Working Too Hard

“I think you’ve been working too hard,” the wife said gently one evening. “Maybe you should take a few days off—pack a bag, stay with a friend, clear your head.” Her husband didn’t hesitate. Within minutes, he was dressed and stuffing clothes into a suitcase. “Just curious,” he asked, zipping it shut, “what made you think I needed a break?” She didn’t look up. “You were talking about work in your sleep,” she said. “Every two minutes, you told your secretary to go faster.” They had been married for 37 years.

Then Jerald left Catherine—for that same secretary. The divorce was brutal. Lawyers carved up decades of shared life, and Jerald’s new girlfriend insisted on keeping the house. Catherine was given three days to leave the home she had built her adult life in. Alone, she packed memories into boxes, each room heavier than the last. On her final night, she cooked herself an extravagant meal—shrimp, caviar, white wine—and ate slowly in the quiet, savoring both the food and the ending.

After dinner, Catherine moved through the house with care. In every room, she removed the curtain rods and tucked shrimp shells inside them, sliding the rods back into place as if nothing had changed. When she finished, she washed her glass, cleaned the kitchen, closed the door, and walked away.

A week after Jerald moved in, the smell began. At first faint, then impossible to ignore. They cleaned everything—floors, drains, carpets—called professionals, replaced furniture. Nothing helped. The stench settled into the house itself. After a month, they tried to sell. No one would buy it. Finally, desperate, Jerald called Catherine and offered to sell it back to her for a fraction of the price. She agreed instantly, with one condition: they had one week to move out—everything had to go. Including the curtain rods.