My Son is Growing up, and My Husband is Growing Down

Chapter 3
They Notice the Changes

For the next three months life for my family and I went on normally. Johnny went to school, telling the tail of his first camping trip to his friends. James went about his job, as the supervisor for a warehouse, located on the outskirts of our town. And I went back to my work as a waitress for Applebees. Everything was normal for us, but that would soon change.

I remember coming home, late one Friday evening. Johnny was sleeping over at a friend’s for weekend, and I was looking forward to some alone time with James.

“Honey! I’m home!” I called out cheerfully.

When I didn’t get an answer, I was slightly worried, but not too worried. I knew when my husband was by himself, he would listen to music on headphones in his study. I could only giggle as I imagined my husband sitting in an easy chair, a pair of outdated headphones plugged into his outdated stereo, head bumping to the song, he was listening to, and his lips silently singing along. I giggled again as I made the small journey to the study.

I was planning on sneaking up on him and giving him a tickle attack, the usual treatment I gave him when he’s in his own world. Imagine my surprise when I found the room empty. In fact, it looked like no one has been in there for a couple of hours. Now I was starting to get worried. I knew my husband could sometimes work late, but the door was unlocked and his car was in the driveway, so where could he be?

A million thoughts raced through my mind in the blink of an eye. What if a pair of thieves had broken in? My husband is in good shape, but that’s only from working so long in a warehouse. He may be good in a fight, but when up against more than one, he forgets to watch his back.

And what if he had hurt myself by accident? I mean he could have slipped after taking a shower when he came home and seriously hurt himself. I mean, he could be bleeding to death and I wouldn’t have known about it, because I was forced to work an extra two hours because some stupid new girl didn’t show up for her shift.

“Honey?” I called out more stressfully as I ran from his private room, and hurried to the bathroom.

I was very relieved to find my husband staring at his right shoulder in the mirror. He seems transfixed on a sport on his shoulder and didn’t even seem to notice me yet. For some strange reason, that shoulder seem to click something in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t think straight for the time being.

I suddenly grew every angry. Here I thought that he was in some sort of trouble, and all he was doing was admiring his broad shoulders, not that I don’t mind looking at those shoulders myself. Still, he needed to pay for making me worry like I did.

I slowly crept up on him, a slight evil grin plastered on my face. He still hadn’t noticed me yet, which was weird. I knew from personal experience that he could see me perfectly from the bathroom mirror. So, why hadn’t he noticed me yet?

I was able sneak up right behind him without him even noticing, which was still weird. By this time, all of my anger had vanished, replaced with just playfulness. I pushed him suddenly and he let out a small gasp of surprise. He spun around, eyes wide. He relaxed when he noticed it was just me, grinning like a child who just scared her father.

“What was that for?” James asked with less emotion then I was expecting.

“For making me worried,” I said with my grin widening.

I expected him to come back with an witty comeback like he would normally do, but he just let out a faint sigh and turn back to the mirror. I could feel my playful mood slip away and my anger quickly resurface. What would be so fascinating that he would ignore his own wife when she was in a playful mood? Still, I tried to calm my temper. First rule of marriage, always try to be, understanding when needed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked in a soft, loving tone, and touched his shoulders.

I instantly noticed how tense they felt. But I also noticed something else, something I couldn’t place at the time, but it seemed familiar to me. My husband let out another sigh and grabbed my right hand softly. He twisted his head around, so we were staring directly in each other eyes. I saw a swirl of emotions, swimming in these onyx eyes of his. And it got me just a little afraid. I was starting to wonder - what was going on?

“I think, I may have a problem,” James said uncertainly. I just nodded, telling him to go on. He thought about it for moment, thinking of the best way to word he next sentence. “Well, I know this sound strange, but I think I’m...getting younger.”

I stared at him for a moment in confusion. Suddenly, I burst out laughing. I just laughed harder when I saw my husband’s face, filled with shock.

“HEHEHEHE!! Quit your goofing,” I said between my laughing fits.

“DAMN IT, Jessica, this is serious!” James said furiously.

I instantly stopped laughing when I heard my name. I knew it was bad when James swore, but it was even worse when he used my full name.

“Okay, say for a moment I believe you, what proof do you have?” I asked curiously.

James let out another sigh and placed the hand, he was still holding, onto his right shoulder. Again my mind clicked, telling me something wasn’t right.

“Remember, last year when I was in that accident at work?” James asked slowly.

I nodded, confused as to where he was going. I suddenly gasped as the memory of that day came rushing back to me. I remember James telling me that a new worker at his job has caused an accident, he had to push the new guy and himself out of the way of falling boxes. The end result was a scar on his right shoulder. The very shoulder he was forcing me to hold right now.

“So, it could have healed you know,” I said skeptically.

“After a year, I don’t think so Jessica,” James replied firmly.

I instantly saw the truth behind his words, and I was starting to see what was making my husband so tense. A light, suddenly went off in my head, as I remembered something from the camping trip we took three months earlier.

“Hold still for minute,” I told him quickly.

Before he had a chance to say a word, I begin running my hands through the hair at the back of his head while looking around his eyes. I easily found the spot where his hair was thinning out, but I was surprised to find it much thicker then I remembered. I also could barely see the small wrinkles that I remember seeing during our camping trip. It was then that I started to believe what my husband was saying.

“Now let’s not be rash here,” I said, trying to ease the tension I knew was forming. “How about we wait a while longer before we jump to conclusions.”

Okay, I knew I was just lying through my teeth at that one. Still James seemed to accept it because he nodded his agreement. After that we just decided to have dinner.

For the next few months, we watched my husband’s features very closely. I could see the wrinkles slowly but surely vanished from his face. And every night, I felt that spot on his head, noticing how much thicker his hair felt. Finally after four mouths, his wrinkles were gone and his hair was complete once again.

It didn’t takes us long to figure how this all started, and since Johnny was sleeping over at friend again, we wasted no time in going to where this mass started.

We found ourselves a few hours later, standing in the place where we usually went camping. We were looking down at a dirt hole that had once held the mysterious lake my husband had fallen into seven months ago.

“So now what?” James asked solemnly as he kneeled down, staring deeply into hole where the lake was.

“Maybe we should wait more,” I said comfortingly as I knelt down next to him and wrapped him in a hug. “Maybe it’s not that bad. I mean it took you seven months to lose two years.”

I knew I was lying through my teeth again, but it couldn’t be helped. Without the lake there was no way of knowing if this process could be stopped. Still I felt like there was no need to upset my husband anymore.

James let out a faint sigh and then looked at me in the eyes. I could see such emotions in his eyes. It made me more afraid than I had been four months ago.

“I wish I could believe that, I honestly do,” James said quietly.