C4 antho - Chamber Four

~282~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
payments. Our work suffers. We have been warned. One of us
is fired. The other begins to smoke. Smoke marijuana. Smoke
opium. It is not the first time. The other drinks beaujolais.
Syrah and malbec. Has an affair. Why try and hide it? There
is significant evidence. We have an argument. It is not the
first. There was some intercourse. Intercourse at a motel. One
of us slept. The one at the motel. The other was awake. The
one is well-rested. The one slept for hours. There was also
some intercourse. But that’s not the point. The one is wellrested.
The one feels good. The other resents the sleeping.
More than the intercourse. The other wants to punish the
one. Wants the one to feel worse. Worse than the other.
Wants the one to sleep poorly. Wants the one to lie on the
bed. Lie awake. Wants the one to lie with anyone but the
other. To lie on the bed. Wants to punish anyone. Wants to
witness the one suffering. Wants to fall asleep to cries for
mercy. The punishment is conceptual. The other will lie on a
couch. The one on another. No one lies on the bed. We lie in
separate rooms. Still we are not sleeping well. We lie awake.
We contemplate separation. We would move out of the house.
Neither would take the bed. Not the one. Not the other. One
or the other would take the late payments. The bed would remain
in its room. Alone. Independent. Enduring. The bed invincible.
The bed victorious. The bed will not separate. Never.
The bed will remain whole. The bed will remain. Immovable.
Immutable. Ineluctable. The bed is unity. We see this from
the doorway. It counsels reunification. We kneel before the
bed. We stand before the bed. We reconcile on the bed. But
we do not sleep. We are not sleeping well. The bed is unmoved.
The bed is redoubtable. The bed is impenetrable. The
bed is impregnable. The bed is a fortress. The bed is a bastion.
The bed is virginal. As if we have never laid upon it. As if
the bed is a concept that we conceived together. As if our
imagination had begotten a bed. A bed that is greater than us.