It had been a long day at Frank's and Sara was more then ready to get home and relax. If she played her cards right she could be home for nearly 15 minutes of solitude before her son and daughter arrived home after school. Fifteen minutes would be precious and enough time to slip off her shoes, crack open a Coors Lite and relax.
Sara pulled into the driveway of her trailer and turned off the engine of her car. The drivers side door creaked with opening and closing and reminded the driver that she needed to grease that door....a thought that passed through her head everytime she got in and out of her car. The housekey slipped easily into the front door. The trailer was not exactly her dream home nor was it "house beautiful" but Sara always loved arriving home, especially when she had the house to herself.
"MERRRROWWWWW! MERRRROWWWW!
Henry-Puss was a large orange tiger cat that had adopted Sara and the kids as his family shortly after they arrived in Maine. The cat was like no other that Sara had ever met....more like a canine than a feline and very vocal. Henry's cries were like conversation and he was pleading to go outside and prowl as he always did when Sara or the kids returned home.
"MERRRRROWWWWW!"
"Fine, Henry-Puss.....Hold your horses!!" Sara slammed the door behind the cat after watching him dissappear in the underbrush
Sara slipped off her shoes and replaced them with her slippers in one stride as she crossed the vinyl flooring which designated a small area of the trailer as "the kitchen". The refrigerator door sounded errily like her car door when she opened it. She reached in for a can of beer. Sara wondered if 3:00pm was too early to crack open a beer and took a large sip before deciding. Before leaving the the kitchen she reached into the freezer and removed a frost-covered block of mystery meat placing in the sink to defrost for dinner. Sara looked at the clock on the wall as she shuffled to her easychair. Eleven more minutes before the kids arrived from school and shattered her sanctuary. She was now in the small carpeted area which designated the "livingroom" from the rest of the trailer. Sara took another sip of beer as she looked out the window by her chair. The trailer made for a pretty dark home but the chair that Sara sat in most of the time was by one of the few windows. She noticed a bright red cardinal in the trees outside and she thought of her deceased mother. Sara's Mom always had birdfeeders outside her window at the nursing home before she passed away and the cardinals were her favorite visitors.
Another flash of red caught Sara's eye. The blinking light on the telephone answering machine beckoned across the small room. She didn't have the energy or interest to get up and check out the messages. More than likely it was either a credit card company or her ex with some unreasonable request. He never called to speak with the kids unless he had another agenda, most likely involving money.
Sara heard scratching at the frontdoor and stood up with a sigh. She opened the thin metal door to see Henry-Puss waiting to come in or was he just letting Sara know her children were arriving home from school? The safety yellow bus slowed down and flashed red and yellow lights as it came to a complete stop. Daniel and Amy hopped off the bus and looked both ways, just as Sara had taught them, before running to the house. Daniel was ahead of Amy in what appeared to be a race to their mom.
"DANIELLLLL!!! WAAAAAAIT!" Amy yelled at her older brother as she ran with the pink bookbag flopping over her shoulder. Daniel slowed slightly but continued at a swift power-walking pace to stay ahead of his little sister. "MOMMMMM! Tell Daniel to WAAAAAIIT!"
"Daniel! Wait for your sister!"
Sara stepped back inside the doorway of the trailer and took one last sip of her beer.
"So much for the solitude.' she whispered to herself as the frontdoor opened.
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