Lustly by Jennifer Foor
Chapter 1
Fifteen hours.
That’s how long it had been since my entire world was turned to literal shit.
After reaching inside of my purse, and grabbing the semi-organized group of coupons, I looked back up at the conveyor belt rolling my groceries toward the cashier. I double checked all of my items with how many coupons that I was using, making sure for maximum savings. One quick glance at the cashier and I knew she wasn’t too happy about me being one of her first customers of the morning. I didn’t care about her opinion, since extreme couponing had been saving me money ever since I’d started doing it. The elderly man in front of me was more of a pain in the ass than scanning a few pieces of paper. If she knew what was good for her she’d put a smile on her face and be cordial, before I slapped that grin right off of it. I needed every extra penny I could pinch. After last night I was going to need a lot more than pennies to get me by.
Just thinking about it made my stomach turn. I still couldn’t accept that it was real. It was a wife’s worst nightmare, the most horrible act of defiance. The repercussions of one person’s action had destroyed my life, and I still hadn’t had enough time to comprehend all that something like this could mean for mine and my children’s futures.
The queasiness started to get worse. I grabbed my abdomen and scrunched up my face. The idea of having the explosive nerve shits in the line at the grocery store wasn’t exactly on my bucket list, but as the urgency became painful, I knew I had a decision to make.
Without worrying about the people in line behind me, or the fact that I was next up, I got out of my place and located the restroom, while squeezing my ass cheeks tightly together to prevent the inevitable.
To be honest, I wasn’t the kind of person that liked to use public restrooms. The smell of overbearing air freshener filled my nostrils, reminding me that they used such pungent scents to hide the filth and germs.
I grabbed a roll of paper from the back of the commode and started unraveling it over the seat until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. As fast as I could pull my jeans down, I lost it. I sat there, clenching the underneath of the toilet as if it was keeping me on the ground. The sheer humiliation of what was happening to me made me begin to bawl. This was my lowest point; the place where I’d never in my whole marriage thought I would be.
So one might ask what is more embarrassing then leaving my groceries at the register while obviously running to the crapper in dire need of release.
If you haven’t figured it out, I’ll be happy to tell you.
It’s having someone walk into the bathroom while you are blowing the place up.
I think that, mixed with the current rush of emotions from the night before caused me to lose all sense of dignity. My lips trembled and my eyes were so filled with tears that I couldn’t see the explicit writings on the stall door. Nothing could be worse than what I was going through, well nothing except for the death of one of my children, and I thanked God every single second that I still had them.
You’re probably wondering what could have gotten me into such a displeasing predicament. I suppose it started a long time ago, although details are irrelevant.
You see, being a mother and wife is my calling. My family is my whole world, and I’d give my own life for any of them without a second’s thought. Last night two of my children had soccer practice at two different fields, at the same time. After getting two of my three children off the bus from school, the fiasco had begun. Violet and Opal had practice at six, while Weston, my teenage son, had stayed after school for a football meeting. I’d tried to get all of their things ready before they got home, in between clipping my coupons, doing the laundry and watching my favorite soap opera. Mind you, I keep busy during the day, cleaning the house and making sure everything is in order for when my husband arrives home, promptly at five.
Normally he would help me with the kids at night, but he’d been working on this super important project, that required him to stay for long hours at the office. I knew he’d be too tired after going in at five in the morning to get a head start, so I opted to handle it myself.
Of course I’d forget shin guards, the most important part of the soccer uniform. After dropping off one child at the first field, Opal realized the dilemma. “Mom seriously? How can you forget them? I can’t play without them. Why even go to practice now?”
“I’ll run home and grab them. Just go out there and tell your coach so he doesn’t count you as late. You don’t want to have to sit out first quarter for Saturday’s game, do you?”
She looked out at the field. “Duh, of course not!”
Children had a way with making me cringe when they spoke, mine especially. “I’ll be five minutes, Opal. Just chill out for once.”
“Whatever.” She jumped out of the mini-van.
I looked at the clock and noticed it was five fifty-five. I could run and be back before warm-ups were over, and Opal would forget all about my mistake.
Before I get to the point, I just want to say again that being a mother is the most wonderful gift that I’d ever been given. I’d always wanted to have children, and had been very blessed. There wasn’t anything that I wasn’t willing to do for them, and they knew it.
Super mom mode was in effect. I’d ran through a red light and two of the traffic bumps in our little community to make it to the house a minute sooner than normal. Since I was in a hurry, I figured I’d enter in through the back door that we kept unlocked and grab what I needed with the vehicle still running.