“Sounds like Mr. Dunstan got his revenge.”
“That is why I am here, Jim. I can assure you Mr. Dunstan had absolutely nothing to do with Dr. Watson’s beating.”
“Are you saying you did it?”
“Of course not, in fact, until earlier this morning I was unaware of the existence of Watson, the Dunstans, or you, for that matter. This morning, I was given the information I am sharing with you now and told to come here and share that information with you.”
Who is this guy? I scratched my head and looked at him. Clearly, someone was pissed at Doc Watson and it would seem likely it was the ex-husband. If he had nothing to do with the beating, why am I being told? “Okay, I give up. I cannot solve the riddle.”
Ralph smiled, “Very good! You cannot. The point is no one can. As you pointed out, it looks like Dunstan got revenge and yet, Dunstan is not guilty. No one will ever be convicted, or even arrested for this assault. Watson’s income possibilities are now few, and the former Mrs. Dunstan is in a real pickle. Dunstan will sleep well tonight and did nothing wrong.
“If I might ask, how are you sleeping?” Ralph paused and stared right through me.
How am I sleeping? Dunstan is sleeping well because he knows he’s gotten his revenge, seemingly without any personal involvement. Ralph is telling me he can get me revenge. “Ralph, let me ask you this, are you looking for revenge against your wife?”
“Jim, and this too, is important, I am not permitted to give you any detail of my life. Absolutely none.”
“It sounds to me like this organization is one which gets guys like you and me revenge on the cheating skanks and their lovers.”
“Again, I don’t want you to misunderstand. I never said anything like that. I never implied anything like that. If you draw an inference like that from what I have said, my advice would be, keep it to yourself. Say nothing about it ever, to anyone.”
Well, this is starting to make sense. This group is of people who don’t know each other and somehow that leads to “innocent revenge” for me. The ground rules are no one explicitly says that is what they are doing. “Oh, I understand, Ralph. You explain things quite clearly. If I were interested in becoming a member of,” I glanced down at the business card, “Betrayed Husbands Anonymous, what would I do?”
“There is a meeting at this address.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card with the name of a restaurant and its address.
“That’s nearly 80 miles from here!”
“That is where the meeting will be held, it will begin promptly at 7:00pm, day after tomorrow. Are you interested?”
The group calls itself anonymous, maybe that is one of the ways they stay anonymous. “Sure, I’ll be there.”
“There is a private room in the restaurant. Tell the receptionist, you are part of the Petry party. When you get to the room, show them the card I gave you and present yourself as Ralph.” He stood, obviously to leave.
“Wait! I have about a thousand questions.”
“I have said what I came to say. Thank you and I wish you well.” With that he smiled and left.