Basal morphing

hen the garage door opened I leapt to my feet and ran to the upstairs office window. Sure enough the Ford truck was parked in the driveway in front of the house. I heard a key being inserted into the lock on the inside door and then all went quiet. It was just before midnight and the house was in complete darkness. Then an attempt at the front door, this time more agitated. Unsuccessful in opening it, a voice called out "El, what's going on?". Frozen in my stance at the top of the stairs and looking down into the foyer, I remained silent, but my heart was pounding so loudly all I could hear was "Thump, thump, thump".

Then a more fervent attempt to force the lock open on inside door and a series of pounds and calls out to me. I dashed into the bathroom to put on a pink silk robe and perched on the top step. Please go away I said silently to myself and began to tremble. Feeling chilled, I was going into the master bedroom to put something more substantial on when I heard a loud bang that sounded as if someone had thrown his full weight at the door. Before I could reach the top of the steps and while grasping at the robe to cover myself, I saw DF climbing the stairs and the inside door lying off its hinges below. The look on his face sent shivers through my body. As he reached the landing he glared at me, but the pounding of my heart drowned out his angered words. He went ballistic. My face immediately flooded with tears, my body was rigid but trembling. I raced to the kitchen to get the phone while calling out, "Please go!". The more I begged the angrier he became. I dashed with phone in hand into the bedroom and, from behind the locked door, begged once again for him to leave or I would have to call the police.

I wasn't shaking from fear, but from a sense of deep sadness to witness his reaction and to know that I had done what I should consider the "unthinkable". While I had been preparing his things earlier that evening, it broke my heart to take such a stance with someone I had married. And it tore me apart to lock someone I loved outside, and then on top of all of that emotion the plan had gone so terribly wrong! He wasn't supposed to break in. No one said he would break in. In fact, I'd pictured him simply returning to KMC's house, where he'd been spending many of his nights in the past month, this time with a ready excuse and not need to conjure one up. So why was he so determined to get in? What was here tonight that he had been so ready to disrespect, jeer at, taunt and walk away from for the last month?

Finding not only the house, but also our bedroom door locked sent him into a rage, and within a matter of minutes my fingers dialed a phone number and a sleepy voice answered. Sobbing, I declared "He's in the house; he's inside!" I'd called my sister, the one who'd told me that removing DF from the house was necessary and had urged me that this had to be done and sooner rather than later. I don't remember what happened next. I just slid down the bedroom door in a crumpled heap until I heard a familiar voice calling from behind it. "El, open up, it's me". It was my sister.

She and her husband, my brother-in-law, had driven over. My brother-in-law was down the hall, attempting to calm down DF. Soon police officers arrived and a series of questions ensued. I explained what was going on and the police officers escorted DF into the library, downstairs, to speak with him. Despite an hour's worth of encouragement and urging from the police for him to leave, and an offer from my brother-in-law to put him up in the most comfortable hotel in town for a few days, DF refused to go with declarations that "It's my house, I'm not leaving". The police were concerned that I might not be safe and asked if my sister would stay with me that night until DF had the opportunity to speak with an attorney, as he threatened he would. Deeply embarrassed over the whole incident and crushed to have witnessed how drawing a boundary like this had caused him such upset, I asked that everyone leave.

"I'll be alright, thank you. I'm so sorry for all of the trouble, officers" I said. After everyone left, I propped the inside door up to the opening into the garage, drew an antique steamer trunk behind it to hold it erect until morning and ascended the stairs heading to the bedroom. Before disappearing into the room, I turned to DF and said "I don't know if you understand just how hard this was for me to do. I tolerated as much as I could before staking this step. Why did you have to make this so heart-breaking for both of us?". DF glared at me and said "How dare you? You'll pay for this!"as he scurried into the next bedroom and locked the door.