Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 33
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

The long awaited event was about to begin and Henry was as 
nervous as a cat at a dog show. He kept fidgeting with the sleeves 
of his coat, pulling on them as though he were plucking feathers. 
His stomach threatened to empty what little food he had been able 
to down at breakfast. He grumbled, "It's all your fault."

Chuckling at the comment, Jerry glanced into the church to see if 
they were ready for them. People were seated, but the preacher 
wasn't up at the front of the room yet. Bill and Melissa were sitting 
next to Abe. The boys looked bored, but Sharon's sister and her 
husband were sitting between Abe and Martin to make sure that 
Abe didn't get into trouble. That was keeping Bill out of trouble, as 
well.

Looking lovely as always, Jenny was seated next to Melissa. His 
daughter looked tense as she looked around the room. At least the 
dye had worn off and she wasn't green. Well, she was still a little 
green at the eyebrows, but that was hardly noticeable after the 
makeup. The peroxide job and then dying her hair brown had 
gotten rid of the green in her hair. Jerry thought she looked better 
as a brunette rather than a blond.

Turning back to look at Henry, he saw that it was his big friend 
who looked a little green. Sweat broke out on the big man's head as 
his hands flew to his stomach. Henry groaned, "What did I do?"

Jerry shook his head guessing what was going to happen next and 
grabbed his friend's arm. After reaching the bathroom, Henry took 
one look at the toilet and bent over to make an offering to the 
porcelain god. Cringing at the sounds of the big guy retching into 
the toilet, Jerry rubbed him on the back and said, "You'll be okay."

Neither man heard the noise in the room behind them. The 
preacher had come in to get them and then stepped out again to 
give them a few minutes to recover. There was a reason he put 
grooms in his office. More than one had visited the attached 
bathroom before making their appearance at the front of the 
church.

Stomach empty, Henry stood up and said, "Shit. What am I doing 
here?"

"You're getting married to the second greatest woman in the 
world," answered Jerry with a grin. 

"Second greatest?" asked Henry still feeling a little sick to his 
stomach and a little confused by the answer.

"Of course, my Jenny is the greatest," answered Jerry with a laugh. 
He went over to the medicine cabinet and opened the mirrored 
door. Just as he had expected, a bottle of mouthwash was perched 
on a glass shelf. No doubt the preacher kept it there so that he 
would have fresh breath when dealing with some of the more 
attractive parishioners. 

Henry noticed what Jerry was doing and joined him by the sink. 
He rinsed his mouth out with water from the faucet before taking 
the bottle of mouthwash from Jerry. Opening the cap, he took a 
swig of the liquid and swished it around his mouth. The strong 
astringent mouthwash was as good as a jolt of smelling salts in 
clearing his mind. He spat the mouthful of mouthwash into the 
sink. 

"She's the best woman in the world, no offense to Jenny," rebuked 
Henry.

Chuckling in his deep voice, Jerry replied, "I might be your best 
man, but I guess we'll just have to disagree on this particular 
topic."

Henry's chuckle joined Jerry's. The deep rolling sound carried into 
the church and the preacher entered the office. In a calm voice, he 
announced, "We're ready to begin now."

"Alright," replied Jerry as he steered Henry towards the door.

"Oh, God," replied Henry as he looked through the door at the 
crowd in the church.

Laughing, the preacher said, "Talking to God is my job."

Steering the big man with his one good arm, Jerry positioned his 
friend in the proper spot at the front of the room. It wasn't until 
Henry was in place that he figured out that the preacher had been 
joking. By then, it was too late to laugh aloud, but his lips curled 
into a smile.

The two huge men standing at the front of the room were hard to 
ignore. A number of the attendees had not been aware that the best 
man was white and a small murmur of exchanged comments 
floated through the room. As Jerry took care of Henry, particularly 
when the big man started to sway, most of the people decided it 
was good that the best man was just as big as Henry. He'd squash a 
little guy if he tipped over and it sure looked like Henry was about 
to go down to most of the people in the audience. More than one 
bet was made about when he would faint.

Music filled the room and everyone turned to watch the bride walk 
up the aisle. With a radiant smile, Sharon walked up the aisle 
looking gorgeous as all brides do. She hung onto the arm of her 
stepfather who marched with a proud step. Behind her was the 
maid of honor, a black woman who Jerry did not know. The 
progression up to the front of the church seemed to take a long 
time, but it was less than a minute. 

Jerry spent most of the ceremony keeping Henry upright and 
exchanging the vows. He did notice the amused grin on Sharon's 
face as Henry swayed and Jerry kept him from going over 
completely. When the time came for the ring, he produced it 
without a problem. Henry didn't seem to snap out of it until it came 
time for him to kiss the bride. At least he managed that part of the 
ceremony without any help from Jerry. That would also be the only 
part of the ceremony that Henry was able to remember.

Following the Bride and Groom down the aisle, the Maid of Honor 
walked beside Jerry. She was about a foot smaller than Jerry and, 
in comparison, she looked very petite. About halfway down the 
aisle, she said in a stage whisper, "Damn, you're big."

It struck Jerry as funny and he started to chuckle. His whispered 
response carried through the whole room, "Thanks little lady, 
you're a might bit on the small side."

A number of people in the room laughed at the comment. Jenny 
grinned and shook her head thinking that he had no idea what he 
had said. She knew a little history about the Maid of Honor and her 
long fight with her weight. Being called little and small had to be a 
great compliment. Jerry just lumbered on down the aisle totally 
unaware of the effects of his words. There were times when Jenny 
just loved him to death.

Jerry and Jenny found themselves sharing a table with Sharon's 
sister and brother-in-law, Cathy and George. The couple had a hard 
time looking at Cathy without blushing. It was difficult to look at 
her without thinking of the photographs found within the house 
and had served as a subject of a great night of sex. 

"So you are living next to Sharon," said Cathy attempting to start a 
conversation.

Jerry replied, "Yes. I moved into your old house after you were 
forced out."

A look of real anger crossed Cathy's face as she said, "Praise the 
Lord that that godless heathen landlord is dead. He was the devil."

George snarled, "He stole something that was very important to us. 
You did the world a great service when you killed him."

"I don't remember doing that," replied Jerry uneasy about his role 
in the death of another human being. He still didn't remember 
anything of that day past the time when he had been shot.

"Well, I hope his soul rots in hell," said Cathy.

Jenny looked over at Cathy understanding what was bothering the 
woman. She turned to look over at Sharon wondering how to 
rectify the situation. She wanted to kill Jerry when he asked, "You 
really sound angry at him. What did he take?"

George answered, "Some pictures."

"Oh," replied Jerry. He didn't know what to say now that he 
understood what the valuable possession was. The pictures were 
sitting safe in Jenny's house along with the pictures of Jenny in 
exactly the same poses. 

Changing the subject, Cathy said, "I'm glad to see that my sister 
has reformed and is getting married. It always bothered me that she 
had two kids out of wedlock."

"That bothered you?" asked Jerry. He knew that Sharon had called 
her sister a holier-than-thou bitch, but he had discounted it as a 
symptom of sibling rivalry. No wonder Sharon had taken delight in 
the fact that some naked pictures of her sister had shown up.

"Lord Almighty above, it bothered me. A good girl wouldn't have 
gotten knocked up like that."

"I like the boys. She did a good job raising them," argued Jerry 
defending his friend. Jenny looked over at Cathy a little surprised 
at her attitude. 

"It wasn't their fault that their mother sinned," said Cathy. She 
realized that she sounded overly judgmental. She said, "Well, that 
was in the past. I'm happy to see her with Henry."

Allowing the tension around the table to ease, Jenny said, "They 
really make a cute couple. You should have seen them the day 
when he proposed to her."

"You could hear her scream of surprise all over the park. For a 
moment there, I thought she had stepped on a snake," commented 
Jerry. 

"So you guys go places with Sharon and Henry?" asked Cathy 
surprised that the white couple would go out in public with her 
sister. There was still a lot of prejudice in this world. 

"Not so much. I work Saturdays. Sharon often works Sundays at 
the hotel. When we all have a day off, we might go out for a 
picnic, movie, or something."

Jenny said, "Jerry and Henry are together a lot. Friday nights they 
work together on their business. Sundays they usually do 
something, even if it is just sitting around the front yard talking 
while the boys work on their cars or motorcycles. If Sharon has a 
Saturday off of work, she and I go shopping while Jerry is at 
work."

"I'm going to miss having Sharon and Abe living next door," said 
Jerry. It made him feel a little better knowing that Sharon was next 
door and could watch over his kids while he was at work. Abe was 
a good kid and it was nice that he was next door for Bill. 

Wondering how a white man happened to move into a black 
neighborhood, George asked, "So how did you end up living 
there?"

"I left my wife and needed a cheap place to stay. I read about the 
house in a newspaper ad and stopped by to check it out. I ran into 
Abe and he talked me into moving in. One of the better decisions 
I've made in my life," answered Jerry. There had been a number of 
times when he wondered how things would have turned out if he 
hadn't moved into that house. 

"You really like living in that house?" asked Cathy in disbelief. 
Her memories of living in that house were horrible. She hated that 
neighborhood and the poverty of the people living there. Just 
thinking about that neighborhood was a reminder of the hard times 
they had gone through a year earlier. 

"Yeah, I do."

"I hated living there because of that bastard landlord," commented 
George with a frown. The man could have given them a couple 
more days to come up with the rent. Instead, he had locked them 
out of the house and sold everything they owned. It was tough 
enough having been laid off of his job, but to lose everything else 
was just too much. He spat, "I'm glad that you killed him."

Quiet settled over the table until Jenny said, "I need to powder my 
nose. Would you like to join me, Cathy?"

Surprised to be invited to the powder room by a woman that she 
had just met, Cathy shrugged and answered, "Okay."

Jerry watched as Jenny and Cathy went on their way to the 
bathroom. Confused, he said, "I never understood that."

"What?"

"Why they all go off to the bathroom together," answered Jerry. 

Chuckling, George replied, "One of the great mysteries. If we were 
to do that, everyone would figure we were comparing the sizes of 
our cocks."

"That's probably what they are doing," replied Jerry with a 
chuckle.

"What?"

"Comparing the sizes of our cocks," said Jerry as he broke out into 
laughter.

George started laughing and slapped his thigh. Shaking his head, 
he said, "Henry said that I would like you. He was right."

The two men talked about cars, women, and life in general while 
the women were in the bathroom. After about fifteen minutes, 
Jerry commented, "They sure are taking a long time."

"Ah, here's Sharon," said George as the bride walked over to the 
table. 

Sharon stopped at the table and said, "Did your ladies run off 
already?"

"Yeah," answered Jerry, "maybe you can explain to me why it is 
that when one woman goes to the bathroom, all of the women at 
the table leave with her."

Sharon didn't have a chance to answer before Henry showed up at 
the table. He set a massive hand on Jerry's shoulder and said, "It's 
all your fault."

Wondering what the problem was, Jerry asked, "What's my fault?"

"First, I get engaged because of you. Then, you hold me up 
through the whole ceremony so that I end up married. Now that I'm 
married, my bride is ignoring me by coming over here to talk with 
you," said Henry with a smile.

"You're right. It was all a plot on my part," answered Jerry with a 
wink at Sharon. Looking up at his big friend, he said, "I wanted the 
two of you to get married so that she'd get interested in me. You 
know that old saying - the grass is always greener on the other side 
of the fence. Now, I'm on the other side of the fence."

Sharon laughed and retorted, "If that was the case, then I would 
have gone after Melissa. She's the greenest one that I've seen 
around here in ages."

Everyone except George burst out laughing at the comment. 
Fortunately, Melissa was far enough away that she didn't hear the 
joke made at her expense. George asked, "What's this about some 
woman being green?"

Jerry explained how the kids had decided to punish his daughter 
for insulting one of the girls in the neighborhood. George laughed 
through the whole telling of the story. Jerry thought the man was 
going to hurt himself from laughing so hard. When Jerry was done, 
George said, "Gives a whole new meaning to the term Colored 
Person."

"Yes it does," commented Jerry. 

Sharon and Henry moved onto another table to talk to the Maid of 
Honor. George watched them walk off wondering if this was a sore 
subject with them. He asked, "So is she still calling people that?"

Jerry shrugged his shoulders and answered, "I don't know. No one 
has said anything to me about it, but I don't think she's changed her 
opinion about people any."

"I take it you don't hold the same opinions as she does."

"That scrawny guy over there that married Sharon is the first friend 
I've ever had. I don't care what color he is, I'm proud to be able to 
call him a friend. He's a good person; one of the best I've ever met. 
My ex-wife was a horrible heartless bitch. She was white and one 
of the worst people that I've ever met. I guess what I'm trying to 
say is that the color of a person's skin doesn't tell you much about 
their heart."

George considered the big guy sharing the table with him. He had 
heard about how the man had taken out people opening the drug 
house that was down the street from his old house. He also knew 
that Jerry had helped Martin and Abe get jobs. The boys talked 
about Jerry as if he was some sort of superman. 

It wasn't hard for George to understand why Jerry and Henry got 
along. He had known Henry ever since he was a kid and for years 
had thought the big guy was mentally slow. It wasn't that he 
thought the guy was stupid, but that he wasn’t mentally facile. 
Since his sister-in-law had become engaged to the big guy, his 
opinion had changed over the past few months. Henry appeared to 
be slow because he was deliberate. Jerry demonstrated that same 
kind of deliberation when talking. It seemed as though his 
responses were just a half a second slower than expected. 

He nodded and said, "You two are a lot alike."

Jerry looked at Henry for a moment and then said, "Yeah, but he 
has a better tan."

George laughed and decided he liked this white man. The food was 
brought out and people went over to the tables to load their plates. 
The two men debated loading up a couple of plates or waiting for 
the women to return. George, married for a number of years, 
argued that the women wouldn't mind. Jerry wasn't sure and argued 
to wait for them. George loaded a plate while Jerry waited for 
Jenny. When the women returned, Cathy was upset that George 
hadn't waited for her to return before eating and Jenny wondered 
why Jerry hadn't gone ahead and eaten. Jerry decided it was one of 
those no-win situations.

As they ate, Jerry asked, "George, what do you do for a living?"

"I work construction, mostly putting up sheet rock," answered 
George with a frown. He added, "With the downturn in housing 
construction, there's not much work for me."

Jerry hadn't been aware that there had been a downturn in housing 
construction. Joking, he said, "I've got a house that needs 
reconstructing."

"And how," echoed Jenny recalling the total destruction of the 
interior of his house.

"What happened to it?" 

Eyeing his food, Jerry answered, "My ex-wife went through the 
house with a sledgehammer and took out everything. All of the 
drywall is shot, the appliances have been wrecked, and most of the 
windows have been broken."

Gesturing at his cast, he said, "I can't even work on it because of 
this stupid cast and I can't pay people to work on it until I get some 
more money."

George suggested, "Why don't you get a second mortgage on the 
house?"

Jenny paused as she about to take a bite of her pasta salad. She 
asked, "Why would he do that?"

"I'm sure that the house has appreciated in value since Jerry bought 
it. He can refinance the house and use part of the loan to pay for 
the repairs. The house payments will be a little more than they 
were, but the amount he borrows will be spread out over thirty 
years so they won't be that much more," answered George.

Cathy had stared at her husband open mouthed the whole time he 
had answered Jenny's question. Incredulous, she asked, "How do 
you know that?"

"Lots of people do that to pay for improvements on their houses. If 
it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have worked as much as I have this 
year," answered George. Interest rates weren't great, but a few 
people spent the money to fix up their properties hoping to take 
advantage of contractors that were desperate for work. 

"I'll have to think about it," replied Jerry after swallowing a bite of 
ham. He'd been doing a lot of financial transactions this year. 

"Well, don't think about it too long. If the house is in as bad of a 
shape as you said, the longer you let it sit there the more it will cost 
to fix," cautioned George.

"Why?"

"Ever notice how quick a house falls apart when no one is living in 
it?"

"I've heard that," answered Jerry. He wasn't sure if that was myth 
or a fact. 

George looked around the table and said, "It's true, but I don't 
really know why. I suspect that houses get lonely when they are 
left empty."

Cars that weren't driven frequently were more susceptible to 
breaking down. That was because the oil broke down, rubber parts 
dried out, and the gasoline lost the volatile components. He 
wondered if there weren't similar reasons why houses fell apart 
faster. He took another bite of his food as he pondered what 
George said. He said, "I'll have to think about it. I just bought the 
house I'm living in and money is awful tight."

"You could refinance your house and take enough of the 
appreciation to fix it and the other house," suggested Jenny. She 
realized that when they got married, they would have three houses. 
Renting two of them would bring in a nice little extra income. 

"I could do that?" asked Jerry. 

"Sure," answered Jenny. She looked over at her boyfriend 
wondering what he would decide to do. No matter what he 
decided, two houses and taking care of Melissa were gong to keep 
him busy.

Everyone returned to eating his or her meals. Jerry ate quietly 
thinking about the options that had been presented to him. He 
wondered if someone would be able to live in the house while it 
was being repaired. After a moment of thought, he discounted that 
possibility. Then he started wondering about what changes he 
would make to the house and how much it would cost. Since all of 
the bathrooms and the kitchen were trashed, they would have to be 
totally redone.  

After finishing his plate, Jerry looked over at George and said, 
"Maybe you could come over some time and we can take a look at 
the house. I need you to give me some idea of what I've gotten 
myself into with the house."

"I'd love to do that. I don't have a contractor's license, but I could 
probably give you some round figures as to how much it would all 
cost," replied George. It dawned on him that he could probably 
turn this into another job for a month or so. He looked over at 
Cathy thinking that she would like that. He asked, "When would be 
a good time to come over?"

"I'm off on Sundays and Mondays. I guess next Sunday would 
probably be best since you won't have to take any time off of 
work," answered Jerry.

Without waiting for a word from her husband, Cathy said, "He can 
come over tomorrow."

"How about ten?"

"That's good for me," replied George knowing that his wife 
wouldn't accept any excuse for him not to go. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent celebrating the wedding. The 
happy couple cut the wedding cake, the bride threw the bouquet, 
and the guests threw rice at the couple as they departed for their 
honeymoon. Jenny hadn't fought too hard to catch the bouquet, so 
she wasn't disappointed when another woman caught it. She had 
winked at Jerry and mouthed, "You're time is coming."

Henry had noticed and shouted, "Jerry, you got a reprieve. If she 
had caught it, we'd be back here next week for your wedding."

Everyone had laughed at that, Jerry hardest of all. Driving home, 
Jerry still chuckled when he thought about it. Melissa had stared at 
him as if he were crazy for chuckling to himself while driving. 
Finally, she asked, "What is that noise you're making?"

"I'm chuckling," answered Jerry with a smile. He looked in the 
mirror at Bill sitting in the backseat and saw his son grin.

"Oh, what's so funny?"

"Just thinking about when that woman caught the bouquet," 
answered Jerry. 

Melissa was silent for a minute and then said, "You never used to 
laugh. Now, you seem to laugh about a lot of things. I don't always 
understand what is so funny, but you seem to find just about 
everything funny. Why is that?"

Surprised by the question, Bill stared at his sister. He didn't think 
she had it in her to notice that his father was happy now. Sure, his 
father was still wearing the cast and that got him down at times, 
but for the most part he was happy. Bill answered, "Because he's 
happy. He wasn't happy before."

"Why?" asked Melissa. She couldn't believe that it was just 
because of the divorce.

Jerry pulled the car over to the side of the rode and parked it so 
that he could answer her question. Turning to face her, he said, 
"You two kids are a lot freer than I am. You haven't made any 
decisions that commit you to a future, yet. One day you will do 
something or decide something that commits you far more than 
you can possibly imagine. Starting a career, getting married, or 
even moving away from home puts demands on you for your time, 
money, and emotions. I know you don't believe me, but it's true."

Melissa said, "What's that got to do with why you're happier now?"

"I made some decisions years ago that didn’t work out like I 
thought they would. I was stuck in a dead-end job, married to a 
woman who thought I was scum, had two kids who didn't know 
anything about me, and living in a place I detested. As a result, I 
was angry all of the time and angry men aren't happy."

It was beginning to sound to Melissa like getting divorced from her 
mother was why he was happy. She didn't know if she liked that 
idea or not. Her mother wasn't her favorite person at the moment, 
but that didn't mean that everything was her mother's fault. She 
asked, "So you're happy because you divorced mom?"

Shaking his head, Jerry said, "Not really. I'm happy because I took 
charge of my life again. I made some decisions, tough decisions 
that gave me back some of my freedom. Only one of those 
decisions was to divorce your mother. Not all of the consequences 
of my decisions have been good."

Expecting to find a lever to use against her father, Melissa asked, 
"Like what?"

"Oh, I'd say Bill's trip to the hospital was a side effect of my 
leaving your mother that I would have liked to have avoided," 
answered Jerry. 

"What trip to the hospital?"

Rolling his eyes, Bill answered, "When mother hit me with a 
baseball bat and broke my arm and ribs. Of course, I don't blame 
dad for that. She was the one that hit me."

Jerry smiled at Bill and said, "I wasn't blaming myself for that. I 
was just saying that it was a consequence of my decision to leave 
your mother."

Melissa had forgotten about that incident although she had gone to 
live with her grandmother as a result of it. For her, it was just a 
nuisance. Her forehead wrinkled as she said, "I guess mom did get 
a little carried away that night."

Shaking his head, Bill countered, "A little carried away? I hate to 
break it to you, but our mother is crazy. She's about fifty-one cards 
short of a full deck. She needs serious care in a wacky factory."

As her anger rose, Melissa said, "Take that back."

Jerry interrupted, "Melissa, calm down. Bill, don't say another 
word about your mother."

Bill glared at his father, upset that his father was going to let 
Melissa continue to believe that their mother was the greatest 
woman in the world. Melissa turned to stare at her father. Once he 
had both of their attention, he asked, "Melissa, do you know the 
definition of criminally insane?"

"No."

"It's a mental defect that makes it impossible for a person to 
understand the wrongfulness of their acts or to distinguish right 
from wrong," said Jerry as he looked at his daughter. 

"So?"

"Do you think that it is right or wrong to beat someone to the point 
where they have to go to a hospital because you are mad at 
someone else?" 

Melissa answered, "It's wrong. Everyone knows that."

"Your mother beat Bill because she was mad at me. She put him in 
the hospital and he hadn't even done anything. Your mother doesn't 
believe that what she did was wrong. She justifies it by saying that 
she was having a bad day. She isn't even sorry about it."

Bill was staring out the window of the car with his lips tight. 
Remembering that night still angered him. Melissa wanted to give 
her mother the benefit of a doubt, but it was hard. Jerry continued, 
"Your mother is willing to hurt anyone that stands between her and 
what she wants, even if it isn't hers to have."

"No she isn't!" declared Melissa.

"Did she hurt you because she thought that you were going to keep 
her away from your grandmother's money?" asked Jerry.

Melissa's anger collapsed as she broke down and cried. The 
memory of how she felt when her mother discounted her so easily 
brought back the same feelings of hurt and worthlessness. What 
had she done so that her mother would dump her like that? 
Sobbing so hard that her shoulders shook, she said, "She always 
said that we would be together. She dumped me without a second 
thought. What did I do that was so wrong?"

"You didn't do anything to deserve that kind of treatment. Your 
mother is the one with the problem," answered Jerry feeling sorry 
for his daughter. She had spoken the same words that Bill had used 
to express his anguish at getting beaten by his mother. At least Bill 
had trusted him enough to believe him. Melissa didn't like or trust 
him.

Bill stared out the window cursing his mother. As much as he 
didn't like his sister, he understood exactly what she was feeling. 
Hating himself for doing it, he said, "Dad's right. You didn't do 
anything to deserve that kind of treatment."

"Are you taking his side?" asked Melissa narrowing her eyes.

"No. As much as it pains me to do it, I'm taking your side," 
answered Bill. Seeing the disbelief on her face, he added, "I've 
hated you all of my life. You've belittled me, you've hurt me, and 
you've made my life a living hell. You treat me, and you treat my 
friends, like we are soil on the bottom of your shoes. You walk on 
us and think nothing of it. Yes, I hate you. Despite all that, I don't 
think you deserved getting thrown away by your own mother."

The hate and anger in his voice shocked Melissa, particularly since 
she had thought of herself as a loving sister. She had no idea that 
he hated her so much. She had treated him exactly how her mother 
had told her that men needed to be treated. All her life, she had 
been told that men needed and wanted that kind of treatment from 
women. Men would deny it, although they accepted that it was 
critical to becoming successful in life. Men would pretend that 
they didn't want to be told what to do or be appraised of their real 
worth. To keep up the pretense, a woman didn't treat men that way 
until after they were married. It was all part of the game, wasn't it? 

The doubt stunned her into silence. An even larger question 
suddenly raised itself in her mind. Was it possible that her mother 
had misled her? It was clear that her father wasn't pretending to be 
happier now. He was even more successful now than he was when 
he was married. He was co-owner of Sharjen and produced some 
of the greatest wall hanging waterfalls in the region. Other men 
and women acknowledged him as a leader in the community. He 
was a lot of things that he wasn't when he had been married.