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Sam Dories was a perpetually bitter man, but his wife had accepted this long ago. Yet when he had invited her to accompany him on a night time fishing trip she thought it might be a romantic gesture. While Sam went out to the boat to prepare everything and bring out the dinner Marie had prepared the night before, she secretly sprayed a perfume that was kept in the china cabinet for special occasions only. She had even put on a nice dress usually worn to either a guest’s house or church on Sunday. When her husband called for her from the dock she took a deep breath, preparing herself for a night she hoped she would never forget.
As the Sam turned on the motor than idled out of the harbor, the only sound was the wake behind the boat. The smell of her perfume quickly faded as the permanent fishy smell of the boat clung to her skin and her hair and her dress. But Marie did not care because she was full of expectations.
After a few more moments of silence she attempted conversation. “How has the cod fishing been this weekend, darling?” She threw in the pet name as an after thought, secretly hoping he would return the favor. But Sam just looked up in surprise at the unexpected term of endearment. He said something under his breath before replying, “Oh it was fine. Just fine.” Again silence consumed the vessel as he guided it deeper into the black ocean. “Where are we going Sam?” Marie asked warily, for she had realized that as much as this might be a romantic attempt Sam had never been one to sweet talk. “I don’t know yet. We’re just going.” He replied before turning away from her and focusing on an object Marie could not see from around his body.
She sighed in resignation. She was beginning to run out of patience for whatever game Sam was playing and was bothered by the fact he found some inanimate object for exciting than his wife. Although they were both aging, Sam was almost sixty five and Marie was just about to celebrate her sixtieth, she still found her husband attractive and had never once regretted her decision to spend her life with him. She was aware of the fact Sam had not always been the most faithful of husbands but she had forgiven him of his liaisons.
Suddenly Sam turned away from the item he had been playing with, and instead turned his attention to the controls of the boat. “We’ll just stop here,” Sam said gruffly. Marie just nodded and made her way to the railing around the boat’s edge. “Oh look at the moon!” She said, glancing to see if Sam even looked at the lovely orb floating above the water and reflecting into the ocean depths. He had turned his attention back to the object from before. “It’s a full moon…” Marie whispered to herself, continuing to gaze into the night sky. Finally she heard movement behind her and caught herself wishing Sam would come up behind her and envelop her in his arms. She stayed perfectly still, not letting her mind convince her anything but that would happen. Suddenly she heard Sam’s voice behind her, uttering two words that were so quiet she almost did not catch them above the ocean breeze. “I’m sorry.”
She turned around quickly and then screamed at the sight before her. Sam was standing before her with a hand gun pointed at Marie’s heart. Again he said, “I’m sorry,” before pulling the trigger. The shot rang out into the ocean but was consumed by the vast distance between the boat and land. Marie’s limp body fell over the side of the boat and Sam leaned over to watch her disappear.
As she sunk into the ocean depths it came to him in a sudden realization that he had just killed the one thing he had loved in this life more than himself. The events that came next were not part of the plan but they were suddenly that much more necessary than abiding by his own rules. He was in fate’s hands now.
Sam had planned this day for years, the moment he would be free of Marie’s iron fist and her attempts to rekindle a love that had died almost twenty years ago. But maybe it had not died; maybe Marie had realized something more than him. Maybe after his long line of office affairs and, as he had gotten older and lost his youthful look, prostitutes, they had not lost their love. Sam Dories put the gun to his head and positioned his body in such a way that he was tilting over the edge. And as he began to pull the trigger he suddenly moved his hand so that the bullet ripped through his heart. And Sam Dories drifted to the bottom of the ocean as peacefully as his wife had only moments before.
When the police came all the found was an empty boat. The gun had fallen into the ocean after Sam had, and was pulled onto shore by the tide. No one was able to link the lonely boat with the lonely gun. And the bodies had gone to the fishes…all the evidence just disintegrating away. The disappearances of Sam and his wife were also not linked with the stolen lobster boat. Sam’s true fishing boat had stayed in harbor. Marie had not noticed the difference. Sam had prepared for their mysterious disappearance. He left a note saying his wife and he had gone to Europe to start a new life for themselves. Everyone in the fishing town had been aware of their tight money situation and even tighter marital situation. It made sense. No one would ever know anything different.
