by aha
Saturday morning the phone jangled Margaret from her sleep.
"Hello" She croaked.
"Margaret, this is John Boardman. Is James there?" Mr. Boardman usually kidded Margaret when he called; it was his way of keeping up public relations with the employee's wives, but not this morning.
"I, uhh.... he’s on one of your charters Mr. Boardman. He left last night. I assumed you knew," she said sleepily.
"He's not on any of my charters Margaret, and I don't know where he is...if he isn't there. At any rate, I need to speak to him right away. Its imperative that I talk to him immediately. If he turns up this morning or anytime, have him call me at home." Margaret was wide-awake now.
"Yes, yes of course I will." She replied bewildered. But the phone was already disconnected on the other end. Mr. Boardman was a man of few words. She raised straight up in bed. What’s going on? This was not like James. She searched her mind trying to think if she had missed something in the note that would explain the situation. Could it be a joke? No, he would never scare her like that just for the sake of a joke. This was just so out of character for him. She pulled on her robe and rushed downstairs. She found the note and reread it carefully. There was no mistake. She sat down in his easy chair; she could smell his after-shave that she had given him for Christmas. Jasper came over quietly and put his head in her lap and looked up at her with a canine grin and grateful eyes.
Margaret was on the verge of panic all day Saturday. Mr. Boardman called again that afternoon asking for James. "You had better try and locate him Margaret," the old man said. "He may be in trouble."
"What kind of trouble? And with who?" she asked, heart pounding.
"Well he might be able to clear this up, but as of right now there are fifteen thousand dollars in company checks missing and James was the last to see the funds. Now I am not saying that he stole the money or anything like that, but he was supposed to deposit it on Thursday at the Chemical Bank. Had I not called the bank by chance on Friday morning for a quick balance to refund money on a charter, I wouldn't have known it was missing. Besides, he didn't report for work on Friday either. Its all just strange and I need some kind of explanation and soon."
"I'm sure you will have one Mr. Boardman. I know James will clear all this up."
Where was he? Why doesn't he call? He may have been robbed or killed. If he had that much money with him, it’s possible. She thought about calling the police. No, no a person has to be missing for 48 hours or something before they will look for them.
"Well, let me know as soon as you hear from him and I will do the same."
"I will Mr. Boardman," she replied and hung up the phone.
She decided to sit by the phone and wait. If this turned out to have a logical explanation, she didn't want James to think that she had played the part of the hysterical female. Lately she had been having second thoughts about her role in this marriage. Maybe she had been too hasty about not wanting kids and maybe she should have gone to work and helped bring in more money. But most of all she regretted hounding him into taking this desk job. He had been clearly unhappy the last few years keeping the same hours and reporting for work at the same time everyday. His talent and training was in flying airplanes and although he did fly for his own enjoyment on the weekends from time to time, that kind of flying was not productive and James was a motivated person that needed to feel productive at something he really enjoyed. She could see that now. Their marriage had suffered because of it and sometimes she felt as if they were adrift with no anchor in place. That's why she had gone to the hospital the last time that James was on a three-day charter and had her tubal reversed. Her doctor had done it on an outpatient basis and she had been home the next day and on her feet somewhat by the time he had gotten home. She had not told him about it yet but she had plans to do so when the moment was right. Although they had both agreed on no kids from the beginning, she knew that being childless had created a hole in their lives. Many times in the last few years, James had admitted wanting a son or daughter, maybe it was not too late in her life to give him one. Her doctor had cautioned her that forty was borderline for having kids, but remarked that physically, she was in great shape. So she had gone through with the procedure and up to now had tried to keep their sex life active and on a regular basis in hopes that she would get pregnant but so far she had been unsuccessful. She stared at the phone as if willing it to ring. Whatever the circumstances were now, James had most certainly lied to her for the first time in 15 years.