Heartbreaks, Prosecution, and Retribution

Chapter 4 : Money Trouble

On one weekend, we were allowed to go to the store or otherwise known the Shoppette to purchase the necessities that we needed for our personal hygiene and equipment. I went to go purchase some personal things like soap, shaving cream, and showering essentials - you know - the basics.

I began to pay for my items with my debit card, but to my surprise, my card didn't work. Of course, I had no cash on hand to pay for the purchase. I felt like such an idiot. I had to put everything back. I went to the ATM machine to see how much was in my account because the purchase was only around twenty dollars. It is not like I am going to the store to buy hundreds of dollars' worth of stuff since the status I currently was in was the lowest paygrade. When I looked at my account, it was a negative balance of $1,200.00. I wasn't sure what happened; someone had access to my money. The main thought was that my wife was taking the money from the account, and I still have about six weeks left to go.

What should I do? How to go about this problem? I question myself. While being in a pissed off mood. I informed my Drill Sergeant. Could they possibly have an answer or some guidance? The drills finally gave me a chance to call home, which resulted in calling several times from that day on trying to get a hold of my wife to see what had happened.

One day I called her mother's house because I knew Jessica wasn't staying at my parents' house. "Hello," a young voice answered the phone. It was Jessica's younger sister. "Is Jessica there?" I asked. "She isn't here right now. She doesn't stay here very much at all really," her sister answered while she continued to ramble on.

I know that Jessica has always been around different people. She could never stay in one spot for too long. The more and more Jessica's sister talked, the more I really didn't want to listen. She continued to say that Jessica was hanging out with some of her friends, but some of them were guys. I didn't really think this was all true because Jessica's family was known for stirring up trouble just for fun.

One day I tried again, being more and more enraged by destitution, my balance negative. I was also irritated for not being able to contact my wife. Why isn't she responding? I contacted her sister, and she told me that Jessica was over at a friend's house, and she gave me the phone number to reach her at. Now, finally, after nearly two weeks of this situation and getting a paycheck after paycheck cycled through, I had to call the bank to see what they could do to help me out. Since I was married to her, the bank wouldn't allow me to file a complaint from my spouse for the money being spent. The only thing they could do was stop the checks from being cashed so I wouldn't be in more debt.

I can try to reach my wife again and hopefully resolve the problem. So, I tried to call her mom's house. When I called, a female answered the phone. I asked, "Is Jessica there?" "Yes, but who is this?" She asked. I said, "This is James." She then replied, "Jessica is sleeping. Can you leave a message?" "No, I need to speak with her now!" I said. Jessica finally got on the phone as if just waking up, sputtering out the word 'Hello!?!'

I began to go off and ask her what was going on with both the money and why she wasn't home long enough to wait for my calls when I left messages or even write me a letter of what is going on? We begin to get into an argument over the phone and then she hung up, after seemingly sounding if she doesn't care about what is going on. I called back, and the sound of a man's voice picked up answering, "Hello!" with a mere attitude. This was the guy Jessica was hanging out with, which her sister was right. I requested to speak with Jessica. He replied, "Who is this?"

With a slight of temperament in my voice, I said, "Jason, her husband!" A spark of jealousy but mostly hate and anger filled me. We began to get into an argument over the phone. He then attempted to threaten me, "If you do not quit calling my house, I will call your training academy and tell your commander that you are harassing my girlfriend," he stated.

So, I called his bluff, and at that point, I didn't care who she was with. She was my wife, simultaneously someone wanting to go and hide behind others like a coward and use me for money as little as it was. I didn't want to be a part of this.

The next day, one of my Drill Sergeants came to question me. It was more like they were interrogating me about calling someone and threatening their girlfriend. They said someone called reporting that someone named James Adam Davis was threatening and harassing their girlfriend. I replied claiming my defense, "Drill Sergeant, I did no such thing. I was trying to contact my wife, but then I found out that she was over at that guy's house, which is the guy who called here complaining. I was given the number by her sister. I called to discuss the financial situation that I am in. Then I found out that my wife was sleeping over at someone else's house. That someone else was actually the guy."

My Drill Sergeant then began to give me a few suggestions to consider. One of which was to consider an annulment, and if I would like to continue on with the marriage then counseling was another option. My wife wanted to be elsewhere and everyone else's partner, now I owed my bank that money and that was about one month of income for a brand new private like me.

When I got the chance, I contacted my parents and asked them if they had seen Jessica. They told me she came around the first week after my departure. After that, they said they haven't seen very much of her. They told me she only came by maybe two or three times after I left.

They could tell in my voice something was wrong. I didn't want to tell them at first, but I finally discussed with them the issues I was going through. Not just the normal mandatory stress I would say from training, but also stress from personal issues. I had talked to them several times in the past but tried not to bother them with my troubles. I definitely wasn't going to consult with them when I didn't think that the outcome was going to be like this.

My parents were pretty sympathetic towards my situation and felt a little guilty about what had happened. But, no one was to blame except for me. It was I who was blinded by ignorance and was in a teenage love state of mind.

I was hoping that I would live in a perfect world or at least a reality that I would enjoy. My parents also told me that they didn't think I was ready for marriage at that time, but they didn't want to run my life, only support it. This is why they didn't stand in my way of the choices I made. They only wished the best for me any parent would. They allowed me to make even the worst choices that would only come out as a learning experience. I signed my life away twice, once for marriage and once for the Army.