"Automatic" 1 of 3

Marcus stood in the kitchen with his wife Lonnie as she poured herself some coffee. He had his lunch already packed before she had even awoken. He just stared at her as she added more cream to her coffee and took another sip. He sighed as he grabbed his car keys and headed out the door. He stopped just before closing the door.

"Did you say something?" he asked Lonnie.

"No" she replied as she took another sip of her coffee and twisted her face. She walked over to the sink and poured it down the drain. "Yeah?" she asked.

"Nothing" Marcus said as he closed the door.

As he fished for his car keys he thought about the way his marriage had been for the past ten years. It started off fine. After dating for more than four years he and Lonnie thought that the next logical step was marriage. Their families actually loved each other and their friends were mutual. When they got married the wedding was big, loud, and beautiful.

A few years later they were blessed with the birth of their son Angelo. He has grown into a smart, kind, and athletic child. Marcus looked back at the kitchen window and saw as his wife poured the entire pot of coffee down the drain. "Little things like this is what kills people" Marcus thought to himself. When a wife doesn't kiss her husband goodnight. When a wife tells her husband that he's "stupid" in front of friends. When a wife sleeps with him only on birthdays, holidays, and every fifth Wednesday because she has nothing to watch. When she pours an entire pot of coffee down the drain that he spent hard earned money buying just so she could sit at home and drink Crystal Light and watch daytime talk shows.

Marcus climbed into his car and began reversing when suddenly a bike flies behind his car. He slammed on the breaks and gasped. He looked and saw that it was his son Angelo. He sighed and continued backing up. As he headed towards work he slowed when he neared his son.

"Be careful out here, Angelo!" he shouted.

"I will!" he shouted back. "What we having for dinner?" he asked.

"Whatever your mama cooks for us!" Marcus replied as he waved and continued driving to work. What he wanted to say was "Let's hope she can peal her ass off the couch long enough to throw something in the stove that we can pretend to enjoy later!" He drove and the thought of his life without Lonnie played in his head. The problem was that they had all the same friends. Their families talked to each other independently.
They were closer than he was with his own wife.

Marcus pulled into his parking spot at the car dealership. It took him fifteen years just to be able to park on the same block as his job. Lonnie always told him to quit this job. "As if she could give anyone advice about work!" Marcus laughed to himself. He sat in his car for a few minutes because he always got to work early. Really early. He sat and reached underneath the seat until he found a small brown paper bag. He removed a small bottle of whiskey and took a long, slow swig. He looked in his rearview mirror and shook his head. He checked his hair and saw a few gray hairs. Marcus took another quick drink before popping a stick of gum into his mouth.

Lonnie walked around the house and searched the closet for evidence. She was sure that Marcus was cheating on her. She checked his collars for lipstick or the smell of perfume. She looked for condom wrappers. She looked for love notes. She checked his computer for messages from women. She found nothing. This seemed to make her more upset. She placed everything as it was and went into the living room to watch television for the day.

At some point in the afternoon Angelo came inside asking what was for lunch. Lonnie pretended to sleep and not hear him. She listened as he sighed and went looking through the cabinets for something to eat. "Just like his father" she thought. Always wanting more. More toys. More clothes. More bikes. The bikes bothered her more than anything because he was always wrecking them. His last three were run over by Marcus while he was backing out of the driveway. She heard Angelo find something he liked because he actually said "Ooh!" as he ran back outside. Lonnie would be very happy once summer was over and she had the house to herself once again.

"When did this happen?" Lonnie thought to herself as he flipped through the channels. I used to party every weekend with Marcus. We used to have friends over. We used to make love every night, sometimes multiple times. Was it when Angelo was born? Was it when the wrinkles started to appear around her eyes and it took her half an hour to apply make up and not ten minutes? She knows what kills a marriage. When a husband stops telling his wife she's beautiful. When a husband dances with her friends more than his own wife. When a husband doesn't even try to have sex with his wife. When he leaves for work without trying to kiss her goodbye.

These are the things that kill people, love, and marriage.

Marcus' job was to lie. "This is the car for you." "This is the last car you will ever buy." "You can drive out of this lot today if you sign on the dotted line!" Sometimes it was hard for him to turn it off. He would take longer to answer simple questions Lonnie asked him. He knew it sounded suspicious when she would ask him why he was getting home so late smelling like he just put cologne on and he took a moment to answer.

He couldn't tell her it was because he was at the bar at the other end of town getting drunk enough to face his wife after spending the day making money that he never saw. And that spraying cologne all over himself covered the smell of smoke and liquor.

He left work and drove towards the bar. It was over half an hour out of the way of the nearest bar to his home but he did not want to bump into anyone he knew. He was halfway there and changed his mind. "Not tonight" he thought to himself as he turned and headed towards home. Marcus was so tired of running from his wife.

He wanted to go home. He didn't have to talk to her. He could enjoy an adult beverage at home. When did he go from angry with his wife to scared of her? He had been drinking all day. At first it started with having a sip before punching in. Then it became during his lunch breaks. Then it became after work. Then it became right before he went to sleep.

Marcus drove slowly.

He was trying his best to enjoy every free moment he had before he got home and had to listen to all the reasons why he was a loser. He remembered the time Lonnie made a joke about how he lasted only a few moments in bed in front of his friends. He kept his mouth shut but inside he was boiling. They road home talking and laughing but every giggle she made and every smirk she showed made him remember that day. He sped up. He thought of that time she knocked a glass of wine on his shirt that she told him she hated right before they left for a very important meeting at his job.

He drove even faster.

As he rounded the corner towards his house he was driving well past 70mph. His eyes were slits of anger. He was going to tell Lonnie how he really felt. He was going to ask for a divorce. No. He was going to demand a divorce. He would get Angelo seeing as how she never spent anytime with him anyway.

He pictured her sitting on the couch right now. A drink in one hand and the TV Guide in the other. He turned into his driveway and felt the car jump twice. He knew that he had just destroyed another one of Angelo's bikes. He jumped out of his car full of fire. He shouted for Angelo to come and get his bike. He looked under the car and jumped back. He landed on his rear and crawled towards the underside and saw the bike. But on the bike was Angelo.

"Oh, Jesus, no…" Marcus muttered while he tried to pull Angelo from underneath the vehicle. He pulled hard enough to make something in Angelo's leg crack. He dropped him and wiped his mouth. He did not see the blinds moving in his home. He looked down the street and saw no neighbors out and about.

Scrambling back into his car he rolled back, two bumps making his car jump and his heart drop. He climbed back out and threw Angelo into the back seat. He pulled out of his driveway and sped away.

"You'll be okay, son!" Marcus shouted. Angelo lay in the back seat in a very unnatural position. As he drove he started screaming. His screams quickly became cries of pain. "We're going to get you to a hospital and get you taken care of, alright?" He looked into his passenger seat and a bloody Angelo sat there. Marcus screamed. "You aren't real!"

"Where are you taking me?" a horribly bruised Angelo asked. "You can't take me to the doctor. You can't call the police either. They'll ask how this all happened. Man, pop. You smell like a bar" Angelo said as he wiped the blood from his face and stared at it. "I'm just a kid, you know? How did this happen?"

"Shut up, Angelo!" Marcus shouted. "I'll take care of you!"

"Great job so far, dad" Angelo said as he rubbed the back of his head. When he looked at his hand blood dripped from it. "Mom was right about you, you know?"

Marcus closed his eyes and made a u-turn. He pulled onto a street not too far from his own. Angelo watched him from the passenger seat and smiled. Marcus swung the back door open and grabbed Angelo's body and threw it into the street. He looked around quickly and then jumped into his car and sped away. He looked in his rear view and saw Angelo standing over his own body and waving to him. Marcus ducked his head and made his way back home.

"Your mother wasn't right about me, son" Marcus said to himself. "I love you, Angelo."

Lonnie looked out the window just as Marcus drove away. She thought she heard a crash and saw Angelo's bike laying on the ground mangled. She laughed to herself and headed back to the kitchen. While pouring another glass of wine she stared at her wedding ring. It felt like it weighed a ton. She tried to pull it off but had gained weight since it was first placed on. She took a long gulp from the wine bottle before placing it back into the refrigerator. Walking back into the living room she stopped at the couch and sat down hard.

She wondered how she would tell Marcus that she wanted a divorce. She imagined that he would pretend to be upset about it. Deep down she knew that he wanted one but was just too afraid to ask for one. She smiled to herself as she imagined him asking for one and telling him "No!" just to spite him.

She imagined sitting in court fighting for custody and watching Marcus squirm as his public defender attempted to explain why Marcus was still working as a car salesman after all these years. She pictured Marcus arriving every weekend to pick Angelo up and having her new boyfriend answering the door.
Lonnie smiled as she looked at her wine glass in confusing. She did not remember drinking it.

Marcus sped back towards his home. There was no Angelo sitting next to him. There was no Angelo laying in the back seat. He checked his rear view and did not see his son waving at him with a blood soaked hand. He stopped at a corner and looked at the back seat. There was blood all over the seats and floor. He turned his car around and headed towards a car wash. He fumbled with his change as he placed quarters into the shampoo machine. He shot a pink fluid into his car as a few customers watched him in confusion. He opened his trunk and pulled a hard scrub brush out.

"A skunk got into my car" Marcus said as a woman stared at him. "Smells terrible" he mumbled as he scrubbed furiously. The blood came out easily and he used a towel to wipe up the excess suds away. He even checked the passenger seat in case the Angelo phantom had left some blood. While using an air dryer on the seats he tried to figure out what to do. He could not just go home and pretend nothing happened. He could not tell Lonnie what had happened. He threw the dryer on the ground and sped away.

"Good job" Angelo said. He was back in the passenger seat staring at his father. "I wonder what mama is going to say about this" he said while staring at the backseat. "I don't think she will be too upset because she didn't seem to like me all that much." Angelo smiled at his father as a trickle of blood ran down his eye.

"Of course she is going to miss you!" Marcus shouted. "She's your mother!"

"Whatever, dad" Angelo said. He began climbing into the backseat and rolling around.

"What are you doing?!" Marcus asked.

"Having some fun" Angelo giggled as he smeared the back of his blood-covered head on the windows. "Are you going to jail?"

"No" Marcus said. He licked his lips and blinked very hard which was his "tell." Whenever Marcus was lying or feeling guilty he would lick his lips so much you would think he were dying of thirst. He blinked so hard that he would get headaches. Co-workers called him "Blinks" and "Smacks" because of his behavior while selling cars. "I'll never go to jail because I did not do anything wrong."

"Uh, hello?" Angelo said as he waved his bloody hand in his fathers face. Angelo was back in the passenger seat and trying to turn the radio on.

"Stop that, Angelo" Marcus said. He turned onto his street and pulled into the front of his house. He saw Angelo's bike sitting in the driveway and dragged it into the backyard. As he passed the kitchen window he could look into the living room and see Lonnie passed out on the couch with an empty wine glass hanging from her hand. He threw Angelo's bike on the ground. He opened the back entrance and quietly came into the house. He looked at his hands and saw blood under his nails and on his sleeves. He tore his shirt off and threw it in the washing machine.

He went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. He stared into the mirror and wiped his brow. It was not the steam from the shower that was causing him to perspire. As he stared at himself the mirror began to fog. As his face became a blur of his former self he wondered how long it would be until he would be checking his reflection from inside a prison cell.

After showering he toweled off and put on a pair of sweat pants and a shirt. He went into the living room and Lonnie was sitting up and watching television. He sat down next to her and she moved away from him. Just slightly, but just enough to let him know that she would rather not sit next to him.

"You're home early" Lonnie said as she eyed her empty wine bottle.

"Yeah" Marcus said. "What you do today?" Marcus asked.

"That" Lonnie said while pointing at the wine bottle. "Have you seen Angelo?" she asked.

"No" Marcus said. "I was at work all day."

"Is that what you call it?" Lonnie asked as she turned towards Marcus.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marcus replied. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Marcus looked at the door and back at Lonnie. She shrugged. Marcus walked over to the door and opened it slowly. There was a police officer at the door.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir" the officer said. "But are you Mr. Marcus Reynolds?"

"Yes" Marcus said. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry to inform you but we have found your son, an Angelo Reynolds, dead" the officer said. Marcus slammed the door shut. The officer knocked again. Marcus opened the door again and the officer held his hand up before Marcus could speak. "It's okay, Mr. Reynolds. I have seen all kinds of reactions to this kind of news. May I come inside?"

"Yes, of course" Marcus said. "This is my wife, Lonnie" Marcus said. Lonnie sat with a blank expression on her face. Marcus motioned for the officer to sit down. "How did this happen?" Marcus asked as he licked his lips.

"It appears it was a hit and run" the officer said. "By the way, my name is Officer Jorge Perez" he said as he shook Marcus' hand. He reached towards Lonnie but she only looked at him. "We found his…body a few blocks away."

"What kind of monster would do this?" Marcus asked.

"There are a lot of bad people out there, Mr. Reynolds" Officer Perez said. "But I want to assure you that we will find the person or persons that did this. I will leave you two alone now. Here's my card. Be sure to call me whenever you need to" Perez said as he handed his card to Marcus. They shook hands as Officer Perez stood and exited.

"Are you okay, honey?" Marcus asked Lonnie.

"I need a drink" she replied.