Installment #22 Troubled Waters

     The first Saturday of every month Tucker spent in Colorado Springs at his motorcycle meeting.  Cynthia welcomed the break.  She caught up on house work, sewed, gardened, spent time with her family or read.  Through the week she attended her meetings, did charity work, lunched with friends, ran her little ebay store and generally enjoyed life.  Sunday she was always in church.  After church, she would stop by Tucker’s and they went to lunch more often than not. Sometimes they took a drive into the mountains.

     Cynthia loved to drive to Beulah and she and Tucker happened to find a little coffee shop that she fell in love with.  The Stompin’ Grounds was run by a lady named Jan, who was a devotee of John Lennon.  She was also a liberal and that did not sit well with Tucker.  So they did not go there again.  But Cynthia did.  She and Jan were friends and Tucker soon learned that Cynthia was a free thinker and a woman who chose her own path.  He did not like it, but that is how it was.  On this one point they both agreed to not discuss it any further.  And so it went.

     The election was coming up in November and it was beginning to get heated.  Tucker continued to watch Fox news and Cynthia continued to volunteer at Obama headquarters.  Tucker sometimes made remarks and Cynthia ignored them.  As the election got closer the remarks became more pointed. Cynthia only said “I will not discuss politics with you, Tucker.  You know that.”

     “If Obama gets in, the country is done!  Can’t you see that?  Don’t you see what he will do?  Are you that stupid?”

     Cynthia stopped breathing.  She very slowly stood up and started for the door.  Tucker drew himself up to his full 6’2” and glared down at her.  Cynthia had never seen this side of Tucker and it frightened her. 

     “You are a damned Liberal and you know it.  People like you will ruin this country and I will not stand for it.  Do you hear me?”

     Cynthia did not look back as she stepped quickly to the door, opened it, stepped through and closed it behind her.  She could hear Tucker ranting as she got in her car and closed and locked the door.  As she pulled away from the curb, Tucker came from the house and started across the yard.  She began to tremble as she turned on to Pearl and when she reached the Starbucks, she pulled to the curb and began to cry. 

     What had happened?  What in the world had just happened?  Tucker had scared her.  She had not been that frightened in years.  Her first husband had been abusive and she knew what fear was.  She was afraid of Tucker.  And it had happened so suddenly.  Was he that into the political scene that he could not control himself?  Cynthia was caught up in the Obama for Change movement, but not enough to react like Tucker.

     She turned her lights on, put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb.  She was sure of one thing, she would not call Tucker, nor would she be stopping by.  She could think of no way that this could be explained and make her feel comfortable and safe with Tucker again.