Sad, Sad Sadie

by Jusdealem

Sadie couldn't find her keys, she was running late again. As she rummaged through her beige Coach bag, for the third time in ten minutes, she softly cursed, gave up and headed for the liquor cabinet. Pouring herself a Stoli rocks, she caught her image in the mirror above the wet bar. Her $800 highlights framed her pretty, slightly botoxed face and she declared Marco, her metrosexual stylist, a genius. She was rather enamored of Marco, having once even gone so far as to invite him home with her for the afternoon. "Only if I can bring along a friend." he'd teased.
She'd been so lonely the past year. Ever since her husband had been murdered in their upscale suburban driveway, Sadie had been simply lost. The local police had thought Dan's death to be a random gang initiation or a botched robbery attempt. There weren't any clues and not a suspect, nor murder weapon had ever been found. Sadie knew, though. She knew why her husband of fifteen years was dead and more importantly, she knew who was responsible for the single bullet that had pierced his heart, his lifeless body crumpled beside her beloved Daffodil.

In their early years, Dan and Sadie had been inseperatable. Two energetic, highly motivated success seekers. Both had come from dirt poor families and they were determined to break the chain, so to speak, by emassing an empire. Their intricate business plan was two years in the making, but was instantly and hugely successful. With their dreams realized, Sadie looked forward to her husband being able to relax and spend more time with her. That was not to be the case, however. The success seemed to distance Dan even more and he began drinking excessively, which made him increasingly pugnacious. She didn't give up on their marriage, though, instead she tried even harder to gain her husband's attention. It worked occasionally, enough to keep her challenged, if not exactly in love.

It was right after their fifth anniversary that Dan decided to take up politics, as well as a new assistant, who Sadie swore was a stripper. Over the years, he'd become quite erudite in the workings of the local political scene and this knowledge set in motion a series of byzantine plots and plans that he hoped would eventually see him elected as mayor of this small, but growing community.

Of course, the new assistant soon became a nightly argument between them. Sadie demanded Dan fire her and insisted that she, more than anyone else, should be his assistant. He grew so irritated with his wife's arguments that instead of coming home late as he usually did, he began not coming home at all. This only served to exacerbate Sadie's anger and she found herself contemplating killing the man. Unable to find enough hatred to do so, she decided to try another approach; she would confront the assistant.

The assistant, Tammy, agreed to meet Sadie downtown at a coffee shop called The Brew Guru. As Tammy walked through the door, Sadie felt an overwhelming desire to rid this woman from her husband's life, the pain was simply ineffable. Tammy would not be swayed, though, even openly admitting her love for Dan. Upon leaving their meeting, she remembered a distant cousin of hers who would know exactly how to handle this situation.

Jimmy was a small time con artist and all-around scofflaw with connections in the criminal world. He'd served a few years in a federal prison for money laundering, as well as other shady shenanigans, but he had been able to beat the murder rap that he was facing. They met in the park on a breezy Sunday afternoon, by Thursday, Tammy had disappeared. She was never seen again.

Afterwards, Dan seemed almost relieved and their relationship returned to the normalcy of the pre-Tammy days and stayed that way for the next few years. Inevitably, though, Dan returned to his old ways and more affairs arose. Finally, Sadie could take it no longer; last year, she made one last call to her cousin Jimmy.

As she sat there, sipping her Stoli, she noticed her keys were on the bar, next to a picture of her and Dan at Cape Cod. "To Hell with this blind date", she said to her dead husband, "I'm not going." Then she drained the last of her drink and took the picture in the silver frame with her to bed.