A Long Days Work

    Cool winds blow across a small complex stirring dry rigid leaves under the moons shadow. The leaves scrape against the black bumpy pavement in and out of the spotlight, lit by small fixtures attached to the ceiling of the one story buildings.

    All the store fronts are dark and deserted. A pizza place, a porn shop, a travel agency. And than there’s Kevin store. Hiding behind the darkness through the isles a crouching light peaks its head out from behind a barely ajar door.

    In the back sit Kevin and his wife Lila. Half asleep eyes stare down at a pile of paper work. Even with the support of his hand his head begins to nod off almost falling to the desk.
  
    On the other side of the desk, just past its corners, Lila leans against the wall where it cuts in to give support to the ceiling. She tucks her body into the corner so that one shoulder blade supports her weight on the wall, and the other on the protruding beam.

    The support that radiates from connects to him like a cell phone’s signal to a satellite. Her eyes are closed, her feet blistering, and mind exhausted. The stench from their work wraps around an invisible bubble that traces her body like an aura. Eventually she slips to the ground. Silently the fabric from her brown skin-tight sweater glide her off her feet.

    As tirelessly as she works, endless days and interminable nights, her strength shines through. A bright smile; a warm kiss; a never dying promise of tomorrow. But tomorrow never seems to come when today refuses to end. Even unaware, a quick glimpse of her beauty feeds niblits of strength back into him. Hope. Strength. And perseverance. All carried into his body from a casual glance.

    Kevin looks up at his tanned skinned wife. Her body fallen to the floor, legs collapsed, and noodle arms folded. Her head dips forward and her body becomes so intertwined with itself it looks like a cylindrically curled up cat sleeping on the cushion of a couch.

    He smiles at her with a tear in his eye. The moment of happiness he feels is fleeting. Again looking below his chin he sees what he must do, and looking up again what he would love to, and misses doing. Just keeping her in his thoughts warms up the room, and soothes an aching neck.

    The business, the dream that has promised to give them everything they’ve ever needed but now risks taking away everything they ever wanted. A brick framed window happily displays their products and invites contractors and handy men from all walks of life. But outside the chilly air cools the naked bricks to the core, leaving the building in a state of frozen stillness.

    Kevin stands up wearily, his arms falling limply do his sides. The chair squeaks backwards; Lila’s head jerks to the sound but than falls back into calmness. Kevin walks towards her, gets down on his knees before her, than lets his legs fall sideways, one resting on top of the other. His left hand rests on her steady beating heart and he finds it again, that blissful and forgotten feeling.

    “Tomorrow” he whispers into her ear. With this her head turns to face his, and their lips rest together barely touching. Squinting eyes open slightly than close only to try again. After failing she attempts to laugh, but the sound is just a burst of rushing air. A fading smile struggles to appear and than is kissed lovingly; softly.

    Her senses are awakened for a moment, and a flood of desires and urges stream into her mind. “Tomorrow” she whispers back, than is kissed one more time before she slips into a sleep where the interaction continues without him.

    Kevin sneaks in behind her so that her head is cushioned by his strong yet weary chest. “Tomorrow” he says again, but this time to himself. Together they sleep the night away in the back storage room of the business they built together. Surrounded by broken tools, boxes, years of filed receipts and cleaning supplies they dream of the life they never get to wake up to. As has happened time and time again the business becomes their bedroom.

    The following day’s first customer is Rick. He is a carpenter who has been buying from their store since he started four years ago. “How’s it going Kevin” he says with his usual cheerfulness. “Oh still day dreaming about a good nights rest” he jokes back.

    Rick buys a few pads for his palm sander and a 1’000 box of screws. “You outta see this deck im building, oh boy it’s gonna be a beauty. Hey, you still want me to build you a deck don’t you”.
“When I buy the house, you’ll build the deck” he laughs.
“Alright, but you know you could have paid me in free tools by now if you just accepted my offer four years ago”
“HA, the way you break things I could have had you build me ten decks by now”
They both shake hands and Rick leaves. Another busy day and another busy week. Kevin always said that a five day work week wasn’t for the ambitious.

    When things finally cool down Kevin sneaks into the back leaving Lila to take care of things. Everything is as normal. Casual customers, new faces and passers by come in, look around, buy, chat, joke and laugh. More receipts pile up, more inventory counted and checked. Morning, noon, midday to late afternoon.

    As the sun burns a crimson orange that stain the nearby clouds a tap on the glass alerts them to a familiar face. Lila looks shocked and can only stare while Kevin takes a deep breath and nods his head hoping he understands it to be, “give me a moment”.

    His wife turns to him and begins to say something but his expression of defeat satisfies her necessity. “I called him”.
“But why”
“Because its time”
“…”
“I’m sick of everyday dragging us along. I miss walking beside you”
“This is very surprising”
“…”
“And the risk…”
“I’d risk it to spend a night with you in our own bed. The one we consummated our marriage in, the one we dreamt up names for our kids.”
A long silence ensues as they both look forward at the patiently waiting figure at the door.
“Let him in and go get us a pizza ok. Well be talking in the back office”

    She opens the door as promised and Kevin and the man walk to his office. Navy suit and slick black hair. Everything about his appearance both looks professional and sinister. He smiles and shakes his hand. It’s a smug kind of smile, a self righteous I told you so kind of smile. He shows him the products that he can get them, the prices they will have to pay and they set up delivery days and payment arrangements. Buying stolen tools to save money on costs and hide income from the government; it was at first such a laughable thought. They both declined the offer, then spent the night cuddling together, sharing each other’s energy with one another, at a time when they both still had some.

    They speak for two hours until it is an agreeable time to shake hands and part ways. A twisted feeling stirs in Kevin’s stomach about the whole deal. From the back he feels the soundless thud of the door closing. He looks around at everything, at all the paper work, all the hours taken away from their lives. The step has been taken, and he immediately wonders if it’s walking he’ll be doing, or running.

    Lila comes in with a cold pizza and puts it on the box of a rebated hand saw with a chewed up power cord. She pushes the desk chair back and snuggles onto his lap with her hands meeting at the back of his neck; sitting there as if she were on the lap of Santa Claus, listing off dream toys that have been dancing around her little head all winter long.

    “Why” she softly asks him in a tired voice. Although her emotion is fearful, she is simply too tired from all the years, and all the dreams and all the waiting, to show it. She looks at him, his head bowing down, eyes directed into his lap. He searches for an answer through a crowded attic under dim lights.

    Outside the air cools down once again. Cold bricks shiver in a gentle passing breeze. Staggered cars zip by unnoticed; their headlights being the only indication of their short passing through. Somewhere a sun rises, while somewhere else it sets. On this plaza however both transitions have already passed and night quickly creeps across the hollow streets.

    “With the money we save we can hire a hand in the store. We’ll take the weekends off and still save for our house. We’ll live instead of dream. Lie under the sun instead of fearing its constant coming and going. We’ll touch the love that we now only trust is still there.”

    His eyes rise and meet hers; both building up fearful tears. Their consciences clasps hard to their hearts as both sides of the scales are weighed. “Who suffers for what we just got into, if it doesn’t end up being us.” No answer is given. Instead they both deal with the reality of what is, or has recently become.

    Their eyes separate, him looking past her at the door into their store, while hers just passed her lap towards the old rickety beat up hard wood floors; or more specifically a nail sticking out and arching to the side.

    “Maybe” he thinks to himself “we just wanted too much in a world that offers everything. Maybe, one day Rick will finally get to build us that deck”. In a sleepless night full of silence the store retains its shape as a bed. Somehow the sun has already found its way back to that small corner complex where the day never ends, and the night barely exists.

    Lila gets off his lap and walks to the door. The store is covered in shadows still, though outside the tide of light has made its way up shore, slowly leaking under the front door threatening to flood the building once again.

    Soon customers will come, as if it’s just another Saturday under God’s sun. Her tired body walks back to the desk to retrieve the front door key. He looks at her as he gets them from his pocket. “Weekends off” she says with a disturbed smile. “It just doesn’t sound very ambitious”. The keys drop in her hand as he stretches his stiff bones to a standing position. “That’s because weekends off aren’t for the ambitious.” She holds the keys in her palm but moves not an inch. Not even the pattering at the front door causes her body to flinch. He walks over to her and places his hand on the keys to take them from her. “They are for the happy”. She is left with a kiss that holds no promises but only renewed hope. It hasn’t felt that way in a long time. No disguises, no coating, just a lip pressed on her cheek. Maybe soon” she wonders silently in her stillness “this eternal day will finally come to an end.