S Is for Silence

glimpse he’d had of what was coming his way occurred in a counseling session back in the spring. April Fool’s Day in point of fact, which should have been a clue. He and Cora had been married for three years, knocking heads for the better part of two. They were like two dogs tugging on opposing ends of a towel, going round and round, yanking and jerking, but neither one giving ground. Basically the struggle was about power, and the measure of power was related to control of the funds, of which she had the bulk. He couldn’t remember who’d suggested the meeting with the minister at the church where he and Cora attended services. He wasn’t a religious man himself, but Cora felt church was important and that was good enough for him. She was, of course, fifty-six years old, closer to her demise than he was at the age of forty-one, so that might have had its effect. Where he’d sworn up and down the age difference between them didn’t mean a thing to him, he could see that it was going to be tougher as the years went by. Cora looked every bit of her fifty-six years. Her face, not beautiful to begin with, had suffered a collapse in the course of one year, right after she turned fifty-five. He had no idea why, but it was as if somebody yanked a chain and a curtain of wrinkles descended with a thud. Her neck looked like something that had sat unattended in the dryer for days. Her hair had thinned. She started going to the beauty parlor twice a week to have it fluffed and back-combed into an appearance of volume. The problem was he could see right through the ratting to the scalp beneath. She needed constant reassurances, anything to soothe her insecurities. The one thing that gave her confidence was all the money she had. Tom was coming into his prime, but he hadn’t made quite the success of himself that he’d hoped. Part of that was Cora’s fault because she had the wherewithal to help, but she refused to lift a finger. Which is what had brought them to the pastor’s study. Tom had made a cursory study of the Old and New Testaments, and he was pleased with the many admonitions about a wife’s duty to her spouse. She was meant to be his helpmeet, submissive in everything. It said so right there in 1st Peter 3, verses 1 through 12.
    That’s what he was hoping to get down to.
    Here’s how it went instead.
    The pastor, in a mild and caring tone, had asked him what he saw as the problem.
    Tom had his answer all set. “In a nutshell, I see marriage as a partnership of equals, like a team, but that’s not what I’m dealing with here. She has no faith in me, and that undercuts any faith I might have in myself. I’m no expert on the Bible, but Scripturewise, that doesn’t seem right.”
    Cora had jumped in, giving the minister her side. “But we’re not equals. I brought a fortune into this marriage and he didn’t have a dime. I don’t understand why I have to sacrifice half of what I have so he’ll feel like a whole man.”
    The minister said, “I understand what you’re saying, Cora, but there has to be a little give here.”
    Cora blinked at the man. “Give?”
    The minister turned to him. “Tom?”
    “I’m not asking for a nickel of her money. All I want is a little help getting on my feet.”
    “Why don’t you direct your comments to her?”
    “Sure. Of course. I’d be happy to. What I can’t understand is your attitude. It’s not like you earned the money. Loden Galsworthy did that. When you met him, you were clerking in a dry goods store. He was a shrewd businessman. His funeral parlors are a big success, and I admire that about him. Who else would be ghoulish enough to make money off the dead? I’m asking for the chance to show you that I’m just as good or better.”
    “Why do you insist on seeing yourself in competition with him?”
    “I don’t. I’m not. How can I compete when the man is dead? Cora, I’m not a taker. That’s not my nature. Given half a chance, I can prove it to you. All I need is a stake.”
    “Loden didn’t have money handed to him. He earned it all himself.”
    “But he was born a man of privilege as you well know. I admit I come from humbler stock. You come from humble stock yourself and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. What I don’t see is why you’d begrudge me the opportunity.”
    “What do you call the twenty thousand dollars I loaned you last fall?”
    “That wasn’t enough to do me any good. I tried telling you at the time. You might as