The Existential Woman (p15)

It was Monday again and Shanna knew that her Mondays were usually about getting tasks done. Although Norman had washed a load of laundry last night, he didn't put the clothes away. She stripped the beds and began the loads of linens. The light in the bedroom kept flickering out and it was annoying because Shanna couldn't clean the room in the dark.

Shanna cleaned out the litter box. She moved it back into the bathroom to make the hall look more appealing. She scrubbed the toilet, sink, and tub down and rinsecd out the extra piss bucket. She put a new shower curtain on the hooks and threw the only grimey one into the trash.

Then she swept and mopped the floors. Norman had already done the dishes. She was so glad. Waking up and seeing no dishes was a great start to her Monday morning. It set her in motion a lot quicker.

She talked to Selia most of the day. Selia took naps at various spots --- sometimes on the couch staring at outside through the windwo, sometiems on her favorite chair, and sometimes on the bed in the bedroom.

Shanna looked in the freezer to see if there was anything she could cook for dinner. Norman had cooked a lovely dinner for the two of them last night --- steaks, green beans, and baked potato. Shanna was already hungry so she made herself a bologna sandwich. It wasn't enough. She kept drinking coffee and ignoring her hunger. She found some pork chops in the freezer -- the only thing in the freezer besides hamburger patties. She put the package of pork chops in the fridge section to let the cutlets defrost.

She thought about the cell phone store. She thought about the horrible news she had seen on television. She thought about how she had chatted online with her son's best friend, and he had explained that he had spoken to TJ and that TJ was doing ok.

Norman came home twice during the day. She tried to stay out of his way. She thought maybe he just liked going to the bathroom at home or something like that. He was rambling about some hiring issue at work. Shanna tried to listen but when she heard what the problem was she was immediately upset and didn't want to talk about it. She hated when Norman would bring problems home to her when that company never once considered hiring Shanna. Not for the office or as a driver. Yet Shanna had to continually advise Norman or share her opinions about business dealings. This particular problem was easily solved and Shanna closed the bathroom door as Norman was talking because she didn't want to hear it.

Norman left back for work and Shanna went outside to plant the five small plants that Norman had brought home yesterday. She found some nice spots in the backyard. It had rained most of the day, so the soil was wet and easy to work with. After planting the five plants, she dipped her dirty hands into a bucket of rainwater, and went back into the house.

The telephone rang. Shanna answered and heard her Aunt on the other line. Her Aunt Alia lived far away, up north in New Jersey where Shanna had been raised for the first 12 years of her life. Her Aunt Alia had been born in Italy, but had raised her three sons in New Jersey.

Most of the time, Shanna was thrilled to get a call from her Auntie. Today Alia was being as morbidly depressing as Shanna, talking about death and gloom and oom topics. Shanna tried to make jokes so they could laugh instead of worry. Eventually, the serious conversation faded out and Shanna returned to her task list.

Everything she needed to do was done except for folding the dried linens and cooking the pork chops. She looked at the clock. It was 6 p.m. and Norman wasn't home yet. Shanna needed to go the convenient store. She needed some milk for her coffee and for a bowl of cereal in the morning. She knew soon she would need to buy some more cat food for Selia. She was wondering where she could get the best price on cat food.