Disclaimer: Early Edition, the characters and situations belong to Tristar Pictures and to CBS Productions, who have been kind enough to sell rights for it to be broadcast on Israel Channel One. No copyright infringement is intended.

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The Suitcase
by Rakefet

Marcia stood in the bedroom beside the open suitcase. She knew that what she was about to do was cruel. It was cowardly. If a woman decides to divorce her husband, after four years of marriage, she should tell him so to his face. Especially if the husband is a sensitive person and very much in love with her. But that was the problem, Marcia thought. Gary *was* sensitive and vulnerable.  He *was* in love with her and was going to be terribly hurt.  Marcia simply couldn't bring herself to face him.

Marcia's mother disapproved of her plan. "Marcia, honey, you're not thinking of divorcing that sweet, good looking man?  You can't be serious." But then, Marcia's mother had always liked Gary. She could tell that Gary was a serious, caring person, who would treat her daughter properly, and she enjoyed teasing Marcia about his looks. Marcia understood what it was her mother wanted for her, and she wanted it, too. But she wanted more than that. She didn't expect her mother to understand.

Her father understood her better. Her father had never approved of Gary from the start. "That one will never be a success, Marcia," was his opinion the first time she brought Gary to her parents' home for dinner. Marcia didn't agree with him at first.

Could she be blamed for not suspecting that her handsome, young stockbroker cared so little about money?  She knew he wasn't obsessed with financial gain like his friend, Chuck Fishman.  But Marcia thought that *all* stockbrokers wanted to be rich. Gary worked hard enough, it wasn't that. He even took the job he hated at Strauss and Associates, so that Marcia could finish law school, and so he could provide a good life for their future children.  He worked hard there, too, despite a personality clash with his boss, despite complaining that he felt strangled wearing ties every day. But for Gary, money was only a means to a end, and the purpose for him, was to support their future family. He simply did not appreciate wealth for it's own sake.

Marcia wanted to be rich and successful and powerful. It was a year or two before she realized that her father was right. Gary would never be a success at business. It was not only that he cared less about money than she did. He lacked the ruthlessness, needed in the business world, before one could trample one's competitor and get ahead. Gary was the type who always had change for a beggar, who took the time to exchange a kind word with the blind receptionist at his firm. He would never get beyond a mid-level position and he didn't seem to care. Once out of law school, she found herself advancing faster than he did. She didn't want a husband, less successful than herself.

Marcia wasn't even sure she wanted children. She knew that children were important to Gary and she put off telling him. She made excuses: first, that she had to finish law school, and later, that she had to establish her career, and Gary was willing to be patient for her sake. But the truth was, she didn't want to risk her own career just to have kids.

Marcia loved the competitive world of business and the law, and she took naturally to dressing for success. But as she packed his clothes in the suitcase, she thought how Gary was never quite himself in a suit and tie. The real Gary wore jeans and pullovers and a leather jacket. He only felt like himself on weekends.

Not that their weekends together were so bad. He was always so grateful for the Sunday mornings they spent together. He loved the blueberry pancakes she made for him and he loved her. He didn't always tell her so in words. He didn't have to. His large, expressive eyes said it for him.

Marcia supposed that, in a way, she would always love him a little, too. But they wanted such different things from life and she felt they would never find the things they each wanted, unless they looked for them apart.

"Marcia!" She could hear him calling up to her. "Marcia, it's me...  Hon? Happy Anniversary."

Marcia had forgotten the anniversary and she was sorry. It made what she had to do seem worse. But if she backed down now, she might never steel herself to do it again.

It was cowardly, what she planned to do, and she knew it. But she also knew that if she had to face Gary, if she looked into those big, dark eyes and saw the hurt in them, she would not be able to go through with it. So Marcia called "Heads up" and threw the suitcase down to him.

Email the author: rakefet_z@yahoo.com
 
 

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