Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: POUND (07/15/21)
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TITLE: The Betrayal | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dave Walker
07/19/21 -
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“Quick,” he whispered, “get dressed and hide.”
But before I could move, the door burst open, and Tom entered with a man I recognised. I’d seen him a few times while shopping. In a flash I realised he was a private detective who’d followed me. Tom had hired him.
With good reason.
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Graham had a strong chin, steel-grey, steady eyes, and an easy smile. He was charming, soft-spoken, and understanding.
It started with a smile across from his desk at work, then a chat at tea break. The conversation was superficial, but I glowed inwardly with pleasure at having someone I could talk to without feeling judged.
Then, there were lunch dates, the conversation more personal. I heard Graham was divorced, with no children, and lonely. I shared how Tom and I drifted apart in the busyness of raising four children. When the last one left the nest, we had nothing in common.
When Tom went out of town on business, Graham invited me to dinner. His apartment was luxurious. A three-seater couch occupied the side wall beneath a magnificent Thomas Cole landscape.
I gasped. “Is that genuine?”
Graham laughed. “An original. A gift from my father who was a connoisseur.”
I sat on the couch benath it, taking in the matching chairs, the large window overlooking the twinkling city lights, and the bar to the right, separating the dining area with its superbly laid table.
The candlelight dinner was intimate. Graham was the perfect host. As the wine glowed in us, he took my hand. “Where did you get your looks? Your dark hair, your blue eyes and lovely mouth? You’re extraordinarily beautiful.”
I knew where this was leading but the wine and the candlelight wove their magic in me. I didn’t resist. After dinner, the Thomas Cole landscape became witness to our unrestrained passion. It was my first betrayal of Tom, but from that night on, I sought every opportunity to be alone with Graham. To allay suspicion, we met in hotel rooms rather than his apartment.
But Tom, of course suspected. Deception is always fleeting. It ended with that pounding on the hotel door, my exposure caught in adultery, and my shame.
The disgrace was devastating. Bereft of my husband, my job and most of my friends, I wandered in a wilderness of despair and self-loathing. How could I have betrayed Tom? How could I have become so besotted with a divorced man? Now, I suspected he was charming me for his own gratification. After our exposure, he cut me off like a discarded rag.
I was at the window of a fifth-storey hotel room. I had moved a table beneath the sill, so I could the more easily throw myself out. I saw no alternative. Deep sobs burst from within. In desperation I gasped out, “God help me.”
I moved from the table to the sill, and squatted there, ready to throw myself to my end, when I heard a voice behind me. “Mary!”
Startled, I looked around. There was no-one there. More hesitantly, I positioned myself on the sill once more.
“Mary.” There it was again. No, I must ignore it. I’m becoming psychotic, hearing voices.
But again, I clearly heard a voice, “John 8 verse 4.”
John 8 verse 4? It must be in a book. What book? I remembered seeing a Gideon Bible in the desk drawer. I climbed off the sill and opened the Bible. The story of a woman caught in adultery? Like me? As I read, I felt the words of Jesus touch me as if I was that woman. Neither do I condemn you.I knelt on the carpet and wept before Jesus. “Oh, Jesus, let me hear those words for myself? Take away my shame.”
As I said the words, a cloak of love enveloped me. Peace, blessed peace and bubbling release from all my pain found expression in tears of remorse and gratitude.
I turned back to the passage in the Bible and felt my heart pound as I read, “Go, now and sin no more.”
Oh, how I’d learned my lesson. With everything stripped from me, all I wanted now, was to follow Jesus.
Tom and I are talking. Forgiveness is a process for him, but Jesus has never left me. Tom says I’ve changed, and he’s coming to church. What Satan meant for evil, God is turning to good.
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I felt the piece moved smoothly and it held my attention.
Great job.