MAD

Bill and Shari 1992  
Age: Seventeen

 
     “He’s been cheating on her.”  
     “What?” I said.  
     “Cheating on her.”  
     “Who?” I asked.  
     “Bill, Bill has been cheating on Shari…for five years!”  
     “What are you talking about? Who told you that?”  
     “Ann. She and I had a conversation about it last night. I was up the whole night trying to wrap my head around it.”  
     I just stared at her blankly. She was blurting out this information as if she had been keeping it secret for years and I was trying to catch up.  
     “Just stop for a second.” I said holding up my hand and shaking my head. “I need a minute to process this.” What the hell was going on?  
     I then paused, took a deep breath and calmly replied, “Okay…Bill has been having an affair on Shari…for five years.”
     “Yes.” She answered anxiously.  
     “With whom?”  
     “Brenda.”  
     “Brenda? Brenda of Sean and Brenda?”  
     “Yes, why are you repeating everything I say?” She asked.
     “Because I want you to tell me that I am wrong. That I am not hearing you correctly,” I said.  
     “Well believe it because it is true. Ann said that her mom caught him sneaking around and he finally came clean. He and Brenda have been messing around on Shari and Sean forever. They are such assholes.”  
     I could not believe this ugly story my sister had told me. How could this have happened? Why would Bill do this to his family? How could he be so selfish and stupid? I was seventeen years old and felt smarter than this forty something idiot.  
     Bill was the father of one of my closest friends. In our neighborhood we had four families that were tight. We had barbeques in the backyard, played on the same sports teams, went to movies, museums and birthday parties together. We even went on trips as a group. We were like a family and I thought that we would always be together. Until now, that is. This ridiculous news put my extended family in jeopardy.  
     I began to feel this deep pressure on my chest. As though someone were sitting on me and did not care that they were about to crush my sternum. I also felt shaky and dizzy at the same time. I had to focus on my breathing so I wouldn’t spin out of control. And these were just my physical reactions to this information! My emotional reaction made my mind go from complete overload to completely blank. I had so many unanswered questions, so much anger and so much confusion circling my thoughts that my mind just shut itself off. I knew that my eyes were open but I was not focusing on anything.  
     My sister sat with me silently. She was one day ahead of me in the chaos of it all and knew exactly what I was feeling. She loved our extended family as much as I did and was terrified to face the outcome of this affair.  
     We sat without words for an eternity. I finally looked at her and said, “Do you think they are going to get divorced?”  
     “I don’t know.” She answered sadly. “Ann said that it was too soon to tell but she knows that her mother is devastated. Ann also said that Dave is heartbroken. He thought the world of Bill and now his dad has destroyed the trust that held his family together.”
     “I was thinking about Dave too.” I added.  
     Dave was Ann’s brother. He and his dad were big water skiers and extremely close to one another. From the day the ice came off the lake in the spring to the warmest day in October, Dave and Bill were skiing. It was a bond nobody thought could be broken. Until now. I felt so badly for him that my insides hurt.  
     My thoughts moved from Dave to my dad in an instant. I loved my dad and trusted him one hundred and ten percent. What would become of our family, of our relationship, if he ever stepped out on my mom? Well…I’ll tell you what would happen…it would change everything! I shivered at the thought. The idea of my dad hurting my family that way made me feel physically sick. Stop. Just stop. I needed to stop thinking about hypothetical situations that would get my blood boiling and start focusing back on the issue at hand.  
     Poor Ann and Dave. What was going to happen to their family? Their parents had been married for about sixteen years. I didn't know Bill well, but he was always kind to the neighborhood kids and more than generous with his boat. Throughout the years he taught us all how to water ski, first with two skies and later slalom. And even though he was a bit of a daredevil while driving his boat, as I remember flying over some pretty ferocious waves at times, he was a stickler for life jackets. He strapped us in so tightly that we could barely breathe.  
     That being said, I do remember him being a bit of a nuisance around the neighbor ladies. Any time we went to a cabin, hotel or a body of water, Bill would, without a doubt, grab one of the ladies and throw them in the water. This never went over well - Especially when the lady of his choice was fully clothed. Yet, he would laugh and feel good about himself while Shari would yell at him for being a jerk. That was really the only time I noticed tension between the two of them and I have to admit, I always thought Shari was right. Bill was being a jerk.
     Brenda and Sean were not married but had been dating for about ten years. Bill, Brenda and Sean all worked together at the same store and after some casual conversation, found out that they had boating in common so they started weekly meetings at a nearby lake. Dave would meet them all, but Shari would never go. She was not a big skier but had no problem with Bill boating. Many Minnesotan guys hunt or fish for their pastime, Bill just chose boating instead. It now appeared that Shari should have been concerned about these outings because this infamous affair blossomed on that lake.