The Day Ginger Snapped

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Here's the entire first chapter of the novel I'm writing for NaNoWriMo. It's a lot to share now, but you kind of need the whole thing to get what's going on.

I gave the main character my name, because it's my novel and I could. lol! We're similar, but she is not me and I am definitely not her. We both like margaritas but I would never EVER look up old boyfriends. I believe in letting sleeping dogs lie. lol!

Feel free to leave me all kinds of encouraging comments!

The first thing I noticed was that the front door wasn't completely
closed. I stood there with the wind beating the rain against my face. I
had Chinese take-out in one hand and my broken heel in the other.
My cheap, no name brand, water proof mascara was running down
my face.

I didn't want to go inside. It's my house and I hate it. Well, I
don't really hate my house. I hate my life.

Then I heard him talking. He was on the phone. He was making
arrangements for a trip to Hawaii!

I threw the Chinese food behind a bush on one side of the door.
Then I threw my broken heel and shoes behind a bush on the other
side. I tried to fix my rain soaked hair and wipe away some of
the horrible mascara streaks.

Then I slowly opened the door a little wider and floated inside.
Yes, I said that I floated. I was so happy that I actually floated into the
house.

He was still on the phone and his back was turned toward me. He
didn't hear me come up behind him. I slid my arms around his waist
and whispered, "I love you. I love you more in this moment than I have
ever loved you."

He tensed up right away. Then he mumbled something into the
phone and hung up. He turned around and pushed himself away from
me. Then he looked at me and said, "I was hoping I would be gone
before you got home."

And I'm so dumb that I didn't catch on. I didn't notice the hateful
look on his face or hear the nasty tone of his voice.
I moved in to hug him again while trying to look as sexy as my rain
soaked, mascara streaked face would let me.

"It's Okay, baby." I told him. "I found out about the surprise a little
earlier than you wanted me too. It's still the best, most romantic thing
anyone has ever done for me."

He twisted out and away from me as he said, "I don't think you
understand."

Again, I moved toward him, but he did this really weird jump and
twist move that put him behind me and close to the door.

"I'm going to Hawaii. You aren't." He almost shouted.

I thought he was still playing some kind of silly game with me to
keep me in suspense. So, I turned and tried to give him a very sexy
tilted head look and said with a giggle in my voice, "But I heard you
on the phone. You were making arrangements for two."

"Like I said, I'm going to Hawaii. I'm not going with you, but I'm not
going alone either. Then he spread his hands out in this really weird
motion like he was marking off his personal space or something.

It was when he did that, that I first noticed the suitcases. His
suitcases. Packed and sitting by the door.

I gave up on trying t look sexy and I guess I just stood there looking
pathetic. I managed to whisper the words, "What are you doing to
me?"

"There you go again! Everything has to be about you. Listen up,
this isn't about you. It's about me! I've wasted eight years of my life
on you and I'm not going to waste another day."

".....what.....wasted?"

"Yes, wasted! Now, I'm moving on and I'm moving on without you."

"But.....what will you do? You don't even have a real job."

"See, that's what I mean! Every chance you get, you insult me. My
life is going to be so much better when you are no longer a part of it."

"That...that's not true..." I began to sob.

By this time he was actually yelling at me.

"Oh yes it will! Everyone leaves you and moves on to a bigger
and better life. That's why you're forty years old and have never been
married!"

Then he grabbed his suitcases and walked out the door. Once he
got outside, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Oh, and don't
freak out when your credit card statement comes and you see that I
charged my airline tickets to it. Just consider it my one time palimony
payment and be glad that I'm not asking for more. God knows that I
deserve it!"

That was when he noticed the discarded Chinese cartons behind
the bush. He turned all the way around to look at me with this really
heartless stare on his face. It was scary.

"Throwing that food away was probably the smartest thing you've
ever done. You really should consider losing twenty pounds."

Then he got into the truck that I paid for and just drove away
without even looking back.

There was a loud group moan and that's when I realized that the
entire bar had been listening to my story and not just my friends from
work.

"That's the saddest story I've ever heard," our waitress said. "All
of your drinks are on me today."

"Thank you," I said as I sat there and tried to become invisible.

"If you need someone to kick that guys ass, just let me know, "
called out some very large, hairy man that I had never seen before.

"Yeah, we'll be glad to help," echoed every other drunk redneck in
the place.

"Um...thanks guys, but right now I just want to get drunk with my
friends."

Everyone mumbled kind sentiments then moved back to their own
tables and booths. The waitress showed up with a new pitcher of
Margaritas. She placed it on the table and rushed off without even
looking at me.

"You're better off without him. I never liked him anyway."

"That's easy for you to say, Linda. You're thin and beautiful and
married to your high school sweetheart."

"Well, I'm fat, ugly, divorced three times and I agree with Linda."

"Gail, you're 5'7" and weigh 125 pounds. Most women, including
me, would give their right arms to look like you."

"Well, thanks, but what do you have to say about my divorces?"

"Each man you married had more money then the one before him.
You were the one that wanted to get divorced not your husbands.
Plus, they all still send you flowers every Valentine's Day."

"That's only because I married each of them on Valentine's Day.
It made it easier for me to remember the anniversaries."

"Ginger, I got dumped after eight years too."

"Oh Bonnie, I know..."

"I agree with Linda and Gail. We're your friends. We wouldn't lie
to you."

"But what if he's right?"

"Right about what?" The three of them asked in unison.

"What if men leave me and then have a better life because of it?"

There was group laughter and then another pitcher arrived. I didn't
even remember drinking the last pitcher, but it was empty when the
waitress took it away.

"Look over there," Linda said. "That guy is totally cute and he is
watching you."

"Yeah and he's probably thinking that I'm so desperate right now
that it will be easy for him to get me into bed."

Gail winked and asked, "Well, will it be?"

Everyone laughed except for me. Bonnie decided it would be a
good idea to call him over. So, she stood on her seat and called out
to him. But it turned out that he was checking out a girl in the booth
behind us.

That was when I did it. I announced that I had just made a major
decision. Bonnie stood up again and told everyone to get quiet
because I had something to say. Another full pitcher arrived and the
empty one was taken away. I asked my friends who kept drinking all
the Margaritas but they just laughed at me and so did everyone else
in the bar.

I managed to get up enough nerve to stand on my seat and tell
everyone that, "I'm going to prove that loser who just left me wrong."

There were cheers and boos from the bar. My friends looked
worried. Linda told me to sit down. Gail laughed and pointed at me.
Bonnie raised her glass and yelled, "Amen, sister!"

Then someone asked me how I was going to prove him wrong and
I just started crying. I had no idea what to do next.

I sat back down and whispered, "I am going to prove him wrong."

"Oh honey, just have another drink," my friends all said at the
same time.

"I need to know that it's not true. I need to know that he's wrong."

Linda looked at me and with all seriousness asked how they could
help.

"There's nothing you can do. This is something I have to do on my
own."

"Okay, Ginger, you're starting to freak me out!" Gail did have a
worried look on her face when she said this.

"Yeah, what is it you have to do?"

"I have to look up some old boyfriends and see what their lives are
like now."

"Are you kidding?" Linda wasn't sure if I was serious or not.

"Oh my God! The girl has snapped! Someone write this down!

"March 19, 2010, 5:19 PM. The exact date and time that Ginger
snapped!"

"You should do it!" Bonnie yelled as she jumped up and down and
clapped her hands together like a little girl.

"See Bonnie, that's why I've always liked you best. You always
support me, no matter what."

"You should probably know that I'm very drunk right now."

"How do you plan on doing this? Just show up at their houses and
say, 'Excuse me, but you dumped me a long time ago and I was just
wondering if your life sucks or not.' "

"Of course not! I'll be more subtle than that."

"You? Subtle?"

There was laughter all over the bar and another pitcher of
Margaritas was placed on the table.

"I said it before and I'll say it again...You should do it!"

"Well, I said it before and I'll say it again...The girl has snapped!"

"Listen to me! I've got a plan."

The entire bar got quiet and everyone was watching me.

"We are now officially on spring break. School is closed all next
week. I can travel. I can look up some of the guys who have dumped
me through the years and just check them out."

"You should do it!"

"Snapped! March 19. Snapped!"

"I have to pee!"

"I'll meet you guys here next Friday for our usual happy hour and I'll
deliver my findings."

"Go, girl, go!"

"Into a million pieces.....snapped!"

"Could someone please let me out? I really have to pee!"

The whole place was quiet. Another pitcher showed up on the
table. Linda tried to crawl under the booth to get to the bathroom.
Bonnie was smiling. Gail was mumbling something about a cookie
crumbling.

The owner of the bar approached us carrying a chalkboard. He
placed it on the corner of our table and stood on a chair.

"May I have your attention, everyone. I'm Hal, the owner of
Jersey's. It seems that one of our own is about to go out into the
world on an adventure. Since this is a sports bar, I think we should
make a game out of it.

I have divided this board into two categories. Winners and
Losers. We'll update it next Friday when Ginger returns with the
result of her soul searching."

There were cheers from all over the bar. People were shouting
out what they thought the results would be. I couldn't believe how
many people thought I would find more winners than losers.
I was sitting there thinking about how I seriously needed to find a
new place to hang out in when another pitcher was placed in front of
me.

"Are you really going to do this?"

"S-N-A-P-P-E-D!"

"Where will you start?"

"I'll start at the beginning. In Charlotte, North Carolina, with my very
first boyfriend ever."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So, that's what I'm doing on this plane heading to Charlotte."

"Lady, that's way more information than I wanted to know," replied
the grump sitting next to me.

"Well, you're the one who asked what I was doing."

"No, I asked HOW you were doing."

"Oh, well, as you heard, I'm not doing very well. Thanks for
asking."

"I always end up sitting next to the crazy person when I travel."

"Yeah? You should talk to your travel agent about that!"