Jeremiah Wilson looked down at his bowl of
Old-Fashioned Quaker Oats oatmeal. He picked up his spoon and stirred the
steaming goop, scrunching his nose at the extra raisins his wife had plopped
in.
“Honey, would it really be that bad to have sausage
and eggs every now and then?” Jeremiah said as he placed his napkin over the
bowl of oatmeal and stood up to grab the box of Frosted Mini-Wheats from the
cupboard.
Linda Wilson stepped into the kitchen, still wearing
her purple robe and taking the rubber band off of the newspaper that she had
retrieved from the front porch.
“Yes, it would be, unless you want to have a heart
attack.” Linda said as she sat down across from Jeremiah, unfolding the
newspaper and scanning the front headlines.
Pouring the last of the skim milk over his cereal,
Jeremiah shook his head.
“You know, I am only forty-two.”
Linda set the newspaper down and looked up at her
husband and his neglected oatmeal.
“People get heart attacks at our age…” she said as
she slid the oatmeal bowl towards her and took the napkin off.
“Rarely.” said Jeremiah with his mouth full of
cereal. “Besides, if anything was going to give me a heart attack it would be…”
Jeremiah swallowed his cereal and looked down at his
bowl. Linda raised her eyebrows as she took a bite of oatmeal. Once she
realized he was not going to finish his sentence, she placed her hand on his.
“Jeremy…”
“I don’t want to get into this now.” said Jeremiah
as he stood up and took his cereal bowl over to the sink. “I need to get going.”
Linda put her head in her hands and sighed.
“I just don’t see why you won’t quit. It’s not like
we need the money…”
“I’m not doing it for the extra money. I never did
it for the money. Not that there’s much in it anyway.”
“I know, I know, it’s just that…”
Jeremiah turned around and placed his hands on the
counter.
“It’s just that what?”
“It’s not right for you anymore.” said Linda,
looking up at her husband and clasping her hands in her lap.
“It’s not about me.” said Jeremiah as he started
walking towards the bedroom to get his coat and briefcase. “It’s about the
kids.”
Linda stood up and followed Jeremiah down the
hallway towards the bedroom.
“You have been helping kids for almost twenty years,
and you have done an amazing job, but it’s not right for you anymore. I know
you don’t want to admit it, Jeremy, but… you’re jaded.”
Jeremy quickly turned around from the bedroom closet
with his coat over his arm and briefcase in hand. His normally cool, blue eyes
seemed to be burning red.
“I am not
jaded.” he said as he strode out of the bedroom towards the garage.
“Jeremy!” said Linda as she ran to catch up with
him. She stopped him in the kitchen, grabbing his arm and turning him around to
embrace him.
“Just think about the coffee shop some more.” she
said into his shirt-sleeve. “Think about how happy we could be. We could
finally live out our dream, Jeremy.”
Jeremiah sighed and kissed his wife on the top of
her head.
“I have to go.” he whispered as he stepped out of
her embrace and turned towards the garage door.
“I’ll see you tonight, sweetheart.” Linda called out
as she stood alone in the hallway, crossing her arms around herself.
