A Story for the Books

In life, on occasion, you might hear a story that pushes you to the end of your seat, desperate to hear every detail that leads up to the climax and you just can't wait to find out what happens next. In my case, it wasn't a seat; I was standing on the edge of a counter until I was being nagged at by a customer who was in search for a size. I work in the shoe department of Macy's, and my coworker was telling me the story in it's entirety of how his marriage in the shitter.

He told me not too long ago that he is in the middle of a divorce, and when I asked him if he didn't mind telling me what happened he told me that his wife cheated on him. Ouch. I was so curious about how he found out because I can be nosey at times and it sounded like a very intense situation. But I didn't ask, I didn't want to push the issue.

Let me start off by saying that he is a Persian man who just moved here with his wife from Iran three years ago. So basically if his soon-to-be ex-wife made this choice when they were still in their home country she would have no head right now. She is a very lucky lady, don't you think?

They, along with mostly every other person living in Iran, disliked their government and wanted to make a better life for themselves. They wanted an education and the freedom to make their own choices without the risk of being put to death for every little mistake they could make. Granted, in Iran they were made. My coworker, let's call him John, owned a fabric factory in his country and owned a beautiful house and lived a fairly comfortable lifestyle. He was on top of the world living there, financially at least. But they still wanted a different life so they both decided to come to the U.S.

John closed his business, sold his house, took his money and off they went to America. For the first year they traveled all around the states until they finally settled in Long Island, NY. He found a nice house for them, enrolled them both in a community college and worked two jobs in order to pay for the things they needed to get by.

Unfortunately, John's wife's father passed away shortly after they moved here and this truly upset her. It didn't help that she had fought with her father before she left and never said goodbye. John tried his best to help her cope with her loss although he had to admit,

"I tried to tell her before we left that she should say goodbye to him. Even when we got to America I told her to call him because he is her father and she would miss him one day. And then he died and she was hurt. I felt bad for her and wanted to do everything I could to make her feel better but we could not go back to Iran."

Then, she decided that she did not know anything about her religion and she hated it because it was forced on her by the Iranian government. She had observed Christianity masses and weddings and took a strong liking to their beliefs and the way they celebrated and attended mass every Sunday so she decided she wanted to convert. John was not excited about the idea because he felt that it would only confuse her more by converting to another religion.

"I tried to explain to her that it would not be a good idea to do this because if she did not understand our religion now, then she would not be able to understand the other religion. I suggested that she try to learn about her old religion and if she still does not like it then change. But she does not listen. So I took her to get baptized and I took her to church. I wanted to make her happy even when I did not agree with her decisions. Everyone told me that I was the man and I should tell her NO but we left our country because our government shoved religion down our throats and forced us to do as they said. I did not want to do this to her. That is why we left."

John was tired. He worked numerous jobs and still went to school full time plus he tried to keep up with the life his wife wanted to have. She worked one full time job and went to school but had the time to go out and make friends with people. Whereas, John had a hard time doing that with his schedule. Plus, it did not help that she is six years younger than he is. She began getting antsy. The only friends he had were his wife and a couple of the friends she made from school. So her friends became their friends. 

 

One day she came home and told John that she wanted a car. He tried to explain that he understood but he wasn't financially in the position to get her a car just yet because of the construction they were doing to their house but if she would give him a couple of months he would buy her a brand new car. But she would not hear it and told him that she did not want to wait, she wanted one now. He repeated that he couldn't afford it; how were they going to pay? She had a shopping problem; his whole office was filled with all of the stuff that she would buy all the time and it cut into their ability to buy a car right away. John allowed her to do this because he felt bad that she missed her family, her father and her friends at home.

"I figured that if I let her do this because it would keep her mind off of being lonely. I didn't want her to be so depressed. I constantly spoke to her mother and asked what I should do about how sad she was becoming and she told me to let her do what she wanted. Her mom said that she was a young, stupid girl."

Then she suggested that her boss had a used car that he wanted to sell for $4,000. He didn't want to dismiss her thought right away so he agreed to take a look at the car. So they went over and he checked it out and saw there was a lot wrong with it. He explained to his wife that the car wasn't even worth the money and that he could get her something much nicer if she would just be patient. A few days later she came home and told him that her boss let her have the car and he would just take small increments of money out of her paychecks to pay him off.

"I thought, 'where do you get such a boss that is so nice? I know my boss would not do such a favor for me.' I didn't make an issue of it though. Before I knew it, she told me that she wanted to move out. I was shocked. I did not understand why. She told me that I didn't want to do anything anymore and she wanted to live her life her in America. So I said okay. I thought it was temporary. "

She moved out, only four blocks away. John was hurt. He continued speaking to her mother asking for advice and she told him to let her have her space and she would eventually come back. He then tried to contact their friend letting them know that he wanted to meet with them privately since he wanted some advice on how to fix things with his wife. But they would not answer him. He was alone. All he had was the house, his job and hope.

Valentine's Day was approaching and John decided to give his wife a call.

"I wanted to have dinner with her. So I called a week before and told her that I missed her and he wanted to take her out for a nice dinner. She hesitantly agreed. I told her that I wanted to make her happy. I told her not to forget that. But then a few days before Valentine's Day she called me and cancelled. She told me that her friends wanted to go out and she wanted to go with them. I couldn't believe that she was canceling plans with me to go out with them and I told her that but I told her that if that's what would make her happy than fine."

February 12th rolled around and there was a bad snow storm. John went out and got the supplies her needed and called his wife to offer to shovel and salt her driveway and dig out her car since she would need it to go out that evening. She refused his help and said that her friends were going to pick her up. So, with nothing else to do, he decided to go out that night for a few drinks with his nephew. Driving home, a little drunk, he decided to pass by her house.

"I was having a good time driving my truck in the snow and I figured I'd pass by her house to see if she got her car out. I saw her car but then I noticed another black car parked in front of her. I thought maybe her friends decided to stop in. Or maybe they all decided to take a cab. But all the lights were out. And I did not recognize the car. I began to get curious. So I pulled over. I checked out the license plate of the unfamiliar car and walked to the door, not thinking the worst. I rang the bell. I heard whispering inside. My heart began to race so I rang the bell again. More whispering, no answer. I looked through the window of the door and saw her standing the dark in front of her bedroom. Then I saw him. She grabbed his naked body and shoved him in the closet. I felt so upset. My heart raced even faster and I rang the bell again and I called her name. Finally she came out."

"Hi John. What are you doing here?"

"I came by to check to make sure you were okay. What is going on?"

"Nothing is going on. Go home John."

"Tell him to come out here."

"Tell Who? No one is here. GO HOME JOHN or I will call the cops."

"Tell the man who is in your fucking closet to come out here and talk to me!"

"I'M GOING TO CALL THE COPS IF YOU DON'T LEAVE!"

"I am just asking you to let me speak to him. I am not doing anything crazy. And if you do not I will call the cops. Now tell him to come out."

She finally admitted that there was a man in her closet and she agreed to let him speak to John.

"Just wait right here. I will go inside and speak to him."

"Give me your word that you will make sure that I can speak to him."

"What are you talking about?"

"GIVE ME YOUR WORD! PROMISE ME THAT I CAN SPEAK TO HIM!!!"

She swore on God on her mother; he agreed to let her go inside. After a few minutes John got impatient and rang the doorbell again. She only cracked the door open and told John to go home and she was calling the cops.

"All of a sudden I felt myself go nuts. I began to yell that she had made a promise to me so I shoved the door open and pushed her to the side. And there he was. The bouncer of the club that I used to take my wife to quite often. He was sitting on her couch looking at me with no expression of remorse. I stood in front of him and said, 'What are you doing? You know that she is still my wife?' He bobbed his head slowly in such as way of disinterest. 'I came in here to let you know that this woman fucked up my life and I wanted to warn you that she will have no problem fucking up your life too.' I then turned to leave and she began yelling and cursing at me. She tried to push me out of the house. She tried to shut the door in my face that is when I grew so angry that I lost control. I pushed the door open and grabbed her by her arms, lifted her into the air, shaking her then threw her back down and pushed her into the door. I screamed that I would hit her and I raised my arm and that's when I saw it in her eyes. She was scared. I could not hit her. She tried to push me out and when the bouncer saw I was going to hit her he rushed to the door to help her but I moved back out. He stood behind her, both facing me at the door and right before they could close it in my face I grabbed my phone and took a picture of them."

He kicked her car and fell to the floor. Scrambled back up and hopped into his car, slammed his foot on the gas an kept fishtailing back and forth because of the snow

“I lost control. I did not know what to do. I couldn’t think straight. I was shaking. It all wouldn’t’ stop. I finally got home, grab a glass and poured whiskey in. I took several shots and sat down thinking about what just happened. I called her mom and told her what happened. I was done; I told her mother I was done and I sent her the picture of this man with her. Can you believe what her mother suggested I do? She told me to go out with other woman and show off in her front of her. I said what do I need to show off in front of my wife for? She is my wife! I should never have to show off in front of her. That is when I realized that her mother was trying to set me up so I said goodbye to her and that was the end.”

The picture of his wife and that man went to John’s lawyer. No alimony. They also had a prenuptial agreement so she would not get half of the money but only portion of it. So they are currently working out the divorce.