Palindrome Read Free

wanted a divorce."
    "That was all?"
    "Yes. He didn't seem to like the idea."
    "Of a divorce?"
    "No, just of my telling him I wanted one. You understand, he wasn't like this when I married him."
    Schaefer got comfortable in his chair. "Let me get some background, just to help me get a complete picture. Are you originally from Atlanta?"
    "No, from a small town south of here called Delano."
    "How small?"
    "A little under five thousand."
    "What did your father do there?"
    "He worked for the railroad, until they moved most of the operations to another town, then he retired."
    "How did you end up in Atlanta?"
    "I got a scholarship to the University of Georgia. I was a fine arts major there—photography."
    "Ramsey played for Georgia; is that where you met him?"
    "Yes, but I didn't know him well there. It wasn't until I moved to Atlanta after graduation and got a job as a photographer on the Constitution that I got to know Baker. I was on sports, and I began to see a lot of him. He was charming and funny and smart—not really what I'd expected a pro ball player to be. After about a year of seeing him, we got married."
    "Am I tiring you?"
    "No. You have to understand that Baker was different then, a different person. But he wasn't doing well on the team, and they were talking about trading him. That's when things started to change."
    "Tell me about it."
    "We'd been married about a year and a half when he started on an intensive weight program designed to put more muscle on him. He was tall, six-three, but light for pro ball—only about a hundred and eighty-five. The change in him was dramaticphysically and emotionally. He gained fifty pounds in an alarmingly short time. I read something in the paper about steroids, and I asked him about it."
    "What was his reaction?"
    "He hit me."
    "Was this the first time?"
    "Yes. Baker always had a cruel streak, I think, but he used it on the field and didn't bring it home often. But he was obviously on steroids by this time, and it changed him. He became incredibly aggressive on the football field—very hard to stop. The team stopped talking about trading him and gave him a new contract. But he changed off the field, too."
    "He became more abusive?"
    "More and more. I don't know why I took it for so long—some perverted sense of loyalty, I guess. I began living this peculiar, introverted life. I didn't see many friends, and all my energy seemed to go into just not making Baker angry. For the past two years I've been walking on tiptoe around him, and it was wearing me down. I had left the newspaper at Baker's insistence, and I was working on a book of photographs. I would hide out in the darkroom as much as possible. Foolishly, I kept hoping that he'd go off the drugs and be his old self again. Then, in addition to the steroids, Baker started using cocaine, and he became downright explosive. And that brings us up to this week."
    "The other night, did he rape you, as well?"
    "Yes, but I don't think it's necessary to go into that right now."
    "I think it's better if you let me decide what's necessary right now."
    "First, let me tell you what I want, and then you can ask me anything you think is pertinent, and I'll answer fully."
    "All right, tell me what you want."
    "I want an immediate divorce; I want a legally enforceable undertaking from my husband that he will never see or speak to me again; I want my personal belongings from the house; and I want a quarter of a million dollars in cash."
    "Is that all? A quarter of a million dollars?"
    "Oh, he's got a lot more than that, but I figure that's the maximum I can get from him without a fight, and I don't want a fight. I just want it over."
    "What about your medical expenses? They're going to be considerable."
    "I'm covered under his team medical insurance. Anything that doesn't pay, I'll handle out of my quarter of a million."
    "I think your demands are modest. I don't see any problem in having them met right away."
    "That's why I wanted you. I