Short stories

Confession

Mabel Lewis was the most popular girl in her college. This little blue eyed blond began her brilliant career as an actress in a commercial for new toothpaste. Producers had noticed her when she was playing with her dog in the park. Subsequently, the casting agencies fell under the spell of the young girl, who was just seventeen at the time. With her charming smile and innocent look, she caused a sensation. During the same year, she had a sudden growth spurt. Becoming very tall – about five feet and nine inches – she began a career as a model.

At the age of nineteen she turned her first film, something unimportant but put her under the spotlight. Her popularity rose like an arrow.

She married Bruce Adams at the age of twenty. She had her first child the following year. Unfortunately, the child was born with eyes and lungs malformation. Because of his severe respiratory problems, her little boy died a few months later. Twins were born more or less one year after the death of her first child. Being in very good health, their mother took them literary everywhere she went. She was proud and lover her two little girls. A third child – a boy in perfect health too – arrived two years later. Mabel always traveled with her children until her daughters started school.

When she turned twenty-nine, the family moved into a huge house in the suburbs of Los Angeles so Mabel could continue her acting career.

A fourth child, another boy, was born on Christmas Eve of the same year. The couple and new parents organized a big party to celebrate the event.

Mabel was one of the most beloved women of the big and small screen at the dawn of her forty. Journalists regularly looked at what she was doing, but they found nothing wrong with it. No new scandal or crispy detail. She was the idol of several generations.

A tragedy changed Mabel’s life when she had forty-five. While she was walking downtown with her husband and children, a car, which was trying to flee the police, hit the actress very hard. She bounced off the vehicle before flying through the air, her broken body landed of the pavement of the street. She was rushed to the hospital. The best doctors carefully examined her before facing the truth: she was now paralyzed from her pelvis to the toes.

Her children said they will sue the bad guy who had done this to her. Mabel was touched by their reaction, but she told them the police had caught him and it wasn’t worth the trouble. The prospect of spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair frightened her, but she refused to be beaten. She tried to turn it into a joke. Her children refused to laugh with her. She sighed.

“Yes, a disc from my spine moved but I’m still alive! I’m going to be at one of my big girls next month. Don’t worry about it. This accident only means that my life was too perfect. I’m not alone: there’s your father.”

Bruce entered at this time. He asked the children to leave the room because he had to talk with their mother. They greeted her tenderly before leaving the room. Her husband approached the bed.

“So? Did you talk with the doctor?” she asked him.

“Your condition hasn’t changed.”

“I’ll be paralyzed for the rest of my life, right?”

“Yes…”

She frowned, looking at her husband in a curious way. She took his hand, but he quickly withdrew it. He bowed his head, avoiding her gaze. She asked him what was wrong. He finally looked at her and she could see a lot of sadness.

“Tell me what it is.”

“I’m… I’m leaving you and I filed for divorce.”

She was speechless. She did open and close her mouth like a fish. He asked for divorce? How could he do such a thing? They were a wonderful family and a perfect couple. Her little world was crumbling around her suddenly. Bruce wanted to divorce? But why? She didn’t understand. She had never made the slightest remark or criticism. So why did he want to leave?

“I can’t lie to you anymore, Mabel.”

She shook her head, feeling her body begin to tremble. He didn’t see her distress. He continued:

“I met someone else for about a year. We’re in love.”

Mabel grabbed the white sheets with her trembling fingers, severe pain in her chest. Was it an heart attack?

“I also have to confess something… In twenty-five years of marriage, I had many affairs. You know why? I’ve never loved you. You were very popular at that time so I married you.”

The shakings were more intense and her whole body began to have violent convulsions before the regular beep of the electrocardiogram was replaced by the sound of a single line on the screen. The doctors couldn’t reanimate her.

the end