The Merlot
Oblique Publishing
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2012 by Gary Baker
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
This story is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Publisher Contact: obliquepublishing@gmail.com
Image Credits: Danilo Rizzuti, FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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All the trouble started for Ted when his wife, Aileen, threw a party at their new three bedroom house out in Tall Trees—a new subdivision on the outskirts of Wilder, OH. There were to be five guests.
Only one of the guests to be was a friend of—and only a friend of—Ted's.
So when a car pulled into the driveway a little after eight o'clock that Saturday night, Ted was already sweating. Aileen was just getting out of the shower, saying, “Can you put the Merlot out?”
“Merlot?” Ted said, running down the steps. “We have Merlot?”
“Yes,” Aileen yelled, the shower door shutting, “the Merlot. We must put the Merlot out.”
We must, Ted thought, shaking his head.
He walked into the kitchen, looking over at the big screen TV in the living room with vague hope. That box held so many treasures, so many ways to zone out, to leave his wife. If he could disappear into it, he would.
But he couldn't, at least not now.
So Ted settled for the jabbering of the talking heads on ESPN as he looked for the sacred Merlot. It was supposed to be in the refrigerator, he assumed, but then again he hadn't exactly asked.
The doorbell ringed just as Ted opened the refrigerator. He took a couple steps over and peeked up the hallway.
He saw Jessica and Dan's faces peeking in through the front door, waving with fake enthusiasm.
Ted nodded, waved back, and held up his finger, mouthing, One second.
“The Merlot,” Aileen bellowed from upstairs.