A Suspected Affair [FICTOID]

“Are you sleeping with Madge, my hairdresser?” Ethel asked.

Lester looked at his wife as if she’d had a stroke.

“Answer me!” she shouted.

“Don’t make a commotion,” Lester said.  “No, I’m not.”

With a scowl, Ethel took out a checklist.  “What about Gladys, who works at the ranch as a stock rider?”

“No,” said Lester.

“Penny?” 

“Who?”

“The songbird down at the Mango Magpie Café?”

“Oh, hell, no, Ethel!”

Ethel folded her list and put it away,” she said in an almost simpering tone, “but I see so many suspicious signs in our marriage…”

Lester kissed her chastely on her forehead.  “Darling, I’ll never cheat on you.”

. . .

The next day, over a three martini business lunch, Lester told his story to Stanley.

“Ethel doesn’t know you’re having an affair with your secretary and half the steno pool?” Stanley asked.

“Not only that, but I have three new names,” said Lester.

© Buzz Dixon