5. Seeking Solace

(Some of these prompts are less applicable to my life than others. I'm going to throw some flash fiction and scenes in here with my own experiences. Maybe completely in lieu of my own experiences. I don't know, this whole thing is an experiment in progress.)

The bus crawled along in the five inch deep slush to get to the corner of the street. We'd been on this block three times as long as we usually are in good weather. I am still five blocks away from my townhouse. We have a space heater on the wall that looks like a real fire place and it's going to help me warm up my cold wet feet. My socks are going right in the hamper, along with my tights and dress which are dusty and sweaty. I want to curl up in a blanket and my comfy slippers and find a new book and make some tea and lay down and forget about how the world is still going on, or trying to, in this horrendous weather.

A man sneezed on the bench next to me. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. There was a couple a few rows back who huddled together, arms entwined around each other and their meager groceries. I missed my grocery buddy. He was on the other side of this vast country in weather just as terrible only colder and wetter and the wet made the cold feel colder, and he was in a chilly apartment with his mother putting up a Christmas tree and figuring out which family members are cooking which dishes for Christmas Eve, which for Christmas, and which for New Years.

I didn't get to go anywhere for Christmas. I had to keep working because there's a big project at work and if I work now then Don said I might be up for a promotion next month which would include a pretty hefty pay raise and, as my grocery buddy and I know, we could use that raise to pay the mortgage on our little home just that much faster.

We made it another block. The slush was lighter here and we were able to move just a little bit faster. I can see my condo complex from here. I love how we managed to get a place here. We exploited every first-time home buyers clause we could so that we could get it. The mortgage rates were low enough for our meager salaries so we could keep it and eat at the same time.

We finally get to my stop and get off the bus and go up to my door and get inside. My home is warm and dry and it smells like the vanilla candles I was burning last night. I hang up my coat and put my boots on the mat to dry.

In the kitchen I start the tea kettle and then I go upstairs to change. I can finally wear sweatpants after a long day, and that makes me happier than anything.