“Dad – you aren’t really going to go through with this, are you?” Jack Ferick shrugged in disbelief. His normally dapper suit sagged around his shoulders.
“Yes,” his father nodded quietly as the boxing attendant taped up his fists. Outside, the crowd roared at the match that was currently going on.
“Daddy!” Ferick’s daughter Maureen cried out, her eyes red with tears. “Don’t! How can you possibly –”
“You can’t win, Dad!” Jack threw his hands out in exasperation. “You know that! Maureen and I know that! Ted knows that! Even –” Jack paused for a moment swallowing hard, but then continued on as emphatically as ever. “Even Mom knows that!”
“Daddy,” Maureen stood up. “Please. Don’t do this. Quit. Tell them that you’ll concede the fight. Let Ted, win. Let him have her!”
“I can’t do that,” Ferick sighed heavily and shook his head.
“Look, Dad,” Jack sighed just as heavily. “Ted is ten years younger than you. He’s a black-belt karate expert. You’re an accountant!”
“Jack’s right, Daddy!” Maureen pleaded.
“I know he is, honey. There’s just certain things that a man has to do in life is all.”
“What kind of macho BS is that?” Jack snorted in disgust, holding out his hands. “Dad! What, you think you can win?” “Look at you! You’re a short, bald, fat, fifty-year old accountant! Ted is a fit, Special Forces Green Beret. He’s been trained for this, Dad! He’s been trained to kill! You’ve been trained to add numbers for crissake! So, add it up! I have! You know what I get? I get totals that end with you dead – each and every single time! Is that what you want? You want to die?”
“No. No I don’t.”
“Then quit!” Maureen virtually screamed, tears streaking down her cheeks, her embroidered white handkerchief smudged with mascara and lipstick clenched tightly in her fist. “How can you possibly go out into that ring with Ted and fight him?”
“Because, he took something from me that wasn’t his to take. He took from me the most valuable thing I’ve ever had in my whole life. He took away from me your mother’s affections. And I cannot. I will not let him do that!”
“And so, you’re willing to die for – for that?”
“If need be.”
“Look, Dad.” Jack stood up and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “You don’t have to do this!” He pointed up out to the arena behind him, where the crowd suddenly cheered at some event in the ring. “All you have to do is sign the paper offered to you by the referee and concede the fight! That gives Mom an unconditional divorce and her and Ted will get married on TV tomorrow. Then, it’ll be all over and nobody gets hurt. That’s the easiest and best thing to do!”
“That’s what your mother’s counting on. She believes I won’t get in the cuckold arena with Ted and fight to the death over her.”
“I can’t believe it, either.” Maureen stomped her feet and made an animalistic sound of frustration. “I can’t believe either one of you! Bunch of macho morons! Both Jack and I sat down with Ted last night and pleaded with him to call this whole thing off, but he wouldn’t.”
“He can’t. He’d have to give up your mother then. Legally, he wouldn’t be able to ever see her again. Since it was my challenge in the first place, he can’t refuse to go through with it without losing everything.”
“And you can’t agree to go through with it without losing your life!” Jack said.
Above, the crowd roared with approval and stomped their feet, applauding enthusiastically. Joseph Ferick looked up and took a deep breath. “Sounds like that match is over now,” he said quietly. “I’m next.”
“I give up!” Jack shouted, shaking his head. “I give up! Go ahead! Go and prove your manhood like a fool!” Jack looked at his father for a long moment, his chin trembling. “Just don’t expect me to stay and watch you get killed!” He turned and went out the door where he nearly bumped into the official with a clipboard coming to call him to the arena.
“Mr. Ferick,” the official make a notation on his clipboard. “You’re up.”
“Thank-you,” Joseph Ferick nodded and then looked at his sobbing daughter. Maureen looked up at him finally in defiance and then wordlessly turned around and followed her brother out of the exit.
Ferick hung his head for a moment and sighed. The official shook his head and looked impatiently at his watch. “Got to move it along, my man,” he said. “Commercials only last about two minutes for these things and that’s just barely long enough to get the ring cleaned up for the next cuckold death match to come on. That last one was a bloody one, so we got a couple extra minutes. But it’s still not very long before we’re back on the air again. So, let’s shag it, shall we?” He snapped his fingers.
“Alright. I’m coming,” Ferick walked slowly to the door, where he could already hear the crowd buzzing with anticipation for the next match. There was more than a press about their match. It was billed as a David and Goliath bout with all the major bookies refusing any bets on the winner. The only thing anyone was betting on was how long it took Ted to finish him off. Most bets weren’t even considering the first round. Most were laying odds he wouldn’t finish the first minute.
Ferick paused for a moment, hesitating, thinking for a moment about how beautiful Kathy was on the day they were married so long ago and how filled with love her eyes were for him on that day. He took a deep breath. How full of contempt they were for him now. How cold they were on the day she told him about Ted. Was she still worth it? Was someone who hated you now, really worth dieing for? He sighed. How much he loved her still – even after all she did. But, then again how much he loved his children too. Would they ever really forgive him?
“Come on, come on!” The official snapped his fingers again. “You going through with it, or not?”
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