A Night Out

"Hi Ms. Dewen!" A sharp-looking young woman smiled from the doorstep.

"Oh, you must be Kathy! Come in!" Jane smiled. She pulled the door open a little wider as Kathy stepped inside.

"Wow! your house is a lot nicer than any of the others I've seen!"

"Thank you Kathy. Now, I have a few things that need to be taken care of, so there's a list in the kitchen. Keep an eye on the baby, and remember, you need to put the turkey in at exactly 9:00 so it's done when we get back."

"Oh no problem Ms. Dewen! I can do that!" Kathy grinned widely. "After all, it is my job."

"Thanks a lot. We'll be back at 12:00, so you can crash on the couch if you get tired." James entered the room and waved, picking his jacket from the chair back. "Have a good night!"

"You too Ms. and Mr. Dewen! Enjoy yourselves!" Kathy waved, carrying the baby in the crook of her arm. "I'll take care of everything!"

James got behind the wheel. "Everything going to be okay?"

"Oh James," Jane replied. "Can we spend one night for ourselves? I mean, ever since the baby was born, we haven't had time between changing diapers and cleaning up."

"Okay okay!" James grinned. "I'm glad too. I mean, I love Jason too, but I'd enjoy a night out."

Jane looked outside. "Where are we going?"

"Oh, it's a surprise. You'll see."

***

Soon afterwards, they pulled into a parking lot. "Oh James, are you sure we can afford this?"

"Shh, it's our one night of fun. Nothing is too much." He opened the door and let Jane out. "After spending so much on the baby, we deserve a treat."

The tables were clean, the waiters were uniformed, and the food smelt delicious. The constant chatter of dinner guests made comfortable background noise and the clinks of dinner plates and glasses sounded familiar to their ears. They were soon seated, given menus and served drinks while they selected their meal.

"I hear that the steak here is good." James perused the menu. "But seafood has always been my thing..."

"I'm going to go for seafood. Maybe you can get steak, and we can share?" Jane looked at him coyly.

James grinned and called the waiter over. "Yeah, I'll have the steak please."

***

Dinner conversation was pleasant and involving. It had been a while since the two had time to themselves, and they took full advantage of it.

"We should do this every week."

"We should."

"...Do you think everything is okay at home?"

"Oh, come on. Don't think about that; instead, think about what we're going to do after."

The conversation slowly blended into the surrounding noise, became part of the aural wallpaper in the room. The couples at the tables were all enjoying themselves: staring into their partner's eyes, holding hands gently, and whispering thoughts and secrets.

***

It was not until 12:30 that the couple got home. Dinner had been a few hours before, and the twinges of hunger were just starting to settle in.

"Kathy! We're home!" James popped open the door.

"Oh, Mr. Dewen. Did you have a good time?" Kathy slowly got up off the sofa.

"We did! Thank you Kathy, you look really tired. Maybe you better get some sleep at home." Jane picked a number of bills off her purse. "Here's your pay. We'll call you if we need anything else."

Kathy yawned and took the money sleepily. "Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Dewen..." she mumbled as she walked out the door.

"What a nice girl." Jane walked into the kitchen where James was checking on the turkey. "Hey! Don't do that!"

James looked up with a piece of meat in his hand. He popped it into his mouth. "Oh come on, it's good! And you gotta admit, I thought she would have screwed up somehow, you know, undercooked it or something."

He held his fingers to his wife's mouth. She kissed them gently, tasting the oily food on his hands. "Mmm..."

They quickly retreated to the bedroom. Things went down (and up), and in an hour, both were exhausted, sweating and breathing heavily.

"That was great. We should go out more often."

"Whew... yeah. Wanna call it a night?"

"Oh yeah. Just let me check on Jason, I hope we didn't wake him up."

Jane stepped out of the room as James pulled his pajamas on. Then he heard a shriek and a thud. "Jane?"

He hopped out of the room, with his leg halfway in his pants. "Jane? Are you okay?"

He opened the door to the baby room. Jane lay on the floor, fainted in a sprawl, and Jason lay in bed with his blanket covering his body.

"Jason? Are you okay?" James reached for the blanket. "Lil' buddy? Are you okay?" He pulled back the covers.

The final sight James saw before his heart seized was a cold, frozen, stuffed turkey lying in his son's bed, tucked in gently by a pair of loving hands.