He heard her pull in the driveway…checked the clock…2:30 in the morning…,where has she been…,he thought…,always out running around…with somebody…with somebody…,he lit up a Marlboro and peeked through the blinds…it was dark out there, but he could make out another person in the passenger seat…some outline of another woman…a blue hue shined down on them from the light above the garage…he saw arms reached out the windows with a lit joint being passed back and forth between the two of them…car radio turned down low…it was Cyndi Lauper singing, True Colors, and these two women were singing along with her…made him wonder what the neighbors thought…saw a light come on next door…then it turned off…

Decided he would put on some hot water for tea…grabbed milk from the fridge and sugar in the pantry…waited for the kettle to whistle just like it did every morning when she got up…spoons clanking in cups…

Their little boy Bobby was down the hall…a middle school student who made science projects out of lighter fluid and baking soda…built little villages on plywood sheets in the basement with trains running through them…various stores and gas stations made up the small town…diners…pubs…streets lined with pine trees…and a city hall…just like the town they lived in…he heard movement coming from the kid’s room…heard the door open and saw a light come on in the bathroom…heard piss hitting water and the flush of the toilet…the boy went back to bed…

She was coming inside with that friend of her’s…he could make her out now…it was Peggy…tall leggy Peggy with the blonde hair and black boots…got down two other mugs from the kitchen cabinet and placed them there on the table next to his…,shhhh…,he heard her voice say…,be quiet…,both of them were laughing…laughing like stoned little school girls…maybe the way he used to laugh with her…way back…when they were first married…years fly by…voices become silent…she said hello and burst out laughing some more…, you want some tea…,he asked…looked at Peggy and nodded his head…,sure…I’ll have some tea…,his wife said in a deep voice to imitate him…Peggy smiled…,there’s sugar and milk…help yourselves…, he said,…,goodnight…