Day of Jonah

By TOM E. WEIGHTMAN

     Is this the end of the world?  Jonah never considered such a mind-numbing question.  His attitude changed the night he began to dream.  His life from that point on started to deteriorate at an alarming rate.

     His declining mental and emotional condition eventually led to the loss of his job and eventually ushered in the end of his relationship with his long-time fiancée.  Meanwhile, his fear and paranoia took a noticeable upturn over the content of the dreams and their fanatical connotations for the future. 

     In a final act of desperation, he touched base with an old friend who was more than happy to take him into her embrace and give him the attention he so desperately needed, repairing his head and, more importantly, bringing a welcome end to the knotted string of horrific dreams.

     Just when he thought he was well enough to return home and resume a normal life, however, the dreams came thundering back in full force, sending him into a panic.  He ended up devising a last-minute plan that he thought would once and for all rid him of the shocking nightmares and their hidden messages that were slowly driving him out of his mind.   Thus began an epic battle to change the course of his future.

     The end of the world?  For him, maybe.  For the rest of mankind?  Only time would tell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TUX PUBLISHING
• Release date: Oct 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386065944

TOM E. WEIGHTMAN

Tom E. Weightman has been writing since he was a teenager, off and on, working a variety of other jobs in the process.  

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Prologue

SUN CHRONICLE

•=•=•=•

THE EVIDENCE IS INCONTROVERTIBLE!  The compilation of facts and figures spell out the story in plain black and white.  Never has an event so long anticipated in the annals of history appeared as true as it has today.

The entire planet is under extreme distress, torn apart by forces beyond the control of any known entity.  It staggers on the brink of collapse, shuddering at the prospect of complete and utter annihilation.  People near and far live in rabid fear over what the future will bring.

The story of such a cataclysmic convulsion has been long in the making, talked of and written about through the ages.  Formed into fables and fabrications, sculpted by hyperbole and rhetoric, shaped by the ever-changing tides of history and culture, it has given form to the idea of what the future might look like if the course of common events took a dramatic turn for the worst. 

It has been left to the imaginations of people in times past to ponder the repercussions of an event so long portended and for victims of the fallout in times present to witness and tell of the overwhelming wreckage that is at this moment ravaging the territories of nations near and far.  In the lilt of the lyricist, it can be likened to a nightmare that has, at long last, come to real life.

As the dust settles and the air clears, it is evident that regimes around the world have been overthrown from their ranks of power by an array of hostile forces in a very short order of time.  Many are locked in combat at this very moment to see who will rule and who will be ruled over. 

Landmarks of every shape and size, natural and man-made, have been broken down and battered into the dirt.  Buildings of all shapes and sizes have been demolished.  Infrastructure destroyed.  Fields and forests ravaged. 

People of all creeds and colors have been cut down by the outburst of unconstrained chaos.  Those who remain struggle for survival and await a fate that is yet unknown.

The entire tableau of mayhem and misery from one side of the planet to the other is the culmination of a long-running process.  People, time, and events have all played a role in bringing the ever-changing situation to where it is today.

A series of wars in years past established the underlying factors that instigated this final plunge into chaos.  Both large and small-scale engagements had an impact, ending in one place and beginning in another, collectively reshaping the reach of politics and the hand of economics near and far. 

In the wake of each encounter, those in charge initiated a series of measures across a wide swath of fields, subtle and far-reaching in their effects, which set the process of human development in motion again, further along, more penetrating in what it could accomplish.  These measures, unnoticed as they might have been, affected the planet and its people in an incremental manner, signaling the possibility of repercussions further on down the road if nothing was done to curb the mindset that these measures instituted.

Despite incidents to the contrary, good times were plentiful throughout this period of transition that took humankind from the old world order through the decades-long period that connected the waning past to the waxing future.  Scores of folk could celebrate the many newfangled ideas, inventions, and discoveries that came to light during that time, many of which sprang from the very wars that forced a new way of thinking upon those folk who lived in the aftermath. Opportunities blossomed.  Wealth expanded.  Life became easier.

The first few decades after the last World War was a grand time for the people of the planet in terms of growth.  Wealth creation went into a high speed mode.  Buildings went up.  Transportation system were constructed for all modes of travel.  Trade relationships were extended to all parts of the world.  Agriculture saw a huge increase in production.  Manufacturing, bolstered by a vibrant machine corps, saw its range of production and output soar.

A big impetus behind this material growth was the burgeoning world population, which regained its footing following the peace accord that ended the war and began to increase at exponential rates.  The bigger numbers brought many material benefits to humankind along with a fresh mentality that recognized the opportunities that lay ahead. 

The most impressive trend was the ever-increasing proficiency of the new machines, the new processes and the new capabilities that flowed from the hallowed halls of science and technology into the fields and onto the factory floors.  These consisted of ideas and inventions that were powerful enough to leverage the largest of objects and eliminate the most gargantuan of obstacles.  Awesome enough to transform the fundamental tenets of human thought and change the humdrum focus of everyday existence.  Strong enough to shake the very foundations of Heaven and Earth.

Because of this fortuitous flow of events, jobs expanded.  Household and personal income increased along with the free-flow of money.  Cars and the concomitant growth in infrastructure gave people a wider reach of freedom and a larger latitude of autonomy.  Schools became widespread, not only in the primary and the secondary ranks, but in the college arena as well. 

The growth of knowledge only accelerated the pace of change, bringing more improvements and more comfort to the lives of people everywhere, from the growing waves of newborns to the enlarging class of elders.  Never had life on planet Earth been so easy.  Everyone was enamored by what was happening in their homes and out in the public realm.  The future as a whole acquired a bright tinge for many folk of all classes and lifestyles.

Still, there was a downside to all that was going on.  More opportunities brought more avenues to explore.  More knowledge brought more things to ponder. 

Despite all the advancements and cultural changes that occurred across all segments of society, life in all its daily routine became more complicated for many.  Money, jobs, family life, and health issues arose.  The crime rate accelerated.  Wars and other incidents of armed conflict took place.  Natural and man-made disasters exacted their toll.  Social issues continued to be an ongoing priority.  The list went on ad infinitum.

People were put to the test in terms of their emotional, psychological and physical well-being.  Dealing with reality and the issues it engendered were not always easy. 

Homes were broken up.  Businesses went bankrupt.  Societal norms shifted.  The reach of the law expanded.  The flow of change in all walks of life and the adjustment it took to keep up with the ever-mutating wants and needs of the growing populace continued without abatement.

The period leading up to the dawn of the twenty-first century was a time of hope and a time of disappointment.  The Internet, an outgrowth of the computer and hi-tech field, expanded beyond government and big business and began to reach into the deeper end of the general public, bringing more scope and detail to their daily lives. 

The World Wide Web was a key development.  It sparked a spectacular trend in collaboration and communications.  It made the world a smaller place, bringing people in closer contact with one another, opening up new avenues of knowledge and more places of entertainment, all in the palm of your hand. 

Meantime, China got back Hong Kong from Britain, a watershed event that heralded a period of strong economic and political growth for them.  Hi-tech continued to add to and improve the number of machines and devices with a high wow-factor. 

Still, economic and cultural disparities persisted throughout the entire length of this rock n roll period.  Wars, uprisings, and coups came and went.  Financial crises reared their ugly head from time to time.  Jobs came and went.  Various groups of people found themselves between a rock and a hard place because of events beyond their control.  Discord fermented.  The dialog dragged on. 

The question of what was to come in the days and years that followed for better or worse only grew heavier in the hearts and minds of big and small alike.  Those who saw the future with farther-reaching scope—interested in managing change and dealing with equity—were often pitted against those who supported an agenda of shortsighted objectives - focused on making more money and keeping what they owned.  Those in the first group supported an agenda that would guide society through these times of change through a combination of public and private cooperation. Those in the latter group sought to hold onto an increasingly obsolete system of economics and politics while attempting to maintain control of the means of production and the prosperity that went with it by any and all means possible.

Potential outcomes to this tug-of-war were compiled under a variety of scenarios, disclosing the repercussions that would follow if those in the latter group prevailed against those in the former.  In light of the possibilities, measures were taken by those in authority to control the negative elements that were at work. 

Despite the efforts, the downside risks became all the more apparent with each passing year.  Things got tougher.  People got rougher. 

The most recent wave of radical thinking saw the rise of a surreptitious force that grew like a malignancy in the midst of the topsy-turvy culture that had taken root across all levels of society, pushing those who had a hand in its development to the margins of mayhem.  A bout with destiny.  A fight with Mother Nature.  A battle with Father Time. 

Speculation ran the gamut on how the whole she bang would go down if no intervention was taken to change the ragged state of affairs that had come to define the norm in modern times.  Meddling, hacking, double-dealing, short-shrifting, and retaliation all played a part. 

Details were added and redefined everyday as the possibility of a worst-case scenario morphed from prospect to probability.  Which forces would march?  What powers would call the shots?  Who would submit to the whim and will of leaders whose very sanity was being stretched to the limit with each passing day?  Who would live and who would die?

Each step forward meant another step further down the road to cataclysm. 

Those who lingered in the shadows of ambivalence made their peace by reiterating what had become a mantra for a large number of browbeaten folk who retained a smidgen of hope for the promise of a better future without all the costly warfare.

Surely what lay ahead was better than what was left behind.

A fervent hope persisted among a fair share of the populace that the repercussions would not be as devastating as some of the prognosticators were estimating.  Others more pessimistic pointed to the amount of destruction that was already taking place and predicted that the situation would only get worse before it got better. 

In this age of instantaneous communication, a battle now rages on every interface of input and output, setting the stage for the final build-up of hostilities that is pushing the world to the brink of wide-scale destruction, perhaps even  to the point of nudging it over the edge, into the chasm of complete and utter annihilation.  Every conceivable method of communication is at risk.  Every mind culpable.  Every heart subject to shearing.

This latest turn of events has awakened people to the fact that the worst of the long-awaited prognostications are at last coming to pass, a war of men and machines that is at this moment scrambling across the face of the Earth in a show of force that will determine who will be in control once the dust has settled and the air has cleared.  Ruling parties around the globe, all at risk of attack and dissolution, are engaged in a struggle that is occurring out in the open and behind the scenes to determine who will be the victor and who will be the vanquished.

Live-feed video reveals only a portion of that chaos that has broken out all over the map.  Reports are running rampant on the travesties that are taking place right now.  Newscasts from one venue to the next are unceasing in their account of the enormity of the upheaval. 

The eyes of those on-site, reporters and eyewitnesses alike, bulge from their sockets as they utter in staccato fashion a summary account of what is happening in their immediate vicinity.  Battered and blown-up buildings stand in the background, cloaked in smoke and dust, relics of an age that is on the verge of being wiped off the map.  Victims, dead and injured, mix with the rubble and ruin.  Shell-shocked survivors trudge through the smashed up scene, seeking shelter, looking for relief.  The situation only gets bleaker with each passing report.

News service in some areas has been cut-off in its entirety, making it difficult if not impossible for the outside world to obtain a viable report.  The range and saturation of human habitation is sinking to new lows as the number of mortalities continue to rise.  Those caught up in the ever-widening conflict are trapped in torturous circumstances, trying to cope as best they can with the situation at hand.  Those living in areas cut off from the larger world are left to fend on their own. 

At hot spots around the world, the atmosphere continues to be shredded by the sound of supersonic flight and the booming thunder of big guns.  Explosions from the heat of battle split the dust-laden air and shake the dirt-pocked ground for miles around.

Never in the history of the world has so much gone so wrong in such a short span of time.  The entire planet is stymied by shock and shame.  People wail in disbelief, crying for comfort, yearning for relief, yet can find none to console them in their hour of need.  Disaster lurks at every twist and turn in the road and over every hill as far as the eye can see. 

Many monuments to man's handiwork are no longer in existence.  So much of what once stood has been ripped up by the roots and thrown into the fire.  The pyres burn without exhaustion.  Acrid smoke fills the air from one end of the sky to the other. 

What remains in the aftermath at locations near and far are pitiful remnants of an age that once was.  In cities and towns everywhere, gone are the warehouses and office buildings.  The homes and schools.  The roads and bridges.  The airports and train depots.  The shopping centers and big box stores.  The restaurants and nightclubs.  In their place lie heap after heap of rubble and ruin.  Emptiness and abandonment.  Shock and disbelief.  Danger and exposure.  Homelessness and far-flung need. 

The experiment for a peacefully unified planet under accordant conditions has been shattered.  Hope is on the lam.  The fundamental building blocks that upheld the pride and honor of people all around the world have been knocked down and flung around.  The prospects for better days to come are, at this moment in time, uncertain.  The future lies hidden behind a thick mist of haze and a general pall of discouragement.

Where is the song of the minstrel to enliven the heart?  Where are the words of the poet to comfort the ear or the proverbs of the wise to succor the soul?  Where is the tome that imparts knowledge of what is, what was, and what will come?  Where is the message of uplift and inspiration?  Where are those who espouse knowledge and wisdom?  To bring forth new life and new civilization.  To fashion a new world order.  To build a better way of existence than what existed before.  Has all perished beneath the rubble and ruin?  Has all succumbed to the ravages of flood and flame?

As the rash of incoming reports have revealed, it is proving to be a terrible time to live on what remains of the late great planet Earth.  The good old days of yesteryear lie despoiled in the dirt.  Better days to come hang precariously upon the stars. 

Those who remain among the remnants of what once stood shudder and weep over all that has taken place.  Events over the past few days and weeks have happened so swiftly and with such severity that it is hard for any single person or entity to comprehend in its entirety the level of destruction and the depth of loss that lie in its wake. 

No one knows for sure if the troubles are over.  At this moment in history, smoke drifts up from an array of bombed-out targets.  Fires rage against the backdrop of dust-laden skies.  Rubble and ruin lie strewn across the landscape. 

People from one end of the world to the other cringe in fear and wail in confusion over what the future will wring.

1

JONAH PEERED PENSIVELY at the stark surroundings with a wide turn of his head, wondering how in the hell he had gotten into such a god-awful predicament.  The hand of woe rested heavily upon his shoulder.  The cold clammy feel of reality made his skin crawl from head to toe. 

After taking a few deep breaths of air, two questions arose.  Where exactly was he and how exactly did he get here?  Basically a 'what the fuck' proposition that had him peering from side to side with a stunned look on his face, completely at a loss as to what had happened in the hours and days beforehand. 

From the way he felt and by what he saw via a cursory examination of his body, he had taken a tremendous beating not too long ago.  Lacerations and bruises marked every inch of his body from top to bottom.  Severe pain accompanied his every move.

Making an effort to rise to his feet, he came to discover in short order that a battered knee in conjunction with a twisted ankle imparted an agonizing limp that impeded his ability to ambulate to a serious extent.  A look of wretchedness flickered across his face as he considered the ill-begotten nature of his present condition and the precarious circumstances of his present location.  Once the cold hard facts of reality sunk into him, he dropped back down to his bed and exhaled a heavy sigh of disappointment. 

After collecting his senses, he could not stop from thinking about the conditions that established the basis of the most recent chapter in his life.  He began to piece together the ins-and-outs of all that had happened to him in the months beforehand that ultimately brought into play the final gambit that landed him in this hell-hole of a spot where he now was stranded. 

He remembered being employed by a large distribution company earning the type of paycheck that afforded him a comfortable lifestyle.  He lived in a nice house.  Drove a nice car.  Owned a long list of accouterments and attachments that were part and parcel to the way of life he had built for himself. 

He was no slouch when it came to work.  From the get-go, he made the commitment to excel at all levels of his job.  Things went well early-on and the future portended nothing but fame and fortune as far as the eye could see. 

As an up-and-coming candidate in the world of big business, Jonah possessed a power that made everything he touched turn to gold.  People acclaimed the qualities he brought to the table.  Accepted him for who he was.  Gravitated to his good humor and positive attitude.  Admired his indefatigable work ethic. 

Assuming more responsibility as time went by, he forged a solid reputation among his bosses and coworkers as a dependable worker with a good head on his shoulders, tackling the duties of his office with energy and commitment, leaving nothing to chance.  The fat paycheck allowed him to assume a lifestyle of comfort and convenience for him and his honey, painting a picture of their future with promise and assurance.  Nothing, it seemed, could stop him from taking it all the way to the top.

Unfortunately, a certain side-issue that had been dogging him over the past year or so had, in the past few months, morphed into something bigger than he could handle on his own.  The early symptoms included a serious uptick in his level of stress that fanned a notorious inability to get a solid night's sleep.  This in turn led to an escalation in his problems at home as well as those at work, issues he initially considered a passing phase but came to realize that there was something more to them than met the eye. 

Through the thick and thin of the ensuing days, these issues ended up impacting his stellar performance on the job front as well as affecting his stunning display of camaraderie around the house.  Unable to think or concentrate, he began to bobble the ball on important plays and suffered magnificently for his mistakes. 

All ideas for a cure focused on the psychological terra-firma of his mind, under siege at the time by forces beyond his control.  Upsetting his biological equilibrium and imparting a sad sense of morbidity to his entire network of relationships and responsibilities, he struggled with a set of somber issues that disrupted his entire life and nearly drove him insane.

Take his fiancé, for instance.  Prior to the onset of the latest round of problems, she had been a key crutch in resolving any and all issues that threatened the fundamental peace and security of their relationship.  He admired her even-handedness and levelheadedness in sorting through the many nuances of a turbulent subject and had no trouble drawing up a set of priorities and performance objectives to take care of all that needed to be done. 

He appreciated her willingness to do whatever it took to take the weight of a bothersome matter off his shoulders and transfer it to the back of someone else.  He welcomed her soft touch and gentle words in reaching the root of a problem and coming up with an appropriate solution.  He liked how she eased his mind and encouraged the proper posturing and positioning in everything he faced. 

As he reflected on the ins and outs of their time together, he had to smile over how elegant their life had become in the months prior to the latest spat that led to their untimely separation. They had up to then made for a pretty sweet couple, minor incidents to the contrary, and he had no trouble imagining them floating off into a future of bliss and beauty before what they had going on between them went to complete and utter rot.

From where he was holed-up right now, he doubted he had seen the nuances of their relationship as clearly as he should have when everything between them was going so hunky-dory.  Maybe the good times they shared stuck his head so far up into the clouds that he completely overlooked the expanding outlay of problems that brooded beneath.  Maybe he thought the multitude of negatives emerging at the time were so minuscule that they could be safely ignored and in time disappear from the equation in their entirety. 

Back in the days when things were going so hot-and-heavy between them, he liked to think that they were a match made in heaven.  Two minds working together.  Two hearts beating as one.  Conquering all hurdles.  Overcoming every obstacle. 

Moving onto bigger and better things with each passing day, the promise of the future hung like filaments of fine lace in the hazy distance, encouraging them on and sustaining their love.  It all seemed so utterly fantastic back then.  No signs of disturbance.  Not a hint of trouble between them. 

He had to confess in hindsight that perhaps he was a little short on sagacity and a little long on exuberance during the formative days of their courtship.  Removing his rose-colored specs got him to admit that she could foment the worst kind of uncertainty and the most heart-wrenching frustration at times, driving him up the wall like an out-of-control monkey.  Times like these he wished she were gone from his life once and for all. 

The worst of times.

The best of times, she could stir up the highest levels of respect and admiration in him, taking care of her end of the bargain above and beyond the call of duty.  She often brought stuff to the table that surprised the pants off him.  Paid him back in areas he did not think she was indebted.  Was willing to walk the extra mile on any hardship they faced.

Exactly how they had gotten so pathetically off-track on the way to such a promising future was a question that dogged him ever since they split up.  The answer only became clear to his way of thinking on the heels of their recent blowout.  He knew he would have to be honest over what went wrong between them if he had any hope of salvaging the relationship they once enjoyed. 

As he traipsed through his garden of memories, his eyes grew wet with reflection as he considered the period that marked the early days of their relationship.  It was such a beautiful time to be alive, perhaps the best he had ever experienced, and he harbored no wishes to change anything about it. 

Charmed by her quaint personality and stultified by her unsurpassable beauty, he remembered falling head-over-heels in love with her by the time they finished their first date.  Wow!  What a gal!  She had a super body and a get-up-and-go personality that put her head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competition. 

In terms of appeal, she could be quite engaging through an entire outing when he was only half-listening and have him begging for more just to hear the sound of her voice as they finished up the evening in the comfort of his apartment.  That's how much he was captivated by her feminine mystique and womanly enchantment.  She could send him to heaven with just one kiss. 

As far as her take on the subject, she thought it neat to have met a man of Jonah's caliber, so blazed about the future and so blind to the conditions of the past.  He had a smart head on his shoulders and enough things going on in his life to keep her coming back for more.  It did not take long to get past the awkward beginnings and turn the basics of the relationship into something that was really special.  From then on, their future took on a promising hue and only got more promising as the days went by. 

It was early in the midst of their courtship that one or the other made the offhanded suggestion that they rent an apartment together.  There were various reasons to support such an idea, including an end to dual expenses and the anticipated benefit of pursuing their tryst from closer quarters. 

Jonah spent little time debating the merits of such an arrangement.  The obvious reasons were clear.  The financial benefits alone were enough to cinch the deal.  Any ulterior considerations were icing on the cake.  He very much favored gaining a roommate and a live-in girlfriend as well. 

After working out the logistics of their plan and making all necessary arrangements, they soon moved into a place of their own.  It was a comfortable two-bedroom on the top floor of an eight-unit building on the south side of town, freshly remodeled and ready to move into. 

The first few months of residency were spent mostly in laid-back routine working on the ins-and-outs of the relationship and letting love carry them where it would.  Man!  What a life!  Everything either of them could want without the complications of being married.

Despite the bliss, it was not unusual for a problem of one kind or another to creep in between them from time to time.  Each brought their own set of baggage to the relationship and exhibited the usual tendency to acquire more as time went by.  Each had a stash of sordid stories and trashy memories.  Each had a collection of embarrassing secrets and mortifying experiences, sharing a proclivity to pull out the junk from time to time and compare it one to the other, just to see how things measured up between them. 

Although these incidents of show-and-tell cleared the air on a number of important issues and allowed them to get to know each other all the more, things did not always go as smoothly or as cleanly as either would've liked.  Secrets, as they learned, were often best left unsaid and unknown. 

In Jonah’s case, he was besieged by a strong sense of guilt after a year or so of living like this, thinking he could be doing something more with his life, yet feeling inscrutably hampered by the complexity of his living arrangement.  He had already gone through a series of nowhere jobs since moving to the city and discovered much to his dismay that nothing was adding up the way he thought it would.  Life in the city was not as nice as he had thought it would be.  Too much work.  Too many expenses.  Too far from his family.  Too many issues that vied for his attention. 

To compound his angst, the relationship with his girlfriend had come to an emotional standstill.  Multiple factors came into play in bringing about such a deadbeat scenario.  Communication between them wasn't what it used to be.  Things they did together had lost their enchantment.  What they had in common had dwindled to near nothing.  Jonah was left to wonder where all the fun had gone.

He looked back on the ground he had covered since first moving to this neck of the woods and could not stop thinking where he would've been had he chosen a different path.  Other options had been available at the time. 

He could have gone to college.  He could have joined the military.  He could have taken any one of a hundred routes that would've have sent him in a different direction.  Instead, he chose to move to the city and see what life in the fast lane had to offer. 

Now that the hand of time had caught up with him, he weighed what he had gained against what he had lost.  The difference was intriguing.  If he had gone to college, he would have graduated with honors with a diploma in hand and the requisite education to back it up.  Finding work in a totally different field would have been his for the taking.  If he had opted for the military, he would have been facing the future as a ranking soldier in a situation completely different than what he had now. 

As it turned out, he was in no better shape than when he first set out to the big city to forge a life of his own.  A myriad of obstacles and setbacks along the way taught him that life wasn't always what it was made out to be. 

When he first moved to the city, he thought it offered everything he needed to reach his list of none-too-lofty goals.  A job with a steady income, a comfortable pad, a nice car, and friends and activities galore to face the known spats of downtime.  Now at the nadir of his plight, he had come to believe otherwise. 

Everything was harder to attain than what it first appeared.  The whole time-space continuum of that entire period was cluttered by trash and interrupted by unnecessary details that turned what should have been a wide-open opportunity to advance in life into little more than a constant struggle to get ahead.  It was a never-ending battle just to make it from one point to the next, always hoping to reach that piece of ground that would give him the leverage he needed to attain his dreams and fulfill his destiny.  Nothing came easy.

Even the relationship with his girlfriend, Melissa, was more trouble than what it was worth at times. Difficult situations popped up more often than he liked.  Important issues lingered longer than what he thought appropriate.  Interest in old things was replaced by an interest in the new. 

From the sidelines, she empathized somewhat characteristically with what he was going through, watching him mope around the house for days on end, searching for an answer to the many questions that were ping-ponging around the inside of his head, dazed and confused on what was going on between them and showing little interest in the affairs of the household.

Unsure what to do about his lack of focus and loss of interest, she gave him the room he needed to work through whatever it was that was troubling him.  She, too, struggled with her own ups and downs and entertained feelings of a correspondingly dismal nature, wondering how her life would have fared had she chosen a different path. 

She once had hopes of becoming a nurse when she was younger, but that dream fell to the wayside when she moved onto other things.  Thoughts of buckling down and pursuing a career in another line of work that was different from the mix of secretarial and office jobs she had worked in since moving to the city came up from time to time, but she had made no serious effort to follow through on any of them. 

A world of options existed, just as they did in Jonah's case, but she knew she could not erase the footprints of her past as easily as she would have liked.  Looking back on it, she acknowledged like Jonah that life wasn't all it was touted to be.  Looking ahead, she knew her future was not as certain as she would have liked, mired in doubt and riddled by unknowns.  So many choices, so little knowledge.  Perplexed on what to do, she refrained from making any hard-and-fast decision until she was more confident in herself and the uncertain course that lay ahead.

These type of problems existed for the both of them, ones that no doubt overlapped onto the separate terrain of one another’s life, creating ambivalence between them and impeding the progress of their stalled relationship.  Merely thinking about it was useless.  Taking action was imperative in preventing a breakdown. 

In Jonah's case, he in due time landed a job that paid more money and provided better opportunity for advancement.  Problem solved.  The clutter in his head cleared up.  The space-time coordinates of his life were conveniently rearranged.  The turbulence inside his head and body comfortably settled. 

Life from that point on proceeded at an altogether different pace.  More satisfying.  Much more opportunistic. 

As for Melissa, she too found a job that offered a fatter paycheck, but, more importantly, imputed a deeper sense of satisfaction in the type of work she did.  There was nothing like getting up in the morning eager to do something she really liked to do. 

Earning more money naturally affected each of their outlooks toward what life had to offer.  They disgorged their yearnings to live elsewhere and quickly grew complacent in the living arrangement they had chosen now that there was more cash to go around.  Life suddenly took on a more promising perspective.

With the obvious problem out of the way, the battle turned to issues that were more abstruse.

2

CONTRARY TO WHAT SOME might think, these hidden problems only grew more complicated as time went by, in large part because of the financial success each experienced on the heels of their new-and-improved employment status and in small part due to the day-to-day issues that cropped up and impeded the progress of their relationship.

It went beyond the topic of mere money.  It involved issues of personality and character, involvement and interaction, duties and responsibilities, decisions and choices, likes and dislikes, wants and needs, hopes and dreams, and an unfurling list of hot topics that ran the gamut between the ever-growing interests and never-ending opportunities that over a period of time came to dominate the fore of their existence. 

The input of more money into the equation changed a lot of things.  Learning how to deal with it in amounts neither had seen before was something new to the both of them.  Exciting at first.  More debilitating as time went on.

A host of personal issues that went beyond the topic of how much money they were making and what it could buy began to impact their one-on-one interactions. What each other did in the time they had to themselves got the better of the other’s curiosity.

The changing circumstances and shifting mindsets soon had them scrutinizing each other’s habits and quirks more than ever before.  Digging into drawers.  Searching through closets.  Tapping into digital files.  Scrolling through digital pages.  Dealing with a rising tide of new-found interests and a burgeoning host of fresh curiosities not shared in common and that each was reluctant to let the other one know about filled up the after-work schedules on their calendars. 

It was never easy coping with what was uncovered.  Strings of clothing.  Pieces of merchandise.  Threads of information.  All kinds of crap that began to compromise the core of their once solid relationship. 

Because of it, each began to doubt the drives and motivations of the other.  That, in turn, prompted scrutiny of the behind-the-scenes doings of one another.  Where they went?  How they spent their time and money?  Who their friends were? 

One step after another took them ever more deeply down the road of reproach and ribaldry over what each had uncovered.  Confusion crept into the equation, camouflaged by a variety of coping methods, thinning the line between truth and untruth. 

Bouts of paranoia and internal conflict overtook each of them at different times and in various strengths, affecting the biometrics of what went on between them, small at first but getting bigger over time.  The fallout from their changing perspectives on account of their new-found wealth and interests was obvious.

Each contributed to the callousness of the other by fostering a lack of empathy in how they reacted to any novel idea that attracted the others attention.  Both got engulfed in the gig and gurgle of separate lives, allowing their hearts and minds to be subverted from the many little thoughts and actions that were vital to building and maintaining a stable one-on-one relationship.  They ended up drifting apart and gravitating to other areas of interest that were more worldly and materialistic, leaving behind the homespun ideals they had begun with and opting for the mélange of delights that the outside world had to offer.

Their feelings toward one another as a result of their separate but equal lives began to trail the highs and lows of their interactions with the world around them.  Factors not a part of their relationship got thrown into the equation and negatively affected their ability to respond to one another’s wants and needs as caringly as before.  Pressures from their bosses, the distraction of friends, a host of new activities and non-parallel lines of growth all played a part in their interpersonal decay and detachment.

It wasn’t long before the stirrings of dissatisfaction began to appear across the once smooth surface of their seemingly tight relationship, marking the start of a tumultuous period that eventually tore them apart.  They slipped into playing an insidious game of truth-or-dare that stripped away their mettle and tested the strength of their union to the nth degree over the ensuing months.

Jonah, for instance, did not think what he did during his hours away from home had to infect her with such vitriolic fervor every time he walked in the door later than expected.  The more she confronted him on the subject, the more they fought, pushing the envelope a little further with each and every face-off. 

Jonah was good at blunting her blows and keeping things under control, telling her to calm down and get her head screwed on straight before she said something she would later regret.  He always had something up his sleeve to settle the situation before it got too far out of hand.

Despite the incessant bitching, circumstances were no different when it came to Melissa’s diversions.  She did not like him getting so miserably upset when she did not have an adequate explanation for her every absence and action.  She, like him, had things happening beyond her place of business that required her