The Intangible Day
Created | Updated Feb 12, 2004
It was raining. The weather seemed to take particular delight in raining on a Saturday when there was so much to do. Melissa sighed and thought about the prospect of struggling back from the supermarket with at least two heavy bags and fractious children in tow. Maybe if she waited until the afternoon the skies would clear and make this chore a little more bearable?
So, instead, she busied herself with clearing away the evidence of a lonely night spent curled up on the sofa with a cheap bottle of red wine and the bargain bag of salted peanuts. Had she really eaten her way through the whole packet? Why was it that she could cook meals every day which Ben and Natasha relished but she had no appetite for?
Still, enough of those kinds of thoughts. Get the washing-up done and then wake the kids. They always wanted a good breakfast on a Saturday and it was one of the few pleasures she had left. Weekdays were too frantic. Natasha never did want to get up and Ben waited until the last minute to ask for his football kit or to produce the permission letter which had to be returned 'today or I can't go on the school trip'. No wonder they missed the school bus more often then catching it!
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Well, that was fun! Why did the kids ask for cornflakes today when the packet had been empty for weeks? Come to think of it, why hadn't she noticed that the cornflake packet only contained enough crumbs to make a small cheesecake and not enough whole ones for half a bowlful? So, they'd stormed back to their respective rooms complaining and she'd sat for the last ten minutes crying at their cruelty and her ineptness. The day had hardly started and the despair she had felt the last few weeks wouldn't leave her alone.
'Enough of this self-pity', she thought. 'I have washing and ironing to do, shopping to do and then I really must find the will to make this house more like a home again. I must remember that I am not the only one suffering. I may have lost my husband, the children have lost their father.'
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She felt better now. In fact she felt strangely uplifted. Five minutes after she had wiped away the tears her mood had changed and it seemed as if Spring had come into her life. Something had happened which she couldn't yet pinpoint. Yes, it helped that Ben and Natasha had come to apologise just after the disastrous breakfast. Yes, it helped that it had stopped raining so that she'd been able to hang the washing out to dry. Yes, it helped that the cashier had been pleasant and that the nice man from next door had seen them struggling with the heavy bags and given them all a lift home. Yes, the kids had tidied their rooms without being asked and insisted on cooking for her instead of the other way around. Yes, the game of snakes and ladders had been fun, the kids had gone to bed with no fuss and the radio play had been enthralling. But... there was something else... something intangible.
It wasn't until she prepared to go to bed that she finally saw it. She had checked the kitchen, turned off the radio and was just about to go upstairs when she saw something red partly obscured by the open door. Curious, she wheeled mid-step to look.
It was a single stem rose in a beautiful crystal vase. Of course', she said to herself, it's St Valentine's Day - and Matt never forgot to give me a single rose to celebrate our love...
