Adultery Thickness Mattered; Even To The Housewife

[hhhotboy2000]

* * * Sudhir's perspective * * *

Things seemed very normal and the only thing I was aware of was that recently our sex seemed to be much more passionate and intense than it had been and that it was Gauri who was driving it, but who's to complain?

One Friday afternoon when I came home I stopped, as usual, to play with the children before going into the house. While playing they asked me why Mommy was running so many errands and why she didn't always eat lunch with them like she used to. I told them that I didn't know but I was sure mommy was doing things she needed to do to keep us fed and clothed and happy. They accepted that explanation and went back to play.

As I walked into the house I was wondering what was happening that would make the kids ask such a question. I first thought I would simply ask Gauri about it and then something in the back of my head said not to mention it. With the recent changes in our sex life, I had been having uneasy feelings for a while. Now and the kid's question just added to my uneasiness. Obviously something had changed so that the kids were aware of it.

By the time supper was over, I had dismissed my thoughts and after the children were in bed I told Gauri that I would be in the garage for a while. I had bought new electric shears to use in the yard and wanted to examine them and find a place to keep them.

Once I was satisfied with my purchase, I decided that I would hang it on the peg board. I quickly discovered that hanging the shears was going to require me to either relocate everything on the board (each item had a painted silhouette) or move the board about a foot to the left to avoid the shears resting against the air handler where they would probably vibrate and make noise. I decided moving the board was the easiest and best, and I put the chore on my to-do list for the next day.

We had a number of things on the agenda for Saturday and among them Gauri had promised to take the kids to the new cartoon film at the theater. I had begged off the show since I wasn't really interested in the cartoon and I still had the lawn to mow.

Once I finished the lawn I went to the garage and set about moving the peg board. It was easy to move since it was held by six fasteners screwed into wall anchors. I could get by with just installing two new anchors. I drilled the holes, set the anchors, and then I removed the screws holding the board. As I pulled the board free something dropped to the floor behind the lawn mower.

I set the board down and reached behind the mower. My hand touched some kind of plastic sealed cardboard. I thought it was a card from the electronic store that had contained some electronic fixtures. But, to my surprise, when I pulled it out into the daylight it was a card of birth control pills.

I smiled with my first thought, 'My, these are certainly dinosaurs from our past.' They have been stuck away since my vasectomy over three years ago. But my smile faded as I realized they were not dusty or dirty. When I stood up I could see the cavity in the wall from which they must have fallen, but if they were old, they would still have been dusty. I reached into the cavity and pushed the piece of plywood that I could see. When I pushed the plywood gave way, I heard some noise, and something fell into the laundry room. I went into the laundry room and spotted the plywood panel and a box of soda that had fallen.

By now I was beginning to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The question immediately came to mind, why would Gauri need to have hidden them? Obviously she didn't need to hide them from the children. If she were using them, I'm the only one she would need to hide them from. I made note of the pills on the card and by coincidence, not surprisingly, the number of pills happened to match Gauri's current cycle, as best I could calculate. Coincidence? I was having a hard time selling myself on the coincidence theory especially since the card wasn't discolored and it was clean. The notion that Gauri was back on the pill could only mean she was engaging in sex, and not with me. I dashed for the garage door and lost my breakfast and lunch in the flower bed. Then I sat a cried and asked myself, 'Why?'

I had some thinking to do and I knew that a confrontation would not solve anything right now. Although not very likely, there may be some reasonable explanation.

I had just enough time to regain my composure, remount the peg board, clean up the spill in the laundry room, and replace the pills before Gauri and the kids got back home. Of course, she and the kids were happy and excited, and this clashed with my feelings.

During supper I did my best to enter the kid's conversation, but I was really preoccupied and of course Gauri picked up on it. After dinner she came around the table, put her arms around my neck, and asked what was wrong. I simply told the truth, that I didn't feel very well. She started to probe and I told her I just needed to get to bed. We tucked the children in and then she tucked me in and told me that she would come to bed in a little while.

She leaned over to kiss me. I started to meet her when, at that moment, I wondered who else was sharing her lips these days and turned my face away from her. I believe if I had kissed her right then, I would have slapped her across the room. She got up off the bed, said, "Goodnight honey," and left. I was restless all night as various horrible visions floated through my head.

The next morning after breakfast, Gauri came around to me and tried to sit on my lap, but I didn't pull back from the table to make room for her. She stood behind me and placed her hands on my shoulder.

She said, "You were very restless last night. Did you get any sleep?"

I told her that I had not gotten much.

She came around to the side of the table and looked me in the eye. "There's something serious bothering you, isn't there?"

I looked her squarely in the eye and said, "Yes, there certainly is."

Then she asked if I wanted to talk about it and I told her no, not now. She asked if there was anything she could do.

I answered her, "I really wish there were."

She wanted to continue but I told her that I would work it out and that there was nothing she could do now.

As I pondered the various anomalies of the past month or so, pieces started to come together. But still there were too many holes. Lots of circumstantial things, but nothing solid I could lay my hands on. I would be out of town until Wednesday so I could not check the pills again until then. That would provide the first tangible answer pro or con.