All That Glitters

Kate stood at the kitchen sink, arms deep in dirty dishwater. Mindlessly scrubbing a pan with burnt on spaghetti sauce, she stared out through the window Clothes hung haphazardly on a tilted clothesline post, rusty lawn mower parts were strewn around the yard, trash littered around the full trash can. She drew in a breath and slowly released it. Her shoulders ached so she shifted her body.

A bottle on the counter caught her attention. Golden liquid glistened in the bottle, sparkling like diamonds the more she stared at it. She withdrew a hand from the sink, stretching it towards the bottle. Her hand trembled and instantly she retracted her hand. 

“Kate, don’t do it.” she moaned under her breath. She could feel tears beneath her eyelids.   

Her self-pity was interrupted by a crash through the kitchen side door. Her husband leaned against the frame of the door then stumbled forward into the kitchen. He rocked back and forth in the middle of the room, staring at her with bloodshot eyes. She sighed. 

“What’s the matter, bitch?” he slurred. 

Shaking her head, she turned away from him. Grabbing a glass out of the water, she feverishly began to wash it.  She felt him advance towards her, and the smell of stagnant beer surrounded her. She couldn’t breathe. 

His hand fell heavy on her thin shoulder. Her muscles tightened and she moved away from him. 

“You avoiding me, Kate?!” He grabbed her chin between his stubby fingers and jerked her head to face him. His lips descended on her mouth, bruising her as he tried to push his tongue through her lips. She shook her head then gave a push against his chest. He stumbled backwards. 

“Jack, don’t!” Kate yelled. 

He rushed forward, arms outstretched, his hand grasping her shirt collar and with one downward pull, he ripped the front of her shirt, exposing her breasts. He brutally grabbed at them and squeezed. 

Wincing in pain, Kate swung the hand still holding the wet glass and whacked her husband on his cheek. Screaming, he backed away. Blood dripped from the cut on his face. 

“What’cha do that for?"

“Jack, you’re drunk. Go sleep it off.” 

Jack let out a roar. Kate shrunk back against the counter, her elbow hitting the bottle with golden liquid. Automatically, her fingers wrapped around it, holding it steady. 

Jack snickered as he advanced closer to her. “You call me a drunk, do ya ! What’s this?” He ripped the bottle out of her hand. Kate reached to pull it back from him. He laughed and stepped away. 

“No, you don’t. This baby belongs to me now.” 

She tried once more to grab it from him. Jack’s bloody hand swung out and slapped her across the face. Kate fell to the floor, moaning and dropped her face into her hands. 

Jack looked at her in disgust. “You’re a lousy lay anyway. I’m going to go make love with this golden beauty.” 

Jack turned away from the sight of his wife, her greasy hair hanging over her face as she stared at the floor.    

 Holding the bottle of golden liquid tightly in his fingers, he slammed open the screen door and stepped outside. The sun’s rays immediately hit his eyes and he raised his arm to shield them. He slipped on one of the rusty lawn mower parts and cursed. He needed to get out of the hot sun.  Jack headed for the woods near his property. 

The deeper Jack walked through the woods, the cooler the air felt. Jack shuffled through the dank leaves until he sighted a large but flat rock he could rest on. His head was woozy from the alcohol he had consumed earlier and with a thud, he threw himself down on the rock.  

“Need a hit of the dog that bit me,” he muttered aloud. “Stupid bitch, at least she’s good for something. Holding out on me, though, with this bottle.”   

He pulled on the cork. With a pop, it slid out of the narrow neck. Jack lifted the bottle and raised it to his mouth. The liquid hit him with a sensuous warmth. It felt like a woman’s tongue swirling in his mouth. The warmth spread to his whole body. Jack felt like he was in the middle of an orgasm, ready to explode. He lay back on the rock, allowing the sensation to sweep over him. In seconds, the feeling dissipated but the after effect stayed with him. 

Jack sat up, shaking his head to clear it. Out of the corner of his eye, he spied a glitter through the trees. “What is that?” he muttered to himself. He pushed himself off the rock and headed towards the glittery spot. Jack walked for a while until he came to a road. He scratched his head. The glittery spot had seemed a lot closer. How had he been able to see it from the rock?    

He shrugged his shoulders. He stepped out from the woods onto the dirt road and spied glitter just ahead of him. Taking the bottle of liquid out of his pants pocket, he took a swig, wiping his mouth with his hand.  The warmth did not hit him this time but he felt at peace, almost euphoric. He was going to find gold where that glitter was and then he could walk away from his pathetic wife, find himself some luscious young women and party hard.   

An hour later, Jack was still no closer to the glitter. Dust swirled around his feet as he trudged along. Night was closing in. He smacked his lips together; they were dry. He grabbed the bottle of golden liquid and chugged a huge amount. "Arrghh” he exclaimed. The liquid tasted bitter in his mouth. He spit it out on the ground. He glanced once more at the glittery spot which now appeared a little closer. “Gotta get my gold,” he muttered once more.

Jack walked through the night. Silently he trudged on. He ignored the howls of coyotes and the other slithery noises he heard in the woods that bordered the road. He no longer wondered why he could not get close to the glittery spot but he knew he would reach it. He had to reach it. 

Rain poured down on Jack and his world. His clothes, torn and ragged, were drenched. Water dripped off his hood and down his face. He stared at the glittery spot just ahead of him with puffy eyes. He stopped, pulling out the sodden cork of the bottle. It did not pop this time and the golden color was brown with a filmy white cloud lying on top. He took a swig and the last drops sat on his cracked lips. He shuddered. His fingers let go of the bottle. It dropped and rolled to the side of the muddy road.

“Gotta get there. Gotta find my gold.” 

Jack set off down the road, never taking his eyes off the glitter ahead of him.

***** 

A knock sounded on Kate’s front door.  Kate brushed aside her barking puppy, and with a smile on her face opened the door. 

Two policemen stood on her stoop.   

“Happy Friday, officers. What can I do for you?” she chirped. 

The younger officer stepped forward responding to her with a smile but then quicky let the smile die. “Are you the wife of Jack Sprague?” 

Kate slowly nodded.  Jack had left their house that day he hit her and had never returned.   

“Can we come in?” 

Kate nodded, leading them to the living room where she sat down on her couch, pushing aside the smiley face pillow she had bought at the store last week. 

“We found your husband. We are sorry but we will need you to come to the morgue to identify him.” 

Kate gasped. “What, where ?” 

The older policeman answered. “He was found a mile from here, lying on a rock. We’ll know more but you need to come identify him and collect his belongings.” 

Kate stepped with trepidation into the morgue.  She couldn’t breathe, her throat was dry. The young policeman drew the blanket slowly off the body. Kate leapt back. “That can’t be Jack,” she whispered. What she saw in front of her was a wrinkled old man, skin and bones, with a gray beard down to his knees. “Who is this?! He’s only been gone three months! I don’t understand!” 

The young policeman wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Kate turned and wept, letting the tears fall. “I don’t understand, I don’t understand.”    

“We have his belongings. Let’s go get them.” The young policeman steered her away and out of the morgue. 

Later that evening, Kate sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly at the bag of belongings in front of her. She took a deep breath and reached for it. Turning it upside down, she dumped the bag in the middle of the table.  A thud and she watched a bottle roll and stop in front of her. Gingerly, she righted it. A bottle full of golden liquid shined and the longer she stared at it, the more it sparkled.