You and I

Crybaby

Spring and summer passed, autumn returned to Stockholm, with rain, cold and gloom in the streets. It was Monday morning, Benny had gone to work, in a few days he would go to London to audition for the musical Chess.

For her part, Frida was in the closet, took the basket of dirty clothes and prepared to go downstairs to wash clothes. "Apolo, boy, come with me!" She called him, as she had to go down to the laundry area. Apolo lifted his tail and began to descend the stairs next to his human mom. He went from being a puppy to being a huge, fluffy dog. Heléne had already moved into her own apartment since the beginning of the summer, so now only she and Apolo were left in the day to day.

Since the morning Frida was feeling heartburn, she did not feel 100% well but, she had many things to do and she did not want to let them accumulate, especially because it bothered her to have earrings in the house, dirty clothes, having to vacuum, dust, iron clothes... she preferred to do everything even if she was tired.

While she was taking the clothes out of the basket, Apolo was playing with them, her long coats caught his attention. He began to bite the dangling thing and to jump, "hey, stop it!" Frida asked him, but Apolo did not obey. "Sit down," she ordered him. Apolo calmed down and lowered his head whimpering, then he looked up at Frida who was also looking at him, her heart wrinkled, she thought that she had done wrong by speaking to him that way. "Oh!" Frida felt a lump in her throat and she bent down to pet him, the dog was already huge. "Forgive me Apolo, I never meant to talk to you like that," she wailed and some tears started to come out.

Apolo snuggled into her to be pampered, still not taking his doggy look off of her. "I love you, I didn't want to react like that," Frida said now crying more, and she hugged her dog stroking his fur. Apolo received her in the best way.

"Shit!" She said wiping away her tears and now already trying to stand up again, she needed to organize everything.

***

The house was totally silent and dark, Benny had just come home from work, luckily that day he was able to get home earlier. It was 4:00 p.m. and little by little it began to get dark earlier, typical of autumn. Seeing no one downstairs, he went to his bedroom, to his surprise Frida was apparently asleep in bed, Apolo next to her, leaning on her but with his eyes open, and a pile of clean clothes covering the bed.

Apolo looked up at Benny and tried to bark, but his instinct told him not to, because Frida was sleeping. He got out of bed and went to Benny, who knelt down and stroked him. "Hey guy! How was your day?" He asked him and then looked at his wife. "Is mom tired?" He got up again, it seemed strange to him that Frida should have fallen asleep in the middle of an activity as pleasant and relaxing for her as it is to fold her clothes and hang up freshly washed clothes.

Benny sighed, unbuttoned his shirt a little and rolled it up to make himself comfortable, then sat on the corner of the bed to finish the job she had started, someone had to do it anyway.

Frida felt the slight movements in the bed and, scared and startled, she opened her eyes, she did not know what day it was, the time, or where she was, even for a few long seconds. Benny looked at her, confused by her expression. "Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"What time is it?" She said, her voice gruff.

"5:10 in the afternoon," he replied.

"I..." she put her hand on her head and sat up on the bed. "I fell asleep organizing the clothes," she said. "I'm tired," she added.

"I realized," Benny got up and took the pieces that he already had folded, to put them in their respective drawers. "But I'm almost done here," he expressed.