Taboo

Keywords: Renewal, (Non-), Day, Valentine's,

Making another mental note, she remembered she needed to buy Sam something nice for Christmas. Maybe she would buy him a Rolex: one of the cheaper ones. He wouldn't care for it anyway and probably only wear it when she asked. Thinking of Sam made her smile.

Returning to the mail stack, she saw notices of service ending for all the magazines and the newspapers. Opening a few, they all read the just about the same: 'Per your request, your service was terminated as of 28 December. No refund was requested. Should you request a refund at a later date, that will be handled by our circulation department.' Clearly, Sam had cancelled all their subscriptions.

She could not fathom what he hoped to accomplish by doing that. She seldom read anything that came to the house. She rarely had time to read the ones she received here at the condo. Her curiosity was moving higher on the intensity scale. Things just did not seem right. Some of the mail was over 2 months old. Had she been that involved that she missed something? No, she would know that. The mail must have spent a long time bring forwarded.

Having glanced through the rest of the mail, nothing was very important. All the mail that had been forwarded was some type of cancellation or junk mail, excepting the large envelopes. It was time to find out what resided in them. Reaching for the first one she came to, she was interrupted by the ringing phone.

"Hello?" Said Laura as she answered the phone, wondering why the office would be calling her at home. "Yes, this is she."

"Yes, I know who Mr. Sanchez is. He is the President of the company, and yes I know where is office is located."

"Yes, I can be there at seven am tomorrow. May I ask what this is in regards too?"

"Fine then. I will there in the morning."

Placing the handset back on the cradle, Laura wasn't sure if she should be excited or concerned. It was highly unusual for anyone to receive a summoning to the President's office. Either she was getting the promotion to partner and they were keeping it concealed, or something was terribly wrong. Well she would just have to see in the morning.

She was starting to get aggravated with whatever Sam was pulling; it looked as if he turned off every thing at the house but the power, phone and water. She had notices from every subscription, cable, and the internet provider. She had too much on her plate to deal with him right now. Who did he think he was? She would get this straightened out, as soon as she found him. She picked up the phone, tried the house again, and got absolutely nothing but eternal rings.

Her leisurely bath forgotten, she got up, went to the liquor cabinet, and fixed herself a drink. Once she had poured what she wanted she noticed the single malt scotch whiskey. Sam always drank that. She never did, thinking it tasted like medicine. She had tried to get him to drink some of the more fashionable drinks but he steadfastly refused.

'Just like Sam," she thought. 'Once he finds something he really likes, he doesn't change. Variety was not something he sought.'

He had always loved the cabin in the Catskills. He never understood her desire to live the fast life. The condo had been a major sticking point with him. She could commute like everyone else, he said. He could not understand her desire to separate herself from the drones.

"Maybe that's it,' she thought to herself happily. " He's at the cabin. I should have checked there.'

Dialing the number to the cabin, she met with a recording.

"We regret the extended inconvenience, but phone service to this area is still not possible. As soon as repair crews can gain access, your telephone service will be restored as soon as possible," said the recording.

'Gain access?' she wondered. 'Why was access denied? What had happened? There were just too many strange things going on today.'

A quick call to the sheriff's office in the town closest to their cabin told her nothing was really amiss, at least not seriously. The whole area basically had been snowed in by the blizzard on Christmas Eve, and with temperatures remaining unusually cold, it had remained well below freezing ever since.

They'd over flown the entire area slowly to check for problems or people in distress. Where they had seen evidence of people, they'd called on either phones, radios, or the helicopter through megaphones. They had evacuated a few people but most had chosen to stay. Clearing roads to inhabited places had been the priority.

There was an SUV at their place, but no sign of life in all their over flights. They had hovered, called, and called on several occasions. There was no evidence of tracks around the cabin even in their first survey, Their cabin was kind of isolated, but was on the general flight path in and out of the airport, so they checked it frequently.

Laura felt some better knowing that Sam was not stranded out there alone. However, it did little to ease her growing disquiet as to his whereabouts. He no longer seemed to fit in her life, but she still loved him. He just didn't understand how important getting to the top rungs of the ladder was to her.

She had to succeed better than everyone else did, but any means possible. Her father had instilled that in her. She missed him so much. Since the house was clearly closed down, and there was no evidence of anyone at the cabin, she had no idea where he might be. Moving to the liquor cabinet, she refreshed her drink.

'Maybe he went on a trip somewhere,' she pondered. 'He spoke of a trip before, but had decided against it since it would mean being away from the cabin for Christmas. She told him he was being silly; there was no way she was going to go up there just for a couple of days. He had pleaded with her not to break their tradition.

Laughing, knowing she would be spending Christmas with her boyfriend/boss. He was nowhere near the lover Sam was, nor was he the kind, considerate, or principled man, but he did hold the key to that partnership she wanted so badly. Sam held love and fun, but nothing to get ahead. Once she got the partnership, she'd quit sleeping with her boss and return to her husband. It was only temporary; surely he wouldn't mind that.'

As she actually thought about it, she also recognized of just how wrong she was. Sam always said any infidelity on either of their parts was grounds for immediate divorce. He might forgive an indiscretion if it was a one time mistake, but never her practically living with her boss these many months.

'He must never find out she vowed.' grimacing over the thought of Sam's reaction if he did. 'Wait a minute. What was that about "adultery "in those lawyers' papers?'

Frantically, she searched through the scattered mail to locate the letter she had originally seen from the lawyer. Finding it she searched for the list of 'services' paid for: " preparation of divorce on the grounds of adultery."

"Oh! God! He knows," she exclaimed aloud in instant anguish even though she was alone.

'What am I going to do? I don't wanna lose him. He's the only one I love. The only one that's loved me, unconditionally,' she cried to herself. 'It may already be too late. Was he is gone already? Is that why I can't find him?'

Briefly lost in her confusion, Laura got up and aimlessly wandered around her condo. In her living room, she spied a picture of her and Sam together. A passing tourist, having stopped to ask directions, took it at the cabin one summer several years ago. Smiling and looking so happy, Sam had his arm around her, grasping her tightly to him. It was a good picture, with the mountain peak rising above the cabin and everything green with wildflowers everywhere.

'We looked so happy then because we were. What have I done to that? I can't lose him. I couldn't stand it. What good is any of it without Sam?' Still lost in her thoughts, she wandered back to the table full of mail. 'I guess I should see what the lawyers have to say. Maybe I can find out where Sam is and get this straightened out.'

Settling in to the chair at the table once again, she reached for one of the large manila envelopes again. This time she approached them, not with the annoyance or anger, she had earlier, but a fear of what they contained. For the first time she noticed there were actually six of them. Picking up the first one, she reached for the letter opener and slit the end. Pulling out the blue backed legal papers she saw that is was a Deed of Property. It named her the sole owner of the house in Westchester. There was a lot of legal jargon describing the house and the property.

What caught he eye was on the second page it stated there was no mortgage on the house. She wondered at that, since she knew the mortgage on the house was in excess of four hundred thousand dollars. The paper clearly stated that this was a free 'Deed of Property', having no liens, or mortgage. Far from answering any questions, it seemed she now had more than she did when she opened it. There was no explanation about any of the conditions causing the writing of the deed.

Reaching for the second envelope, she slit its end and pulled out the now familiar blue backed legal papers. At least this one she could partially understand the reasoning. The papers read, "Divorce Decree". At least she understood what this one meant. The Decree granted her and Sam a divorce based on abandonment. What surprised her was it gave her everything, except whatever was in Appendix C. Although she didn't have extensive experience with divorces, she had spent some time years ago working as a legal secretary.

She'd never seen a decree quite like this one. Sam asked for nothing and except for whatever was in Appendix C, had assigned everything they owned together to her. No money division, no property for him, not even his beloved cabin, not even his truck or SUV, had been assigned to Sam. It had been all assigned to her. The other thing she noticed was the abandonment date: 1 January of the previous year.

Keywords: Renewal, (Non-), Day, Valentine's,