Boomerang of Happiness - 14

Next day, Alex left for work early in the morning without waking Anna. She slept in as late as she could and when she finally got out of bed because she was hungry, she didn’t know what to do. She had no intention of unpacking and putting in places the new things they bought the day before or make their apartment into a livable homey space. Not only because she told Alex the truth about not knowing how to do it but also because she was hoping she would get herself out of this miserable situation one way or another and did not want to invest herself into decorating the apartment. Around noon, she made herself some scrambled eggs, ate, and went out for a walk. She got even more depressed by the small size and simplicity of the town, and went back to the apartment. On the way back, she bought a city newspaper in the kiosk and a couple of magazines to read and spent the rest of the day splitting time between reading and watching TV.

When Alex returned from work around 6 pm, he was surprised the apartment was in the same shape he left it and dinner was not ready. He also noticed dirty dishes in the sink from Anna’s brunch.

“So, what did you do all day?” he asked Anna.

“Looking for a job, if you must know,” she replied, showing him the newspaper with job announcements in the classifieds she circled with a red pencil.

“Oh, really?” Alex suddenly felt relief. At least she was doing something useful. “That’s great! Any luck?”

“No, of course not. First, there was literally like only two job announcements for a book keeper and another one for a secretary, which I’m clearly overqualified for. Second, the phone in this shitty apartment doesn’t work, so I couldn’t call the numbers in the ads.”

“Hmm,” Alex said, checking the landline phone that was indeed dead. “I’ll call about it tomorrow from the post.”

“You’d better, or I’ll die here of boredom. I feel so disconnected from the whole world! Desperately need to talk to my parents, or at least my mom!”

“Are you going to complain to them about everything?” Alex asked light-heartedly.

“Of course! Like there’s anything here to be happy about…”

Alex tried the trick he learned earlier. He came up to Anna, embraced her, kissed her on the mouth and said, “Alright, complain all you want. What are we eating tonight?”

“Whatever you can find,” Anna replied nonchalantly.

“I was hoping you would make dinner by the time I’d be home from work.”

“I’m not your cook!” Anna said a little too indignantly, breaking free from his embrace.

“You are my wife. Isn’t cooking what wives usually do, especially the wives who stay at home? You didn’t even put the stuff we bought yesterday into the cupboards. Or washed the dishes after yourself. What were you doing all day?” Alex said, pouring water into a big pot and setting it on the stove to boil.

“I told you already, I was looking for a job! Weren’t you the one pushing me to get a job here so that I had something to do?”

“Yes, but I doubt circling a couple of job announcements took you all day. You clearly didn’t do anything about the apartment. What else did you do?”

“Why are you interrogating me? You dragged me into this hellhole and expect me to be just happy about it, making a beautiful home for you from the shit you bought yesterday?”

“Enough!” Alex said, trying to contain his anger. “I didn’t drag you here, you wanted to follow me, and I don’t even expect a beautiful home from you! Just a tidy livable one!”

Anna saw a spark of anger in Alex’s eyes and realized she went too far. She came up to him, gave him a hug and said, “I’m sorry. It’s just that… this all is so new and hard for me. But I’ll try, I promise. What are you making?”

“Well, I’m really hungry. So it’s just going to be quick pasta with eggs,” he said, putting shell-shaped pasta into the boiling water.

“Eggs again! I just had them this morning!” Anna said.

“I can see that,” Alex replied, nodding at the dirty dishes in the sink. “If you want something different you can cook it, you know.”

“I guess pasta with eggs will do,” Anna said. “And because you are cooking, I’ll do the dishes after we eat.”

Alex cooked the pasta and then fried it lightly with onions, garlic, and eggs. It turned out delicious and while they were eating Anna fell back into her excessive chatting. She talked about her parents and all other relatives, including the ones from ancient times, telling Alex her family stories and myths. He was nodding and explicating while thinking about his own work. Everything was back to normal for at least that evening and they both felt happy.

To Part 15

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