Day 4

Today I am giving you a chapter from my latest novel; the novel will be released on March 8, to coincide with International Women’s Day. Imagine a world not of the past but of the future, where women have no say in their own destiny. They cannot choose even when and how they clean the house, but they must keep it clean at all times. Women are not included in the work of the civilization, except for in the home. I know, June Cleaver, right? But Ward was not like Ogden. So when Lorelei realizes that Ogden found something…different…on his latest dig, naturally she wants to know what it is. What she finds could change the future for everyone.

So here, a teaser. Chapter 2 of Resolved.

CHAPTER 2

Lorelei hesitated at the door to the study. She hated to disturb Ogden at work, but the men said it was important. She knocked and was greeted with an angry growl. She ignored the rude comment and entered the sacred inner sanctum where her husband hunched over ancient records.

“Ogden?”

“Go away. I’m working.”

“There are men at the door.”

“Tell them to…”

Lorelei interrupted before Ogden could finish his instructions for the visitors. “They say it is important.” She held her breath, steeled against his wrath at her boldness.

“How important could it be to interrupt me on the one day a week I have set aside for no interruptions? You know the drill…get rid of them. Or have an affair with them. I don’t care, just don’t bring them in here to me.”

Lorelei was accustomed to Ogden’s rudeness and she didn’t let it bother her anymore. She handed him the card one of the men gave her, although she knew she was overstepping the bounds of her wifely duty. Still, if it was as important as they said…

Ogden started to crumple the card and throw it in the trash, but he caught sight of the name and straightened. He grabbed the tie he had thrown against the wall last night when he came home and buttoned his collar. He motioned to Lorelei and she brought him the suit jacket she hung on the coat rack last night after he flung it in the general direction and missed. When he arranged himself to his satisfaction, and smoothed his unruly hair, he growled at Lorelei to usher the men into the study. Lorelei rushed to comply, glad she would not be punished for intruding today.

The men were waiting with something less than patience in the living room. Some of their temper probably came from the fact that Molton was playing in the room and kept dive bombing their feet with his toy airplane. Lorelei grabbed her energetic son with one hand and gestured toward the hallway with the other.

“He’s waiting for you in his study”, she purred, hoping to placate them so they wouldn’t be in an angry mood when they met with Ogden. He would blame her if they were unpleasant. “I’ll show you the way.”

Lorelei held onto Molton as she led the men through the hall toward the study. When she reached the staircase, she gave him a gentle swat on the bottom and told him to play upstairs. His mouth opened to protest, so she shot him one of those looks that told him she was serious. He scampered upstairs without another word.

Ogden opened the door of the study as soon as she knocked. He greeted the men effusively, and pumped their hands as he ushered them into the study. “Farnsworth! Masters! Come in, come in.”

The men scowled; their mood had not improved in spite of Lorelei’s attempts to deploy her most pleasant manner. They marched into the study as though to battle and the door closed behind them. Lorelei debated putting her ear to the door to hear what they were saying, but she had her own duties and had no time for eavesdropping on her husband’s private conversations.

Lunch was ready, but Lorelei hesitated to call Ogden to the table. His habits were so regular, and he required the same regularity of his household, that he always knew when lunch would be ready but he still expected her to call him. It was her duty, he explained, on the one day of their marriage she did not call him to lunch, assuming he would realize it was ready.

She was torn between her desire to maintain peace through regularity, and her desire to avoid his wrath at being interrupted. She knew she risked punishment if she selected the wrong choice, but she wasn’t sure which choice Ogden would want her to make. She was still sorting out her dilemma when the door to the study opened and Ogden ushered his guests into the hallway.

“Oh, there you are, dear. Would you see the men to the door?” Ogden had a habit of posing orders as requests when other people were around, though the men he associated with no doubt ordered their own wives around. Everyone pretended. And everyone knew that everyone pretended.

Ogden turned to retreat to the study. Lorelei seized her chance and told him lunch was ready. She was rewarded with a faint nod of acknowledgment that suggested he was waiting for her to fulfill her proper function. He headed toward the dining room as she herded the men through the hallway and out the door.

She called the children and the family gathered at the dining room table, waiting expectantly as she bustled between kitchen and dining room bringing in plates of food. Ogden refused to allow her to set the meal on the table until after he was seated because he hated eating cold food.

“Mama!” Molton exploded in excitement.

“Yes, dear?” Lorelei shot an anxious glance toward Ogden. He had high expectations of his children, and remaining quiet at the table was the top rule on his list. He appeared lost in thought, his face marred by a fearful scowl. He didn’t seem to notice Molton’s breach of etiquette.

“Mama, there were men here.”

“I know, dear. They were here for your father and are none of our business. Just eat your lunch, and then you can go outside to play.”

Molton and Micra settled in to eat as Lorelei took her place at the foot of the table. She watched Ogden with trepidation; his mood appeared stormy. She had hoped for a peaceful Saturday. He didn’t say anything to her, or to the children, but that wasn’t unusual. He was not a talker and did not discuss business within the domestic sphere, as he preferred to refer to Lorelei and the children.

Ogden stood and laid his napkin on his plate, a signal that lunch was over. Lorelei put down her fork, knowing that eating one more bite after Ogden declared them through would be met with swift and sure punishment. She had not finished a single meal since they were married, except when he was off on his trips. When he was gone, meals were a much less formal affair.

The children erupted into the backyard where their screaming and laughing would not disturb their father. Lorelei cleared the table, puzzled over the events of the morning. Ogden was in an ordinary, not particularly good or bad, mood at breakfast, and nothing changed by the time she interrupted him in his study. Now he appeared to be in a temper, and she knew the best course was to avoid him until dinner. That shouldn’t be difficult, she thought, since he has those new papers to work on and they seem to be taking up all his time.

The sound of a loud thump, followed by another, led her to the study door. She opened it a crack and peeked in, relieved to see Ogden was all right. She ducked just as he pitched a box of pens at the door. It fell to the floor to join the shoes that were lying where he threw them moments before.

“Ogden! What are you doing? I thought you’d fallen.”

Ogden turned his back. He hated anyone, even his wife, to see him lose control. She realized he was struggling to get his poise readjusted. When he felt he could comfortably interact without showing inappropriate emotion, he turned back to his wife.

“Nothing is wrong. Go away. This doesn’t concern you.”

Lorelei wanted to say it concerned her very much, since she would have to pick up the items he was throwing and put them back where they belonged, but one look at his face told her he would not tolerate even the most moderate back-sass today. He was in a fearful mood, the worst mood she had ever witnessed. She shivered.

“I’m just thinking about your health”, she murmured, even though she was more worried about her own health than his right at the moment.

“How kind of you. What a dear wife you are.” Ogden growled, but she sensed his mood relax as she moved behind him and rubbed his shoulders. “What would we men do if we didn’t have our women at home to take care of us?”

Lorelei tensed. It was a common sentiment, one he expressed often, but there was a different tone in his words today. The phrase sounded less automatic, less robotic. Something new entered the room, and she had no idea what it was. Whatever it was, it unsettled him, and anything that unsettled him unsettled her.

“Yes, dear, of course, dear. It is our joy and our mission to make sure you never have a single uncomfortable moment.” Lorelei purred out the words she was taught, but she felt even less sincere today than any of the other times she’d mouthed the soothing words.

Whatever was in the air, it was more than just Ogden’s mood. She felt it for several days, ever since he came home from his last trip. He spent most of his time since then sequestered in his study when he wasn’t at the office, poring over ancient documents and examining the minutiae of ancient artifacts. That wasn’t unusual; he spent most of his time at home in his study. But something was different, even though she couldn’t put her finger on what.

Something had changed. Something new had entered the world and she felt a tingle of excitement. For the first time, she understood why her husband did the things he did. She wanted more than anything in the world to know what they found, what they were learning about those ancient civilizations, what was so unsettling not only to her husband, but to those men who intruded on his Saturday routine and were admitted into the most sacred of all sacred places, his study.

“Something is about to change”, she whispered so quietly that even Ogden couldn’t hear. “Something is going to be different.”