A CHALLENGE

by
David LaBounty

The winter outside is constant and unforgiving with its cold wind and sideways snow and promises of future rust.

Beth and Tony sit huddled on the couch in the dying light of the live TV.

Survivor. They are watching Survivor. They are watching the thin and dirty Americans in rags and they don't talk except during the commercials and especially the commercials for Cadillac because they both know they'll never own a Cadillac.

You ever think about trying out for Survivor, or maybe The Amazing Race? Beth asks after she returns from the kitchen with a Diet Pepsi and a nearly empty bag of Doritos.

It'd be great but getting time off of work would be a bitch. I'd probably have to quit and if I didn't win we'd be screwed and who would watch the kids if we both went on The Amazing Race?

Beth shrugs and is silent as Survivor returns and she is spellbound by something called an immunity challenge.

Immunity. She feels immune. Inoculated.

You ever think about other people?

Tony turns and stares at her, scratching his two day old beard.

What do you mean?

You know, seeing other people, like swappers or swingers or something.

He nods slowly and turns his gaze to the TV, to the show full of contests and challenges and he thinks Beth is challenging him.

Hell yeah, he wants to say. He wants to say he thinks about other people all of the time especially the bikini-topped girl running through an obstacle course on the screen in front of him with her dark and perfect skin and he wouldn't mind seeing Beth with another man in a voyeuristic and perverse kind of way though that thought is too embarrassing and weird for him to consider for too long even though his mind lingers there for a moment, Beth naked in some dingy motel room with artificial wood panelling on the walls and a meter on the bed. He pictures the sweat in her dirty-blonde hair, anguish and joy on her face and her pale and fleshy ass jiggling furiously from the thrusts of some vague man.

No, of course I don't think about other people, all I want is you and he thinks he has answered the question correctly. He thinks he has passed the test and he doesn't see the disappointment in Beth's eyes when he reaches into the bag of Doritos and grabs nothing save a handful of orange crumbs and the crumbs leave a carotene stain on his hand and fingers, like so much rust around his wedding band long scratched and dull.

© David LaBounty