Hank woke up to find his phone indicating 10 missed calls and a similar number of voicemail messages he did not recognize the area code after several run-ins with Chinese Robo marketing spam calls he had set his phone to kick unknown numbers to voicemail usually Beijing Betty did not leave a message his daughters were not yet up so he began to listen to the messages it was then that he learned that his wife Randy was was not in Jacksonville Florida visiting her parents and sister for the weekend as she told him she would be instead she
was in the burn unit of a hospital in Boulder Colorado Hank paused for a moment his phone gave him push notices of news it was usually a nuisance but taking the time to turn off that feature had never seemed worth it something about fires stuck in his mind he realized he had seen a news headline with the words fire and Boulder as his phone screen came to life that morning he got on to the phone homepage and saw the newswire headline freak Wildfire consumes Suburban Boulder subdivision overnight interesting Hank would be the first to admit
that sometimes he was not the sharpest tool in the shed but he really could think of only one reason that his wife of seven years would lie about where she was going to spend a weekend he slowed himself down on purpose no point rushing into anything he made coffee the girls would not be up for at least an hour yet he took the coffee over to his wife's work Nook in the dining room he found her laptop he opened it to find that it was now password protected with a password that he did not know
but Randy was absent-minded and lazy so he searched for a password written on some scrap of paper and found it buried at the bottom of the drawer of the little desk after getting access he found that she had not even closed her email browsers she had just snoozed her computer relying on her new password and apparently on her confidence that Hank would not invade her privacy all assumptions existing in this family before this morning are no longer operative Hank thought there it was flipping obvious she was hooking up with her old College boyfriend Josh Turner
at his Boulder Home on a weekend when Josh's wife would be away this was the guy who broke Randy's Heart by falling in love with the woman who became his wife but it seems like he developed buyer's remorse over the years there was not a lot of detail in the emails mostly just confirmations of arrival times Hank assumed that they poured their hearts out to each other over the phone one interesting factoid popped out her parents and sister knew and had agreed to cover for her that was not in the emails but in the Facebook
messenger chats that were also still open they all thought that she should have married Josh whose family had money Hank was just numb like he was watching a slow motion car wreck happen and could not look away he took the time to breathe deeply if he didn't his freaking Apple watch told him that it was mindfulness time anyway he really had to figure out how to turn that feature off but Hank knew if he did not breathe deeply and calm down he was liable to to punch holes in the sheetrock walls of the house he
called the hospital in Boulder when the switchboard answered on a hunch he asked if Josh Turner was a patient when they asked Hank to identify his relationship with Mr Turner he said he was a friend the operator then said that she could not provide any information that sort of answer sure made it sound like they had a patient named Josh Turner Hank then called the number left on his voicemail it was the direct line to the hospital admissions office after he identified himself a clerk there told him that Randy was brought in with third degree
burns over 80% of her body including damage to her lungs from smoke inhalation the fire it seems had flared up Suddenly in the drought stricken area spread rapidly with high winds and cut off the only line of escape from the development over 100 homes had been destroyed sorry Hank said it can't be my wife she's in Jacksonville Florida you must have incorrect information he hung up he knew that it was her in Boulder now he could feel it but he was not going to make this easy on anyone he looked at his wife's computer again
and found Josh's Facebook page Randy had actually made him one of her friends it was then easy to see who Josh's friends and family were and he discovered Josh's wife she had made a public post from her own family's home in San Diego go asking for prayers because she had just learned that her husband was hospitalized with severe burns in Boulder time to get those prayers answered by a god of Vengeance Hank thought as he contacted Josh's wife on Facebook Messenger to identify himself and share what he had figured out leaving his phone number a
short while later as he finished his coffee he saw another notice light on the phone icon indicating a missed call he did not recognize the number but there was a voicemail it was from Josh's wife Tina Hank called her back Miss Turner your first name is really Tina he had to ask yes she said with a sigh I knew what would happen with the name going into the marriage I did it for love it's just an icebreaker now you must be ry's husband yes I answered I knew about her of course when Josh and I
got together he's been acting funny lately but I never knew why now now it is all making sense is that your story too she asked kind of I knew about Josh but Randy was not acting funny that I noticed you're taking it calmly Hank how are you doing that she asked my damn phone keeps telling me it is mindfulness time and to take deep breaths I don't even want to look at what it thinks about my heart rate I replied Tina chuckled you sound calm too I asked I'm taking pills Tina said I don't know
what they are my sister had some Josh is badly burned they've already got him in a medically induced coma he is probably not going to make it I lost it when I heard that now I am just in shock especially now that I know the truth about what really happened what's your wife's story badly burned I don't know more I told them it could not possibly be her because my wife is in Florida I answered Tina chuckled again oh the hospital is calling again let me get this and let's keep in touch she answered she
hung up and Hank saved her number in contacts so that the spam blocker would not kick it to voicemail a new call came in this one was from ry's father Bob Bob must have seen the news and gotten worried yes Hank answered Hank Bob asked yes Hank replied there was a pause Bob had never liked Hank and Hank had disliked Bob right back when it was clear where he stood with the man but they had always maintained a veneer of polite interaction Bob noticed that was missing Hank have you heard from Randy Bob asked Hank
paused that question must have cost Bob blood morally speaking why would I hear from her without you knowing she's up in her old room isn't she spending time with you that R of a wife of yours and your other daughter Bob now knew that Hank knew he sighed Hank she does love you I know we've never gotten along Bob started to defend her Bob Hank cut in his voice rising in volume that is a load of nonsense and before you keep talking and annoy me more the deal is that you always disliked me I guess
you never thought I was worthy of your daughter but that Josh was your wife and other daughter have both been smarmy jerks around me too I've put up with it to keep the peace but that's over now and I want to be clear if you were standing in front of me right now I would punch you in the mouth over and over again until you spit out blood soaked teeth after that I would beat both women with a tire iron just for fun so damn you to death you and your lying family you miserable jerks
Hank hung up there really was no more to say to save time though he blocked Bob's phone numbers and those of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law daddy why are you yelling his daughter Nicole asked him walking into the kitchen her younger sister Rebecca followed her daddy said a bad word Rebecca announced he did Nicole asked say it again Daddy I didn't hear it Hank had to smile what was the bad word Becky Hank asked she frowned I can't remember she answered quietly I think you must have heard wrong now let's get breakfast Hank announced today would
be a pancakes day three pancakes each and some orange juice later both girls were watching cartoons it was Saturday morning after all they liked Bubble Guppies Hank hoped those were Gateway cartoons to something more substantive like pinky in the brain or and Ferb the phone rang again it was Tina Turner the pills aren't working Tina announced What Hank asked surprised the pills that I told you that I was taking to calm me down the ones that my sister gave me well they aren't working she answered why do you say that Miss Tina Turner Hank asked
the hospital put me through to where they have Josh in intensive care the nurse put me on speaker she thought that it might help for Josh to hear my voice even though they have him in a coma what happened Hank asked I lost my temper I yelled that his girlfriend is also badly burned and is probably going to die and that it's his fault and that after you and I both get our life insurance payments were going on around the world cruise and spend the whole time with each other into a stoer for payback he
almost went into cardiac arrest after he heard me even though he's in a coma Hank asked surprised yeah yeah hard to say if my yelling caused it or if that was just a coincidence he pulled through though sorry Hank replied she paused sorry for what are you sorry that he nearly went into cardiac arrest or sorry that he's still alive she asked all of Hank's instincts were leaning toward cruelty but he controlled himself just sorry for all of this Hank replied me too she answered after a moment he asked her tell me about this Cruise
we're taking sorry I don't know where that came from she replied I'm interested though Hank answered I bet you are she paused are you really interested Hank she asked he answered I saw on Facebook that you have a pretty face but I didn't take the time to cyberstalk you properly if I had to spend time Revenge loving with anyone you'd be a pretty good choice why do you ask do I have a shot I don't know she replied slowly it's just that I have spent the time since I realized he was cheating wondering what was
wrong with me knowing that you're interested makes me feel a bit better you're not so badl looking yourself for what it's worth Hank snorted thanks it's nice to hear that even if my wife obviously preferred your husband maybe the problem is not us she answered sounds like that could be right Hank replied Tina Turner paused again have you wondered at all why they did it Tina asked I suppose it's because they thought that they could have intimacy with people they weren't married to and get away with it that makes it sound so simple Tina questioned
what more is there Hank asked with an air of finality Tina said look we've both got a lot to digest but let's keep in touch we're the only two people who understand what the other one feels like right now okay fine I've got to go buy some Bermuda shorts on Amazon for the cruise and a speedo bathing suit because if you've got it flaunt it Hank answered she giggled at least you're making me feel better maybe the pills are working get a cabin with a balcony she giggled again bye they hung up Hank saw he
had another voicemail if it was the hospital again he called back and got connected to a nurse in ry's room this one also put the call on speaker this must be a different nurse than the one taking care of Josh but they all seemed to be working from the same set of instructions he wondered if that was normal in the industry Mr Henry Becker she asked yes I'm nurse young we're on speaker right now I'm in the hospital's intensive care Burn Unit your wife wife is here she's badly burned and she's in a medically induced
coma she's right next to me we were hoping that the sound of your voice might help even if she's not conscious Hank could not help but think that the hospital was going to have to update its Family Outreach standard operating procedures after today but he had to ask why do you think that Hank asked I wasn't there when they brought her in one of my girlfriends was she said your wife had a death grip on her arm and would not let go until she understood her message which was call husband so sorry she fought with
the team with every last ounce of strength that she had and would not let them do anything until they assured her they would pass the message okay way too little and way too late Hank thought what should I say Hank asked tell her whatever's in your heart the nurse said naively okay Hank thought G game on listen you miserable cheating wife he yelled over the phone at his wife I hope you die in pain and spend eternity in hell with Josh who is also going to die just so you know I'm going to spend all
the life insurance money I get when you're gone to take Josh's wife and I will never forgive you the line went dead the nurse must not have been paying attention when he started but seemed to have recovered Hank realized that at this rate he was not going to meet his mindfulness goals one day he would probably feel some guilt about saying all that but today was not that day Daddy what does seduce mean Becky asked as she held her teddy bear little pictures oh it means to lead someone astray Hank answered she considered that with
a serious face when's Mommy coming home Becky questioned this was what made him really angry having to tell his daughter's what was happening he'd have to think about that carefully but he was not in the mood as soon as she can Beck he told her Becky went back to the living room Hank watched her plunk down in front of the television there was no way in hell that he was taking the girls to Colorado to go to a hospital to see their mother wrapped up in bandages like a mummy he would rather deal with their
difficulty in understanding Than A Memory like that that decided him 30 minutes later he had tickets for one week at Disney World a reservation for one of Mickey's on-site hotels and plane tickets they were leaving the next morning Nicole would have to miss a bit of kindergarten but that was just going to be the way it went as soon as he got the tickets the hospital called back turned out that Randy had a heart attack and died all efforts to save her were feudal Hank asked the time it was just about the time he yelled
at her maybe he would suggest to Tina that she try yelling more at Josh and see if she had better luck pushing him over the edge maybe she just had to be more passionate about it nah let her figure it out Hank finally had to send Randy's health insurance information to the hospital to get them to provide him with the documents on the death he called a local mortician and arranged to have her cremated with her Burns Hank thought he should be able to get a discount but they told him that they were still going
to charge him the full price he asked them to FedEx him the ashes after they got back from Disney once there the girls were sad that Mom was not with them but plied with sufficient sugar and Princess makeovers at the bibid Bobby Boutique they soldiered through Josh hung on until Thursday Tina had not yelled at him again so maybe that helped him linger Tina was now back in Colorado staying with friends because her house was gone she was being every bit the noble Widow for the sake of her kids she told Hank she had not
told them about Randy Tina's kids were older than Hanks though and they knew that their father was injured in the fire so it all would have been harder to ignore Hank's kids had no clue he would keep it that way for a while not saying anything nasty to them about their mother was going to be a challenge shortly after they got back from Florida a FedEx guy came to the door with two items requiring signature the first was a letter from his in-laws the second was a box with ry's ashes the letter asked for Randy's
remains for them to organize a memorial service and burial back in Randy's Hometown in Florida if Hank did not want to organize something where he lived they must have been calling around he realized missing from the letter was any kind of apology for covering for Randy that fact made the next decision easy he got one of the neighborhood teens to Bab bit and left the girls giving the babysitter a full rundown on the Disney trip complete with showing all their swag and the pictures on the iPad Hank then drove to a nearby national park with
the box of ry's Ashes packed in a bag slung over his shoulder Hank hiked to one of The Rustic sections of the park it had deep cinder block latrines instead of bathrooms he filmed himself dumping the ashes in the latrine as demanded by Fate he coincidentally had to urinate too hiking back to the car he considered whether some therapy might be wise but the thing was that he was no longer angry well not angry enough to hit anyone destroying reputations was another thing he still posted the video on Facebook of him dumping the ashes in
the latrine along with an explanation afterward he wondered if the National Park Service was going to give him some kind of a ticket for soiling the Cesspool if so he would glad L pay he never contacted his in-laws but saw in the paper that they had some kind of celebration of life service in Jacksonville without him or his daughters he told the girls that mommy had an accident while she was away and would not be coming back they took it like he expected fortunately their daycare and kindergarten teachers were wonderful and helped support them the
life insurance payment was nice Randy had more Insurance than Hank thought the insurance payouts made it easier to rearrange his work life he decided that what his daughters needed was lots of fresh air especially at playgrounds that had lots of kids and pretty young mothers many of whom were very sympathetic to his tragic story when he led them into dragging it out of him he left out the bit about Randy cheating he wanted to appear sympathetic not pathetic his kids started getting invited to lots of play dates to which the mommies had invited their pretty
single friends Hank began to see a Way Forward Hank never got together with Tina Turner although they did chat on the phone every now and again and that's the end of today's story if you enjoyed it please give this video a thumbs up and drop a comment below your support helps the algorithm push my content further if you're new to the channel don't forget to hit that subscribe button it really helps me keep creating more stories for you thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one
