She slammed her laptop shut and screamed, “My anger has reached a goddamn fever pitch!”
Startled out of my catnap on the far side of the living room, I dropped the cat on the floor and jumped to my feet.
“Shit, woman! The cat freaked and I could of been clawed.”
“Well, I’m sick to death of these repugnant Republicans using human beings as pawns. The governors of Texas and Florida are putting people on buses and dropping them off out of their jurisdiction, sometimes in some godforsaken place like Martha’s Vineyard. Fucking politics, winning is all they care about, not who gets hurt for them to prove a point.”
“That’s why we vote blue, Hon. WE can’t even trust so-called moderate Republicans to do what’s right. Right?” She glared at me; my attempt to calm her only pushed her buttons more.
“Moderate Republicans my ass! These are the same Republicans that quote the Bible as they do unkind things and spin the truth for their own benefit. I just can’t take it anymore. Maybe I need to check myself into a mental hospital or something before I have a breakdown or a heart attack or, or… Will you drive me?”
We had to go beyond words. I grabbed her thrashing arms and hugged her tight while shushing in her ear.
She pushed me away. “We vote, we donate, we actually win the popular vote, then they pull some hat trick with electrical college or what the fuck it’s called.”
“Electoral College.”
“Don’t you man-splan shit to me while I’m pissed off!”
“Okay, look. You just need to step back and forget everything a while. The whole world is too heavy to carry on anyone’s shoulders, mine too.”
She flopped on the couch, pulling me with her. ‘Alright, tell me what I should do.”
“I get it, there’s no escape from bad news. We’re like soldiers at war, except we’re fighting for justice. How do soldiers do it?”
“They get R&R.”
“Right! Don’t you think we need R&R too, just like the enemy. We don’t stop caring, we just take a break to recharge and heal. Get it? Us humans are not cartoons that can get back up after a truck runs us over.”
“Then I’d find peace.”
“Why rush it, death is inevitable anyway. But let’s start from there. What the fuck have we got to lose? We’ll die anyway no matter what they do. Can we be as crass and selfish as them?
“No fucking way, man”
“I’ve seen jail, the Booby Hatch, slander, ridicule by those I’ve loved who turned into Q-Anons, physical & emotional abuse from bosses, co-workers, spouses, ah, not you, Hon. The list goes on. Hey! Let’s laugh at it!”
We both made a feeble attempt and it felt so ridiculous that we ended up laughing for real. She finally caught her breath and let out a deep sigh of recovery. “We gotta do that more often.”
“Yeah,” I played with the top of her blouse. “And make more love too.”
She fixed me with a crooked leer. “Alright, big handsome boy, make me a cocktail and we’ll see where it takes us.” She hadn’t called me that in a long time.
She held both glasses and I carried her into the bedroom. It had been a long week, a longer month, but we took all the time we needed to make up for it.
