5th anniversary
This is a translation of a story I wrote for a Spanish blog’s literary Challenge, some weeks ago. [Si la quieres leer en español, pincha en el anterior enlace].
For the past three weeks, his wife had been receiving mysterious calls. If he picked up the landline, they hung up. This had him very worried: he had tried to talk to her but she always seemed very busy and not interested in talking to him.
He had tried to check her mobile phone, but she had changed the password so he was unable to. One afternoon when he came home from work a little earlier than usual, he saw her having coffee with some friends. They had been shopping and he saw that she had bought a complete outfit: a sexy dress, high heels, a silk scarf and a small, flirty bag, as well as underwear that she didn't let him see. All of this made him turn green with jealousy. Why on earth had she bought something like that? And, above all, for whom?
Then, that Thursday came. He left work a little later than usual and went to the garage to get his car. His boss waved goodbye to him, already in his car, when he saw him walking past: there was a kind of amused smile in his eyes and he thought that, for some obscure reason, he was making fun of him. He thought that, surely, there was a reason for it, but he couldn't find it, while he scratched the right side of his head with his index finger.
He got into his car and left the parking lot, heading down the street towards the road that led to his house. The usual afternoon traffic jam was not as pronounced as other afternoons, so in the end he ended up arriving home, even a little earlier than usual.
Everything was silent. No lights were on. It seemed that there was no one inside. Where was his wife? He parked the car, took out the key and opened the door, closing it with his right foot. Once inside, he dropped his briefcase in the office that was in the living room and went up to his bedroom to put on something comfortable.
Then he heard a noise on the floor below. He saw that he had his golf clubs in the cupboard: he hated the sport but he went to the course from time to time (as little as he could), on those occasions when he had no choice but to go and today those clubs were finally going to be useful for something. He took one of them and went down the stairs: he heard the noise coming from the living room again. How had he not noticed that someone was there?
He carefully opened the door, thinking that he was going to find a burglar, when all the lights came on and he saw a sign hanging from the ceiling that said:
Happy 5th wedding anniversary.
Happy daddy-to-be in 5 months.
He saw his boss, with the same partying face he had in the parking lot, his secretary, several coworkers (from his department and others from his same company), several friends of his (traitors! Why hadn't anyone warned him about this?), his wife's friends, and his parents and in-laws. Finally, he saw his wife, wearing the sexy outfit she had bought with her friends. Then, he smiled with that stupid face he had when he didn't quite understand what was happening... and fainted.
When he regained consciousness, he saw that water from a vase had been poured over him and he noticed his wife's worried face, whom he heard say:
– He's coming to. Are you okay? Oh, I shouldn't have done this... It's been too much for you, honey.
He smiled.
– No, don't worry, I'm better now than I have been these last three weeks.
He stood up, hugged her, and kissed her. The music started playing and the party officially began.
“So we're going to be parents,” he said as he hugged her as close as possible.
“Yes. I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you did. I thought you had a crush with other guy. I didn't realize you hadn't had alcohol for months.”
“Oh, don't be ridiculous. How could I have a crush with some other guy: I’m married to you, remember?”
“Yes, I've been very ridiculous. I hope I've learned my lesson.”
“I certainly have: you’re organising the next party”
They both burst into laughter. The storm had passed. Outside, however, the May rain began to fall incessantly, while the roses at the entrance began to bloom. It was going to be a good year.