The Weekend Lost

By R Broederdorf and L Broederdorf

Two people meet under a rather strange circumstance. They end up sharing a weekend together in a Chicago hotel and because of a small overlooked detail, they lose each other for over 20 years. Another strange incident brings them back together again after many years of separation. There is romance,humor,and heartbreak in this true story of two people who were just meant to be together, no matter what obstacles they had to endure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257454310

Book preview

The Weekend Lost

Roger & Linda Broederdorf

2009

eISBN: 978-1-25745-431-0

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my wife Linda, who came back into my life when I thought all hope for love was gone. She gave me back all the emotions and joys I had lost over the many years we were apart.

To all the encouragement she has given me to pursue my writing abilities and to write this book. She has never given up on me or changed her focus on me, even through tremendous illnesses and physical difficulties. She is my rock, my best friend, and the love of my life. She will always be in my heart.

Introduction

So many times in life, a romantic tragedy, can be turned into a happily ever after for a life time. The following actual true story is just one of these. Of course some of the names have been altered to protect those who need protecting, but those who are intimate to this story will know who is who.

The fact that much of this story happened both fourteen years and thirty-six years ago, much of the conversation is improvised, after all, who can really remember what they said a year ago. The essence of the conversation is portrayed and not the actual words. The actions and time line however, are very true to the best of our recollections.

Life is filled with happy moments and times that are very difficult and trying. What a person does with each of these types of situations presented to them, can break them or make them a better person. Sometimes what appears to be the perfect, cannot possibly go wrong situation, can easily disappear over nothing more than forgetting to ask for a small piece of information.

In a poem there is a line that goes that for the want of a nail, a kingdom was lost, and well, in this true story, almost lost. Call it fate, call it karma, call it two people wanting each other subconsciously so badly, that they just naturally over came all odds. They finally found each other once again, and in a very odd way.

The question that is asked many times is, can there really be a Love at first sight ? The two people in this story, Linda and Roger, were not sure if it was love or complete infatuation. They never forgot each other or never lost their feelings for each other even after so many years of being apart. Since they only spent a few days together in their first encounter, well.... what do you think?

The Weekend Lost

Spreading the Wings

Standing in long lines was not his idea of fun. He was always in a hurry to get where he was going, and on this trip, getting there quickly was important. He was about to pick up on a life story that had started twenty two years earlier. It had taken him the last two years of his life to get this trip to finally come about.

Looking down at his boarding pass, he checked the gate number and flight number to be sure he was in the correct place and at the correct time. The flight was not full and so he was hoping for a seat without company. He wanted to take some time to reminisce about the past and to think about what was going to happen very soon in his immediate future.

The attendant at the gate looked very professional in her red, white, and blue outfit. Her dark brown hair was pulled back neatly and her make up applied to perfection. Her large green eyes met his as he handed her his boarding pass. She gave him a quick little smile, gave him a word of thanks, and wished him a good flight. He knew she said that to everyone, but it helped relax him for that moment.

The walk down the elevated walk way was quick until almost he was at the jet airliner. Then the typical wait, while the passengers in front of him, put their carryon luggage in the overhead storage compartments. Finally, he stepped onto the 727 jet airliner, to be greeted by one of the attendants. He nodded, smiled, and then continued on his way to his assigned seat, row eighteen, seat A.

He had learned a decade earlier while traveling in China how to pack lightly. He was able to put a week ends worth of clothing into a piece of luggage not much bigger than a briefcase. He quietly chuckled to himself watching many of the passengers who struggled with a couple of bulky or clumsy pieces of luggage.

The window wing seat, the place most people hated to sit, the seat he knew he could always get on any flight. The view was always partially obstructed, but if the wing were to fall off, he would be the first to know. He slid into his window seat and placed his carry on case under the seat in front of him. Now to wait to see if he would have company or get his wish to be left alone on the flight to LAX.

The funny thing about flying west is that it may take a little over six hours to get to his destination in Palm Springs, but, he would lose only four hours of real time. He always sort of looked at this as a time warp, even though he knew better.

Buckling his seat belt, he sat back and thought about what happened a few hours earlier. His wife giving him her customary short, quick, meaningless kiss good-bye, a hug from his son and daughter and then the reminder from his wife to call home.

He knew the reminder was coming, it always did. It was her way to control him, when he was away, by trying to give him a bit of a guilty conscious. This time it was meant for much more than a control mechanism, it was to remind him he was still married to her, which he knew then, would not be for much longer.

His mind shifted to the night that an investment broker stopped by his house, in the Chicago suburbs, to invest a large sum of money his wife had inherited from a deceased step-grandparent. The question was raised as to how the money was to be listed in the accounts for legal reasons. His wife had no problem quickly stating that she wanted all the money invested in her name only, because he may divorce her sometime.

Both he and the broker looked at each other in astonishment about the statement and he simply said if it was what she wanted, do it, it was her money. It was also at this precise time in his mind he decided he was going to divorce her. He could send her money from anywhere in the world for the kids.

What had become a loveless strained marriage was now going to be over. If money was more important to her than he was, then she could live happily ever after with her money. He was going to get his life back, even if it meant he would have to start completely over with nothing.

He was interrupted in his thoughts by a body sitting down next to him. His wish to have a somewhat private flight out west was no longer a reality. She looked very much like a typical mid-west soccer mom. Hair to the shoulders, parted in the middle and hanging straight. She was a brunet and wore a pair of bronze colored glasses, wearing a pair of designer jeans and a beige long sleeve top.

She smiled as she sat down and he returned the gesture. Maybe she would be like most passengers he had sat next to on many of his travels, say hello and then nothing the rest of the flight. She had no carry on luggage other than her purse, from which she produced a book, and immediately started to read. A thought of relief entered into his mind. No interruptions from her he felt, more time to think to himself.

For the past couple of months, he had been looking at several apartments and small homes to either buy or rent. He had decided on buying an old 1957 mobile home in a local trailer park. He smiled to himself thinking he was becoming white trash, or at least he knew his wife would think that when he would move out in a couple months. It would not be ready for occupation until July.

A trailer would be so below his wife's status in life. What kind of status was that he thought to himself, she only taught preschool. But his job with a prominent corporation, his leadership position with the local boys baseball program, and even his past involvement with the church they attended, must have given her the attitude that they were some one with importance in their community.

She had to have quiet control over everything and that meant everything in their lives together as well. This trip definitely did not fit into her plans of her life. Little did she know, or maybe she did know, the marriage had come to an end.

He chuckled to himself if she was going to ask her parents if it was acceptable to let him go by means of a divorce. This was another sore spot in the marriage. She could not do anything without her mother and father's permission. In her forties and still needing to ask mommy's and daddy's permission and approval.

A voice came over the intercom system to please pay attention to the attendant at the front of the cabin as she was going to give all the passengers on this flight their safety instructions in case of an emergency evacuation. He watched, but did not really hear the words that had been said so many times over the years, when he flew for business or pleasure. He saw her smile and point, but his mind was somewhere completely different.

His decision to leave his wife, Penny, was very difficult because of their two children. Alex was turning fifteen at the end of the month and Julia was only nine, but a very mature nine for one so young. If there would be a way he could get Penny to leave and keep the children, he would gladly do so. He new she would never agree to that. Too much of a public humiliation he thought to himself. She would rather live in a very bad marriage than have to face the possibility of being labeled a divorced woman.

Little did he know then how desperate she would become to keep him in the marriage. She would eventually offer him the ability to sleep with any woman he wanted, as long as he would stay married to her. This was not for the children's sake, but to save her from the public embarrassment of having her husband walk out on her.

The flight attendant finished her movements in the front of the cabin with the usual smile, thank you, and enjoy your flight speech. He could hear the engines start to come to life and the rumble slightly shook his seat. The Boeing 727 had all three engines in the rear of the aircraft so nothing protruded out from underneath the wings.

It was this same type of aircraft that had carried him and his wife to Miami almost twenty years earlier on their way to the Bahamas for a honeymoon. They rode first class that time and he thought back, that might have been the only time, there was anything first class in this marriage.

Everyone thought that the two of them had the perfect partnership as they always appeared so happy together in public. He thought to himself, someone should have read what was inside the book before judging everything by the cover. What appeared to be a very romantic and affectionate courtship turned to a complete struggle for controlling the marriage the minute the words, I pronounce you man and wife, were said.

Already on the wedding night she did not want to get intimate due to being too tired from the days activities. What he thought was going to be the perfect romantic night, turned into her perfect night for sleep. Little did he realize on that same night, she was setting the tempo for their entire married life.

He remembered he spent a lot of money getting the honeymoon suite with a whirlpool tub, kitchenette, and in room bar. He felt they could sleep on the flight down to the Bahamas and tonight could be the night of all nights. However, the only thing Penny wanted to do was get out of her wedding gown and get some sleep.

He then wished he had gotten the cheapest room available for that nights activity. It would not be for another two days before Penny would be rested enough to finally consummate the marriage. Not that they had abstained from sexual intimacy while they dated, because they did not, and did not a lot. It was as if the Penny he dated and the Penny he married were two very different women.

The aircraft began to move backwards from the elevated walkway. He looked to his right and caught the soccer mom looking at himself. He wondered if she was checking him out. These days he looked very business like. Working for a large corporation, he was required to look very professional. His neatly cut blond hair, well trimmed mustache. Wearing a short sleeve dress shirt and black dress jeans, he felt he looked half way decent.

He gave her a fake short smile as if to indicate that he was having fun. She raised one eye slightly as if she was wondering what was going through his mind and then began to ask him a few questions. She noticed he seemed very distant from what was going on with the flight.

She inquired if he was traveling somewhere very important or if there was a special person he was going to see. It was if she could see inside his head and what was going through his mind. He confirmed he was going to see someone very special and that it had been many, many years since the last time he had seen her.

As the aircraft taxied to the designated runway, he continued to brief the soccer mom in on this special someone. He gave her a quick summary of how they met on a winter weekend, while he was attending a university in Chicago. That they only had that weekend together and later when he tried to find her again, she had sort of disappeared. Finally, they had managed to find each other again and this was going to be a big reunion. So yes, his mind was far away and in another place, so to speak.

She congratulated him on his turn of good fortune and then proceeded to return to her book. He tried to see what she was reading, but could not read the cover. He then thought to himself that he really did not care what it was. If she would leave him alone, she could read whatever she wished.

He watched the surroundings pass by his window as the aircraft made its' way to the proper runway for take-off. His mind sort of blanked as the outside world was passing before his eyes. He saw, but did not really comprehend what was happening. He was in a state of just being, not thinking, not listening, and not seeing. He did not even realize the pilot had come on