Helen's lover arrived at 4 am taking her by surprise. She was still at an age where her parents opinion still mattered to her. They never liked her lover mainly because they saw him as she saw him. He was a freeloader. So his arrival at 4 am did not sit well with Helen. Nevertheless, she did feel love him. Having him sit on top of her apartment floor's washing machine getting eaten alive by mosquitoes all morning was not in her heart. She lied to her parents & let him in her house. Helen denied that they were living together simply because he refused to pay rent. It was not the money.

It was the inconsideration & selfishness she could not seem to get over. At the time she did not have the spiritual insight to realize that it was not as superficial as the money. It would not be until she spent so many nights partying with her new found friends that she started to believe all of the people who had tons of advice to give her. One such drop of "wisdom" that Helen received was that she was young, beautiful, educated, & enchanting. Why should she settle for someone who told her that he would not have her be more than her cash cow? At least until his credit cards were paid off according to him. In the meantime, her credit cards, food, rent, etc were her problem. Of course the fact that he looked like a desert brown alien from a 50's comic book did not help. His face looked like a turtle with the big eyes & no chin, but his body was even worse. Those spindly arms & legs with the wrinkled stomach that ended in a pot belly. None of that mattered because Helen loved to be around him. He was so intelligent, funny, & he seemed to adore her even though he would not step up as a man. Again the inconsideration & selfishness were too much.

The result is that Helen waited three more months & acted after witnessing three months of inaction from him. Everyday she came home from work to hear about his day at the beach. There she was coming home from a job she hated every single day to hear about his lovely day under the southern sun. She finally decided to have the conversation about him moving out after she found out that he drugged her one night for his conveniece, and took her girlfriend out for Christmas while she was up north with her family.

She could have taken the being drugged thing if she knew it was coming from a place of love, but it was not coming from any place of even the dimest light . She could have taken his blatant misuse of her soul by being abusive & selfish. It was like a shotgun had been aimed at her soul & the only thing keeping her going was the hope of being truly loved. What she could not take was his complete & absolute disregard for her dignity. The joke was that her dignity had already been demolished the moment she accepted him stealing her key to her apartment, drugging her, & the various physical & verbal lies that were to follow. He would always make her feel like she was too flawed, fat (she was 5'4" & 135 lbs), but it was her who got him to move to a warmer climate. It was him who followed her down south to live with her & continue not paying rent. It was Helen who believed he would come to his senses & change his ways. The same way billions of women think that people only show you a mask of who they are on the first impression when actually the opposite is true.

He moved on. He would visit for the 3-4 night a week booty call. Helen mistook this as a continuation of thier relationship since they did speak daily. She suspected someone else, but never took the notion of anyone who was prettier, smarter, funnier than her entering his life. It turned out that he had started seeing someone he thought was more on his level. So it was ironic that when Helen finally decided to take him off the back burner, make his favorite meal , & a speech about how she finally realized that they belonged together that he showed up at her apartment with a wedding ring on.

The ring was not in a box, but actually on his left ring finger. As Helen watched him walk into the living room she noticed it immediately. She said in quite a bit of shock "What's that?" With the smell of lasagne, garlic bread , & ceasar salad in the air he looked right at her and said "I have been married for 4 months & my wife is 2 months pregnant." Helen took her Waterford wine glass & threw it at his head. As she watched the shattered crystal swirl in the air she knew there was a war between women to be waged now. Helen wondered who would win?

To be continued...