Charlotte

Our Place

      Ding..Diiing..Ding.. the oven started ringing for me to get the pie out. I quickly grabbed two towels and grabbed it out. The pie was a little burnt on the crust and I knew Victor wouldn't be happy about it. I laid it on the table and started getting out silverware to set out. I set out the scalloped potatoes and green beans with cream corn. Victor walked in and sat down at the head of the table. He still seemed displeased from the problem we had earlier. "Charlotte turn on the radio." He said. I set his plate in front of him and walked to the radio and tuned it to his usual station. I went and sat down at the other end of the table. "Turn it up." He said. I got back up and walked over to the radio and turned it up some more. I went over to the sink this time to finish washing the left over dishes from me cooking the meal. "Sit down until I finish." Victor said with a hard tone in his voice. I sat down and just stayed still. Victor liked me to sit and watch him eat his dinner and then after I was allowed to eat. When I first married Victor he would help me even make dinner sometimes. Now he is different... now he this man I don't know.. but I still believe the sweet Victor is in there somewhere..at least I can only hope so. I chose to marry him therefore I shall never leave him and he will never leave me. He finished eating and said "I'm going to bed. I expect you to be in there in 20 minutes." That meant Victor wanted me tonight and he was doing it to just have control.  I cleaned the dirty dishes and put them away. It had been about ten minutes so I decided to go ahead and go to bed and get it over with. I walked in the room and he was already undressed under the covers. I slipped off my dress and went to him. Victor didn't hold back..tonight I knew he was going to hurt me. He got on top of me and bared down hard and held himself there for a moment. He came back up and grabbed my hair and pulled it with force as he went back down. I bit my lip and waited for it to be over. I waited for his punishment to stop.. About two hours later it ended. I waited another hour so Victor would surely be asleep before I went to Ruth at our place. I slipped out of bed and grabbed a night gown from my closet. I went out the bedroom and to the front door to grab my long coat. The star's were especially beautiful tonight, despite the day I've had. I started towards mine and Ruth's place. It didn't take long to get there but it wasn't the easiest path to take. I stepped over broken limbs and broke through tall weeds in my way.
"Hey." Ruth whispered as she came up behind me. I looked at her and we continued walking to our spot until we were finally there. I laid my back against the hard trunk of the pear tree with Ruth next to me. This was mine and Ruth's favorite place to be together. I have known Ruth since we were small children and we used to sit at this pear tree everyday for lunch time away from the other children at the school house. Ruth would always pick one pear from the tree and we would cut it in half and share it. After we ate our pear Ruth used to tell me these stories. So that's what we did.. when we met at our place. I watched Ruth as she got up and intently looked for the right pear to pick. She picked the biggest one and handed it to me. I pulled out a small pocket knife that my daddy gave me when I was a girl and cut it in half. I handed her one half and I got the other. Then I said "Ruth tell me one of your stories." "Which one?" She asked. "The one about the lake" I said with a giggle.