Prologue

Third Person

You see Scarlet. She's your about age. Late 20's, laughing with nicely dressed professors and grad students. You, Montehue, are drinking with your pals. You approach her.

You are drunk, "You… You're pretty."

"YOU'RE pretty." She says coolly. You are not. You are a future hangover.

"What?" You reply, confused.

"Someone should buy you a cheeseburger." She says and flags down a waiter and one week later, you're Scarlet's boyfriend.

You date for over a year. She drives you absolutely nuts. It's great. You move in. You share an apartment near the school with a view. You two drink beers out on the deck. You drink beer just about anywhere. Life is good.

Scarlet wants to get a dog. There's a scruffy, undersized Beagle. Scarlet is in love. She wants to take it to class with her. There's also an intimidating, but gentle-eyed German Shepard. Nothing bad could happen to Scarlet while with this dog. It's bad ass. You adopt the German Shepard and name him Fenris.

Fenris is an excellent dog. He loves wrestling with you in the park and goes with Scarlet on her runs. Even though he's too big to bring to school, Scarlet loves him all the same. Fenris is a friend, child, and pet all rolled into one.

You talk out on the deck. It's summer. 9:30pm and the heat from earlier still radiates off of the building.

"What do you think about kids?" She asks.

"Kids…? They're not very smart. Or good at much."

"I'm saying if you and I have some. A couple of little idiots."

"That would be pretty good."

"In that case, we should probably get married."

"Yeah, I would like that." You say.

"These kids are going to be screwed up enough. It's probably for the best if their parents are hitched."

You say she's absolutely right.

It's a Thursday night and Scarlet is four hours late. She doesn't call. You're worried and getting angrier by the minute. She walks in after you've gone to bed. She's not quiet drunk, but she's clearly been having a good time. You fight when she gets in between the sheets. You ignore her.

You don't touch each other all night. The next day, you feel guilty for being so angry and ask her about her evening. She says it was great. You hold onto a tiny pill of resentment. You make some coffee and go to work.

Scarlet still likes to draw. She draws artifacts for her research. She draws all the places you go. She draws you. You frolic like a Victoria's Secret model. Scarlet was right; you are very pretty.

During the summers, you and Scarlet enjoy walking Fenris at night. There's a festival in town. It brings in folks from faraway places. One of them tries to mug you with a knife. Fenris runs away.

"Fenru-fa-fi-FUCK-d..d-dog!" Scarlet yells. She gets flustered and has trouble speaking when she's stressed.

You confront the attacker. You scare him away. You reach into your pocket like you've got a gun and threaten to kill him. You manage to scare all three of you. He runs away. Scarlet asks to take a different path from that day forward. You say okay. You don't want to go that way either. From then on, you walk by the river.

Plans to have kids get waylaid by work. Scarlet gets offered a job at the Huntik Foundation. The Huntik Foundation is in New York. It's a great job, associate department chair. She wants to move. You absolutely do not. You ask if she'll commute back and forth. You don't want to move to New York. She says it'll be hard, but she'll do it if you won't move. You tell her not to pass it up if that's what she wants. She agrees. She flies back home three times each six months.

Scarlet is sent home from the Foundation on paid leave after having "an episode". She lost it on a colleague for borrowing books that were important to her research. She didn't remember she had happily loaned them to him just two days prior. She was found crying in the stairwell. You say you guys should talk to someone about it.

After seeing multiple doctors and having many tests, they are worried that Scarlet might be suffering from early onset dementia. She is 38. You both decide to keep it a secret for now.

Fenris is getting older. He's got sliver hair down his back and slows down at night. You and Scarlett walk him to the bar to see your friends and it feels like nothing has changed. Scarlett goes back to the Foundation.

Scarlet's affliction gets worse. She can't remember things in meetings. Her research is in shambles. She drives her car to the next town over, for no particular reason, and has to be brought home by the police. She is devastated. She is sent home on permanent medical leave.

Some days, you get the Scarlet who calls you a dope and your unborn children little idiots. Other days, you get a stranger.

She pulls you into bed to make love. After five minutes, she goes into a panic, believing her dad is at the door. You tell her family. They are crushed and begin to make trips to and from Ireland to visit her. For a while, your friends come by with little things to brighten the day. She gets worse.

You spend your days following Scarlet around the house. You count the seconds between the two weekly visits from Daniel, the nurse. He suggests that Scarlet could live somewhere else. Somewhere with 24-hour care. A home. It sits with you for a couple months. You are determined to take of her yourself.

It is impossibly hard. The worst is when you get mad at her, like when she tries to cook her own food. You can't do anything without her and she can't do anything without you. When she goes to sleep, you stay up for a few hours. Drinking on the deck. Watching baseball in the winter and college basketball in the summer. Drinking then too.

You start going out after you put her to bed. The first time you do it, you worry about her getting up and walking around while you're gone. You put a chair in front of the bedroom door. You go to the same bar at the boring end of town. It's nice there. Over time, you tell Zhalia, the bartender, everything. It's a huge weight off. You're home and in bed by 1 am a couple nights a week. You look forward to those nights.

One night, you're stopped at a DUI checkpoint. You blow a .10 and are taken to jail for the night. You consider trying to hide it, but you tell your sister-in-law, Cathy. Scarlet's parents take the next plane from Ireland. They can't believe the state your house is in. Then they tell you Scarlet is coming to live with them. You don't argue. You say you'll visit soon. A few weeks go by. Summer is coming and you see an ad in the paper for a job.

You take it.

Third Person End