A Good Woman

Silence at the Dinner Table

“My dear I am home from the shooting range,” was my husband’s greeting as he came home late into the evening. He came into the kitchen and kissed me with the same lips he kissed that peasant whore.   It didn’t matter though; that was in the past and a good woman must focus on her husband, not something that has been resolved.

I simply smiled sweetly up at him and gestured to the table for him to sit.

“Is that your wonderful beef stew that I am smelling my dear,” he said inhaling deeply.

Again there was not a single syllable uttered from between my lips, only the deafening silence that had already started to fill the room.  I simply smiled again and brought a bowl of the hot steaming stew to where he sat at the table.

“Thank you my dear you truly are so good to me,” he praised me momentarily before taking his first sip.   If only he knew how good I was to him.  If only he knew what a great wife I am.  That’s okay, he soon will be thanking me for something different. For now I would take a seat next to him and give him my company, just as a good woman should.

“My dear, is there something troubling you,” he began, suddenly noticing my silence, “You can talk to me about anything my dear.”

Silence.

“Please dear just speak to me, I am not use to this coldness from you.” he begged looking uncomfortable. Trying to play it off he took another sip of the stew, but the nervous look on his face was still etched clearly.

“Dear..”

Silence

“My dear…”

Silence.

“My dear! What did you put in this soup?” he asked desperately trying to get my attention. It seems he finally noticed the peculiar flavor.

Silence. I stared him dead in the eye and gave him a look. Not just any look I say. I gave him the look only a judge convicting a guilty man could give to another human.

“Why do you let your eyes pierce my very being so!” he cried ferociously.

Silence once again. This time the silence was truly maddening!

“Wicked and ungrateful wretch address me now!” he cried more horrified than ever before. Using weak insults to try and cover it up.

Still I did not utter a single word to him.

“Fine I confess! I confess! Please be vexed with me no longer!” he begged pitifully as he fell to his knees in front of me. “I did it I shared our bed with another woman! How you knew I do not know but please do not be vexed with me any longer!”

“My dear, please finish your soup.” I said calmly.

“Wha-what..”

“I said finish your soup,” I repeated even calmer than before.

“I just confessed my darkest sin and you tell me to eat!”

“Yes!” I replied sharply. That did the trick. He quickly got back into the chair and began to eat slowly. He did it out of fear, his eyes filled with the dread of the unknown. It was not until he was halfway done that he stopped.

“My dear, what is this?” he asked the fear making his words heavy. His spoon was shaking in his trembling hand as a shiny metal wedding ring had made it’s way into his dish.

“It’s a ring dear,” I smiled sweetly as I told him the obvious.

“It looks… it looks an awful lot like…” he seemed not able to finish the sentence.

“You mean to say it look’s like that whore maid’s ring dear,” I said assuring him it was there on purpose.

Then in an instant he had flown out of his chair putting some space between the two of us, how dare he! After I went through so much work to get rid of the very temptation that would prompt him to sin against me again, you would think he would thank or praise me for being such a good woman once he found out.

“What did you do,” he asked his skin turning a sickly pale.  How else was I suppose to reply.  He asked me an honest question, so I must give an honest answer.

“I did what any other good woman would have done,” I explained smiling as he collapsed in fright.  To bad he didn’t put enough distance between the himself and the table.  It was just awful when his skull made contact with the table in the most horrible fashion.  It was almost funny how his neck bent when he finally made it to the floor.

“You see my love, only a good woman would go so far as to make sure you never sinned again.  What a great wife I am.”

‘But I must give credit to my dear husband’ I thought as she pulled the knife out from under my dress. He has saved me the trouble of saving him. He must have loved me dearly to go so far to redeem himself. I will truly miss him, but I guess we saw what any other good man would have done for such a great wife.

If he were still here he would agree.  I know with all my heart he would.

It’s just a shame that all there is now is just… silence at the dinner table.