Julia
Chapter 1"Go ahead. Tell me you were at another business meeting. Lie to me like you always do, Harvey."
"That's where I was, Julia. The people that run these things have no conception of time." He said it sincerely, just as if he was telling the truth. And she might have believed him if it weren't for the scent of that perfume – the same perfume she'd smelled every time he'd come home late. "You used to believe me when I explained about these all-night business conferences."
"I was naïve. And you didn't come home smelling like another woman."
They'd been arguing since he'd put the key in the lock at five in the morning. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but she was determined it would be the last. They'd been married four years, and for the first two it was wonderful. He came home every night around six and seemed happy to see her. She'd fix him a drink and have supper waiting for him. Then he got a new job, and things began to change. Oh, not right away. The first month was almost the same as his old job. Home by six, a drink and dinner, then the whole evening to spend together.
One night it was a little past seven o'clock when he got home. Something had come up at the last minute, he said, and he had to stay and take care it. A week passed, then two, before the same thing happened. An unhappy client that needed soothing. It was close to seven-thirty and dinner was ruined. He didn't seem to mind, just fixed a peanut butter sandwich and watched television.
Another month went by; things almost seemed back to normal. This time he called her. A client had come into town and he was expected to entertain them. It was eleven-thirty when he got home, and he smelled like cheap perfume and beer. The client's wife, he said. He danced with her and that was the scent she was wearing. After that the late nights got more frequent and the excuses got less and less, until they ceased altogether. She started having a drink at night herself and stopped cooking supper completely.
He changed jobs again, and the same pattern started after he'd been there a month. Almost a year went by like that; there was always something that kept him out later and later. She barely saw him anymore. She missed him; she was lonely. So she made friends with the neighbor, a nice young bride named Gloria. Soon she was introduced to several of Gloria's friends, and , in an effort to get to know each other better, they started having lunch together. Sometimes it was at Gloria's, sometimes at Julia's, sometimes they splurged and went out.
Once the women had been friends for several months they began talking candidly about their lives, their loves and their problems. All except Julia. Somehow she found herself unable to unburden herself to the others. One afternoon when the only ones left sitting in the kitchen were Gloria and Julia, the hostess brought up Julia's reticence to say anything about her marriage, good or bad. Much to her surprise, Julia burst into tears.
"Here now, I'm sorry I brought it up. I certainly didn't mean to upset you, honey. Have a tissue," and Gloria handed the Kleenex box to Julia, who took several, wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
"Do you think anyone else has noticed?" Julia asked plaintively.
"Probably, but they haven't said anything to me. What is it, Julia? What has you so upset?"
"It's, oh, it's, I'm so unhappy," burst out of Julia like a sore that had been festering for years. And with that everything came rushing out of the young housewife. All the ruined dinners, the late nights, the lies Harvey told her and the suspicions she had. When it was all out in the open Julia fell silent, waiting for her neighbor to tell her it was all her fault. Instead Gloria took her hands and asked her what she wanted to do about the hell she was living in. "I want to get out of it," was what Gloria heard.
"Then that's what you have to do," came the surprising answer.
"How?" asked the bewildered wife.
"Leave him. Get a divorce."
Julia didn't know what to think. Divorce was wrong, her mother told her. It was a wife's duty to take care of her husband, no matter what. She skipped lunches with her friends, trying to balance what Gloria told her with what mother said. The more she considered the conundrum, the more she thought Gloria was right. Still she held her tongue, hoping and praying things would change. And they did. They got worse.
Harvey and Julia began arguing. Harvey would give her some kind of excuse, and she would dispute it. That's if she was awake when he finally got home. Until the time he came home at five o'clock in the morning, smelling of her perfume. There had to be another woman; the smell of the perfume was always the same. And Julia knew she couldn't, wouldn't take it anymore.
The next morning, after Harvey left for work, Julia got out her suitcases. It was the set her mother had given her for her honeymoon. She opened each suitcase and began removing clothes from the closet, folding them carefully. She left her wedding dress hanging inside. Once she was packed she sat down to write her husband a note. It would be brief; she no longer felt any affection for the man she had once loved. 'Dear Harvey – I don't think I need to explain why I've left you. Please don't look for me. I'm not coming back. Julia.' She taped the note to the television, where he was sure to see it, and went back to the bedroom.
Her suitcases were carried to the living room and set by the door, then she took her train case to the bathroom and loaded all her makeup inside. When she was certain she hadn't missed anything, she walked back to the front room and called Gloria. "I'm all set," she told her best friend. In just a few minutes Gloria had pulled her car into Julia's driveway. She went to help Julia with her luggage and, once the car was loaded, got behind the steering wheel and waited.
Julia set her keys in the bowl on the kitchen counter where Harvey kept his and went to the front door. She looked around the little house that had been her home and whispered, "Goodbye," then turned the lock on the front door and walked outside. She took a deep breath of fresh air and felt better than she had for a long, long time.
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Gloria drove her to a little motel in Huntington Beach, down in Orange County. It was cheap and clean and would do until Julia could find a job and an apartment. She didn't have much money but she had enough to get by for a while, and she was careful with what she did have. She checked in and got her key and Gloria helped carry in her bags. Then she handed Julia a small package. "What's this?" Julia asked her.
"Something you're going to need," Gloria laughed.
"Can I open it now?"
"I wish you would."
Julia tore the wrapping paper off and looked at the box inside. It was a small electric coffee pot. Julia giggled. "I never thought about that, but it's perfect. Thank you."
The two friends hugged. "Now you call me if you need anything, you hear?" Gloria asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Julia answered. They hugged again and Gloria went out the door, leaving Julia alone, absolutely, completely alone. A feeling she was used to. She wanted to keep busy, so she unpacked her bags and hung her clothes in the closet. When that was finished she put her makeup away in the tiny bathroom. Lastly, she opened the coffee pot and went to plug it in before she remembered that she didn't have any coffee. One of the reasons that she'd picked this little hotel was the grocery store one parking lot over. That's where she went now, buying coffee and enough food to last two or three days. She took the two bags of groceries and walked back to the hotel. Then she made herself a pot of coffee.
The room didn't have a television set but it had a radio, and she turned that on. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took out one of the books she'd brought with her. Back to the couch to do some serious reading. Julia drank her coffee and read two or three chapters, then was surprised to find herself yawning. 'Well, why not?' she mused. 'I certainly haven't done a lot of sleeping in the past few weeks.' She attempted to go on with the reading, but the next thing she remembered was waking up with a stiff neck. She yawned again but she was awake now, and she noticed it was beginning to get dark outside. She got up and closed the blinds, then went out to the kitchen to make herself some dinner.
When she was finished eating she washed and dried the dishes, then put them away. She read for an hour or two and decided she should go to bed. She wanted to be up at a decent hour in the morning so she could get a paper and begin her search for a job. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, then changed into her nightgown and set the little alarm clock for six o'clock. She wondered if her nap would keep her awake, but she didn't have to worry about that. In just a few minutes she was fast asleep, and she slept soundly all night.
Julia woke at a little before six and turned off the alarm. Once out of bed she changed into the clothes she'd worn yesterday, grabbed her purse and walked back to the grocery store, where she bought a paper and some sweet rolls. Soon she was sitting in the small kitchenette with her coffee and a sweet roll, scouring the help wanted ads. She found four that sounded promising, circled them, and got ready to take a shower. Finished with that she washed her face, brushed her teeth, put on her make-up and got dressed. Just as she was about to leave the motel, her phone rang.
"Got a message for you, young lady," the man at the front desk told her. "Call Gloria Simmons at Chester 4-6782. Urgent. You got that?"
"I do. Thank you." Julia hung up and dialed Chester 4-6782. It rang three times before Gloria answered. "Gloria, I just got your message. Is something wrong?"
"Oh, honey," Gloria sobbed. "Just about everything. I don't know when Harvey got home last night, but he was pounding on our front door at six-thirty this morning. Jim let him in to try and quiet him down, but Harvey was having none of it. He demanded Jim tell him where you were, and when Jim couldn't give him a satisfactory answer, he, he . . . oh, Julia, he beat Jim. He beat Jim until I hit him with our wedding photo. And then he turned around and slapped me. Jim was still lying on the floor, looking just awful, and Harvey ran out the door. I'm, I'm afraid. What if he comes back, Julia? What should I do?" Gloria continued crying into the phone while Julia attempted to calm her down. Slowly she quit weeping until she was left with only an occasional hiccup.
"Gloria, hang up and call the police. You have to do that. Harvey can't be allowed to get away with hurting innocent people!"
"I wanted to, Julia, but Jim wouldn't let me. He said Harvey was just out of his mind with worry, and if I knew where you were I should tell him."
"Oh, please don't, Gloria. Don't tell anybody! I'm sure Harvey won't come back to bother you. If he shows up at your door again, call the police. Please, please don't tell him." Julia had a good idea of what would happen if Harvey found her.
"I promise. Jim doesn't know that I know where you are, and I won't tell him. Just be careful where you go and what you do." Gloria sounded almost like herself now.
"I don't think Harvey will think of looking in Orange County, And I'm going to use my maiden name. I've got to go now, Gloria. I'll try to call you later."
"I'm glad you're out of there, Julia. You be careful and take care of yourself."
"I will. You do the same."
"Okay. Bye."
"Goodbye." Julia hung up the phone and sank into one of the chairs in the living room. She was shaking. Today had started out with such hope, such promise, and now all she felt was something she'd never felt before. Fear. Fear of her husband, fear for her friend. Fear that somehow, someway he would find her and hurt her, or worse. For the first time, Julia was in fear for her life.