The Truth

          Mitzy fell asleep as soon as we got home, but I didn’t.

The evening had upset me. Why did Jack keep asking me if I’d

been married before? And why did my answer not satisfy him?

It was probably just a bad joke. Jack’s humor is off sometimes.

But he’s not a bad guy. Well, then I went to bed. When we woke up

in the morning Mitzy said, “Jack was right about you, wasn’t he?”

“What do you mean?” I said. “Jack said you were kicked out of

the Army,” she said. “I was never in the Army, how could I be

kicked out?” I said. “I don’t think he likes me.” “Oh, I think

Jack likes you a lot. He just wishes you were more interesting,”

she said. “And by making me secretly divorced and secretly kicked

out of the Army I’m instantly more interesting, is that it?” I

said. “According to Jack you are,” she said. “I think we had better

have breakfast,” I said. “Good idea,” she said. During breakfast

I said, “Don’t you think I’m interesting?” “Of course I do, honey,”

she said. “Let’s forget it. I mean, Jack is an old friend. Maybe

he was just drunk,” I said. “That’s probably it,” she said.

“What are you going to do today?” I asked. “I’m thinking of buying

a new dress for the wedding,” she said. “What wedding?” I said.

“You know, Carol and Bob’s wedding, next Saturday,” she said.

“Oh God, I forgot all about it,” I said. “How could you forget?

Bob’s your best friend,” she said. “I know, I just had my mind

on other things, but now I’ll focus on their wedding, I promise,”

I said. Shortly after that Mitzy left the house. I cleaned up

the breakfast dishes, then sat down on the couch. Why had Jack told

the two secrets I had told him years ago. I had sworn him to

silence, and now everybody knew. I had told him I would kill

him if he ever told anybody. I wasn’t going to kill him, but I

did think about disappearing, just vanishing altogether. Where

would I go? What would I do? And I do love Mitzy. I could tell

her the truth. I’ve had eighteen years to do that, and not a

squeak so far.