Shifting horses

“Something doesn’t sound right”, John said. John was pulling out of the restaurant parking lot. That statement threw Abigail further into turmoil. They just finished dinner during which she found John to be quieter than his usual self. John and Abigail have been dating for six months. Abigail had a suspicion that the relationship was in trouble. She thought that John was not happy with her. John had not said anything on that matter explicitly.

As they were waiting for the light to turn green, John thought about the noise he heard when he was shifting the gear back in the parking lot. That made him mad. He paid five hundred dollars that day to get the transmission fixed. “What a rip off? I paid through my nose for this lousy job. I will call him first thing in the morning”, he said to himself. Abigail saw his irritation. “Oh, my God. What have I done now? He is such a nice guy and he is bottling up all his feelings”. She wondered how soon he was going to explode. She agonized over the restlessness that was driving him crazy.

“Warranty! He might bring up the word warranty. And I will show him warranty.” John uttered the word warranty couple of times under his breath. Abigail noticed that. She thought that John must be in a lot of pain and that it was getting unbearable for him.

John changed the speed and kept listening for the noise. He shifted to a lower gear and heard nothing. But he was not convinced. He repeated this twice and thought he again heard the noise. Abigail was almost in tears. With the way John was driving, she was afraid if he would reach home safe that night. She prayed for some more time to fix the relationship.

Abigail wondered if she expected too much from John. He had a few faults but she thought that they caused her no big problems. She faulted herself for expecting a knight in shining armors. She blurted out, “There are no knights riding on horses anymore, John”. “Huh”, John said. He only heard the word horses. “Pardon me. Horses?” Abigail felt all the guiltier. “What am I doing to a man who knows his faults.”

John thought that the world would be a better place with just horses. At least they don’t have transmissions to fix. He smiled to himself. “May be I will ask the dealer to take this car and give me a horse.”

John dropped Abigail at her apartment. She looked out the window and watched John driving out with a frown. Abigail burst out and threw herself on the bed and sobbed. When she calmed down, she called Elise. She described the whole evening to her friend breaking down many times in between. The two went over every word and expression during the dinner and the ride home. They discussed for two hours. And several hours in the following days.

Abigail was convinced that she was not the right person for John. She had a lengthy conversation with John and he tried in vain to convince her. She broke off with him that left John confused. One month later, John was having dinner with Carl and Kathy. He asked Kathy, “Did Abigail ever have horses?”