Once

II

Mom Hannah 

- We'll have a better chance of finding Arthur if we split up, - I said this to my husband not because I wanted to be alone. And even though hoped to meet son without Eric being present, the only important thing was to just meet him. As soon as possible. Children in colorful jackets ran along the sidewalk. Through the increasing snowfall, it became difficult to look at them. It was getting dark. The husband periodically glanced at the smartphone display. Sometimes I saw him write messages. 

- Someone should have stayed at home. He can come back. 

- I already called my mom, she will be at our house any minute and ... 

- What? - Eric stopped. But noticing that I was not going to slow down, he caught up with me, tugged at the sleeve of my coat, - Wait! Did you seriously call your mother on Christmas and say he was lost?

 - Do you want to discuss this right now? Go to the school playground. Visit the Goldbergs on the way. And I will go ... 

- These are the things that need to be discussed, Hannah! You can't do whatever... 

- Eric, we should have called the police right away! - I pushed him away. Like recently in the kitchen. He grabbed the bottle of wine, trying to snatch it from my hands. And I acted childishly, resisting to the last out of senseless stubbornness. Just to annoy. If only to get rid of his incessant moralizing. I grabbed the bottle like an alcoholic. Scared my son so much that he ran away. 

- Do you want to talk about what we should have done? - he never shouted in a quarrel the way I did, breaking into a scream. His voice changed beyond recognition. The smiling face turned pale. The dimples on the cheeks disappeared somewhere. The cheekbones and chin became sharper. Eric was never wrong, unlike me. 

- Please, not now!- We were supposed to have a gala dinner. Meet guests ... 

- Fucking dinner! 

- And letting him go to the skating rink on Christmas with neighbors was absurd!

 - Arthur! Say "Arthur"! 

I hated it when Eric talked about our son, like he was a foreign object. Do you think I find fault out of the blue? 

- And calling your mother is also complete absurdity! She has a bad heart, she shouldn't worry ... 

- Oh, so you're worried about my mom? 

- You're acting immature! 

Do you know what else my husband has never done? Didn't use swear words. What could I object to him "are you acting immature" Shit? Fuck you? You understand how it will look. However, my vocabulary limitations did not relieve me of immaturity. But it saved Arthur from bad influence. Until he started school But still. I'm so damn lucky that Eric chose me. That he shared his ambitions with me, although there were always many girls around him. I suppose there are definitely enough of them who do not lose their children at Christmas. They don't lose them at all. And they don't fight husbands over a bottle of wine. And they do a great job of cooking turkey, potato casserole, muffins, puddings and more. Who are grateful for the fact that such a guy generally fell on their head. Clever. Well-mannered. Handsome. Hardworking. Lord! He's perfect. Why did the perfect Eric choose the imperfect me? Why, instead of saying thank you, gather my strength and try to be like my husband, I want to send him in the ass?

Peter Shell

- You look younger than I thought.

- What? - I stared at the girl who climbed into my car, while nervously clutching the steering wheel with wet palms. Probably my tone and gaze were far from friendly. The reason for the horniness was just that she sat down not in my car. I pressed the gas pedal, ignoring the road signs, although from the moment I drove away from the city, I did not notice the pursuers.