by Glenis Burgess
He did what he did every morning. He got up and put on his slippers and he looked out of the window. He was pleased when he saw it was a sunny day. The clothes he would wear today – his Thursday clothes – would keep him nice and cool. He went to the bathroom and brushed his teeth, and then washed his face and brushed his hair. He went back to his bedroom and put on his clothes…
He went down the stairs as he always did. He could smell his cooked breakfast. He knew it would be on his table ready for him. His wife was downstairs in his kitchen, like she always was. He knew what his breakfast would be as it was Thursday and all his breakfasts were on his list. When he got down to his kitchen, he ate all his cooked breakfast. His wife needed help to get his breakfast now and he was happy to help her. After all she was his wife.
His wife was wearing her Thursday clothes. This pleased him because this was on his list and he had helped her with them, as he always did now.
His wife would not eat until later. He had made it clear that he did not like her to eat with him. He had made it very clear, early on, what would happen if she ate with him again. She did not eat with him now and this pleased him.
He knew what his wife would do today. He had written that down carefully on his list, so she could not make a mistake. She had made a mistake once, but not now, because now he wrote it all down for her. These days he always knew what his wife was doing.
His wife would wash his breakfast pots. Then she would dry them and put them away in his cupboards, the right cupboards, as she did every day. Then she would clean the kitchen and, because it was Thursday, she would clean the tops of his cupboards. Once, on a Thursday, she had not cleaned the tops of the cupboards. When he had looked, he had had not like what he had found there. He had been surprised at what he had found and he had been very surprised at his wife. He did not like to be surprised, and that had made him displeased with his wife. But the tops of his cupboards were always clean now. It pleased him to know that.
When she had cleaned the tops of his cupboards his wife would have a cup of coffee. He would make the coffee before he left. He would make it exactly as he liked it.
Then she would read a magazine until it was time for her to have lunch. Today she would have an apple and a glass of milk. He would leave the magazine and the apple and the glass of milk ready for her. He liked to know that his wife had a balanced diet in front of her.
When he came back to his house, he would check the tops of his cupboards, as he always did on a Thursday to see if they were clean. His wife knew he would do this. She did not watch him do it any longer. He had shown her that he did not like her to watch him checking the tops of his cupboards and she had not watched him doing it since. When he had checked the tops of his cupboards he would sit down and have his dinner.
After dinner, he would read their book and then he would go to bed. His wife did not come to bed any longer. He knew she preferred to stay in the kitchen. These days he knew everything his wife thought and felt. Before he went to bed he would get her Friday clothes ready for the morning.
When he had finished his breakfast, he put his breakfast pots in his sink and washed them and put them away in his cupboards, the right cupboards, ready for Friday, and then he cleaned his kitchen and the tops of his cupboards.
He turned to his wife. As he looked at her, her head rolled backwards and
her … her eye stared at his ceiling. He did not like it when her head rolled backwards. He did not like to see her … her eye staring like that.
He would have to prop up her head. He had had to prop up her head once before and now would have to do it again. He did not think his wife had rolled her head backwards deliberately. He no longer believed that his wife deliberately did anything he did not like.
He put on his hat and went to his back door. Before he left he picked up his can of air freshener and sprayed some over his wife. He liked it when she smelt nice. He left his house and closed his door.
As he walked down his path towards his gate he thought about how he would prop up her head when he got home.