I apologised your Honour for punching Mr Hayward, I should never have hit him, I am sorry. What I should have done was hit my wife instead; after all, she is the one to blame for the problem I now find myself in. If she had kept her knickers on, then none of this would have happened in the first place.
Then referring to his wife Anne Marie and her so-called latest lover Bruce, he continued. They keep talking about being in love, but love does not seem to come into the equation. It is plain and simple, its lust, and if she had kept them pulled up. Then there would not have been this stupid excuse their using at the moment, by calling it love. Do they really think he was going to marry her? I suggest that you ask his wife that question; after all, he picked her up the same ugly way. That is all this case is about your honour, my wife dropping her pants.
The words echoed around the courtroom, it was like a feeding frenzy as the local journalists frantically tried to scribble down every last little detail, in an effort to satisfy the appetite of the inquisitive local readers come gossipmongers.
The judge, fined him very heavily for the assault, and further inflamed the situation. He then went on to condemn him for his outburst in which he had told the court that he should have hit his wife instead. The judge added that it was an act of contempt towards his court, and because of this, he doubled the fine. For James it was like adding salt to the wound, like twisting the knife in his back, and he walked away from the court almost a broken man.
James and Anne Marie had been married for almost five years and in all that time, life had been good to them both. James had adored her for every one of those years, revolving his whole life around her. In an effort so that they could be together at all times. Unfortunately Anne Marie’s new job did seem to be taking up more and more of her time, and leaving him on his own for a couple of nights a week.
James worked at the local Paint Manufacturing Factory on the out skirts of town. While occasionally on the odd evening, he played in a local band called the “Hep Cats”. While his wife, Anne Marie worked at the local garment factory. She had been employed there for five years, and in that time, she had ambitiously worked her way up, until finally being promoted into the top supervisor’s position.
That Christmas the factory held its annual party as usual in the works canteen. It being a dual event this year as Anne Marie’s promotion was also being celebrated in a big way. James’s band has been booked to supply the music and entertainment for the evening.
The band kicked off with its usual brand of nostalgia Rock and Roll and everybody seemed to be having a good time. While James was playing, he could not help noticing his wife dancing with most of the male workers, who were attending the dance. He also noticed that she was consuming a large amount of alcohol. While laughing and joking all of the time with everybody and becoming the centre of attraction.
The band had to play for about three-quarters of an hour, so James looked forward to having a break and to spend it with Anne Marie. Unfortunately, when the break was announced and he had come down from the stage, Anne Marie was nowhere to be seen. Unhappy he then spent the next fifteen minutes with the other members of the band having a drink and just talking about the music they had just performed.
Back on the stage, James started singing once again to the party going crowd below him. After a couple of numbers he spied his wife at the bar stacking up a tray load of drinks and then once again he lost sight of her as she disappeared in the crowd.
Then as the guitarist broke into a lead break, he noticed a door at the far end of the hall, and that people were coming and going all of the time. He also noticed that these people seem to be dressed just that little bit smarter. Therefore, he concluded that it was a special room were the office staff was having a private party.
Once again, he finished his three-quarters of an hour performing and headed for the bar to get him self a drink. He then took a walk around, but there was still no sign of Anne Marie. He walked down to the other end of the room to see if she was with the office staff. Thinking, as she was his wife, there would be no reason why he should not be allowed into the room. But he was wrong just as he was about to enter, one of the company security guards who had been standing on the inside of the room and out of sight, stopped him from entering the room. James tried to reason with the guy trying to explain that he was just looking for his wife. It was all to no avail because he was politely turned away. The guard also told him that as a band member he was not allowed onto the dance floor, and that he should stay in the stage dressing room.
The next three-quarters of an hour really dragged for James, wanting to get it over so that he could once again have another look around for his wife. It would be the last session of the night, so he was adamant that he was going to find her so that they can go home together. Once the bracket was over, he hurriedly packed all of his gear away and loaded it into his car. He then re-entered the hall and pushed his way past a load of drunken partygoers who did not seem to want to move. As he reached the door at the end of the hall, he was confronted once again by the security guard. As the guard tried to bar his entry, James was looking over his shoulder and around the room in an effort to find Anne Marie.
Suddenly he saw her half sitting half lying on a settee with a guy sitting either side of her. They were all laughing and giggling and one of the guys was kissing Anne Marie’s wrist while working his way up her arm towards her shoulder. The other person was fondling her breasts; it was too much for James. He kneed the security guard in the groin and just pushed his way past his crippled body. Making his way towards Anne Marie was not easy, as the room was so full that it was almost impossible to squeeze through the crowd. By now, he was using great force to get the drunks out of his way in an effort to get to her. Then just as he reached Anne Marie, he saw one of the guys kissing one of her breasts through her dress. While the other, one had stopped what ever he was doing to take another sip from his drink. Anne Marie was lying back soaking up the attention that she was receiving
She found her self-looking at James’s legs and slowly raised her glance working her way up his body until she was looking at his face. With out battering an eyelid she just said, “Hi dear it’s a great party isn’t it”. James was dumbstruck not knowing what to say. She was not even worried that he had caught her with other men; he wondered just how many others had been drooling over her during the night. He knew she was very drunk, that was apparent by just looking at her, but there was just no reaction from her that she was doing anything wrong.
The anger built up inside of him so fast that he was not in control of his senses. He then exploded and grabbed the guy who had been kissing her breast and pulling him to his feet, punching him square on the jaw. The blow was lethal and he hit the floor with a deafening thud.
Before he could react further, two very large security guards suddenly grabbed him from behind. They twisted his arms behind his back and frog marched him from the room. Not stopping until they reached the main entrance doors where they threw him out side, but not before punching him and informing him not to return.
While driving home on his own, his imagination ran riot not knowing what he should do next. He spent a long of time thinking of the past and wondering if he had done anything wrong.
For most of his early years of marriage, he had been accused of being to possessive over his wife. She had wanted to be able to go out on her own and have nights with the girls as she called it. While he had always wanted to know, where she was going and why could he not go with her. She in turn felt stifled by this always wanting to be around her and of almost running her life for her.
He loved her so much that he just wanted to be with her at all times. After all wasn’t that the reason why they had got married in the first place.
While at work he would plan what they might do together once he got home. Weekends were a special time for him and he could not wait for them to come around so that they could do things and go places together. He could not understand that she did not want to be smothered in this sort of way. He had thought that once they were married that is how it would be. After all, before marriage the guys would always go out together at nights and on the weekend. Mostly hanging around the pubs and clubs where they got drunk most of the time, and played up with the girls. He had also realised that a lot of his friends were still doing that even though they were now so called happily married. A few of them had indulged in long affairs with other married women, who they had met while under the influence of alcohol. He had thought that he was not going to go down that line. After all, he loved his wife dearly and just wanted to be with her at all times, was not that what marriage was all about. She was his mate and as mates, they should do everything together. He thought he had grown up and moved on from the mate ship company of the males.
Sadly no its not like that any more, for now the relationships have turned full circle, now it’s the wives who want to be able to go out with their so called friends and have hen party nights every night.
Most of the so-called experts on the subject say that this behaviour is okay. Adding that the husbands have to accept this behaviour as normal, and stop wrapping their wives up in cotton wool, letting them have a life of their own.
If this were the case, why the hell did he get married in the first place? Why did he not stay single so that he could go out with his mates drinking whenever he liked, having sex with whom ever he could get his hands on and to hell with marriage. Yes, there is a strong case not to get married anymore, your dammed if you do and your dammed if you do not.
The night of the party she had not returned home, leaving him to sleep alone in the marital bed where he endured a long lonely night and to ponder their future together. So when she had not returned by early the next morning. He had packed a small bag and walked out of the house, and he hoped out of her life forever.