Chapter 4: Proverbs 21:9 - The Cell Next Door

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman. 

It was mail time, and the sergeant was doing his rounds.  I didn't even expect mail, I never did.  However, on this particular afternoon, the sergeant actually stopped at my cell door and slid mail through.  It was a letter from Chrissy/Christa.  She seemed upset about my reply to her response to my introduction letter.  She claimed that she really liked my letter and said she was not indirectly writing to Chris through me.  She said she was trying to get to know me and that people always did this to her, abandoning her.  So, I formed my response.  I hollered over to Chris and asked him about his mail because he was awfully quiet. He told me he had received a very strange letter.  It was from someone named Becky.  The woman said that NK said she still loved him and was thinking of him.  He ripped up the letter, flushed it, and claimed it was a hoax.  Have you ever received mail from anyone before claiming that NK still loved you or anything even close to this, I ask? "No,” Chris replied. OK, then it was her.  I pointed out “Becky?” he asked. “No.” it was NK, I answered.  I told him that he shouldn't have ripped up the litter because he may need it later.  He said he wasn't thinking about that at the time. This mistress really gave Chris anxiety. It was more as if she scared him a little.  It scared him a bit.  I rarely saw him lose his cool or lose his composure. However, this woman was just sending her love, gave him a reason to pause and not in a good way. “Why does this girl get you all out of your character?” I asked him. “Don’t you have a girl in your life that was so evil she turned her world upside down?” He asked me. "Indeed, I do, many actually.”  I admitted. You know, I was in a five-year relationship once.  The first few years were good.  However, it was the last two years that broke us.  I loved the girl I met, although I resented the woman I left.  She is still to this day trying to cause me problems and our relationship ended in 2007. "Why did it end?”  Chris asked?  "I left her,” I explained.  "This woman cheated on me, got me thrown in jail, wouldn't let me leave or have friends. "Wait, she got you thrown in jail?"  he asked. “Yes,” she did.  I came home late one night from a cookout, and I had like two drinks of that. She accused me of being out partying and cheating on her.  She ended up throwing some punches at me as I was trying to leave. I had to grab her around the arms to stop her, and she fell in front of the entertainment center.  Some stuff fell and broke around her.  She ended up calling the cops and I was taken to jail.  She was 19 and I was only 17.  We were together two years after this, but this was the fatal blow that started us downhill.  "I'll tell you more about her later, you tell me about your two women.”  I explained.  "Well,”  Chris sighed, “my heart was in two places.”  "Your heart doesn't have a brain.”  I interrupted.  "You are absolutely right," he replied.  

He told me that he and the mistress had been getting serious and close.  He admitted he was stupid to cheat on his wife, and that he asked God's forgiveness every day for his infidelity.  The mistress was growing upon him.  However, the wife had his heart.  It was near the end that the mistress tried to make Chris choose between her and his wife and kids.  I asked him who he chose.  He said he chose his wife and kids.  The mistress was not too fond of his decision.  Many questions flew through my head, so I asked the first one.  “When did she make you choose?”  Chris admitted the night of the incident.  "Did your decision have any bearing on what took place, like the incident?”  I asked him.  "Well.” he sighed, "by then, my wife had already found out about the affair. This was around the time I was going to try working through our problems and our tremendous relationship.  I had kids with this woman, and we were married.  I couldn't throw all of that away for some woman I just met, although I was about to.”  “Yeah, I know about falling fast for a new woman because it happens to the best of us.” I replied.  “David and Bathsheba,”  I referenced the Bible.  That's a perfect example.  “There are those temptations put in our path that we are supposed to overcome which meant Jezebel or NK, was the forbidden fruit, which made her all the more desirable.” I answered. "Yeah,  and it was costly." he admitted.  This was as far as we got on the subject that night.