked up from his plate. Everyone else had finished their food and had left the table. His plate had barely been touched.
“Oh. I'm not really that hungry,” Travis said.
“You can always wrap it up and eat it later. I'm sure there is some foil or plastic wrap in there somewhere.”
Travis pushed his plate away slightly. “Thanks.”
Phillip took a seat next to Travis. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
“Nah. I'm good, man. There are just a few things I need to work out for myself.”
“Well, I just want you to know I'm here if you need to talk. No matter what time.” Phillip firmly patted Travis's back.
Travis nodded his head.
“Hey man, we're about to gather in the living room for a couple of rounds of the Newlywed Game. We've changed it a little to better resemble the Oldiewed Game, since you've all been married for more than two years.” Phillip smiled.
Travis looked to see if Beryl was anywhere around, but didn't see her. He stood. “I might join you guys in a few minutes.”
“It would be good if you and Beryl could join us. Rome wasn't built in a day, but just think if they'd taken breaks building that city? It might not have ever been completed,” Phillip encouraged.
“Let me see what Beryl wants to do,” Travis said.
“Okay, we're going to start in about ten minutes. As soon as Shelby and I can finish getting the kitchen cleaned.”
Again Travis nodded his head, wondering where his wife was. He picked up his plate from the table and headed for the kitchen. After wrapping up his food and placing it in the refrigerator, he headed toward their bedroom to see if Beryl was in there.
Not seeing her, he left, casually looking around the cabin. But he still didn't see her. Instead of asking anyone if they knew where she was, Travis decided to look outside. As soon as he stepped onto the porch of the cabin, he spotted her silhouette leaning against a tree only a few feet away.
Gently he closed the door. At first he stood just outside of the door, staring at his wife's back, not wanting to disturb her. Then gingerly he shuffled off the porch and made his way to the tree where she stood.
“You okay?” he asked not wanting to startle her.
She didn't answer him at first. He didn't know whether she'd heard him or not. But after a moment, she finally spoke.
“As okay as I'm going to be, I guess.” Beryl spoke without looking in his direction.
Travis listened as insects made their various screeches and as an owl hooted from somewhere nearby. “I'm surprised you came out here all by yourself. It's pretty creepy out here.”
Again Beryl paused before speaking. “I just needed some fresh air, that's all. And besides, I'm not crazy enough to walk that far off. Plus I've got the keys to the car.” Beryl jingled the keys, showing him how she already had her thumb poised on the panic alarm button.
He should have known. Beryl wasn't the type to do just anything on a whim. She always thought things throughâoften over and over againâespecially when it came to safety issues. She was one of the most safety conscious people he knew.
Travis looked down at his glow in the dark watch. They'd be starting the Newlywed Game in about five minutes, and he didn't want to go back into the cabin with a sour feeling on his stomach. Or have his wife sitting around with a sour look on her face.
“Baby, about earlier,” he started, but Beryl cut him off.
“Don't, Travis. Don't do this. I don't want to talk about it anymore.”
“Please, baby, just hear me out. I know you are tired of hearing me talk without anything to show for what I've been saying. But I pledge to you right here and now that I will do better and I will be a better person. You'll see. I will be a changed man.”
Beryl shook her head with hopelessness, not saying a word.
“I know you think I'm just talking, but you'll see. I'll stop the talking and just start showing you. I want to show you that I can be the man you want me to be. I will prove that to you. I promise.” In his heart of hearts, Travis meant every word.
When he got back home he was really going to look for a job. Not just circle a few ads in the paper and leave it on the table, making it look like he'd actually been job hunting. He'd do everything in his power to make sure he was following all the rules to prevent getting firedâstarting with getting to work on time. He'd set two alarm clocks if need be, to make sure he got up on time so that Beryl wouldn't have to wake him up. He'd even take it upon himself to help with the kids in the morning.
Additionally, he was only going to watch his recorded television shows after he'd helped with doing some of the household chores. And even though he didn't want to, he'd refrain from renting any movies from the video store for a few weeks; until he could get into the swing of things with his new work schedule.
Travis was excited about his new ideas and even more excited about the fact that very soon, Beryl would see that he wasn't just talk.
“You'll see, Beryl. I am a changed man. All I ask is that you give me one more chance.” Beryl turned her head toward him and stared. “You know Rome wasn't built in a day,” Travis said, borrowing the words Phillip had spoken to him. “But I promise I'll keep on working at this until I prove it to you.”
“Two words, Travis,” Beryl said.
“What's that?”
She placed her forefinger on his lips indicating that she wanted him to stop talking.
“Show me,” Beryl said.
Without speaking, Travis nodded his head with enthusiasm. Beryl was giving him another chance, and this time, he wouldn't do something stupid to mess it up.
He looked down at his watch. “They're about to start playing the Newlywed Game in a few minutes. You want to play?”
While Travis loved television and movies, Beryl's thing was board games. She loved them and was very competitive. So Travis figured the game would bring out Beryl's competitive side and hopefully help her forget the events of the last few hours.
“It might be fun,” Travis added.
“You know I don't play for fun. I play to win.”
“Now that's the Beryl I know,” Travis said as he led Beryl back into the cabin.
Upon entering, they saw the women gathered in the living room. The men were nowhere in sight.
“Oh, you guys are just in time,” Shelby said. “Travis, the men are in my bedroom answering some questions. Why don't you join them while we women answer our questions out here.”
Travis and Beryl did a Barack and Michelle Obama fist dapâtouching fist-to-fistâwishing each other good luck.
Once Travis found the men, they filled him in on the rules of the game and gave him pieces of eight by ten-inch cardboard paper to answer his questions on. After they were finished, Phillip left the room to consult with his wife, ensuring the women were finished with their questions and answers so they could all continue the game.
Once they were all assembled back in the living room, Beryl, Nina, and Charlotte sat in a row in front of the fireplace, ready to begin the game.
“Okay, men, are you ready?” Shelby asked.
The men all answered yes.
Shelby continued. “Gentlemen, I asked your wives three questions, and they've written down the answers they thought you might say. Each question has a point value and the couple with the most points at the end of the game will win. Phillip and I will keep score.