One Day in the Land Of Decay

Four Forty Five AM

 

The sky was turning purple when Arthur awoke with a start. The air-conditioning they won on a raffle five years ago was whining something god awful like a donkey on its last legs, and for a moment he wondered about how his neighbors feel about that grinding noise. There was a smile breaking on his lips, then it got stolen by father time’s gifts: he felt his blood surge, his throat constrict, his nostrils clog and yes the icing on the cake, his heart starts to gallop like it was getting revved up by a monkey in his brain. Hello headaches and scary maybe last mornings.

If life began at forty, he wondered what else would be added on top of sleep apnea, hypertension, wonky kidneys, allergic rhinitis and an enlarged heart. If there was anything he was sure of, all that advertisement about life was freaking hogwash. Life shoots you out of the womb and begins walloping you. It stops only to get a bigger bat while you philosophize and fool yourself that an uptrend is beyond the bend.

Wincing as he tried to slow his heart, he tries to shake his head and open his eyes. It took some learning a few years back to not sit up straight immediately so as to avoid a morning trip to the emergency room because of hypertension.

 He was wishing he’d listen to his grandmother a little bit more when he caught sight of his wife. Their kids were in the nooks of her arm, and for one funny moment he thought she looked like a hen turned over on her back. Then he realized they slept at two in the morning as little Matthew kept crying. Salary day was more than a week away, and they ran out of formula. Gwen was trying her best to breastfeed, but with their diet of greens and cheap rice, there was not much kick to it. Matthew was asking for a more rounded meal, and had been belting his lungs out in that single minded way only babies can do. By midnight, he created enough ruckus to wake his older sister up, and then it was boo hoo city for the family.

He vaguely remembered both of them being near tears, studiously avoiding to look at each other while supporting one another by taking each of their children and trying to rock them to sleep. How she took Mariel from him he can’t recall, but it choked him a bit knowing that even in her tired state, Gwen tried to make sure he at least got some rest for the grind of the coming morning.

With another shake of his head, Arthur slowly stands up from the mattress on the floor while silently cursing his wobbly knees. He slowly opens the bedroom door, and with another glance at his sleeping family, walks to the hall to begin his day.