On Writing Exercise
By Karen LeRoy
 
‘Oh I hope nothing else can happen’, Dick thought to himself.

He had just been through a lot, he and poor little Nell. He thought he had found an amazing woman who would make a wonderful wife and mother; someone who he could grow old with. Well, his story didn’t go the way he thought

‘Dad, you said I could go to Mary’s house for the party, right? You aren’t going to change your mind again are you? Oh please don’t! Nothing’s going to happen, not anymore. Remember? You told me that in the hospital.’

Dick did remember what he had said at the hospital. He also remembered the horrible feeling he had at that time. He felt as though the world would stop turning. He can’t remember everything; it all seems to be a mess that he had gotten involved in. He can remember blaming himself for thinking that fairytales can happen.

‘Dad?’

‘Oh yes, Nell. You can go to the party, but you have to call me when you’re going to bed and when you are ready to leave. No, I’m not changing my mind, but I want you to make sure that you packed everything you needed this morning’

‘Yes, I made sure. Stop worrying, if I forgot something, I’m sure Mary will have an extra. If not, I’m sure you run to the car and speed to get it to me.’

‘Ya, you’re probably right. Man, I’m not going to be able to win a fight at all with you soon. And you’re not even a teenager yet!’ He glanced in the mirror and saw Nell smiling. He hadn’t seen that beautiful smile in forever, or that’s how it felt. He only has a strong memory of screaming and tears. ‘Stop, Dick. You know that Jane is gone. You divorced her and she’s now locked up for what she has done to you and Nell. Even the police said that she’d have trouble trying to get out. Everything’s different now, you have to be strong for Nell.’

Nell cut in, ‘Dad, you missed the house. No, don’t go around, it’s not even a block, I’ll walk from here. Go home and watch your show. Don’t worry about me, I’m in good hands. I love you!’

‘Love you too, remember to call if you need me!’

He stayed parked and didn’t move till Nell glared at him. He did feel over protective, but he wasn’t so sure if Jane was really gone.

‘Nell’s right, like always. Go home, make a pot of tea and turn on the TV. Maybe the tea will calm me down and I can take a nap. Ya, that’s a plan. No bills, no work, no Jane. You did take off the day to give yourself a break so, might as well actually use it.’

He drove across town and five miles out. He enjoyed the twists and turns that the road made. He finally made it to their little country house. Just the right size for the two of them. He couldn’t stay in the house where the anger and sadness was. He liked the country better anyway.

Dick didn’t feel as happy as he pulled in and got out. Something felt wrong. ‘It’s probably because Nell isn’t here. Calm down, she’s fine and you’re going to make it. You can’t have Nell with you forever!’

He slipped off his shoes and filled the pot and turned on the stove. He went into his bedroom to change out of day clothes and get comfortable. He had to look twice at himself in his full body mirror. He had to admit, he was looking better. The bruises fading and the stab wounds were scabbing over. He finally stopped looking and slipped on his t-shirt.

He sat down and turned on the TV. Something still felt wrong, like the air was hard to breathe. The phone rang and made him jump out of his chair. He decided that who ever it was could leave a message.

‘Hello? Dick? This is the sheriff, Neal. I guess I caught you at a bad time, but I wanted to let you know that there had been a break out of the prison. We had done a check and I even double checked, but you’re ex-wife, Jane was one that was able to get out. I’m not sure if she knows where you are, but I just wanted to let you know. I was on my way out, but you didn’t pick up, so I guess…’ beep.

‘Oh no! The air, it’s Jane’s perfume! How did she find me, oh man, I have to find his number and call him back to get him out here. Oh no, I knew it!’

‘Hello dear. Why are you freaking out? I thought that you would be happy that I came home to see you and my little girl. Where is she?’ Jane said coming out of the bathroom. She had a gun and didn’t sound angry; she actually sounded like she cared.

The voice made his hair stand up and he right away he had to protect himself and Nell. Jane had him backed up into the kitchen. He wasn’t sure how to protect himself, he couldn’t figure it out with the kettle whistling. THE KETTLE! He stopped moving when his back was against the stove. He slipped his hand behind his back and had a grip on the handle.

‘Why aren’t you answering me? I just thought that we could forget everything and start again. I mean, you bought a new house for us. Although there has to be a few changes done. Why don’t we start with you? Tell me where Nell is!’

Jane inched closer and closer. She wasn’t so calm now, she was screaming at him. But she didn’t stay way, she was still coming closer to him. Jane had changed her grip on the gun. Her index finger was no longer ready to pull the trigger. Instead she had it gripped like she was going to bash him.

‘Oh no, not the beatings. Jane, don’t do this. You already caused enough damage. You can change, you just need to go back to the prison. I won’t bring Nell to you until you loosen up a little. She and I can’t see you like this. We don’t love you when you’re like this. Please, stop!’

‘What do you mean you don’t love me like this? This is me, this is who I am! You should love every part of me! You can’t pick and chose what you like about someone; you either like them as a whole or don’t! Isn’t that simple enough for you?’

‘No, Jane. This isn’t who you are. You’ve changed, and being with you isn’t the same. You can change back, they’ll help you more than I can. If you won’t change for me, at least change for Nell. She needs a mother, a tender, loving mother. She doesn’t want this.’

‘How do you know?! I think you’re weak! You always have been!’

She raises her arm and starts to beat him again. But Dick swung his arm around and hit her across the head. Jane then fell down to the ground. Dick started to weep; he felt like a monster! He called the sheriff back and he came out. Neal told Dick that he was protecting himself. That he did the right thing and that he will not be hated for what happened. Neal left with Jane still unconscious. Dick called Nell and said that she was right, there was nothing to be worried about.

1,274 Words.

 


On Writing Exercise
by Megan Coady

    Dick walked up the front path of the cottage he was renting. After dropping off Little Nell at a friend’s birthday party, he was ready for two hours to himself.
As he turned the key in its lock, something didn’t seem quite right to Dick,
    “It’s just my imagination. Nothing to worry about now.”
    And there wasn’t.  Jane was safe in the Mayfield Institution. Five years ago, when Little Nell was still a baby, Jane had changed. At first, Dick only noticed a change in her mood. Then she started yelling, screaming tirades that would last for hours. Jane was sure that Dick was sleeping with his secretary. Jane’s state still worsened. She began hitting Dick when she was upset or angry. Everything seemed to set her off.  He could handle it; wanted to keep it under control. His parents would never let him live it down if his marriage fell apart. They had thought that Jane wasn’t right for Dick from the beginning.
    But everyone can only handle so much. Jane was having a good day and had agreed to go grocery shopping with Dick and Nell. But while they were shopping, something set her off. It was the worst fit Jane had ever had. She screamed and threw things on the floor, trying to hit Dick. Nothing would calm her down. After that, Dick gave up. He took Jane to the Mayfield Institute for a psychological evaluation. The doctors there decided that she was a danger to herself and their young daughter. Jane was moved to the institute at the end of the week.
    Sighing, Dick went to the sink to fill the teakettle. After placing it on the stove, he crossed the room and switched on the television. Then he returned to the kitchen to being dinner and tend to the tea.
    “…And today, a patient at the Mayfield Institute escaped. For confidentially reasons, her name cannot be released, but authorities say that she may be a danger to herself and others. Back to you.”
    It was then that Dick realized what had bothered him when he came inside. It was Jane’s perfume. She had insisted on taking it to the institute with her. He had no doubt that Jane continued to get her perfume. He had smelled it when he was unlocking the door. The teakettle screamed. Dick made his tea in a trance and went to sit down.
    “Jane has escaped. Will she come here? What if she tries to hurt Nell?”
    There was a click from within the house. Dick tensed.
    “I’m just nervous. Nothing to worry about.”
    “Hello, Dick.” He spun around in the chair, sloshing tea all over the rug.
    “Jane. You must go back to the institute. I can drive you. Come on, you need to go back.”
    “No. Doing well without me, I see. Where’s Nell?”
    “Jane, come on. Let’s go. Nell’s not here. I’ll bring her to the Mayfield to see you sometime.” But Jane didn’t reply. She brought out a knife, a small one, but sharp. Jane took a step towards Dick. He turned and backed away from her, entering the kitchen.
    “What, Dick? Are you afraid of me? It’s just Jane. I’m nobody to be afraid of. What’s wrong? Hmm?” Jane’s eyes were wide and she was screaming now, accentuating her words with a small stab of her knife. Dick had nowhere to go, but she was still closing in. His hands found the counter and then the stovetop. He needed something to defend himself with. Anything. Soon, the stabs punctuating Jane’s words would be in his stomach. His hands found the tea kettle, still mostly full of warm water.
    “So, Dick? You haven’t answered me. Are you afraid of me? Are you? Dick? Answer me!” she screamed. Dick brought his hands up to shield his face, forgetting the kettle in his hands. The lid opened and poured hot water on them. The kettle swung again and hit Jane in the cheek. The blow knocked her down and seemed to wake her up.
    “Dick? Where am I?” The rabid look in her eye was gone, her tone softer.
    “Jane, you’re in my house. Come on, we’re going to the institute.” He reached down and helped her to her feet, putting the knife that had fallen from her hand on the counter behind him.
They drove for fifteen minutes. The entire time, Jane sat rigidly in her seat, not saying a word. Dick helped her out of the car and into the Mayfield Institute. When they reached the front desk, two nurses helped Jane back to her room, where doctors told Dick that she would be under twenty-four hour watch.  Dick left quietly, thinking of the change in Jane. He stopped to pick up Little Nell from her party and then continued home. All through dinner, Little Nell chattered about the party.
    “What are we going to do tomorrow, Daddy?”
    “Tomorrow, I think we’ll go see Mommy.”
    




    On Writing Exercise
    by Amanda Dunlavey

    He eased the car into the tight angled parking space in front of the Robin Redbreast daycare center on Jackson Street.  Nell would be inside waiting; she was so excited about the party tonight that she hadn’t stopped talking about it for days.  
    “Daddy, will there be cake?”  
    “Probably.”
    “I really like cake,” then her face glazed over into that familiar dreamlike expression that should have been pleasant, but was—instead—rather unsettling.  “Mommy never let me eat cake . . . before.”
    “I know, sweetie.”
    Her face always did that when she thought or spoke of her mother.  Her mother, who should have been the most important person in her life, but would spend the rest of her life in a state mental institution.
    Dick opened the door and stepped inside.  Colors assaulted him from every possible angle.  Children ran, giggled, and cried everywhere.  At first he didn’t see Nell, but then he spied her and his heart turned over.  
    She was sitting in the corner of the room, a piece of paper in her lap.  Slumped in her chair like a rag doll.  She had that dreamy, dazed expression on her face.  Dick ran to her and gently shook her shoulders.  
    “Nell, honey?”
    “Daddy?”  She sounded far away, almost like she didn’t recognize him.
    “It’s me, honey.  It’s time to go to the party now.  Do you have all your stuff?”
    “Oh . . . the party.  I forgot about the party.  I’m ready Daddy.”
    “Ok, I’ll be right back.”
    By that time the teacher, Mrs.  Krieder, had come near the chair and was just standing there, waiting patiently for the exchange between father and daughter to be over.  Dick ushered her just out of earshot.
    “I don’t know what happened, Mr. Huston, she was fine all morning and then after lunch she just sort of . . . shut down,” she said, “It was right after drawing time when the children were drawing pictures of their families.  Nell wouldn’t let anyone look at hers.  I thought it best to just let her be until you got here.”
    “You did the right thing.  I’m sorry, Mrs. Krieder, I should have told you about our family situation when Nell started here.  She’s very touchy about any mention of her mother right now.  We’ve been having some hard times.  I’m going to get Nell some counseling.”
    She sighed.  “I think that might be a good idea, Mr. Huston, this is not the first incident.”
    “We’ll see you on Monday, then?” he asked.
    Another sigh, this one more pronounced than the first.  “Yes, Monday.”

                        *************

    “Are you sure you still want to go to the party?”
    She thumbed the corner of her picture—she refused to show it to him—it sat next to her on the car seat, folded neatly in half with the blank side out.  “Yes, I’ll be fine.  I just have to collect myself a bit.”  
    Collect myself a bit?  She sounds like a forty year old woman.  She sounds just like Jane . . .
    “Daddy?”
    “Hunh?”
    “You just missed a turn.”
    “Oh.”
    He pulled into the nearest driveway and turned the car around.  
    After a couple of minutes, he pulled up in front of a large, white house.  Several little girls were playing on the lawn under a big oak tree.  Tag?  Hide and go Seek?
    “Looks like Red Rover.  I learned that one at daycare.”  Her voice broke him from his thoughts.  
    “You’re sure you’re ok?”
    “I’ll be all right.  Are you ok?”
    “Yeah, I’ll pick you up in the morning.”
    She spread her arms as wide as they would go, one pudgy hand brushing the car window.  “I love you this much!”
    She was so cute.  A beautiful little girl with shiny brown pigtails and round green eyes—green, but not narrow and slitted like Jane’s—It hurt him to remember the bruises, the broken arm, the cuts on the pudgy little hand.
    He spread his out in the same manner, twice as wide as hers.  “And I love you THIS MUCH!”  He kissed her and she got out of the car with a happy squeal.

                ******************

    It was a twenty minute drive back to the farmhouse they were renting, and Dick spent most of it lost in thought.  He could not get the image of the bruises out of his mind.  Round green eyes surrounded by puffy black skin looking up at him pleading for answers.  Or worse, the zombie stare like the one in the daycare that afternoon.  That was how she looked in the hospital in Chicago the night they took Jane away.  The zombie stare.
    “Where are they taking mommy?”
    “To a place where she can get better.”
    “Will they stop her from yelling?  I don’t like it when she yells.”
    “Yes.”
    “Will she ever come back?”
    nonononononononononononononono
    “I don’t know.”
    “Ok.”
    They moved downstate the next morning.  Dick did his undergraduate work in central Illinois amidst the corn and farmhouses and had always thought there wasn’t a safer, more serene place on Earth.  They could both use a little serenity now.  Not to mention safety.
    Ironically, it was mostly due to Jane’s efforts that they could just afford to pack up and go like that.  She had worked tirelessly for Dick’s career since the moment they started dating.  Even as a young law student at the top of his class, Dick had never been overburdened with ambition, but Jane had enough for them both.  She worked in campus records back then, trying to save enough money to go to college herself.  From the moment they met, they were always together.  She called it destiny.  After law school, he got signed to a major firm in Chicago and rose quickly in the ranks.  After a couple of years, Dick knew it wasn’t what he wanted.  He thought about quitting.  He even approached Jane about it once, and the fight that ensued became a turning point in their relationship.  From that moment on, he just grinned through the ten-hour days at the office.  She, meanwhile, seemed happier when they were apart.  She had a head for figures and invested their money wisely.  So after she was taken away, it really only took a stop at the bank and a phone call to the firm, and they were on I-57 headed out of the city.
    They met at a fraternity party.  The whole thing was like a blur now.  Dick had been mostly attracted by Jane’s intensity.  He had never met at girl like her before.  She was so passionate, he almost didn’t know how to deal with her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to try.  Of course it didn’t hurt that she was wicked sexy.  There were times, even right up until they took her away, that Dick just sat and looked at her.  He couldn’t take his eyes off her.  Looking back on it now, it was almost as though he was bewitched.  
    From the moment they started dating, they were a couple.  There was nothing casual about their relationship.  Dick was just happy to be along for the ride.  
    Even then there were clues.  They were very subtle, and Dick just convinced himself that she was eccentric.  There was the time he came home to his apartment late from the library.  In those days he usually didn’t lock his door—at twenty-two he had had nothing worth stealing—but the door was locked.  All the lights were off, the curtains were drawn, and there was an eerie feeling pervading the darkened room.  He didn’t like dark rooms, and he knew he hadn’t left the curtains closed.  He quietly dropped his bag by the front door and started to creep through the apartment.  He had finally found her hiding behind one of the curtains.  At first he only saw her shoes.  
    “Whoever you are, I have a gun.  Don’t make any sudden moves.”
    Silence.  He crept a little closer.
    “If you just leave right now, I won’t call the police.  Just get out.”  He was shaking.
    A white hand snaked out from behind the curtain.  Dick had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.  Then a face followed.  
    “You wouldn’t really shoot me, would you?”  The face said.  “I know for a fact that you don’t have a gun.”  
    The voice was shocking, eerily calm.  It took a few seconds for him to register the fact that it was Jane hiding behind the curtain.  
    “Holy crap, Jane!”  What are you doing back there?  I think you just took about ten years off my life!”
    “You didn’t tell me you were going to the library.”  Her face was stone.
    “What?”
    “You didn’t tell me you were going to the library.  I was scared and confused when you weren’t here.”
    He didn’t quite know how to answer that.  “I . . . I heard there would probably be a pop quiz in Comm Law tomorrow . . . I  . . .  didn’t even know you were coming over.”
    “I got here and you weren’t here and I didn’t know what to do.  I wanted you to feel what I felt.”  She said this as if it were a perfectly normal reaction.  
    Somehow he had managed to extricate himself from the situation.  Then he laid off calling her for a couple of days.  It might have ended right there if he hadn’t decided to take a different route home from class about four days later.  He saw her then.  She was sitting cross-legged in the sunlight on the grassy quad. The light was glinting off the highlights in her glossy, brown hair. Her head was bent over a book, and her hands twirled the edge of her skirt absentmindedly.  Her sack lunch was laid out neatly on the grass in front of her.  Looking at her that way, with her not knowing he was watching, Dick was unbelievably drawn to her.
    What the hell?  Was it really that weird?  I’m just being paranoid.  These were the thoughts running through his mind.  
    So he went up to her and they started talking.  Six months later they were married.  
***********************
    Dick just barely came out of his reverie in time to remember his turn.  The house they were renting was six miles from a town, fifteen from the town in which Dick was working as a cook and Nell was going to preschool.  It was down an isolated country road three miles even from the nearest highway.  
    He made the turn off the highway and slowed down to a reasonable speed for the freshly chipped road.  The bad feelings started to melt away as the car ambled down the country road.  He passed the farm with the buffalo and elk, and found himself smiling in spite of himself.  It was a beautiful, crisp autumn day.  The farmers were out in the fields, and there was a smell in the air like dried beer, if that makes any sense.  Dick had recently learned that that was the smell of the drying corn after it was harvested.  By the time he turned the car into the gravel driveway, Dick was feeling all right about things.  Nell would get better; kids are resilient that way.  They were starting over, and things would turn out all right in the end.
    He parked the car and got out slowly.  Something was off.  He couldn’t put his finger on it.  The smell of drying corn had gone away and taken the good feeling with it.  Dick looked around.  The long driveway was empty.  The house was dark and nothing was out of place.  There was not one single clue that anything was wrong, but he still felt it—that feeling that something was off.  
    Telling himself he was paranoid, he started to walk up toward the house.  By the time he reached the front door, the feeling had all but left.
    He walked into the house, dropped his keys on the divider between the entry and the living room, punched the button on the answering machine.
    “You have no new messages,” said the mechanical voice on the line.  
    Good, he thought to himself.  They haven’t called yet to tell me that I need to come pick up Nell.  Hopefully she’ll pull it together enough to make it through the party.  
    He sat down on the couch and started the search for the remote to the TV.  Nell had taken to leaving it in weird places.  The other day he had found it in the refrigerator.  Her mind just tended to wander sometimes.  After a second or two, he stopped.  
    Is that perfume? It smells like Jane’s . . .
    No.  It can’t be.  It is my imagination.
    He resumed the search for the remote.  Then he saw them behind the curtains.
    The Shoes.
    Ohmygod . . .
    The hand.
    Ohno . . .
    The face.
    “Hello darling,” Jane purred.
    Dick screamed.
    The phone rang.  They both just stood there for a moment.  Dick was in a panic and Jane just stared at him calmly.  The answering machine clicked on.
    “Mr. Huston, this is Mrs. Ward, Jenny’s mother.  We need you to come pick up Nell as soon as possible.  We’re over at . . . “
    “NO!” Dick screamed.  He no longer cared about himself.  He just didn’t want Jane to find out where Nell was.  Feeling as if he were moving in slow motion, he turned his back on Jane and started to run for the phone.
    In one fluid motion, Jane stepped out from behind the curtains and brought up the baseball bat she had found in the closet.  Then everything went black.
*****************************
    The phone rang again.  The light on the answering machine was still blinking from the first call.  The machine picked up after the third ring.
    “Mr. Huston, this is Sheriff Hicks.  I was just calling to let you know that your wife has escaped from the facility in Chicago.  The authorities up there aren’t sure whether or not she knows where you and your little girl are or not, but you will need to be on your guard.  I’m sending out a couple of deputies to watch your place.  Give me a call back as soon as you get this.”
    A slim white hand reached out and hit the STOP button on the answering machine.
    “Godfather’s Pizza.  Corner of Jackson and University.”
    Jane smiled.  She didn’t even look back at Dick on the floor of the living room as she walked out of the house.  “I’m coming, darling.”