High Hopes in the Rain

Sitting in a chair in the living room Dave wonders, “I know that I have to do something drastic or nothing will change in our relationship. But what can that be? I was foolish and selfish. I am aware of that now. How do I undo it?”

He walks to the window and looks out, as if the act with give him an answer. As he scans the surroundings, he sees that it is raining. It is what his grandfather would have called a doozy of a storm. Then he gets an idea. He decides to follow it through though it might just be foolish to the max. But he feels that it has to be tried. It is desperation time.

He goes into the bedroom and puts on what is well-known to friends and family to be his favourite sweater, blue with a big maple leaf on the front. Then he goes outside, getting soaked in mere seconds. He thinks once more about the foolish thing that he did slightly more than a week ago. At the very least, this will be yet another punishment, one that he is imposing on himself, one that he feels he deserves. But his hope is that it will change the failing state of his marriage.

The Event That Harmed His Marriage.

It was a Saturday night, and, as usual for this time of year, he was watching a hockey game in which his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs were playing. It was the third period, and the game was tied three all. The Leafs had been behind, but had made a comeback to tie the game. Their opposition, the New York Rangers, had just received a tripping penalty.

The phone rang and he wondered whether or not to answer it. But he could still watch the game while listening on his phone. It was his wife, Eva. She had been out to watch a movie with her best friends. They lived on the other side of town, so they were taking a bus to go back home. For her there was an hour long walk. There was no bus that would take her home.  She did not feel like walking, as it had been a long day for her, and there were some thick clouds approaching where she was standing. She asked Dave to pick her up at the theatre so that she would not have to walk home. His reply was definitely not what she wanted to hear. He told her that he was watching the Leaf game and it was tied in the third period with the Rangers just getting a penalty. He could not possibly abandon the game at this stage. She was stunned by his response, and ended the call on the phone. She did so with anger and energy, banging her phone on her upper leg. Both of them knew that there was no bus that went near to their home. When she went to call a taxi cab, she discovered that her phone was no longer working. She would have to walk. And as she did the expected rainfall began; very heavy it was. By the time she reached home, she was completely drenched, and very, very angry with her husband.

Her first words to him when she finally arrived at their home was, “I think that you prefer your beloved Leafs to me. I hope that they lost”. 

He was going to say that they won 4 -3, something that he had jumped up and cheered about at the time, but was astute enough not to do so. When he looked at her drenched person and angry face, he knew that he was in deep trouble.

The next day, which was Sunday, they barely spoke to each other. And when dinner time rolled around, and he asked her whether they might go out to have dinner in a local place that they both liked, her only reply was, “I guess there was no Leafs game tonight, or you would not have asked me. I’m making my own dinner tonight, and you can make your own damn dinner.”

Over the next few days, there was little said between them other than the bare necessities barked out in very short sentences. This is what had led him to the desperate gesture of going out in the rain while wearing his Maple Leaf sweater. 

He knew that she would soon to be in the living room as her favourite television show was on. The television had its back to the window through which the front yard could be seen. She came into the room and turned on the television. Dave felt that she would eventually be seeing him and his soaking wet treasure. A few minutes passed by and she did not appear to see him, so he walked towards the window until he was only a step away. He wanted to knock on the window, but decided against it. After about ten minutes, she stood up. He reckoned that there was a commercial on, and that she was going to the kitchen to get something to eat or drink. He had heated up a frozen pizza for his own supper and had eaten it alone, as he had done every night since the Saturday of her drenching.

When she returned to the living room, a glass of wine in her hand, she suddenly saw him, wet sweater and all. She put the glass down and walked towards the window. Knowing him well after five years of marriage, she recognized one of his symbolic gestures. The fact that he had worn his Leaf sweater while out in the rain had meaning that she clearly understood.

She went quickly to the front door, opened it and in a friendlier manner than she had used in speaking to him in days, she shouted out to him, “Come in right now you moron (an affectionate term shared between them)”.

When he came inside, she said to him, “I would hug you, you moron, but I don’t want to get wet. Take the sweater off, so I can put it in the dryer. And put something dry on.

He stripped off the soaking garment, and handed it to her. She grabbed it and took it downstairs to the dryer. He stood there half naked with a big smile on his face. When she returned to the living room, she returned his smile, with a smile of her own.

He then said, “I was selfish on Saturday. I am so sorry about that. You are way more important to me than a hockey team could ever be. You are in first place, they are a distant second. This was followed by a mutually engaging hug.