What's a holiday without the police?

Yesterday, Friday, I was alone cleaning out the garage while my separated wife was at work. I was sorting through the belongings of my aunt, who passed away on Halloween at the age of 94.

As I've said before, my wife asked for a divorce in July and we have been fine tuning a settlement since then. And since then, she has been going out with friends and boyfriends weekly. In fact there was a string of Saturday's in a row where she didn't come home until dawn the next day.

I didn't want the divorce, I begged her to work with me to identify and fix our problems--something we never tried before. We only ignored them. But no, she was not interested. She has made a decision. So after 10 years of working a good job and contributing $0 to the household bills, she is moving on.

So when she came home yesterday and walked by my in the garage, I gave her a look. She asked. I then asked her when she would be moving out. She answered that she will wait until my retirement administrator sends her half of my retirement. Then she will move.

I told her that it is emotionally too much for me to see her get dressed in a push up bra and thong every Saturday and not stumble home until Sunday. It isn't good for our daughter either. we've been "separate" since July. I asked her to please move now. I will lend her the money she needs up front.

Nope.

Then at least give me some money for the mortgage or utilities.

Nope.

No rent, no mortgage, no moving. She is comfortable living here for free, and partying with her friends every weekend. And there is no one to bother her. It is even better than living with your parents.

So the words we exchanged got angrier. We stood 6 feet apart and did not raise our voices. Finally I told her that she can't keep living for free and whoring around at the same time. And I told her that she is a thief for taking my retirement when she chose not to save anything from her paycheck.

She walked away. I returned to sweeping the garage floor. Then four police cars showed up in the driveway.

They march up to me as if they are charging up Bunker Hill. They ask what is going on and I tell them that I'm not sure, except that my wife and I argued quietly about the money and moving. They tell me someone called 911 and then hung up.

For the next half an hour they went back and forth between me and her, in the front yard, while the neighbors stood at their windows. It was unreal. I told the cops about the argument and what led to it. They asked her why she is still living here. She has money, and a good job. Why is she still here? She pretended to cry to them and tell them she was harassed by me.

There have been time in our rough history that I have harassed her, usually for good cause. But this was not one of them. In fact, I would offer that she was more offensive than me. Nonetheless, the police told her that she could file a complaint for harassment and she could even get a restraining order that would force me to leave my house.

She knows all this. She went through this with her last two husbands. And I strongly believe that she did this stunt to bolster her position as a victim, or to use in a court argument about custody. It was kinda sickening. I mean, I have a scar on my neck where she attacked me once, and then there was the time she crashed a vase into the back of my head, but I never called 911 because of it.

But here we are. They tell me that I must be careful. She can live here because we are still married. She can whore if she wants. She doesn't have to pay any bills. My recourse is to divorce her, which I can't seem to do fast enough.

The money payoff is going to take 3-4 months, and in the meantime, I am stuck with an evil woman who would rather drink herself into a blur than to be part of a family.

The rest of the night was quiet. And tomorrow night on New Year's Eve she will be dancing again.