Mother's Comfort

Mother's Comfort.

It is cold and clean, spick and span. He scratched at the surface of
the table where an old stain seemed to mock him. He stared at the table
without really seeing it.

The smell of cooking dinner began to drive away the smell of green
soap, it was as Agatha always said, "The only thing that really cleans,
are green soap and elbow grease!"

Well he had put plenty of elbow grease into it, that's for sure, the
room was spotless, no one would find anything here. He sat motionless,
the darkness deepened outside and the stillness in the kitchen seemed
to grow more heavy with every tick of the clock in the
livingroom.

The door opened with a bang and Agatha stood there a minute looking at
him sitting at the table. Feeling the coldness, he stood up to take her
coat, not saying a word she hung her key on the hook by the door and
walked past him to the livingroom where she seated herself in her
favorite chair before the hearth. She accepted the martini he handed
her."thank you"she said without looking at him.

"Dinner is almost ready, I roasted the leg of lamb you got yesterday.
There will be enough left for the cold supper tomorrow so I won't have
to hurry back. I really want to have a drink after the film."

Agatha shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, leave me a tray, I'll help myself
if you really can't make it back."

Going back to the kitchen he decked the table with the best china and
silver, she did not object to eating in the kitchen but insisted on a
civilised table. "Food is uneatable if you don't treat it with respect.
Mother would have a fit if she saw me having dinner as most people do
nowadays, on the run" He polished the knife which seemed to be a bit
dull and placed the at a better angle to the plate; so,he was satified
with the table. "Dinner is served!"

Dinner was delicious but eten in silence. After dinner Agatha retired
once more to the living room where she sat listening to her favorite
music and reading the evening paper. He wondered if she was coming down
with the flu, she hadn't had much dinner. As he scraped the rest into
the bin he though wryly ," If She had let me have that dog I wanted, I
could have given him the scraps." He saw himself smashing the priceless
china into the bin and really enjoyed the sight for a while, with a
small shrug he went back to the job at hand. He still had a smile on
his lips when he went into the living room.

At half past ten she went upstairs. "Early to bed early to rise,"
Satified that she would have nothing to complain about he finally sat
down in front of the television not even bothering to turn it on.
Agatha slept very lightly and she "Needed her beauty sleep." He folded
the newspaper which she had carelessly left lying on the chair and put
it into the rack,
"It is so annoying how some people always leave things hanging about,"
she complained but she never saw the times she herself did such
things

At eleven he went to bed closing the doors and turning off the lights.
His room was in the hall through the living and he even had his own
bathroom. He had insisted on it and Agatha had finally given in
slamming the door in a huff as she left for work that day. He convinced
her finally that he only wanted it so that he wouldn't have to disturb
her when he went to the bathroom at night. He had to go rather often
since his postate started acting up. That bathroom had been very useful
yesterday, he thought with grim satisfaction, it had made cleaning up
much easier.

After breakfast the next morning Agatha left for the store. It
supprised him that she had eaten so little. She always insisted on a
big breakfast, eggs sausages beans and toast, at least three cups of
coffie, "You stick to your fruit and toast, give me a breakfast that I
can work on." Today she just shoved the food around the plate without
even the pretence of eating. He did not make the mistake of asking her
what was wrong. He shrugged, better not make himself a target, not
today!

He had just made himself a nice cup of tea and a biscuit when the
doorbell rang, It was that Jenkins woman from next door, "Have you seen
my Dixie?" She asked smiling coyly, he did not at first know what she
was babbling about, " My little dog, he is always trying to get into
your garden,"she continued, "Is Agatha finally having that nice
vacation she was talking about? I haven't seen her for a few
days"
She tried to peep around him into the hall, the nosey bitch, He blocked
her view quite deftly.
"No I haven't seen him, is he lost? " She did not really think that he
would allow her mangy dog into his home now, did she ? "I am sorry I
have to go, I think I hear the telephone, it might just be Agatha and
she doesn't like to be kept waiting" He closed the door quickly. He
hoped that he had caught her fingers in the door but no such
luck!

Agatha arrived from the store at eight as usual and was suprised to see
him still at home.
She didn't ask anything just sat down to dinner which she nibbled
without her usual appetite. She really must be sick, she was looking a
bit peaked.
She went to bed earlier than usual. He sat in his favorite chair in
front of the tv but did not bother to turn it on. "Waste not want not!
" as Agatha would say.

The doorbell rang, he raced to open it hoping that they would stop
ringing before they disturbed Agatha. On the doorsteps stood two police
officiers and a third mousey looking man in a cheap suit. He almost saw
the curtains in the house of the nosey Jenkins twitching, even though
she could not see the front door from her livingroom, she probably had
been to the police about her pesky mongrel. He wished now that he had
seen it and had drowned the miserable bastard.

"Good evening sir, my name is Smith, are you Mr.Harry Wilson? We have
here a search warrant for these premises. We have had a rapport that
your wife, Mrs.Wilson has not been seen for a few weeks. May we come in
sir? She also has not been to work for a a few weeks and the manager
told us when we saw him today that you were not answering the
telephone. Can you tell us where she is sir?"

" There is also a report from one of the neighbours about a missing
dog and a complaint about the stench in the area . Do you know anything
about that sir? The neighbour thinks that her dog has died in your
garden
Harry turned and walked to the kitchen leaving the door open allowing
them to enter. He did not say a word not even when the officer came
back downstairs to use the telephone to call the coroner.

"Sir, " asked the mouse being sure to place himself between Harry and
the kitchen cupboards, "Sir can you tell us anything of the mummies in
the bedroom upstairs?"