Meals of Misery

Tomas Mortinson was humming to himself a melody of a pop song that was stuck in his head for a couple of days. He heard it on the radio when he was driving home from work. He was humming what seemed to be an A minor musical gamma scale melody that repeated itself in a three fourths rhythm as he heated supper in the oven. Kids were already in bed sleeping, because tomorrow was still a school day, unfortunately, as they said in unison before heading to wash up before heading to bed.

This was an hour and a half ago. The digital clock on the kitchenette’s stand showed almost 10 PM. During the early hours of the day, he received a message from his wife Annetta that unexpected things had come up in the national broadcaster that needed her involvement and that she might be running late so Tomas was in charge for today with helping the kids with their homework, making sure that they not starve and leave some meal for her when she gets back, as the message jokingly said.

Tomas thought nothing of it, since Anne sometimes indeed had to work until the very late in to the night. During those times, she always came back dead beat, drank some tea, and plopped down on their bed exhausted like a work horse sleeping soundly until the 7 AM of the next day. The husband did not have any reason to be concerned as well because she contacted him while he was still at work saying that its pure chaos at the studio and she will probably be home somewhere around ten-ish in the evening only.

Just shy of forty minutes ago he received another message from his lovely wife saying that finally things were wrapped up at her employer and she is heading home; he should not make tea since she already drank some on her stop in the gas station.

The smell of duck fillet with mashed potatoes and sauce being heated in the oven started lingering around the kitchen and assaulted his nostrils. Oh, he loved the smell of this dish. He heard a car heading up their house’s driveway and stopping. The humming of the engine ceased. There was an audible car locking noise and after a few seconds Tomas heard the rustling of keys as the front door opened and closed, keys locking the door again.

He turned off the oven so that the dish would not lose its warmth and went to the kitchen cabinet to take out a plate. “Hi, honey”, he heard his wife’s voice as she was entering the kitchen. She was wearing a yellow summer dress, the one he seen her put on this morning. Annetta sounded beat. “Hard day?”, he inquired placing the plate on the table and taking out the heated dish with oven mitts.

“Oh, you have no idea”, the blond groaned out loud, plopping on the kitchen seat. “Can you believe it? A student intern managed to delete half of the broadcaster’s script for all of the upcoming shows, mine included! We had to sit there for hours trying to brainstorm again what we will be doing in our respective shows”, she grumbled as Tomas handed her a steaming dish. “Oh, that’s lovely”, Anne said inhaling the smell.

“Yep, duck fillet, yours and the kids’ favorite”, Tomas laughed watching as she gobbled down hungrily. “Mhm”, she murmured her mouth full of the food. “As if you don't like at as well, I've seen you eating four fillets in one sitting during Christmas, buddy", she laughed while another dig of the fork skewered the meat and she put in in her mouth. She continued her train of thought: "And that’s why we don’t let student interns do anything, but photo copy stuff, arrange stuff under supervision or have them bring coffee. Otherwise, fucking disasters like this happens!”, she cursed, but she giggled at the situation as well.

“Yeah, I remember my first time as a student intern at some crappy office. All they let me do was greet the clients and show them the way to the office; I mean, I did not understand even how to transfer the in-coming calls to the phones located in other offices”, he laughed. “Not funny”, grumbled Annetta. “I swear, I love my job, but one of these days, I’m going to quit”, she said as she finished her meal. “Thanks, darling”, she leaned in and gave Tomas a kiss on the cheek.

“No problemo, beautiful”, he smiled at her. After twelve years of marriage, he still found her beautiful as the day they first met when they were both seventeen on their way to finish high-school. The years were kind to her. Ah, how time flies, thought Tomas quickly glancing at his own slightly protruding beer belly, which was also an issue caused from many hours of sitting at his desk job and not nearly enough exercise. Annetta tried persuading him in to coming to the gym with her, but back then he jokingly refusing saying he fears having a heart attack. Maybe, I should take her advice... yep... one of these days... after my first real heart attack, yep, that's a guarantee.

“So, do you want to watch ‘Game of Thrones’ or something before going to bed?’, he asked as Annetta took the dishes to the sink and began washing them. ‘Nah, I think I’m going to go to bed, I’m beat’. ‘Well, alright, then, mind if I watch an episode or two?’, Tomas asked. ‘Only if you promise to re-watch them again with me’, she smiled while walking up to him and wrapping her slender arms around him leaning close to him and kissing him on the lips. “You bet”, Tomas said breathlessly and playfully spanked her behind through her yellow dress. She giggled while playfully batting his arm.

As she finished with the dishes, she went to say goodnight to Tomas in the living room, and headed up-stairs. The woman briefly poked her head in her children’s bedroom. She smiled at their peacefully sleeping forms. As she went to the bathroom to wash up and put on her pyjamas for the night, her eyes slightly changed. From soft blue they became metallic gold. Infiltration successful, she sent a message, which was received by a computer system located many miles from the capitol city in a secluded forest not known even to the state and its record systems…