New Woman At Work
by Michael Estabrook
When I first met her I didn’t think this way or that about her. She was simply another new woman at work. We spoke for a few minutes, she seemed like a nice enough person, living in southern California in the perfect weather, loving her three dogs and her days at the beach. But I didn’t think about her this way or that. A few months later after we knew each other a little better she said to me, “The day before I met you my husband walked out on me, got his secretary pregnant and walked out on me after 18 years of marriage.” There were tears in her eyes from the anguish ripping at her heart. I looked at her differently then, could see the pain triumphant and swaggering behind her rich brown eyes and my heart went out to her. But all I could do was put my hand on her arm and say, “Time will take care of it.”