As I unlocked the front door, I heard giggling, A shuffling sound. A brief silent...and more giggling.
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7.00 am A call from the Pharmacist. Machine down. Tend machine.
9.00am Call Engineer in India. Check hardware.
10.00 am Vendor came for equipment calibration
11.00am Meeting aka clown convention
1.00 pm Attempted to have lunch. Failed. Rush to warehouse. Urgent matter.
2.00 pm Quick light-speed lunch
2.15 pm Attempt to fix machine.
5.45pm Machine refused to be fixed.
6.00 pm Ride home. Heavy rain.
On the way home, I’m still thinking about work. What needs to be done tomorrow. Things to be completed. Problem needs rectifying. People who annoyed me. Being confronted by the Manager on how everything is my fault including the WWII. Tons of unfinished paperwork piling on the desk which I wish I could just shred and recycle to reduce global warming. And the damn machine….
Gosh… what a long day… A song from the famous Britons was playing over and over again in my head as I cruised along the lonely highway…
And I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright
A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles
As I unlock the front door, I heard giggling, A shuffling sound. A brief silent. And more giggling.
Emme was playing with Blanco (oh, did I mentioned? We changed the name from Cinnamon to Blanco Diablo which is Latin for ‘The white devil’). Blanco was chasing his favorite rubber ball while Emme throws it around. “Blanco! Look who’s home!”, said Emme in nothing but bra and panties – a standard issue just-got-home-from-work uniform. I gave her a kiss and picked Blanco up. He was breathing heavily through his cherry red reindeer nose. After changing to my ‘uniform’, I took over from Emme. Blanco is an amazing cat. No matter how high we threw the tangerine colored ball, Blanco would surely catch it. He would push the ball around with his paw and when he gets too far from us, he would carry the ball back to where we are with his mouth. He’s too smart and outrageously adorable. Just like my Emme. (Except of course, she has less hair).
Exhausted, we lay on the naked floor. Emme on my shoulder and Blanco on her chest. We watched the ceiling fan turned relentlessly in hypnotic precession.
And as our giggles (and purr) filled the unoccupied space around us, everything started to make sense again. The line between all that is important and trivial become vivid. This is my family. My very own family. Nothing is more important than this. And nothing is less significant than the chaos on the other side of these walls. No matter what happens, this is where I fall on to and I am in turn, their refuge.
I held Emme closer and whispered silently to myself,
So this is how it feels like to hold a dream in your arms…
