Friday October 12 2018

55 year old Bobbie puttered around her kitchen while she waited for her husband Alex to come home. He was retiring that day. They always wanted to retire together. Her head was swimming with all the possibilities that lay before them. Alex would sell his shares in the company he founded and she had her own pension income. That was all they needed. They owned their house and it was almost ready to sell. Their sons and her mother lived in Crow Harbour about 120 miles away. They both grew up there and they wanted to move back.

She was working on a very special celebration meal, a Duckling a l’Orange recipe that took two days to complete. It was a retro meal that her mother used to make. Florence was a great cook and hostess. One of those women who seemed to do it all. She was a retired Obstetrician, and a part time university professor. Bobbie wanted to make the meal more intimate so she took a leaf out of their big dining room table and set it for two with their best linens and china.

Bobbie was also looking forward to their retirement party and she was mostly finished with all the planning. She had a power-point presentation with at least a hundred pictures of her and Alex and everyone that they loved. It would play at the party and she was excited to show it to Alex tonight. Her Mother wasn’t coming to the party. Bobbie’s father passed away three months before and her Mom didn’t feel like celebrating. Bobbie understood her sadness but insisted that nobody liked a good party more than Walter and he’d want her to come. Her mother chided her for being manipulative and said she didn’t want to come to Capital City. Bobbie dropped it and promised they’d visit her in Crow Harbour after the party.

Meanwhile, on the 12^th floor of the steel and glass modern building at the ComCan head office, after being feted by his co-workers, Alex graciously put on his congratulatory Rolex, accepted the good wishes and excused himself to his corner office. There, he sat down and looked at the paperwork on his desk; the results of his life’s work. He picked up his pen; then felt an odd thrumming in his ears, saw stars around the edges of his vision, felt his muscles twitch and within three minutes he was dead.

Bobbie finished basting her duck and was preparing the mashed potatoes when her door bell rang. She opened the door and there stood a man and a woman who stiffly identified themselves as detectives. They asked if they could come in.

Her heart sank.

The older detective, a tall black man, close to Bobbie’s age, took her hands and looked into her eyes “I’m sorry ma’am but your husband was found dead in his office by his partner this afternoon. He was sitting at his desk where he died suddenly. His body has been sent for an autopsy.”

“He’s Dead? How can he be dead?” This was like a bad dream and she felt oddly disengaged; then the oven timer went off. “Oh, supper’s ready can you take it out of the oven for me?”

While his partner dealt with the food, the man identified himself as detective Harold Rogers. He had a soothing voice. “Do you have someone to call?”

As if on cue, the phone rang. It was her friend and first cousin Trixie calling to say hi and when told the bad news, she insisted she’d be right over. Bobbie felt the hazy feeling again and looked desperately at detective Rogers. “Could you stay until Trixie gets here?” She almost felt tethered to him, like if left alone she would float away.

He assured her that they were at the end of their shift and were not in a hurry.

Trixie, a tall slender bronze skinned woman with thick long slightly greying dark hair, arrived ten minutes later. “Hello officers can you please tell me exactly what happened.” Trixie had an authoritative style and was a graduate of the Cambridge Business School in London. She always got a tinge of a British accent when she was in a stressful situation. She got contact information from the detectives and where to get details about the autopsy and finally sat by Bobbie and whispered, “We will make it through this.”

Bobbie had her focus back, she stood. “Thank you Detectives, I think I can handle things now.”

“Wait Bobbie, what are you going to do with this food?” Trixie already decided what to do with dinner and busied herself finding and filling Tupperware dishes and bags and handed one to each of the detectives.

The younger detective said. “Wow it smells really good”.

Bobbie looked confused but Trixie looked at them. “Well, we’ve got food and you will enjoy it more than us.” Bobbie realized she would have thrown it out anyway.

The detectives awkwardly gave their thanks and left.

After the police left, Trixie could tell that the enormity of Bobbie’s loss had not fully hit her. Trixie poured her some wine and shooed Bobbie out of the kitchen and said, “Go in the office and call the boys. I’ll clean the kitchen”.

Trixie liked to be busy and she moved to the large sink and began washing dishes. While scrubbing pots, she couldn’t help weeping a little, she was going to miss Alex too and she was so worried about Bobbie.

Bobbie came out of the den looking pale. “Charlie took it the worst, Eddy held it together better but they wanted to come tonight. Eddy doesn’t get off work until 10. I told them to wait until tomorrow but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them anyway. I told them not to drive in the dark and that I was with you and that Barb is coming so I’m not alone. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Barbara King (Daily), was a short round pretty woman and Bobbie’s childhood friend. Trixie texted her right after Bobbie’s call and Barb, who still lived in Crow Harbour, soon arrived with wine. After a few drinks they started reminiscing about Alex.

“Do you remember that night you got together? I dragged you to that party Bobbie. You hooked up with Alex and totally blew me off, I was mad for days. I knew it was really serious when you moved in about three weeks later though.”

“I’m sorry Barb, I really sucked didn’t I? It’s a wonder our parents allowed it. We told them I was moving into Alex’s spare room to help with the mortgage and I think, to be polite, they believed it. Alex was away a lot back then anyway. To ease their minds, we got married the day after I graduated.”

“And I was stuck overseas and couldn’t come to the wedding,” said Trixie.

“We moved to Citadel City right after that and I got pregnant right away. It’s a wonder I managed to keep my job!”

“I moved from England to Cit City then too, just before Eddy was born. I stayed with you guys and helped Alex’s Mum look after him when you had to go back to work.”

“Then we had Charlie and moved into this house. And now we were supposed to start the next phase of our lives.” Bobbie looked lost for a moment and became quiet.

Barb and Trixie looked at each other and Barb said, “We can talk about what comes next tomorrow. Why don’t I get you a glass of water and you can go to bed. Today has been a lot and you can support your sons more when you’re rested.”

Trixie nodded “We’ll wait up for the boys and then Barb and I will head over to my place. You guys will have some time together tomorrow.”

Bobbie was escorted to her room with a big bottle of water and a box of Kleenex.

Bobbie looked at the bed and Alex’s empty pillow and finally let go. She cried for about 20 minutes but then had hiccup like sobs that lingered. Bobbie was glad to be alone now, she was selfishly inconsolable and wanted to revel in her pain. She felt like she was in a bad dream. Alex had been such a part of her for so long. He was her true love. She was missing part of her soul and it was impossible to imagine life without him. She didn’t want to imagine life without him.