Barbra worked hard to provide for her husband, who became disabled after an accident at work. But one day, she saw him walking on two legs and playing golf with a friend. When she confronted him, he revealed the shocking truth about his disability.
Barbra breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down on the bus. After spending time at her friend’s house near the beach in Destin, Florida, she was going back to her home. It was a lovely weekend, but she wanted to return early that Sunday to unwind and spend some time with her husband, Christopher. Their house in Tallahassee was only a few hours away, and she had time to sleep on the bus.
But she was not looking forward to her harrowing week at work. Barbra had a regular corporate job, and she also had an Etsy store where she sold custom knitted pieces plus a part-time job every other day at the coffee shop. She worked incredibly hard because her husband was in a wheelchair.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Almost two years ago, Christopher got into a severe accident at work when a box fell on his head. Unfortunately, he was not supposed to be in that area at the time, so the company did not pay any settlement. They handled the hospital stay costs and bought a wheelchair, but legally, they did not have to pay more.
He collected government disability relief, but it was not enough to maintain their lifestyle. They were strictly upper middle class before Christopher’s accident, and Barbra wanted to do everything she could so their lives wouldn’t be that affected after the accident. Plus, she was paying for physical therapy out of pocket, which was hard.
Barbra didn’t mind working hard or that her husband didn’t do anything around the house. He was going through a rough patch even after all this time.
He always cheered up when his friend, Bruce, invited him over to his house. Bruce would take him to baseball games, and he had a game room in his home.
But Bruce was a businessman and didn’t have that much time. Therefore, when he did, they took the whole weekend. Barbra took advantage of those weekends too and visited her friend at Destin. They didn’t happen often, but it was a nice break. Sadly, it was time to return to reality and go back to work.
She slept for almost the entire ride on the bus back to Tallahassee, but she woke just as they entered their area. She soon noticed that the bus was passing near Bruce’s house and her jaw dropped when she saw two men standing in Bruce’s front yard. They walked towards a car and got a bag of golf clubs.
Maybe that’s Bruce and another friend? Barbra tried telling herself. But she saw her husband’s unmistakable Hawaiian shirt that he loved to wear, although it was so ugly. He was walking with Bruce and laughing. Unexpectedly, he posed and pretended to shoot a golf ball far away. Then they walked towards the back of Bruce’s house, where he had a miniature golf course.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Barbra couldn’t believe it. She had been working so hard for so long when her husband could clearly walk! What’s happening? Why didn’t he tell me? she asked herself. What am I going to do with this?
Barbra worried until the bus reached her stop, and she got out. She had left her car in a parking lot nearby, so she retrieved it and drove home.
Once there, she paced around her house. What if this is something new that happened at Bruce’s house this weekend? What if he wants to surprise me? Yes, that has to be it, she finally decided and calmed down. Her husband would get home later that Sunday and surprise her by walking.
***
“Hey, honey. How was your trip?” Christopher asked when Bruce rolled him into the living room.
“Oh, hey, you two. It was fun. What about you guys? What did you do?” Barbra asked the men with a big smile, waiting for them to surprise her.
“We did the same thing as always. The game on Friday was fun, and then we spent a lot of time playing games,” Bruce said dismissively and bid them goodbye.
She served Christopher a nice dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and sat down at the kitchen table with him. “So, that’s all you guys did?”
“Yeah,” he said through a mouthful of food. “It’s what we always do.”