“He left his window open again.”
The Harrisons sat in their brightly lit kitchen enjoying their Saturday ritual- a cup of coffee for each and a bagel for Samantha. Bryan, who had been reading the Herald, looked up.
“He did not.”
“He did.”
“The binoculars?”
“Of course.” She smiled. He didn’t smile back, but instead made a sound somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle.
“Such an odd man.”
“What I wouldn’t give to see him cleaning them.”
“What I wouldn’t give for his collection-”
Samantha sighed. “I know honey-”
“He has Mantle in there.”
“I know honey.”
“Mantle was my favorite.”
“I know honey.”
“Schmidt keeps trying to buy it.”
“I know honey.”
“I’ll give him something…”
“I know honey.”
Bryan nodded at her and went back to his paper. There was an article about the Chinese New Year, which he read. Samantha looked distractedly out the window into the forest which separated them from the next street over. She looked back at her husband. He had never been quite the same since the baby… .
“The Lauers invited us to lunch.”
“From over on seventh?”
“Yeah.”
“Sounds good.”
She knew he didn’t want to go. It was good for them to get out though. It would be nice to see their old friends, the ones that had made it through. That, at least, was a bond they could share. They’d understand the pain.
She watched him stand up, his coffee hardly touched. It was going to be a difficult day- she knew. Saturdays were the worst, of course. He headed toward the garage, his sanctuary lately. She thought about calling him back, begging him to talk, but she knew it would do no good. The door creaked open and then shut gently. She’d have been more happy if it had slammed.
The chopping started. They wouldn’t be meeting the Lauers. Samantha Harrison stood up from the table and carried her plate to the sink. She washed it, and then retrieved the cups and washed those as well. Then she dried her hands on the maroon hand towel they kept from the old house- only the maroon things survived, it seemed- and headed for the stairs. They said ‘One day at a time’ in the meetings. She wondered how many days they had left.
