Miriam
or Davenport's Family Secret?
by
Mike Smith
I had an affair with Merrill Davenport's pregnant
wife once. It wasn't a very hot affair at all. She always looked
depressed and sickly. She threw up a lot and never seemed to
really like anything we ever did together. Her name was Miriam.
The affair ended when she died in childbirth. We met when I
was a college student at this weird little Christian college
in western Kentucky. She would always be sitting in the library,
reading books and studying Math and such. I would do the same
from time and time and, well, what can I say, we took a liking
to one another. It wasn't long before we became intimately involved,
or as she put it, started "slappin' skins." She was
pretty pregnant when I met her, but that didn't bother me none.
I still thought she was pretty cool and who wouldn't want to
say they were having an affair with a pregnant lady?
Miriam and I had really long discussions on how
we were pretty unhappy in our lives. I didn't want to be at
the Christian college, neither did she. I didn't like living
in Kentucky, neither did she. I liked her being pregnant, she
didn't. She told me all kinds of stories about how her husband
was some big wig in the oil industry out near the KY/WV border.
He was all about power and money and didn't pay any attention
to his wife and soon-to-be first kid.
Miriam liked science a lot and didn't believe
in God. She found it
ironic that she ended up at the Christian college. I never asked
how old she was, but I would guess 18 or 19. She wasn't that
attractive and sort of looked like a man. I had never seen Davenport,
but she talked like he was about 50 years old. I never really
understood why they got married, but she said it had to do with
some dark family secret. She never specified whether it was
her family's secret or his. Man, did I raise my eyebrows at
that!
I was very open about the affair. I told my family
that I was dating a pregnant chick. God, that pissed my parents
off. They disowned me for a few weeks, eventually forgiving
me by reasoning, "Well, he's young, we've gotta let him
make his own mistakes." I told my friends, "Hey, check
me out, I'm involved with a preg-O." They thought I was
stupid and didn't know what I was getting myself into. I told
my college professors that my girlfriend was pregnant by another
man. They lowered my grade and told me that I should be ashamed
of myself. Everyone thought I had lost my mind. They couldn't
figure me out. I knew it wouldn't go on forever, but I never
expected her to die. Shit, man.
Davenport never caught us. I dropped out of college
just last week. I found Davenport in the phone book and called
him up. I told him I knew Miriam before she passed away and
was hoping maybe I could get a full-time job at his company.
He offered me a job making $50,000 with benefits and everything.
He thought I knew that family secret.
....
Mike Smith is a writer,
but makes more money by working at libraries and radio stations.
He once used his training in English to teach high school Math.
"Tell Christian I'm Sorry" is his first novel. The
novel contains a lot of stories. Read his book. Look at his
website (www.tellchristian.com).
To read Mike's Telling
the Truth about Social Studies, click here, on this sentence.
To read Mike's Swallowed
Birds-a-Listenin'click here, on this sentence.
or
read dennis on the streets of baltimore
