Huff & Puff and Blow Town

Peggy set up house weeks before she and Peter were actually married. His parents helped her in selecting the home and then helped Peter to finance it. She made sure that curtains, rugs, towels, everything coordinated beautifully in the place and the building was surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn.

Peter was offered a job after graduation as a physiotherapist at Epworth Hospital. Peggy took awhile to track down a part-time human resources management position. She felt she needed time to take care of their homelife as well as make money. Unfortunately, the sort of hours Peter found himself putting in at the hospital meant he didn't have enough time to keep up his training. So, he began losing at track meets.

At first he spent less time with Peggy in order to make sure he had time to keep himself fit, but that didn't bring him back to his former glory. During this time Peggy did what she could to entice his interest. She worked hard at keeping the house perfect and preparing fabulous meals. She put herself on a diet to lose any puppy fat. She even took up aerobics at his gym. He did not seem to notice.

Peter's frustration boiled over into work and he found himself getting into fights with his supervisor. Eventually he quit, so as to not be fired. At first he couldn't be bothered finding another job. He then started putting on weight, his stomach forming a belly. This was not the man Peggy thought she was marrying.

This downward spiral might have continued if it weren't for Peggy running into an old high school girlfriend. The friend's husband had a new corporate gym and needed trainers and instructors. Peggy came with Peter on his interview and he just squeaked through to a position.

He did seem happier, but he was still spending as little time at home as possible. This went on for several years. The last year Peter stopped coming home some nights. Peggy lost her patience and began yelling at him about when she was going to see him, and where had he been?

Then one day Peter never came home again. The people at the gym suspected that he had run off with one of the younger aerobics instructors who had also disappeared.

From Boiling Water to Soup