LOVE ON THE EDGE

THE CHALLENGE

On a cold and rainy Saturday morning, Tom and Marilyn lay in bed in each other's warm embrace, but Marilyn's mind was distant.

She wondered about how they were going to survive the coming months on their meagre salary which was barely able to feed them. She thought of Blaise, such a bright chap who she felt could be in a better school but they could only afford to send him to a public school.

She felt a warm kiss on her left shoulder, then her neck, and she knew exactly what that meant, but she was in no mood for intimacy now. So she pulled away and sat in bed.

"What is the matter dear?" Tom asked. She hesitated, not knowing how to explain her feelings without dampening his spirits and making him feel that he was not doing enough. But she knew that she had to tell him, as he was the only one she could share this with, or else it will eat her up.

"Baby," she said, turning to face him. "I am just thinking about our finances and how we are barely staying afloat. I know we put in our best at our places of work but the income just does not seem to be enough. I also think Blaise our son can go to a better school, if we can afford it."

Tom heaved a deep long sigh, and said, "so what do we do now, seeing as we are trying our best and it is just not good enough?"

She replied, "I think we need another source of income, a business perhaps. One that will not require much capital to set up and can provide enough profit to help us get by. Also, it should be something we can do that would not take us away from our current jobs because we still need that salary."

Again Tom asked, "what ideas do you have?" She replied, "I have considered setting up a soft drink depot at our county here because I have not seen anything like that before. If we can make a financial commitment with the companies and they supply us, then retailers can buy from us. With time, we will earn the trust of those companies and then we will not have to pay the entire sum before they supply us. What do you think?"

"It is a great idea," Tom replied. "Let us get to work, find out what is required and how we can begin. Then we will source for the money. Can you smile now?" he teased as he planted a kiss on her cheek and pulled her close.

After such a fruitful conversation, Marilyn was happy, and could not wait to start her research. She went about singing the whole day and dancing when she thought no one was watching.

Tom on the other hand kept thinking about it and was not so sure it was a good idea, but he knew that he could not say that to her. He just wanted to seek other people's opinion because he had never regarded his wife as a critical thinker and always second-guessed what ever she said.

On his way to the store later that afternoon, he met his childhood friend Jacklyn, one whose opinion he had always valued above that of his wife, and one whose mouth was too leaky for her own good. She was never the one to trust.

"Hello Jacklyn," Tom greeted her. "Oh, Hi Tom," she replied. They exchanged pleasantries and laughed about the good old days, but she noticed that Tom's laughter was not as deep, he was quite distracted.

"A penny for your thoughts Buddy," Jacklyn said, interrupting his thoughts.

Tom gave a detailed breakdown of the discussion he had with his wife and the idea she had brought up. "What do you think Jack?"

"I have always known that your wife is a fool," she replied. "Who thinks of such an idea? How does she expect you to fund it? What makes her think she can get such a deal with any company? Just forget about her and that ridiculous idea." she advised.

Tom replied, "yes, I had my doubts, and this just confirms it. Thanks Jack for being my real buddy."

They shook hands and continued into the store. A few days later, Marilyn tried to tell Tom of the progress on her research and what she had found out but he wouldn't even hear it. "Jacklyn said it is a bad idea, I don't even know why I listened to you in the first place. How are we ever going to pull off something like this? Just let it go, Marilyn," he blurted.

She felt sad and disappointed but chose not to confront him about it as this was not the first time he had gone totally rogue on her.

Two weeks later, Marilyn was taking a bus into town to visit a colleague who was ill and then, she saw a vision that left her mouth agape and her eyes wide open. It was a mixture of shock, surp

rise, anger and frustration.