Wedding Ring

Arthur and his wife Elaine were having some serious marital difficulties. It seemed that they were always arguing. The nature of the arguments seemed to be fairly petty, but they grew to be such horrible rows. After each argument, Elaine would go off on her own, and often she would cry. She wondered how could such a small thing grow into such a foul fight. Sometimes, it would be such small things as her suggesting an alternative route to reach a destination in the car, or they would argue about the amount of time and money Elaine spent taking care of her elderly parents. In all reality, they were not big issues. Elaine would cry because the man she loved seemed to disapprove of all that she did or said. But most of all, Elaine could not understand why her husband was so heartless, and so unaffected by their rows. He never came to comfort her afterwards, or attempt to make up later on. He never looked sorry that the fight had occurred, only bitter. He always looked so self justified, and when he saw his wife crying, he looked at her as if to say, "That's right; suffer." And this is what hurt her the most, and perhaps what perpetuated their conflict. And so she wept.

On one of these occasions, the two were in such a huge uproar over some matter. There was screaming and hollering, each trying to be heard over the other. Arthur's words came like thunder, loud and piercing. Still screaming out to him, Elaine burst into tears. She wept as though her heart had broken into a thousand pieces. She cried out, "I just can't take this any more!" as she pulled off her wedding ring and threw it to the floor. She stormed out of the house and ran down the street. Arthur did not follow her. Instead, in his false victory, he took a beer out of the fridge, and he sat watching television for the rest of the night, feeling bitter.

Elaine did not return that night. Nor did she return the second or the third night. Arthur moved about the house feeling rather smug and satisfied. All the while, he avoided the ring that had fallen to the floor. He walked over it or around it, ignoring it as though it were a spot of dust. Almost a week had passed, and not a sign of Elaine. And so, sitting there in his favourite chair, Arthur finally brought himself to gaze upon the fallen ring. Its presence now captured his focus, and would not let it go. No matter how much he tried to look away, he could not. He got up out of his seat, and he bent down to pick it up. As he did, and he looked at the detail of the small diamonds, and the inscription on the inside surface, he broke down. Tears poured from the eyes of this hardened man, and he wept like he had never allowed himself to do so before; uncontrollably. For he now realised that his wife was gone.