Part I

“It was all quite silly,” she said with a sly grin on her face. The ink on the confidentiality agreement hadn’t even begun to dry before Helen started in with her ramblings. “I was just talking to Sid, minding my own business…”

This was all too much for Allen to bear, and with a curt, “Shut up”! His demanded silence was granted. Helen looked away with disdain as she tightened her loose lips. “I will not have you spewing these stories all over town, Helen.” This was obviously the reason for said agreement, but Helen couldn’t help herself. “If you can’t keep your mouth shut, I will take more drastic measures to ensure your silence.” Shouted Allen.

“Drastic Measures?” Helen chortled.

“I’m leaving you”, Allen said as he tapped his pipe out on his palm. He had trouble even looking at Helen. His resentment for her violated his thoughts on a constant basis. She had single-handedly ruined everything he had built up to this point using no weapon but her mouth. She had to be silenced, and Allen had thought quite a few times about ripping her tongue out by its roots. He knew this was extreme, but he was at his wit’s end.

“How can you do this?” said Helen. “I have not done anything that warrants such treatment. I have just told a few truths that I shouldn’t have out of spite. I am sorry for that Allen, I really am.” Allen wasn’t listening anymore. Trust was broken. He gazed out the window at the grayness of winter’s grip and sighed.

The city was vibrant on this wintry evening; the chill had hardly kept the merry revelers from getting started on their various stations of iniquity. Allen had always been fond of nights like this. Being out among the nocturnes was a welcome change to his usual existence. He was finally on his own after years of marital hell, and was going to do everything in his power to try to live again. When he was younger, going out on the town like this was common play. Now, so many years later, nervousness took the place of his once youthful enthusiasm. He had originally tried to get a few friends to join him, but he was the only one in this spouse-less state, and therefore, the only one free. It had been a month since he told Helen it was over. He couldn’t go on living with her, and his resentment at the same time. One of them had to go. Since then, he has been free to roam, yet hadn’t left his house after dark until tonight.

The streetcars hummed as Allen found his way to his old favorite watering hole. It used to be called “The Oasis”, and Allen loved it because of its beach theme. He was always amazed at the huge live palm trees that they kept indoors. For some reason this was quite a feat to him. Once there, he realized that it wasn’t “The Oasis” anymore. Now it was called the “Green Hornet Pub”. This was another in a long line of disappointments; Allen realized another chapter of his dreary life had just concluded. He had such good times here in the old days. This is where he met Helen. She was a grad student reading in the back corner, when he approached her and asked, “Oh is this the library?” She was enamored by his corniness, and asked him to sit down; the rest is history. Memories like this were what made it so hard for him to adjust. As he entered the “Hornet”, two things stood out to him. Everything was green, and plenty of women. In fact, so many women the bar fell silent as he entered. He had obviously stumbled upon one of the city’s lesbian bars, and was quite put off. He quipped, “Sorry!” as he sneaked his way back out as if he had just walked in on people fornicating. Obviously, this was not the night that Allen had planned when he left his apartment. Feeling defeated, he decided to call it a night, and hailed a cab to return to the safety of his own four-walled world... To be continued next week in Part II.