When Kari came home she was livid, but kept her voice under a cold control. She said, "You want to play games? You don't know what a bitch I can be!" She added, "I hope you enjoy your last day teaching tomorrow." I asked what she meant, and she said she was going to school with information to make sure I never teach again. She also said she was going to call my ex-wife with information to make sure I'll never be able to see my daughter again. I knew what she was up to but there was nothing I could do about it that night.

Both the pastor and the counselor mentioned the thought of Kari having control issues. She lost control of our relationship when she quit working and became financially dependent on me, and the control was regained by her silence over the last couple weeks.

Friday at school everything went fine, though I waited all day long for a call from the principal... it never came. In no rush to get home, I stayed for the home football game that night. The tailgate party beforehand grew and this time I stayed for a while, enjoying in addition to the normal brats and burgers, steaks, venison, and the bear Dan had recently shot. I also enjoyed many hugs, high-fives, and handshakes.

I came home to an empty house. I continued the task of moving the last of my belongings from upstairs down. Next to my dresser I looked down to see a cloth bag of Kari's. Inside it was pictures I had taken of her from our first canoe trip together. What in hell? They were taken with my camera, my film, I paid for the developing... they were my pictures and future keepsakes of happier times. I went to claim them as my own and what I saw underneath shocked me, though I suppose it was not really unexpected.

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