The Extraordinary Son-in-law

Ch. 06: Don't Call Me Ma'am.

What was he supposed to do with that information? He felt as though he had gone to the kind of heaven some men dream of, but instead it was ruled by a she-devil, not angels.

"I'll see what I can do with that," he forced himself to say, lacking in his mouth anything that wouldn't come out forced or weird. 

She shook her head and he left soon.

On the way out of the office he saw an alert on his phone. He had been sent money by her. Immediately he also received a text from her. 

"You must have seen the money I sent," the text read. "That is for clothes. I think you don't have any good clothes to wear, and that is such a shame, because I will not let you go dressing around me like a janitor. You need to be presentable because I will be taking you with me to go see my parents."

He put the phone in his pockets after reading the text. He pinched himself on the arm, probably to ascertain that the entire day was not a mere dream that he would wake up from soon enough. It was not a dream as he discovered. He really had to go looking for clothes to buy.

He went to the mall and bought anything that resembled whatever the actors he watched on television wore. He really never had an eye for fashion. Of course this was something his ex wife and her family continuously made fun of. But it never bothered him. Until today. When was he really being paid to dress nicely? He was given money, and so had to buy something nice to wear, without care on how he would pull it off.

The day was finally over and he came outside the mall with bags of clothes. All of them different, colorful, classic, any thing one can guess.

While he was outside, a delivery man drove and parked by. 

"Are you Ethan?" The man asked. 

"Who's asking?" Ethan replied observing the face of the man in its entirety.

"Boy, I'm the delivery man. You don't have to be so cautious. I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. I'm only trying to deliver stuff to you. Again, are you Ethan?" The delivery man was amused by just how much Ethan was being cautious.

"Well, what are you delivering to me and who sent you?" Ethan asked, his guard still up.

"You will know what I am delivering to you when you open it, man," the delivery man said. "I'm not a genius but atleast that has got to be the first rule of knowing what is inside packages. And it was sent by a certain Kelly Redmond." 

As soon as he heard the name, he took the package from the hands of the man, almost surprising him. He opened it and out came a brand new phone. An iPhone. 

"There you go," the delivery man said. Ethan  signed a paper and soon enough, the man was off, leaving the iPhone with him. 

He was about to walk away when he switched it on and immediately received a call. A video call. He accepted it and it was none other than Kelly. Her pretty face appeared clearly on the screen.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Have you bought the clothes?" She asked immediately, disregarding that he had just said hello to her, or perhaps not even hearing him say it at all.

"Yes I have," he said.

"Show it to me," she demanded.

"But, ma'am, I'm on the road." 

"Don't call me ma'am. Just show me what I am asking of you." 

Ethan new for certain that she had won this battle before it even started anyway, and showed her one of the bags.

"They are too colorful. I don't like them. Go change them." Her tone was as authoritative as it was soft. "I like my men looking like men. And not clowns for god's sakes. Go change them. "

"But this is what I want to wear," Ethan protested. 

"I guess you did not hear me effectively," she said. "I'm telling you to go change into something I like. Not something you like. You hear me? Now go change them. And again, don't call me, ma'am."

He wanted to protest more, but he could find no longer the fire to go on anymore.

"Okay..." He almost said 'ma'am' but held himself.

"Good boy," she said before cutting the call on him.

He put the phone in his pockets, his head was bowed a little bit so he couldn't tell where he was going to. Someone brushes shoulders with him. 

"Sorry, man," he said, turning back only to freeze in his tracks out of surprise.