Prepping 101

[CountryGuy]

OK, So after years of reading PAW and Prep stories and books and with my time here reading the many fine writers and their submissions to this great page, I think I'm inspired and ready to dip my toe in. So please, be gentle... but I welcome criticism towards helping improve my writing skill or the story. If you like it, I want to hear, if you think it sucks, also I want to hear but please tell me what you don't like.

Maybe in bad form I just started writing as this story develops in my head. I don't have an outline or character list or anything like that, at this point I'm just regurgitating onto paper what comes out of my mind. I'm trying to go back and clean things up after as the flow slows or stops. Also, please bare with me as I figure out the nuances to posting and formatting here to this page. Hopefully the movie in my head keeps playing so I can see this out to some end but I make no promises.

I'm writing as I hear the conversations playing out in my head. So be warned, there with be cussing and adult themes as that's real. How much and when? I don't know yet. so if adult language bothers you, tread with caution or pass this one by.

[CountryGuy]

Prepping 101
-1-

Mervin Cole sat sipping his coffee on the park bench, watching a duck and her eight ducklings paddling along. He noted how the babies just followed, almost blindly and aimlessly. All but one. He watched that last one. He’d watch as it would swerve to the side and go off investigating until mother duck would quack and summon him back. Then he’d drift back for a minute or two before going off in a different direction. Merv felt like those other ducklings, like he’d just been following along, doing what was expected. But now, what had that gotten him?

Here Merv sat, 27 years old and freshly divorced as of about 45 minutes ago. He didn’t quite get it, he’d followed along like a good duckling, always doing what he was told or what was expected, yet here he ended up. He’d always followed along, followed the program, followed the rules. In high school he stayed out of trouble and got good grades, it was expected. Then he followed on as told and went to college, studied hard, got good grades and graduated at the top of his class. College, that’s where he’d met Karen. He was finishing his junior year, she was finishing her freshman. It all seemed to be part of the grand plan he was always being sold. They seemed to click, to complement each other. So he followed along, not making waves or deviating from the course. Afterall, wasn’t that what was expected? Expected by his family, by society. If he’d have wandered, wouldn’t he have gotten quacked at?

He’d graduated, gotten a great paying job with a big name company, paid off the few bills he had that his scholarships hadn’t covered. He was on track, paddling along, moving up the ladder. Three years later of steady paddling along, when Karen graduated they got married. She couldn’t find a job in her field, like many ‘grads’ her degree didn’t really have value to any employers. And on the rare occasion something might surface she never seemed to find the opportunity worthy of her time. But it was OK, he could pay the bills and support them both, he paddled on. Then she finally decided to take the job with a non-profit, going on about righting injustices and the sort.

The simple 2 bedroom apartment he’d been renting since he took the job suddenly wasn’t big enough for the two of them, not nice enough of a neighborhood. No, the new three bedroom townhouse in the new neighborhood, that, she insisted is what they needed. And he paddled right along. Happy wife and all that. Thankfully he’d gotten her to agree after many harsh words from her to only lease and not buy the place.

And now, here he sat, single. He’d followed the rules, paddled along, and did what was expected. He’d been the dutiful duckling, what went wrong? As he thought about things sitting here on the bench, he got clarity for the first time. He’d had the last 4 months to think about his situation long and hard, looking at it from many viewpoints. Initially he’d blamed himself, what had he done wrong? Was she right, was it all his fault, his conservative mentality? Had he not let her express herself? Had he driven her away? No… no here and now it all came into laser focus. He realized she’d played him for the dutiful duckling. As he glanced out again and saw that one rogue duckling and he decided that was what he needed. He needed to step out of the false cookie cutter plan, to venture out and explore what was in this big world. At that point he actually said a praise of thanks to Karen, thanks for this happening now. Thanks that it hadn’t been 20 years down the road with 2.3 kids, a mortgage and a car payment on a new minivan.

The Judge had been pretty fair in handling things. Her lawyer wanted to bleed him dry, his lawyer wanted to show her for the money digging whore that she was. In the end after a conference between the lawyers and a promise to produce video and photos Merv’s private investigator had secured for him, she and her lawyer had a sudden change of attitude and agreed to an amicable split.
Merv would pay for the last 5 months of the townhouse lease, paid directly to the property company, since he knew she couldn’t be relied upon to pay bills. His name would be removed from the lease and all utilities along with her car loan. He didn’t have to but he agreed to split the money in their joint savings account which wasn’t much, she got around $2,500. Merv would pay court fees and she had to sign a document relinquishing any and all claims otherwise against him in perpetuity. When they parted ways she had her divorce papers and her boy toy on her arm. She also still had a poor paying job, a mountain of school loans, a broke bartender boyfriend (his PI might have handed her an envelope as she exited the courthouse that showed pics of her Mr. Right with his three other girlfriends, besides her). If Merv knew only a tenth about her that he did, she’d be lucky if there was any money left after the coming weekend. But that would be her problem from now on. He did feel free, liberated with the weight that had been removed from his shoulders.

He initially took it hard when he filed the papers, this was the first thing he’d ever failed at, and being his marriage, it was a big thing to fail. He’d failed to follow the mythical path. Even his parents laid a bit of a guilt trip on him at first about giving up so easily on his marriage. After a few weeks of the guilt trip, he’d confided to his Dad on the phone that things had only come about after he’d developed what was a burning case of two STD’s. Thankfully his Doc caught it and got him treated and it wasn’t one of the more permanent varieties. He explained how this realization had led him to hiring the PI. His Dad never brought it up again. He knew his Dad wouldn’t have given his Mom the details but whatever he’d told her made her drop any discussion of them trying to reconcile.

As Merv finished the last swig of cold coffee he looked out at the little duck. “Thanks Ducky!” he called out and then tossed the bits of the scone he had left in the ducks direction. It was time to follow that little rogue ducks' lead and go paddle and make waves and explore what this world had to offer. To find his own path forward, not just follow.

[iamnobody]

I like it.

The scenario of what he went through is VERY realistic.

I have seen this in other men's lives and I have experienced doing everything for a wife and then have her still go to other men and also say I wasn't doing enough for her.

So I will say MOAR!

[solo]

Very good start! Can't wait to see what it next. As far as writing as it come to you... Yeah, well, some of us do that as well. I've done it both way, and like this way far better. That way, I am as surprised and everyone else, what happens....

[NCWEBNUT]

I like it, the only complaint I have is I need another 4 or 5 pages to read.Being a greedy reader and all.

[gipsy]

Nice start

[CountryGuy]

Here's piece 2

-2-

Merv jumped in his well used Civic and headed back out of downtown to his buddy Jimbo’s apartment. James ‘Jimbo’ Simmons was one of the other young engineers at the company he worked at. Jimbo was about everything Merv wasn’t, other than single. Jimbo was the same age but still was in that Frat Boy mentality of partying, drinking and chasing skirts in his spare time. But the two of them got along great and when Jimbo heard that Merv’s biatch of a wife kicked him out after she was the one in the wrong, he’d without thought offered up his place. It was a spare bedroom he used as his gaming room. It wasn’t big and it wasn’t a great situation but Merv couldn’t beat the rent. All Jimbo asked was that he buy the food and cook a few meals a week which was something Jimbo was lacking all skills in and Merv was fairly skilled at.

Court hadn’t taken all that long and Merv had taken the whole day off, not knowing what to expect. So after his contemplation time with the ducks, he found himself with the rest of the afternoon to himself. A Friday afternoon at that. He felt sort of weird, like he was playing hooky from work. He headed back to Jimbo’s apartment and changed out of his suit into jeans and a tee and swapped out the dress shoes for his pair of well worn Merrel hiking boots. He made a cup of coffee with the Keurig, filling his travel mug. He grabbed the Swiss Gear backpack that held his laptop and headed out the door to walk 2 blocks to the small community park. He had some thinking and planning to do and he always thought better when he was outside.

Merv found a shady picnic table and pulled out his laptop. There were a handful of Mom’s with little kids over by the play equipment but other than that the place was empty. It was far enough off the main drag that the traffic was just dull white noise. Following his nature and training as an engineer he decided to first write down everything. Lists were what he needed, get it all written down, organize it and then evaluate it. But first, a problem statement. He also started to scribble some notes about what his ‘ideal’ life conditions might look like but quickly realized, as weird as it sounded to him, he didn’t have enough info to do that yet. He thought to himself, how sad, I don’t even know what I truly want in life. He dove into his lists. What was good or bad in his current existence? What would he like to have and do in the future? What did he not want to do? After that he decided he also needed an inventory of what he physically had and a list of what he thought he needed or what he wanted. He also thought an inventory of his skills might be beneficial, sort of resource planning.

About two hours passed of some deep self searching and thinking about what’s next. He had some pretty good lists but he also had a lot of side branches as he would think of one thing something else would come to mind. He heard a musical horn sound and looked up to see a roach coach on the street on the side of the park. It was sitting outside the small manufacturing place that had it’s big roll up door open. As he watched guys poured out of it like ants. At that moment he realized he hadn’t eaten breakfast or lunch and he was hungry. He closed the laptop, packed up and walked over to get in the line at the truck. He got some odd stares from the workers as he got in line with them. He thought about it and figured they weren’t used to seeing people who had other options eating here. He listened to them joking and bitching about their day as he ordered his grub. When it came though, he headed back to the park with his brown sack, they headed back into the darkness and noise of the factory.

He enjoyed his taco and the homemade tamale and then washed it down with a cold Coke. With lunch over and his belly filled, he pulled the laptop back out and resumed his list writing, creating and populating sub lists as the thoughts and ideas came. One such list he was having issues writing was actually two ‘bucket lists’. One was meant for things he absolutely wanted to do before he died like skydiving and visiting Australia and New Zealand. The other were things to accomplish before he was 30. He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed to be the hardest one to complete. He sat and read and reread his lists, his comments and the random thoughts he’d written down. He made corrections to typos, started putting some of the things into bulleted lists and a sort of outline. He just let his mind spin on it all. Where to go from here? What did he want to do? What would be the direction he’d take the first time he paddled off on his own? Would he ever want to get married again? Have a family?

He lost himself in his thoughts till he heard a buzzer blare from the factory. He looked at his watch and saw it was 3:00PM; must be shift change. Then he watched people with their heads down shuffling along heading into the plant, must be the ongoing crew. The other guys came bouncing out, clearly in good moods, smiling, laughing, hooting and hollering and moving quickly away towards their vehicles or the bus stop at the ends of the block. They were obviously ready to get their week behind them and their weekend started. Merv thought to himself, when was the last time he'd been excited for a weekend? He headed back for the apartment.

[bluefox2]

Good start. Now we need about40-50 more pages just for a beginning.

[papaof2]

50 pages? Nah, more like 50 chapters. You know that readers blast through stories 50 times faster than the authors can write them, so 50 chapters now would keep us busy until the next chapter after them is ready ;-)

Good start and very readable.

[CountryGuy]

probably last chunk for today... appreciate the feedback.

- 3 -

When Merv walked in the door he was surprised to see Jimbo and Matt, another of the junior engineers in their group standing in the kitchen drinking beers. “There he is! Mr Divorcee!” Jimbo laughed, Merv wasn’t sure how he felt about that term yet but he let it pass and just gave a weak grin. “What are you guys doing here already, how’d you get out of the office early? Bossman finally fire your two useless, privileged butts?”

“Now, now is that anyway to talk to your landlord slash roommate? The man who selflessly put a roof over your head to save you from living in a cardboard box in a back alley? I’ll have you know we have a surprise for you, call it a Happy Divorce present. We know the BS and hell you’ve been going thru with that skank EX, man that sounds good, wife. Today is a big day as she is now officially out of your life. Good riddance to that trash, may she rot in hell! In fact, let’s drink to it!” Jimbo seemingly pulled three shot glasses and a bottle of rock gut, bottom shelf whiskey out of thin air. “We think you NEED to celebrate. We told Bossman what we had planned and he was all for it. In fact he was so in favor he said great idea and gave us a hall pass to get out early.” “Seriously?” “Hell yeah, he said he wished his friends would have done that for any of his three divorces. He said had they, maybe his dumb ass would have quit getting remarried.” Jimbo and Matt howled laughing. “NOW quit changing the subject and drink.” He knew it was a losing proposition to object, they’d just hound him into the ground till he did. “For the kind of money you make you think you could have bought a bottle of the good stuff like Maker’s or Woodford or maybe a nice scotch like Glenlivet.” “Hey now, don’t look a gift horse…” they laughed. “SKOL!!” and with that they all downed it, sucking air thru their teeth trying to quell the burn.

“Before you think of saying no, we all are going out camping and doing some fishing.” “What? I can’t just take off and leave…” It was Matt “Oh really, what you have plans besides sitting around and moping? Didn’t think so. Come on, you need to get out, blow off some steam. Think of this as your Happy Divorce Party! If you're lucky it might even involve some strippers. You do know how to fish, right? Have you ever even camped before?” he teased. “First, I don’t need to see a bunch of skeezy, toothless meth heads trying to hang from a pole. Second, yes, I know how to fish and I’ve camped plenty of times, after all I was a Boy Scout.” He stopped short of telling them he was actually an Eagle Scout, no reason to boast and he figured it would only fuel these two’s poking fun at him. “Matt’s truck is packed with beer, beer, more beer, some liquor, a few cigars, a pack of hotdogs, some eggs and the fishing gear. So go pack some shit up Boy Scout and let's hit the road for the weekend. We want to get a move on and get mostly out of the city before rush hour starts hitting hard.”

He knew he had no excuses he could use and admittedly it was to be a nice weekend and he could use a break out in the woods, it’d been a few years since he went camping, like most things he liked, Karen hated it and wouldn’t go camping, not even in a camper. He’d tried one week, renting a small RV, she would n’t even get in it. “OK assholes, but I call shotgun…” Matt howled laughing as Jimbo grumbled about that being a bunch of BS, making him sit in the back of the extended cab. He said how was it fair that he should be cramped for the drive after it was his idea for the divorce party weekend. “Sucks to be you” Merv said laughing. Merv headed to his room to dig through the few totes he had. He knew he didn’t have everything he’d like to take but he wasn’t going to ask them to stop by the rental unit. He’d just pack light.

Ten minutes later he was tossing his old Osprey pack into the bed of Matt’s F150 where he also saw some coolers and a canoe were already strapped in. Before he was allowed in the truck though, they made him do another shot of Jimbo’s swill whiskey. Something told him it was going to be a long weekend, but he promised himself he’d try to lighten up and have some fun. He did appreciate that these guys were great enough friends that they wanted to cheer him up and take his mind off everything.

For the next two and a half hours they joked, laughed, told stories and jammed to a variety of country, rock and metal on their 2 hour ride. A little over half way there they decided to hit a travel plaza to fuel up and to grab some fast food so they didn’t need to worry about dinner for the night. They also grabbed some munchies and sodas and back down the road they went. It wasn’t till about half way there, when Matt’s crap sense of direction and dropped cell signal came into play, that they even told Merv where exactly they were going. At that point Merv took over as navigator. Luckily Merv had thought ahead and suspected this might happen so he’d bought a paper map at the truck stop they ate at. When they told him where they were headed he took a few minutes to find the spot and then to figure out exactly where they were so he could come up with a route there.

Somehow these two knuckleheads had heard about this out of the way site on the back side of a large state forest. They said from what they heard, most people don’t know about it or they want to be in the main park area where the beach, cabins and main campground is. That all was almost a 20 minute drive from the site they found. Most likely it’d be empty and they’d have it all to themselves. It would let them camp almost on the water and also gave them access to a small feeder creek that fed into the big river that flowed thru the western edge of the forest grounds.

It was about two and half hours from dusk when they finally found the site. As they pulled in you could tell it wasn’t a frequently used or maintained site. It was located on the far side of the river in a little sliver of land that was still state forest. This was going to be great!

[gipsy]

Thanks for the update.

[9idrr]

Please feel free to drop more chapters any time.

[biggkidd]

Dang it I promised myself not to start in on any more new stories until I finished a few. Good job I'm hooked. Please write fast!

[texican]

CG,

The main thought to remember is to always provide moar which the moar hounds will delightfully devour and cry for moar.

The moar hounds are a sniveling pack, but do like good stories and you have one started.

Now what happens while the trio is out in the boonies??

Texican....

[kiwibutterfly]

Now I am trying to figure out where this story is going....mmmm if he heads to New Zealand I will show him around. NOW!!!! remember guys and girls I am a nana....lol

[CountryGuy]

Thanks all, appreciate the kind comments. Kiwi... not sure if the NZ will play into this, it'd be cool but not sure I could pull off writing about a place I've never been and that I know little about. It's one of those places I myself would love to visit but doubt the opportunity or money will ever be there to do so.

[bluefox2]

Jun 25, 2022 0:21:17 GMT -6 kiwibutterfly said:

Now I am trying to figure out where this story is going....mmmm if he heads to New Zealand I will show him around. NOW!!!! remember guys and girls I am a nana....lol

Nanas are sometimes the most fun people.    Just like us Papas.

[CountryGuy]

- 4 -

Grass was growing high in the drive and around in the tent sites. There were tree branches and a tree top down in and around the site. Matt backed in close to a picnic table and fire ring. On exiting, Jimbo made a beeline to the cooler and grabbed them three beers. As they all popped them he made a toast to a great weekend before they decided to stroll about 75 feet down to the river to check it out. It looked awesome and they could see some fish surfacing out in the main channel, likely hitting on the bugs that were starting to make their appearance at that time of the day.

The three quickly agreed to set up camp and get a fire going and then they’d hit the water hard. Matt and Jimbo were still messing with trying to set up their WallyWorld special dome tent as Merv was putting the finishing touches on his hammock and rain fly set up. Those two were still trying to get the poles in the right sleeves. He couldn’t resist his chance to jab back at them. He made a big show of walking over to the cooler and grabbing another beer. He paused for a moment standing there taking a long dramatic sip and acting like an overcritical judge, turning his head one way then another but not saying a word. He went over and plopped down sideways in the hammock, sitting in it like a big easy chair. He slowly swung back and forth while he watched the shit show in front of him. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Hey, have you two ever gone camping before? I think I saw some girl scouts at the next campsite that could show you how to set that up…” He grinned as a slew of curses came his direction. “You call yourselves engineers yet you can’t master a simple tent designed for 9 year olds. You better send those diplomas back to those overpriced private schools you went to and tell them you want your money back.”

He was smiling and basking in his friends' aggravation and embarrassment. “Hey, I’m getting tired watching all this, think one of you could grab me another beer, I’m just too relaxed to get up.” A pine cone came flying his way as he laughed. They’d seemingly finally stumbled on the magic steps of getting the poles bowed up and locked in place. As the two were working the rain fly into place and figuring out where it attached, Merv Stood up and gave a round of applause which was greeted with four middle finger salutes.

“And that kids is why you always set up our new tent or try out your new gear at home before going out into the woods…” “Yaa yaa smart guy. What is that thing you have anyway?” “This my dear, uninitiated friends is the ultimate in comfy, night time sleep in the great outdoors. This is a SnugPak Jungle hammock with built in bug net to keep all the creepy crawlies and buzzing pests at bay. This here is the all weather rain fly to keep it all dry. So while you neanderthals are tossing and turning on the hard ground, I’ll be swaying in the gentle breeze, snug as a butterfly in its cocoon.”

As Matt grabbed he and Jimbo 2 beers, he said he’d get the fire going. Merv wondered to himself how that might go after having watched the tent episode. He didn’t say anything and stifled a smile. While Matt went to work on that Merv grabbed his pack and lashed it to the tree so it’d be under the fly and off the ground. He also unfolded the small piece of material that had been cut from an old tent bottom. It served as a makeshift rug to stand on when getting in and out of the hammock and in case the ground was wet. It wasn’t to rain this weekend but he had a feeling they’d have heavy dew in the mornings.

As he was finishing setting up his little palace he heard the distinctive woosh of a propane torch. He turned to see Matt holding it on about a 4” log. He watched a few moments as he’d hold it till he got some flames that would quickly die as soon as he pulled the torch away. “Dude? What are you doing?” “What’s it look like, I’m starting the fire.” “Really, is that what you call that. Have you ever actually built and lit a fire?” “No but how hard can it be. wood, torch, poof… fire” Merv shrugged his shoulders and looked away before he couldn't keep his grin suppressed.

He let him mess with it for about 10 minutes, Jimbo had joined him in the endeavor. As they conspired over their task at hand Merv wandered around the edge of the campsite gathering up small branches and sticks till he had a huge bundle. He walked over and sat the pile on the picnic table as he grabbed another beer. Walking over about 4 feet from where his two friends who reminded him of the proverbial two monkeys with a football. He smiled as he popped the beer and took a long sip.

He didn’t say anything other than “You guys going to piss with that all night or are we going to go fish?” They acted like they didn’t hear him and he just smiled and was eating this up. Finally after a few more minutes Matt hung his head… “OK, how do we light this damn thing?” “Ahhh my young padawan, not like that, that’s for sure. One must be the fire…” He laughed hard. Jimbo spoke next “OK Boy Scout, show us how you’d do it then. This wood is wet or something so bet you can’t get it either.” “Did I hear a ‘Please Master Merv’ in there?” he quipped back as he grinned and took a long, loud dramatic sip of his beer. “Please oh wise asshole, show us how to light the fire.” “Now, now that’s not a very nice attitude there potty mouth” he laughed as he grabbed the bundle of sticks. “Well if I can teach a bunch of nine and ten year old Cub Scouts there should be hope for you two city boys. I mean teaching you two special needs cases might be the challenge of a lifetime but I’m game. Now set those log to the side.”

He spent the next 10 minutes showing them how to lay up the fire. He showed the difference between tinder, pencil wood and kindling and explained they had to start small and build up in size of the wood pieces. He started with tinder, showed how to select dry wood, how to split up a few of the small pieces and how to go about laying up the fire. He told them that they need to take their time getting things ready and having lots of wood, lots of the small stuff to feed the fire once it started.

Once he had it built to the point it was ready to light it, he pulled it apart. They looked at him like he was stupid for a minute. “What the hell?“ “I know how to do it and I just showed you how to do it, now you two show me you learned what I just showed you and build it up.” They had it easier since they didn’t need to go gather their materials, this time. “Go ahead, let’s see if you paid attention in class or if you were sleeping in the back.” In just a few minutes they had the making rebuilt. He gave a few pointers on their tinder placement but they had the fire laid.

“Not bad for two city kids… go ahead, use your girl scout match and light it.” With that Matt hit the tinder pile with the torch and they quickly had flames rushing thru the pile. He proceeded to show them how to quickly build the fire by feeding it, coaxing it to life. “Next time I’ll make you do it like a real Scout and no torch, it’ll be old school with a fire starter.” In about 10 minutes they had a nice fire crackling away. “OK, that should be good for maybe 30 minutes. So let’s grab our gear and go see if the fish want to bite.” he couldn’t help but dig in their misery and get a little payback for their comments back at the apartment. “You guys do know how to fish, right? I mean can you put a worm on the hook or do I need to show you?” He was met with more finger salutes.

[gipsy]

Thanks for the update.

[ydderf2]

I am enjoying your efforts thank you I too wish to see another 50 or so chapters

[imahic]

Off to a good start. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

[udwe]

Great story so far! Keep going!

[solo]

Oh.... This is my kind of story... Teaching interested (or not so interested) people. Seeing the light bulb come on is so fulfilling on many levels to all parties. I still remember when I made my first fire with a bow drill. And my daughter (16 year old) is still amazed when I would make a fire with all wet materials, (Yes, fat wood burns when wet.)

Great story, keep it coming!

[CountryGuy]

- 5 -

They spent the next couple hours fishing till they just couldn’t see. They had taken turns coming back to camp every so often to check the fire and add some wood. They were close enough they could easily keep an eye on it in the dimming light. By the time they came off the river they had seven trout between them. They cleaned them down by the water, tossing the guts out into the river rather than making their camp area even more enticing to their wild neighbors. They had burned off their early fast food dinners and decided to cook 4 of the smaller fish for an evening snack and they’d save the others in the cooler for breakfast. They wrapped them in foil along with some onion, butter and a little salt and pepper. Matt was careful to fold the foil over several times on each edge to make an airtight seal. As he finished prepping the foil packs Merv used a stick to raked out some of the glowing red coals, making a nice flat bed to roast the foil packs on. As they were cooking Merv grabbed a couple sticks, breaking them off until they were about three foot long. The end of the one had a ‘Y’ at the end that he slipped under the pack while the other held the packet down against the bottom fork. This improvised set of tongs left him easily flip the packets and when they judged they were done he used them to full them off and set them to the side to cool a bit. The puffed up foil, a telltale sign of the steamy goodness waiting inside.

When they opened the packets they were perfect. They were steaming and as the foil was pulled back the skin pulled away from the meat leaving them with hot trout meat ready to devour. Merv reminded them to watch for the bones as they all sat around the fire enjoying their bounty along with more beers and just talking, joking and cutting up. As more beers flowed and they watched the remains of the foil packs burning in the restroked flames. Jimbo had retrieved the bottle of whiskey and after taking a swig pass it on. It made it’s round over the next 2 hours as the conversation turned to Merv with the guys asking just how the hell a nice guy like him ended up with some world class biatch like his new ex. So he started from the beginning when they met and everything seemed so perfect. As he spoke it was like therapy for him and he opened up and talked to them. He knew these guys wouldn't judge and what was said here would stay between the three of them. But he also knew they would rib the hell out of him this night.

Oh he took some ribbing from them as he admitted that now looking back, even early on in their relationship he was pretty sure she’d been a cheater from the word go. He’d excused things for whatever reasons over the years, maybe it was faith and belief in her or because he was truly in love and thought she was too. But now he knew she’d been lying and cheating on him since almost the beginning of their relationship. And she was the one who multiple times would question or accuse him of cheating. He now realized it had been a tactic of hers to distract from what she herself was doing.

No, it wasn’t just her latest Bartender boyfriend or whichever guy she’d so kindly passed on her STD to him from. No he was positive there had been many others over the years and she’d played him for a total jackass all the way. He said he felt embarrassed, like a chump, that he’d so blindly believed her. The guys reassured him he wasn’t, he’d done what anyone committed to a relationship and then marriage would do, he’d had full faith and trust in his partner. No, they reassured him that she was the one who should feel like garbage for what she’d done, for how she’d treated him and for her whoring ways.

“I know it’s hard man, like you don’t think you’ll ever want to have a relationship again, but give it time. I watched my brother go through a similar situation and it took him a while but he finally found his match and now they’ve been married 7 years and have given me a great nephew and niece. You just have to keep faith. You're a great guy and have nothing to worry about, unlike Jimboo” Matt said with a big grin. Jimbo gave him a one finger wave. By the time they finished the bottle and a case they were all pretty well drunk and groggy but Merv did have a sense of calm and was feeling a lot better than he had been 12 hours ago.

[gipsy]

Thanks for the update.