They woke up to a puddle on the kitchen floor. The seal on the freezer door broke. Since they weren\u2019t allowing people in the house, they couldn\u2019t call a professional. But he assured her he could fix it on his own. It was a matter of pride.<\/p>\n
First, he emptied the contents of the freezer. Stacked bags of defrosting food on the countertops and the table. The reason the door broke was because they crammed so much shit in there. When the lockdown was first announced, he searched for a chest freezer to store the surplus. Like baker\u2019s yeast and toilet paper, it was impossible to find.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou better work fast.\u201d She touched a sweaty bag of boneless chicken thighs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you mind giving me some space?\u201d he snapped.<\/p>\n
She kissed him on the top of his head, like he was a child. Then went to the bedroom.<\/p>\n
He spent the morning on his hands and knees, on the hard kitchen floor, with an assortment of socket wrenches, screw drivers and a rubber mallet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking any progress?\u201d she said, when she returned to fill her water bottle. She had changed into her yoga shorts. He put down his Philips head and looked up at her. Shortly after the lockdown started, she stopped coming to bed. Instead, she slept on the couch. The cat laying on top of her. The lamp and TV left on. He told himself not to take it personally. He lectured her on wasting electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to turn shit off before falling asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI get so tired.\u201d<\/p>\n
They had a rule. The last one out of bed was responsible for making it. Now that she was no longer coming to bed, the responsibility was all his.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why you bother. It\u2019s only going to get messed up again,\u201d she said one morning, sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room, on top of a mound of unfolded laundry, watching as he tucked the sheets under the mattress.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your turn to make the coffee,\u201d he said. She rolled up his fleece hoodie, put it behind her head, like a pillow, and closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddamnit!\u201d he yelled at the freezer.<\/p>\n
She was back in the bedroom, in downward facing dog. She paused the yoga video, which was playing on her laptop, and said, \u201cWill you please keep it down out there? You\u2019re disturbing my practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was her doctor who recommended she try yoga. Said it was good for her body and her mind. He hated how she referred to it as her, \u201cpractice.\u201d Hated it almost as much as he hated that broken freezer door. He made a tight fist and sunk it into the door, denting the stainless steel.<\/p>\n
She got up off her yoga matt and went to check on him. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d She ran her fingers along the dent. \u201cYour hand. Does it hurt?\u201d<\/p>\n
A week into her \u201cpractice,\u201d she told him her back never felt better. He wanted to suggest if she slept in their soft bed, instead of the lumpy couch, her back wouldn\u2019t hurt so much. But he kept his mouth shut.<\/p>\n
He got up off the floor and placed his fist inside a bag of peas. With his good hand, he unwrapped a cherry Popsicle. Red liquid melted down his wrist and ran under his sleeve.<\/p>\n
She went over to the sink, wet a paper towel and gave it to him. Once again, she touched the chicken thighs. They were soft. Pink water pooled inside the bag. \u201cWe can\u2019t let all this just go to waste. Did you call the lady about the freezer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe manager said she\u2019d call me when the truck arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you think it\u2019d be a good idea to follow-up?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to call, be my guest. Otherwise\u2026\u201d he stopped himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan\u2019t we just prop the door shut?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith what?\u201d He was careful with his tone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about bungie cords? We could wrap them around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll never hold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess you\u2019re right,\u201d she said, disappointed.<\/p>\n
He took his fist out of the peas. His knuckles were swollen but the frozen peas had numbed the pain. He looked at her and said, \u201cBut we could always give it a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They woke up to a puddle on the kitchen floor. The seal on the freezer door broke. Since they weren\u2019t allowing people in the house, they couldn\u2019t call a professional. But he assured her he could fix it on his own. It was a matter of pride. First, he emptied the contents of the freezer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":17298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","writer-michael-cuglietta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17280,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17279\/revisions\/17280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}