The Punishment

Don had not meant to strike his wife. He loved her very much and told her this as many times as he could. What had happened that night was that he had lost his temper. He had been to an important meeting and had come home late. It had been his wife’s mother birthday and he was supposed to have taken his family for the celebration. He had not forgotten. He had expected the meeting to end early but it had dragged on. He could not call his wife because the meeting was important and the boss was in a bad mood. By the time Don had come home his wife and children had gone. He had been tired so he had just dozed off in front of the TV. His wife had come back and almost immediately had shouted at him. He had begged her to stop, but she would not. Things had come to a head when she had insulted his parents so he had slapped her.

Next morning she did not wake up early to make his breakfast. Don was miserable; he had never slapped his wife before. He decided to buy her some flowers that day to make up. He would take her out to dinner that night and apologize to her. He looked at her sleeping and then went to work. The day dragged on and finally it was time to go home. Don rushed to the flower shop and bought a bunch of roses; then he hurried home. At home, no one answered the door bell. He let himself in and saw that no one was home. A cold feeling gripped his heart.

He went to the phone and started to call all their friends and relatives to ask if his family was with them. Everyone expressed surprise said that she was not. Don did not know what to do. He decided to wait until the next day to search for her. Next day, he took leave and continued calling all his friends. By the afternoon he still did not know where she was. He became frantic then he panicked and started running about to all the places where she could have gone to. No one knew where she had gone and he even made a police report. Then he decided to be patient and wait.

A few days later, he received a registered letter from a lawyer. His wife was filing for divorce. He sat down with the letter in his hands while tears rolled down his cheeks. He was sure that the punishment she was meting out to him was far in excess of the crime he had committed.