A World Within a World (on hold)

Chapter 4

“You’re really confusing.” She paused to have a bite of her pancake “Aren’t you supposed to be here, to help me around the house?”

“Yeah, but there’s nothing to clean.”

“Yeah, the shelves need to be dusted, the floor needs to be swept, and my dishes need to be done.”

“What dishes?”

“The ones that I just finished using.” She put her plate down of the coffee table and asked “Can you bring the dished in?”

He sighed and went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

The morning passed with Alex cleaning, and Rosemarie watching Sherlock Holmes (Alex watched as well, but pretended not to, which didn’t really work because he commented on things that the character did).

“They need to find a different John Watson” Alex said sweeping next to the couch

“What’s wrong with this John Watson?” Rosemarie asked, she saw nothing wrong with him, she felt very protective over the characters in Sherlock Holmes (well some of them, she didn’t like the criminals).

“I don’t know he’s boring.”

“That’s not very nice. Keep sweeping.” She said to the Alex that was now sitting on the couch with the broom laying forgotten on the floor.

“Fine”

For the next couple of days Alex started coming at 5:00 because there was school he couldn’t skip school to watch Sherlock Holmes (and clean) and Rosemarie had work.

 It was a Wednesday at 4:30 in the afternoon. Rosemarie had just gotten home and was now sitting on the couch wondering what to do. She couldn’t go into her world for one obvious reason; she wanted to be present when Alex got there. So she sat doing nothing, just thinking, until one particular thought hit her. She stood up from the couch and went over to the cupboard in her bedroom. Inside were boxes and boxes of stuff. Pictures, Christmas tree ornaments, baby clothes, she looked for a second until she found the box she was looking for. It was labeled “My Darling Lucy” she took it back to the couch, threw books off of the coffee table so she could set the box carefully on it, and then she did something she hadn’t done in many years, she opened it. Inside were pictures, pressed against the walls of the box. When Rosemarie had stored them away she hadn’t done so very carefully. The first picture that caught her eye was of a three people. One was a women, with blond hair, and dark blue eyes, she was carrying a baby who was about a year old, with jet black hair and green eyes. Standing beside them was a stern looking man with jet black hair (like his sons), and kind brown eyes. They were standing in the whale room at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. The baby was laughing and pointing at the big whale, while she the women was smiling at her baby’s glee, the man was playing with the baby’s hair smiling at the camera. In the picture the people seemed so happy, but it brought Rosemarie tears. She heard the ring of the doorbell and quickly put the picture in the box; she closed it but didn’t put it back in the cupboard. She opened the door and there was Alex.

“Sup” Rosemarie said

“It’s sounds better when I do it, Listen… Sup.”

“OK fine, it does sound better when you do it.” Rosemarie said laughing a little, Alex looked up at her and saw that she had been crying but didn’t say anything.

“So, do I have any dishes to do?” Alex asked standing in the living room looking at the box sitting on the coffee table.

“Yup, I didn’t do any today, but I used a lot.”

“Great” He said walking to the kitchen

Rosemarie watched him walk away sadly and then remembered that she hadn’t put the box away. The label was facing where Alex was standing in the living room, and he was staring right at it before. She put the box away and then sat on the couch to watch Sherlock Holmes, they had finished both of the seasons that were out and were watching it again at Rosemarie’s insistence. She said that she wanted to become a great detective like Sherlock Holmes and in reply Alex said “I don’t think that’ll happen I think you’ll just be the damsel in distress.” Rosemarie rolled her eyes. Alex wanted to watch something else but Rosemarie wouldn’t allow it. “TV rots your brain.” She said

“But Sherlock Holmes is TV.”

“It’s different, it’s educational.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Yes it does”

“No it doesn’t”

“It’s rude to talk over someone.”

“Who am I talking over?” Alex asked

“Sherlock Holmes” She replied

Alex sighed and said “But, you’ve watched it over and over again, why do we have to watch it again?”

“Because” And then Alex went back to doing the dishes