The house had finally gone to sleep and except for the sound of water dripping in the bathroom, all was quiet. This was the time Selma waited for every night. It was when she was free to engage her imagination and allow her mind to go elsewhere.
Selma turned back the comforter and slipped out of bed. Her husband grumbled something incoherent. After placing his hand over her pillow, she slid the room and gently closed the door.
Four steps and a pause. Which was the board that creaked? Was it the board directly in front of her or the next one? If she stepped on it, Frank would wake up and call to her. Just because she used to sleep walk in the past and fell down the stairs three years ago, he was over protective when it came to her night junkets.
Deep breath and a long step. The floorboard gave just enough that she could hear it, but because it didn't take her whole weight, the sound was somewhat muffled.
Six more steps and she would have wound around the upper floor and arrived at the landing.
Halfway down was a step that needed to be nailed down again. She had marked the banister with a light scratch so she could tell by feel when she needed to tread gently.
Five more steps and she was safely at the bottom.
The light switch in the old kitchen made as much noise as someone breaking a pool cue, but it wasn't to be helped. The house was old, the wiring incredibly out of date, and the expense to update extreme. She tugged on the cabinet above the sink to get an old jelly-jar for a glass of milk. The drawer beneath the milk held cheese, dated greens, and a paperback book she had started to read several nights ago.
The book? A romance.
After being married to Frank for ten years, what little romance they had once shared was now gone. It had been replaced by a blase attitude that comes from living together forever. Dirty diapers, in-law problems on both sides, and a twenty pound weight gain hadn't helped either.
The people in the books were perfect. They only worried about how many condoms were in the night stand and which fancy restaurant to visit.
Two hours of escape and Selma knew she needed to go back to bed. Just like Scarlet O'Hara, she knew tomorrow was another day.
1 comment:
I liked the doodle, because it feels so real, like a snapshot out of real life. But most of all I liked the reference to Gone with the Wind.
Scarlet O'Haras famous "tomorrow's another day" is what I always think of first when thinking of the book/movie.
-R. :)
Post a Comment