Harold Loved His Cake

It was a warm spring day in the city, traffic was heavy on the highway, so Mildred took the exit that led to the factory where her husband Harold was a foreman. “I wonder if Harold is busy today, he’s been working so hard,” she thought as she drove by the factory.

She drove by and stopped at a red light, as she waited for the light to change, a man getting out of a pickup truck in a motel parking lot caught her eye. It was her husband of twenty years, she watched as he got out of the truck and walked around to the passenger door and opened it.

The driver behind Mildred honked his horn, jolting Mildred out of her angry funk. She drove up the street and did a U-turn. She entered the parking lot of the motel just as Harold and the young woman entered a room.

Mildred sobbed as she sat in the parking lot, her eyes didn’t leave the door of the motel room. “I’ve had it,” she whispered as she put her car in gear and left the parking lot.

Before Mildred went home, she stopped at a Hardware store and then a grocery store. She felt a lot better about things when she got home.

She was going grocery shopping anyway, but she hadn’t planned on baking Harold’s favorite cake. “Today is special.” Mildred thought as the aroma of the baking cake permeated the small house.

“I should have seen the signs.” Mildred thought as the tears flowed. “I thought he was working late, and he was always so clean when he came home.” She realized that he was taking showers before he returned from lunch to wash away the evidence.

“Well, he should enjoy his favorite cake,” She took the cake pans from the oven and carefully took the layers from them, and sat them on the waiting paper towels to cool.

The cake layers were ready for the icing an hour before Harold was due home. Mildred smiled as she operated the mixer. “I should get a few drinks into him before I cut him a slice.” She was glad there was Bourbon in the house.

Harold walked through the door and headed to the kitchen and sat his lunchbox on the counter. “How was your day honey?” Mildred asked as she opened the oven door and placed the pan of Lasagna inside. “Dinner will be ready soon; I know how much you love my Lasagna.”

Mildred took the bottle of Bourbon from the shelf and grabbed a clean glass from the drain tray. “You must have had a rough day, how about a drink?” Harold muttered as he accepted the drink and headed to the living room without another word.

An hour later, Mildred watched as Harold finished the piece of chocolate cake. “I’m surprised the glutton doesn’t lick it clean.” Mildred fought a sneer, but the sneer turned into a grin when Harold bent over and grabbed his gut; within seconds, he was rolling in his own vomit on the floor as the seizures began.

“What a God-awful stink,” Mildred gasped. She waited several minutes until she was sure Harold was dead. Then she went to the phone and called her brother. “Hey Freddy, how ya doin? She talked to her brother for several minutes, then she hung up the phone and waited.

“About time,” She thought as she went to the door and let her big brother into the house. Freddy walked in, carrying a duffel bag. “Thank you, Freddy, I appreciate your help.”

“No problem sis, I’m surprised you didn’t kill him sooner, I always knew he was no good.” As he talked, Freddy opened the duffel bag and took out a plastic tarp and a roll of duct tape.

They cleaned up the house, by then it was dark outside. They picked up Harold’s body and took it outside to his pickup. “Don’t follow too close, and watch your speed. I can’t afford another fall; I’ll get Life next time.” Freddy said, as he got into the pickup and backed out of the driveway with Harold’s body in the bed.

Mildred followed her brother to the construction site where he worked as a welder. She watched as Freddy took a shovel from the bed of the truck and dug a shallow grave. He dragged the body from the bed of the truck and threw it in the hole.

“Help me fill the hole, we don’t have much time,” Freddy said, as Mildred took the extra shovel from the bed. It seemed to take forever, but in no time at all, Harold was buried.

They tamped down the earth over the grave; then they covered it with debris. When they were finished, they headed back to the vehicles. “We’re headed to a seedy part of town,” Freddy said, as he got into the cab of Harold’s pickup. We’re abandoning the pickup there, I’ll leave the keys in the ignition, I’m banking on it getting stolen before the night’s over.”

Mildred followed her brother, they left the pickup downtown, then they went back to the house. Call the cops in another hour or so,” Freddy told his sister. “Be patient, it takes five years gone missing before you can declare someone dead.”

They talked a few minutes more, then Freddy left for home. He needed to get cleaned up before he had to go to work. Mildred cleaned up some more, whistling while she worked. She waited four hours before she called the cops.

Five Years Later:

Mildred stretched on the folding beach chair and smiled when she saw the much younger man return with their Mai-Tais. “Here you go Millie,” John said as he handed Mildred her drink. “Do you want to swim some more, or go back to your room?”

Mildred thought for a heartbeat, as she looked at the muscular man sitting next to her, who was young enough to be her son. “Let’s take our drinks up to our room, we can go for a swim after.”

Mildred had the time of her life, and she never thought of Harold again.