Agreement with the Enemy - Puddle (19.)
He kept forgetting that we were divorced. He couldn't let go of his sense of ownership. It bothered me a lot, but I had nowhere else to go. I couldn't go back to my mother. Out of desperation, I even placed an ad in a dating magazine, but that was a disaster. I soon realized that this was not the way forward and obediently resigned myself to the situation. And so we continued to play the role of a functioning family.
There were times when he clearly enjoyed my helplessness. It was as if he was mocking me. The more our relationship fell apart, the more he professed his love for me. It was hypocrisy that I didn't believe and that drove me crazy. But more on that later.
Around that time, his favorite neighborhood bar closed down. The farewell party was a big one. We finished off the stock, danced on the tables, and the travesty show we had booked ended in the early hours of the morning with a wild ride on heavy machines right in the restaurant. Thus ended one of the periods of our young neighborhood.
I must admit that I have fond memories of this period. A good group of people used to get together there, and nowhere else was it so lively. Some of the regulars moved to a somewhat more luxurious establishment in the neighboring housing estate. It was a bit further away, but not so far that it couldn't be reached by a pleasant walk.
And because we had a dog, we went out into nature more often. The Brdy forests stretched out around our cottage. I already mentioned that there was a nice pub at the local swimming pool, where we would go mushroom picking. It was really beautiful there and they had excellent beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but when I do have a beer, I want to enjoy it. And here I liked the wonderfully thick, almost creamy foam.
Of course, he liked this beer too. He wasn't lazy about walking, as he often liked to say, so he walked and walked. With the dog, of course. Not many people walked their dogs as often as he did. He was just a good guy. When we went to the woods, the poor animal couldn't understand why we didn't turn into the swimming pool area. He accidentally revealed to his owner that his walks had another purpose.
Our furry friend was a lot of fun. Dachshunds are renowned hunters and burrowers. Once, we went mushroom picking. We passed the incriminating place, waved to our local friends drinking red wine, and continued on our way. It had rained, but the sun was beating down again. On the way, we had to avoid lots of deep, muddy puddles. The kind that had been there for a while.
But a dog is a dog, and there are lots of smells in the forest that are tempting. Of course, he ran off. He didn't respond to anything. So we sat down near one of the puddles and waited for our hunter to get tired enough to come back.
We saw him in the distance to the left, then to the right. After an hour, he finally appeared. His face was haggard, his expression slightly Mongoloid, his tongue hanging out, and he could barely walk. He hardly noticed us and headed straight for the puddle. He stretched out as long and wide as he could. With mud almost halfway up his body, he enjoyed his mud bath with a completely blissful expression.
When he had wallowed in the mud enough, and really got it out of his system, he looked at us as if to say, "Well? Are we going? What are you waiting for?" He stank to high heaven, but he obviously didn't mind. At the cottage, we had to hose him down. He wasn't exactly thrilled, but what could we do?
17. I'm sorry – Our relationship was just up and down. I know it's my fault. I'm not mad at you at all. I've never been good at endings, so we tortured each other instead of just walking away. But the moments with the dog were nice. We loved him. All of us. He basically brought us together, helped us solve problems, and healed our souls. You could have at least spared me the mockery. We were divorced. I probably should have explained it better, but I preferred to hide in my shell and convince myself that everything would be fine one day. Stupid.
