Paul's Predicament

        Paul Sanderson sat, reading the last article in the paper before he went to bed. Light and glasses on, he enjoyed the comfort of his soft mattress and warm sheets, as the article seemed to lull him to sleep.

        Janet, his wife, had just come back from her Wednesday jog and was freshening up before bed. “Did you notice I came home a little later then usual?” Janet yelled, from the bathroom.

“Hmm?” Paul’s answer was half hearted; he had heard what she had said. However, he was on the last paragraph of his article and didn’t want to refocus his attention.

“Did you notice,” Janet walked into the room, “that I was later then usual?” she repeated.

Paul, realized he was going to have to respond. Only moving his eyes, he glanced over the newspaper. Janet wondered over to the side of the bed, grooming and ruffling her hair with her hands. When she reached the bed, she opened up the sheets, still using one hand as a comb. Paul, set down his unfinished newspaper, folded it and responded, “I hadn’t noticed. Something exciting happen?”

“No. It was horrible.” Janet crossed her arms and slumped into her pillow “I’m never doing it again.” she spat. Paul knew that Janet was over reacting. Rolling his eyes he looked to Janet. She was staring at the wall. “Oh ya, and why’s that?” Paul casually responded.

“Because the other girls are to fast for me.” Janet moaned, “I can’t keep up! It’s embarrassing!”

“Well, aren’t you out there to have fun?” Paul tried to sound interested, “Why don’t you just try to compete with yourself?”

“Don’t give me that.” Janet tossed Paul a sharp look. “They all joke about it. Talkin’ to each other sayin’, ‘Well at least you’re not a slow as Janet.’ Or ‘don’t slow down you’ll catch up to Janet.’ It’s supposedly all in good fun but, it’s still humiliating. I’m finished!”

Paul tried to calm her down. Maybe if she had another reason to stick with it. “Well, what about all that Christmas fat you wanted to burn off?” This was not the right thing to say. Instantly Janet swung her head over with wide eyes. “Honey, Christmas was four months ago. Does it look like I still have fat from four months ago?” Janet was starting to sound hysterical.

Paul new he was in hot water. So he picked up his newspaper, and pretended to look for his previous article. “Honey,” he responded casually, “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

Janet gave Paul an very angry look, got out of bed, walked towards the bathroom, stopped, turned around, came back to the bed, slumped back into her pillow and crossed her arms. “I’m going to bed.” She growled.

But she didn’t. She just sat there staring at Paul. These were some very tense minutes for Paul.