The kids came home from school to find a note on the kitchen table. Barb read it with a growing sense fear. It was even worse than she imagined.
"What's the note say?" Robert asked.
"They're going to be home late and want us to make some stew," Barb answered.
"Stew?" Robert asked.
"Yeah," Barb said.
"I don't know how to make stew," Robert said.
Holding up the note, Barb said, "She left a recipe."
The two kids studied the recipe. It didn't look all that difficult.
Barb said, "I think we know how to do this stuff."
"Dredge the meat in flour – that means just to roll it around in some flour. I've done that. I know how to brown the meat in a skillet. The rest is just peeling potatoes and carrots and measuring out stuff," Robert said. "I think we can do it."
"Tbs is a tablespoon," Barb said, "right?"
"Yes." Robert asked, "Do we have all the ingredients?"
"Let me check," Barb said while turning to the refrigerator.
Across town, Max and Marylou were meeting with Guy in the bar where the robbery had taken place. The men were calmly drinking beers and Marylou was having a wine.
"How are you doing?" Max asked.
"Okay. I'm glad it's over," Guy answered. "The kids are having a rough time with it. Ellie wants to sue everyone and their dog. She sounds like a real lawyer."
"Your daughter sounds like a piece of work," Marylou said with a grin.
"She is," Guy said.
Max asked, "How about the boys?"
"Sean is pissed at his mother. She'd had him convinced that I was cheating on her and she was little Miss Innocent. Bill is ashamed over the whole mess. He's the youngest and is closest to his mother," Guy said.
"That's rough," Marylou said.
Guy said, "He's halfway convinced the cat is possessed by the devil."
"You're kidding," Marylou said.
"He never takes his eyes off of it,"Guy said. He chuckled. "I really like that cat."
"I can tell," Max said.
"So what's up with you two?" Guy asked. "Why did you want to see me?"
Max answered, "We got the whole confrontation on video. With just a little editing, you and the kids will not be seen at all."
He still couldn't get over the entire scene. That bit about choosing the cat over his wife was going to be a big hit with the subscribers. The email they were receiving was mostly of the form 'torch the bitch.' They were going to love the idea that he was trading her in for a cat.
"That's good. I don't want the kids involved at all," Guy said. "I didn't plan on them being there."
"I know you didn't," Marylou said.
The plan had been to spring it on her the next day while the kids were at school. He still tried to time it for when they were at school, but his wife had stayed out later than planned. It was bad luck that they all arrived together.
"No matter how much we edit the tape, you'll hear their voices. I don't think we can disguise them," Max said.
"That's okay," Guy said after thinking about it for a minute. "Edit it and let me see it before you put it on the website."
"Of course," Marylou said.
"All right," Max said. "That brings up another little problem."
"What?" Guy asked.
Marylou said, "We've got over six thousand subscribers now. The videos of her calling her past lovers to tell them they have gonorrhea were a big hit. We've got folks from Europe and even Australia signing up for it. More people are signing up for it every day."
"What will we do now that there won't be any more videos?" Guy asked.
Max said, "That's the problem and why we wanted to meet with you."
"Will we have to close the website down?" Guy asked.
"We've got two requests from guys who've just caught their wives cheating. One is in Seattle and the other is in Houston. They want to post their videos on our site."
"Really?" Guy asked.
"Yes," Marylou said. "The one from Houston sent us the video where he discovered his wife cheating. He came home early and there was a strange car in the driveway. He looked through the window of his bedroom and caught her. He started filming her with his cellphone."
"What a cliche," Guy said.
Max said, "It's good video. You can even hear him tossing his cookies in the bushes."
"It reaches right out and grabs you," Marylou said.
"Poor bastard," Guy said. He knew exactly how the man must be feeling.
Marylou said, "We asked the lawyer and with just a little paper work we can add that to the site."
"I guess we should do it," Guy said. "I guess it is going to transform into a cheating wives website."
"That's what we were thinking. It's just that it is a bit more work than we imagined," Marylou said.
Max said, "It takes a lot of time to go through a couple hours of video to make sure that the appropriate faces are blacked out. Your wife's sessions usually lasted more than an hour."
"Don't remind me," Guy said.
"It is really going to be a lot of work. Particularly if we start posting more than one cheating wife at a time," Max said.
"Don't forget cheating husbands," Marylou said.
"Husbands?" Guy asked.
"Wives aren't the only ones who cheat," Marylou said.
"She's right, you know," Max said.
Guy asked, "How many subscribers do we have?"
"Six thousand and still growing," Marylou answered.
She had been worried about money when she first learned that Max was unemployed. Those fears had quickly been dismissed with the website. Now she was looking at a tremendous increase in standard of living. The first check had cleared all of their credit card debts and more. She had plans on paying off the mortgage before the end of the year.
"We can afford to hire someone to run it," Guy said. "There are enough unemployed folks around that it shouldn't be too difficult to find someone to do it."
"We probably need to pass it by your wife. She does own twenty percent of the website," Max said earning a dirty look from his wife.
Marylou didn't want anything to do with Maggie. She had watched Guy break down and cry while watching one of the videos of her cheating. That had hurt. For her, the discovery that the elderly neighbor across the street was one of his wife's lovers had been the straw that broke the camel's back. She felt it was one thing to go out to a bar and pick up men; that made Maggie a tramp. To collect lovers from around the neighborhood was something different. Not only was a family destroyed, but so was a community. Guy didn't even have neighbors to turn to for support.
"Remind her about the money. Six thousand subscribers is more than a hundred thousand dollars a month in revenue. Even after paying someone to maintain it, she'll be getting over two hundred thousand a year. I seriously doubt she'll turn it down," Guy said.
Marylou said, "I would. I'd want the website shutdown for good."
"You aren't her. You've got some pride," Guy said.
His opinion of his wife had dropped considerably over the past month. He still didn't know what had driven her to cheat on him. Maybe Ellie was right and it was a brain tumor. He didn't care to know. The kinds of things she had said about him had destroyed all empathy he might have for her.
Guy said, "I won't be paying her alimony, that's for damned sure. Even if I keep my job, the difference in income is going to be miniscule."
"Don't forget about the other websites. We'll be starting them up soon," Max said.
"I really expect to make more off of them in the long run. Even though we'll be charging half the amount for subscriptions, I expect we'll have ten times the members and the ad revenue is going to be great," Marylou said.
"That'll be after the divorce is final," Guy said.
"I guess you know best," Max said.
"How's Selena?" Guy asked wanting to change the subject to something a little more pleasant.
"She's doing great. It seems like she has a lot of friends in her industry. Everyone is helping her get her business started," Marylou said.
"That's good," Guy said. "I'm glad to hear that she's doing alright."
"She was pleased that you picked up the cat from the SPCA," Marylou said.
"I'm glad she thought to ask you to tell me about it," Guy said.
"Why don't you call her?" Marylou said.
She was feeling a little weird about being their go-between. They each kept giving her messages for the other. They always asked about how the other one was doing.
"It's complicated," Guy answered.
"She'd like it if you called," Marylou said.
"She doesn't need a depressed jerk dragging her down when she's so busy," Guy replied.
Guy made an unconscious slashing gesture with his hand letting everyone know to drop the subject. Marylou was about to say something, but a shake of the head by Max let her know to be quiet.
"So how are things going with your kids?" Guy asked.
"Robert is coming along. I only have to tell him three times to mow the lawn. Barb is fighting us on just about everything," Max said.
Marylou said, "You're being too hard on her. She hasn't been quite so bad lately. She's wearing nicer clothes to school. She's quit demanding so much and her language has cleaned up a bit."
"Well, one little threat to take away the cell phone and she turns into an angel for a day," Max said.
Impressed, Guy said, "I wouldn't dare do that to one of my kids."
"Do you need to?" Max asked.
"Not really. They're pretty good kids," Guy said. "Of course, that may change after this week. You never know how kids are going to react to a divorce."
"Yeah," Marylou said.
"I think Barb would throw a party if she thought it meant getting away from me," Max said.
"I don't think so. She actually respects you. You don't take any garbage from her," Marylou said with a hint of a smile on her face.
"Maybe," Max said grudgingly.
Marylou said, "Just let your kids know that you love them, Guy. No matter what, don't change the way you treat them. They'll need the stability that will provide."
Max looked at her.
"I know. Do as I say and not as I do," Marylou said.
Guy looked at his watch. He said, "I better get to the house. They'll be expecting me to get there soon."
"Okay," Max said. "We'll call you if anything happens on the website."
"That would be good," Guy said. He rose and looked away for a second. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a check. Handing it to Marylou, he said, "Give this to Selena. Tell her it is a personal loan until she gets her company going. I'm sure she's worried about bills and all."
Marylou glanced at the check. It was made out for the same amount that she had sent him from the website. She asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Guy said. "I still have a regular paycheck."
"I'll give it to her," Marylou said.
After a little more small talk, Guy left the bar.
Max shook his head and said, "One of these days those two are going to meet up and fireworks are going fly."
"I don't know about that," Marylou said. "They're liable to screw around until there's no chance for either of them."
"You might be right," Max said, "I wonder how the kids are doing with the stew?"
Marylou laughed. "I hope there's a house left."
"Let's head home," Max said.
"Can we stop by Selena's on the way there?" Marylou asked while staring at the check. It was a lot of money. Maybe Max was right.
"Sure," Max said.
At the house, Robert and Barb stared at the pot in which the stew was simmering. There were chunks of beef surrounded by potatoes, carrots, celery, peas, corn, and onions in a thin broth.
"Does that look like a stew to you?" Robert asked doubtfully.
Barb said, "Not really. Stews are supposed to be a little thicker than that."
"The recipe says that we're supposed to add the thickener of flour before serving," Robert said.
"That's true," Barb said. She stared at the pot hoping the stew would turn out all right. "It's got all of the right ingredients, I think."
"We followed the recipe," Robert said.
"I know," Barb said.
"What will we do now?" Robert asked.
"I don't know. I've never had to do this before," Barb said. "The recipe says to simmer it for an hour."
"So I guess I can play Alien Butt Buster for an hour," Robert said.
"I guess so," Barb said with a frown. "Why do you think they did this?"
"What?" Robert asked.
"Left us here to cook dinner," Barb answered. "If we mess up, we could go hungry."
"We'll just go out to eat," Robert said.
"Okay. You're right. It's just that they've never done this before," Barb said.
Robert said, "Maybe they just want to see how we do on our own."
"Do you think so?" Barb asked.
"One of these days we're going to be leaving home. We're going to have to cook our own meals since Mom won't be there. Maybe they want us to see that we can do it if we have to," Robert said.
Barb sighed. "You're starting to sound like Dad."
At dinner that night, both kids were very proud when their parents praised the stew.