Moments
William Stuart
The door opened. He set his helmet on the dryer.
“Daddy! Daddy!” the chorus rang. His two girls ran to him and holding a leg each, tried to hug him as hard as they could.
“Do you know what we did in school today?” asked 5-year-old Sarah.
“What?” he asked, genuinely interested.
“We made dinosaurs!” she exclaimed, holding up her picture.
“That’s great honey!” he replied.
“Da Da!” his younger daughter said, with just as much excitement.
“Well hello, Baby!” he said as he picked her up and hugged her to his chest.
“Nothing’s thawed so it’s leftovers and macaroni for the kids.” said his wife.
“I don’t want macaroni!” said Sara.
“Well, that’s what we have, so that’s what there is.”
“I don’t want that either,” he said.
“We can’t afford to eat out again and that’s what there is.”
“I think we can afford a hamburger,” he countered.
“Yay!” said Sara as her mother raised an eyebrow.
“Way!” said the baby and his heart broke in two.
The government man had been snooping around the last few days. He carried a leather binder and smelled of office coffee and bullshit. He’d come to “assess operations” after a containment breach in sector 7G. Only he had arrived two days too late. The breach had been contained and everything had been sealed up and back to normal. Then this guy.
“Mama, please?”
“Ma-ma! Peez!” echoed the baby.
He looked at his wife and shrugged, tears fighting to be released, but now, bacon cheese and curly fries.
“And another round,” he said, motioning toward their drinks.
“Hitting it a little hard?” she asked.
He shrugged and downed the bottle. All he had to offer was a smile.
“So that’s it?”
“That’s it,” said the government man. “Go home, Hug your kids. Make love to your wife. We’re done here.”
“But…”
“You have about seven hours till the end of the world. You want to spend it arguing with me?”
“I guess…”
“Look. We are trying to contain this. You, me, the rest of us, we’re done-for. But maybe…” He shrugged.
“Daddy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“Avery says I’m not pretty.”
“You know what? Fuck Avery.”
“HONEY!”
“Just go home. There’s nothing more anyone can do.”
“I…”
“Goodnight Mr. Thompson.
Goodnight.
“And then everybody and everything said, “Rawrrr!!!” and that’s how that movie ended!” said one child.
“DaddyMomma!” said the other.
He kept them up for as long as he could. His wife was annoyed at first but they knew each other well enough. She could tell something was dreadfully wrong. She sat quietly and sipped her wine while he played with the kids.
“Come on, Momma!” they called. It was nearing eleven at night. She set down her glass and piled on. The baby was dozing on the floor, still giggling occasionally in her sleep.
They put Sara to bed and made love on the sofa. He tried to remember a time when his wife looked more beautiful than she did at this very moment. He knew the jets were already flying. He held her close and finally allowed himself to cry as she drifted off to sleep.
