“What are you trying to do? Burn down the house?”
“Oh, crap, I was reading this post and lost track-”
“How hard can it be to heat two pieces of Pita bread on a stove? I swear, One of these days you’re going to-””
“It’s just a little smoke. It’s not like you’ve never burnt anything in here you know. Remember those stuffed peppers that-”
“Don’t even go there. And why didn’t the smoke alarm go off? That’s what I want to know.”
“Probably just the battery. It’s been-”
“Didn’t you just change them last week when we-”
“I didn’t get to it. We were-”
“Oh, for crying loud”
Silence.
“Look, I’m sorry. I should have been watching closer, but I got distracted and burned the bread. I’ll clean it up and fix some more. Let’s not let my stupidity ruin the evening. We’ve not had a night home together for two weeks.”
Silence and a stare. Then a smile.
“It’s been three. Yeah, okay. I’m sorry too. Let’s just start over. We’ll eat, watch a dumb movie, and just be us for a while.
“That’ll be nice. Maybe spend a little time just, you know, like we used-”
The doorbell.
“Well, crap.”
“Probably the fire department.”
“Smart ass.”
“You go take care of it and I’ll take care of the bread.”
“Yeah.”
“And on you’re way back, grab a battery out of the desk drawer for that smoke alarm.”
“Yeah.”
She tossed the cremains of two pieces of pita bread into the trash, brushed olive oil on two new ones, and put them on the iron skillet.
“I swear, sometimes I wonder how he gets through a day without somebody following him around to clean-up behind him.”
She flipped the bread, lifted the lid from the pan holding the stir-fry and mixed it with the wooden spoon.
“Water chestnuts! Damn, almost forgot.”
She got a can from the cupboard, opened it and dumped the contents into the pan giving it another stir to spread the new pieces around.
She heard the front door close.
“Who was it? What were they selling at this hour?”
Silence.
She flipped the pieces of bread and turned them a quarter-turn.
“Don’t forget that battery.”
She opened the refrigerator and got the soy sauce.
“Mike? Did you hear me? Who was it? Hurry up, this is almost ready.”
She shook a half-dozen drops of sauce into the pan, gave it one more stir and turned off the burner.
“Mike? It’s ready.”
She picked up the two pieces of nicely browned bread and put them on top of the stir-fry to keep them warm.
“Where is he?”
She walked across the kitchen and looked down the long empty hallway.
“Mike? It’s ready. Come on. We’ll pick out the movie later.”
She walked down the hallway and saw the empty living room. She opened the front door.
Mike was sitting on the top step, looking toward the street.
“Mike? What are you doing out here? Who was it?”
“Mike?”
“Mike? What’s going on? What are-”
She touched Mike’s shoulder.
Mike’s shoulders slumped as he slowly slid forward down the steps.
“MIKE!”
She ran down the four steps and grabbed her husband’s shoulders, rolling him over onto his back. His face was damp, pale, with the feeling of a piece of chicken just out of the refrigerator.
“MIKE! MIKE! SOMEONE. HELP!”
She rubbed his face, even slapped it not-so-lightly, cradling his cheeks in her hands.
She heard a neighbor’s door open and footsteps approaching.
“Elsa, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Call 911. It’s Mike. Call 911”
She pressed her cheek against his and begged him to open his eyes.
Another neighbor reached down to Mike’s neck.
“I can’t feel a pulse.”
“MIKE!”
More neighbors appeared, including a nurse. They performed CPR until the ambulance arrived, and then stood next to the steps in silence as the EMT’s did their jobs. They continued CPR as they loaded Mike into the ambulance and began the drive to the hospital.
The neighbor-nurse reached for Elsa’s arm.
“Bob and Sue will lock up your house. Come on, I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
Silence.
“Elsa, did you hear me? Elsa?”
Elsa felt the wave of nausea, and then the dizziness. The neighbor noticed her face.
“Elsa, are you okay? Just relax. Take a couple of deep breaths. Just breathe.”
Elsa would have liked to take a breath, but her body just didn’t seem to want to do that right now. The voices had quieted. The nausea and dizziness seemed to ease a bit as she watched everything around her slide upwards as she fell to the ground.
The neighbor-nurse reached out to catch her but began to feel a wave of nausea, then dizziness, and then all she felt was the coolness of the ground against her back. And then.
It had begun.