For the first time in 14 years my wife’s boyfriend is not around.
No hurrying to the door to answer nature’s call, no surreptitious piece of bacon, no squeaker tossed across the yard.
From the moment she rescued him, he clung to her like a sweater on Dolly Parton, and she to him.
Separation anxiety ran high on both sides of their affair.
If he couldn’t be there, then she often wouldn’t go, sometimes to my irritation.
He saw more tennis matches tagging along with her than McEnroe and logged thousands of highway miles, from beaches to mountains and stops in between.
As they aged neither got out as much, pretty much content with each other’s company.
Now Oreo’s gone. And I wonder if she’ll ever be as content again.
Jim Butler, a Bolton High School alumnus, was an acclaimed writer and editor at the Alexandria Town Talk for 36 years, the last 23 (1977-2003) as editor-in-chief. He led Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina for the Gulfport (Miss.) Sun-Herald in 2005. Butler returned home to Cenla a few years ago, and will share his talents and insight with Rapides Parish Journal readers.
