"Matt, phone for you. Sounds like a personal call." May, a co-worker, called out from across the office.
Matt pressed the button on his earset, "Hello, may I help you?" "Hi Matt, it's me, Kat."
That took a second or two to digest. He hadn't spoken to Kat in five years and this is someone we had once been fairly close to. "Kat . . . hi. What's up?" Matt tried to keep his voice even and calm.
"Umm, I know you're probably thinking alot of bad things about me and I just wanted to clear some things up." Kat stated. "Kat, I'm not thinking anything about you, I'm just trying to help my brother." Matt said plainly. "I know, but I wanted you to know that I'm not the one who filed for divorce, Frank did. I couldn't believe he did it actually. So, I didn't really have any choice." Kat seemed a little tense.
"Well, if you think you're still divorcing Frank, you're wrong; you're divorcing me now. He isn't capable of handling the case any longer. I guess you got the letter from social security." Matt stated calmly. The letter Kat got stated that Frank is considered disabled, and can no longer be employed, so social security would be taking care of child support for Eric and Frances. "Yeah, actually the extra money helps alot." Kat said gratefully. "How are the kids?" Matt asked "They're fine, they were actually really angry at me for a while. They kept asking why I did it . . . why I threw him out. They thought it was all my fault. Especially Frances, she cried for days. After a while it got easier though and they realized that we were much better off. You know, Frank got angry alot. Sometimes he would vacuum and he would start throwing the vacuum cleaner around. He even broke a few that way." Kat thought she was sounding sympathetic. "Kat, I need to ask you something. Did you ever notice a change in Frank's behavior? He's losing his ability to speak, and I'm wondering how long this has been going on for?" Matt asked. "After he lost his job at AT&T he laid on the couch alot. He actually slept there every night too. He just never got up; or sometimes he would go up in the attic and just sit and look out the window, for hours." Kat explained. Matt needed to ask this burning question, "What happened that day he called my mom and said he didn't consider her his mother any more? Do you know why he did that?" "You know, I heard him on the phone, but I didn't know what he was talking about. We didn't talk about it ahead of time or anything." Kat said in a higher, more shallow tone. "Well Matt, I just wanted you to know that I'm not the bad guy here, Frank started it."
"Okay Kat. I know my brother can be difficult. He's not always the easiest guy to get along with." Matt said honestly. "But still, I don't think he deserved this. He's desperate to see his kids again."
"Well, they're fine and they really don't ask about him any more. You know, Frank has been really dragging this divorce out. He just wouldn't settle it and it's getting very expensive. We need to finish this because Frances will be going to college next year and I'd like this settled when we have to apply for financial aid." Kat explained reasonably. Matt suddenly felt like they could work together to end this struggle once and for all. "Sounds good Kat, I'd be happy to have this over with too. Five years is too long to fight over nothing." Matt said.
"Alright, listen, I've got to get back to work, but good talking to you." Matt finished
"Alright, bye." Kat hung up.
Matt needed a few hours to ruminate on this conversation. Her argument about needing to settle the divorce soon sounded like a positive development, and if it was it would be the first positive thing to happen.
Matt came home and told me about his conversation with Kat. He said he kind of felt sorry for her because he knew Frank could be hard to get along with sometimes. I said, "Are you kidding? You mean you bought her whole story?" I asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. The part about Frances needing financial aid and all. It sounds reasonable." Matt explained. "No, she didn't call you to be friendly, she called you for a reason, but it's not what you're thinking. She knows you are running the show now and she's trying to get your sympathy. That girl is a viper, she has no soul. You know what she's done to Frank. She's turned him inside out. And why? Why you ask? Because he was mean to the . . . vacuum cleaner?? I wish you ran the vacuum cleaner. You don't even know where we keep it." I shouted half-joking, but mostly serious.
"Oh, and the part about how she just happened to be nearby when Frank called your mom, but she didn't know anything about it. Really? How could you buy that one? You know she put him up to it, and she was right there feeding him lines. That had her written all over it. " I needed to calm down.
"Come on Susie, you're being too harsh. She's not that bad." Matt tried to reassure me.
"Oh please. I don't buy a single word of it. How about the kids. I've heard Eric ask about his dad when he talks to Brett over XBox Live. One time Brett asked him if he wanted to talk to his dad because Frank was here and Eric said he was afraid his mom would find out and he would be in trouble." I said. "Oh, I don't know about that." Matt replied skeptically. "It's true. Brett told me." I answered.
"Listen, she always was a liar, and she still is. Do not buy what she's selling you." I said strongly.
"Alright Susie, you're always right." Matt said sarcastically.
Here we go again getting angry over battles that aren't even ours.
I thought to myself, "Just wait till she gets Nicholas Zinc's letter."
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