The Story Behind the Ad

Bonnie’s Blog Box is back online after a couple of months hiatus!  This post is a new genre for me–fiction.  This month my Writers Group was challenged to find an ad in the paper and write a piece of fiction telling the story behind it.  This is the story behind the ad I found ….

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One year ago, Marcia Travers’ life seemed fairytale-perfect.  Her husband, world-famous plastic surgeon, Dr. Jonathon Travers, was a department head at the university hospital and his patients included the rich and famous.  The Travers’ lifestyle reflected those connections.  Marcia’s children were out of college, well into their own careers.  Social circles and volunteer activities filled her calendar.  Life was comfortable and perfect —or so she thought.

Everything changed at a luncheon with friends last November.  Following a hospital auxiliary board meeting, the doctors’ wives impulsively decided to stop at an out-of-the-way bistro before going home.  Marcia was quietly sipping her espresso and enjoying the friendly banter between two of her friends when she happened to glance at the couple seated at a table across the room.  Even though the man had his back to her, she recognized him.  Jonathon! Jonathon, supposedly out-of-town on business, sat there holding hands with a stunning blonde the age of his daughter and staring deeply into her azure eyes. Marcia stood, walked over to their table, and poured her espresso over Jonathon’s balding head, down the front of his Armani suit, all the way to the toes of his Wingtip shoes.  With Jonathon sputtering and the doctors’ wives gaping, she abruptly left the building and drove home.

The months following were a blur—the confrontation, the divorce, the slow realization that life as she knew it had ended.  After the messy court settlement, it became clear that Jonathon supported his lavish lifestyle far beyond what he could afford.  The yacht was on loan, the estate in the Hampton’s double-mortgaged, the cottage on Martha’s Vineyard foreclosed, and the ski villa at Lake Tahoe had a tax lien against it.  After all was said and done, Martha was left with little.

The title to her Lexis was solely in Jonathon’s name, as was all other property of value.  He’d seen to that over the years, with Marcia s none-the-wiser.  She’d been carefree about spending his money and never bothered to understand his finances.  Ironically, being the sole-owner also left Jonathon alone to deal with the horde of creditors descending on the Travers’ home following the divorce.  Marcia was free to walk away and start a new life.

Getting back on her feet would be difficult because she’d never finished college.  After getting her MRS Degree when she married a handsome pre-med student the summer after her junior year, she saw no need to continue with boring college classes.  Why would she?  She knew she could live comfortably on his income as a doctor, so she worked as a waitress to support him during his years of medical school, residency, and specialty training.  Now, faced with the prospect of supporting herself, she was too old to return to her waitressing career.  This morning she placed an ad to teach beginner-level piano lessons for $10 per hour.