Death Wish, Page 2

Then he sat down at the desk once again and began to really focus.

  He leaned in closer to the screen, all the while weighing the pros and the cons. He didn’t write anything down or make any notes, because if he did, then someone could find them and read them, and then he’d have to explain everything, and that would not be a conversation he wanted to be a part of, now or ever.

  “Want a cup of tea?” Jayne called from the kitchen.

  “No thanks,” he said.

  Distractions and more distractions. Five simple words like, ‘Want a cup of tea,’ could send his brain spiralling, and he’d start thinking about this and about that, and next thing he knew, he’d be a little boy, swinging on the swings in his parents’ backyard, and then he’d be playing soccer at school, and then after his trip back to his youth he’d be too exhausted to do any research. Not physically exhausted, you understand, but mentally.

  However, today was mostly his day. It was Sunday, and Jayne would spend most of the day marking papers and then preparing dinner. Sure, she expected him to come out of his ‘cave’ at some point. That’s what she called his office, a direct reference to that book—or some say, life-changing manual—about men and women living in separate worlds. His wife as a gift had given him a copy. He couldn’t remember the occasion, but from what he had tried to read, it seemed like rubbish.

  Just then, Jayne gently knocked before pushing the door open toward him.

  He had just enough time to click the page over to Facebook before she put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the top of his head.

  He hunched his shoulders involuntarily, imagining that she was interested in whatever he had on the screen. She had been interested, because she commented about what was there. He felt like such a dweeb wasting time on a Sunday afternoon looking at Facebook. Or to put it another way, he felt like a dweeb for Jayne to think that on a Sunday afternoon he would prefer to be spending his time perusing Facebook instead of spending time with her. That was not the case at all, and he wanted her to be reassured of that.

  But at the same time, he thought that maybe whatever she thought at this point it was a moot point.

  He casually scrolled down, pretending to be interested in who was making what for dinner this evening. He tried to think of something to say for a Status Update, but nothing came to him. He continued to stare at the screen, all of the time just wishing that Jayne would go away.

  “Will you be ready to go pretty soon, love?” Jayne asked.

  “Sure, give me five minutes,” he said, and as she neared the door, “or maybe ten?”

  “Ok, ten it is, but you really need to get some fresh air today. And so do I. Plus, I’ll get Buddy’s lead ready, and he can come along, too.”

  “Good idea,” he said, all the while knowing that Buddy would probably be more excited about their little adventure to the shops than he was.

  Chapter Three