What have you done with The Ex?

Sunday Afternoon

Hours of digitally composing instrumental music with The Ex went surprisingly well. After a number of false starts, we made progress on her love song, especially when she eventually consented to unplug MY headphones and involve me in her labors. We entirely forgot about lunch in the subsequent hours that crawled or flew by - it didn't occur to us at all. Just like before, I thought, in the good old days, when fruitful times like these were commonplace enough to be taken for granted.

Alas, I had sighed nostalgically too soon.

The tipping point: her phone rang. Her metal rock ringtone (overabundant with dissonance) cured the epidemic of harmony prevalent in the room. She ran all the way outside to receive her phone call out of my earshot. Must be her man calling, I figured.

But when she returned, gone was the congeniality that characterized our initial hours together. Her temperament had suddenly and irreversibly deteriorated. Cranky, spoiling for a fight, distracted, in a decidedly belligerent mood - I had never seen her like that before in all my life.

Heat-seeking ballistic rage tantrums suddenly flew at me in quick succession for the least significant non-reasons. She had always been sarcastic, but now she was plain nasty, bent on giving me hell and picking a fight in the process.

I'm practically harmless; I don't thrive in confrontation.

The Ex had lost her old sweet self. It was depressing to see. But she seemed to exult in sinking my capsized spirits into an even deeper trench of the Ocean of Despond. Clearly frustrated about something else, she was taking it out on me by pretending to be railing about the music. But I was watching her, trying to understand why her outburst against scattered minor fixable peeves and volume levels seemed to be gaining momentum without really getting to any point.

She eventually came round to attacking my person and character venomously and directly. Luckily, a few minutes into it, her sister arrived unannounced and saved me from total annihilation. As she came in, I left to go swimming, excusing myself with a heavy sigh of relief straight from the bottom of my heart. 

 

***

Besides gaining weight, the Ex had become a fragile, neurotic mess, and I blamed her boyfriend Bryophyta; I always had a sneaking feeling he was the type who systematically undermine a girl's self-esteem in order to cover their own insecurities.

It's a cruel world, and I'd found myself on the receiving end of bad karma. You can bet I was tempted to pass it on.

I really showed that swimming pool who's boss.