C4 antho - Chamber Four

~278~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
bedroom. There is a kitchen. We are naked. There is a laundry
room. There is a breakfast nook. There is a dining room. There
is a living room. There is a bathroom. There is a den. There is
a hall. The bed does not fit. Not in all of these rooms. It does
not fit the breakfast nook. It passes down the hall. The bed enters
where it can. We do not force it. The one will not sleep in
the kitchen. The other proposes a deck. A sleeping porch. First
we must pay off the bed. Our sleep has not improved. We lie
on our sides. Our joints are sore. We lie on our backs. Our
backs our sore. We lie on our stomachs. Our spines prick our
organs. We lie close together. We lie horizontally. We lie
obliquely. We do not sleep. We lie in opposite directions. We
transverse the bed. Feet in our faces. A blister on the one. A
callous on the other. A soft instep. A twitch and a curl of toes.
Our friends do not call. Because we are irritable. We are rude.
We curse. We are gratuitous. “Fuck...fuck...fuck,” we say.
“Fuck...fuck...fuck.” We do not invite them for dinner. We are
tired. We are too tired to make dinner. Our stomachs are
empty. We are consumed by the bed. We do not meet our
friends. They have drinks after work. After dinner. Before dinner.
They are always drinking, says the one. They are drunks,
says the other. We are not invited. Not anymore. We would
not go anyway. We will not get in the car. We watch it from the
window. We will refuse. We will show them. They should call
AA. We are defiant. They will end up in jail. They will kill
someone. They will end up mutilated and dead. We will watch
it from the window. We have no friends, says the one. Not
anymore, says the other. We are grumbling. We say it again.
We are grumbling. The telephone does not ring. The house is
quiet. The television is off. The radio is off. The lights are off.
The bed has returned to the bedroom. We watch it from the
doorway. We watch it through the window. As if we were burglars.
Desperate criminals. Hungry. Malignant. Misanthropic.
Without money. Without friends. Coveting our possessions.