FICLET: Timeout

Just a bit of silliness during a stressful time.

Title: Timeout
Characters: Neanderthal/Wench

It was dark. I could hardly breathe. I squirmed around and using my hand, I tented up the edge of the blankets, creating a little air hole. The bit of fresh air felt good. I closed the little air hole. I didn’t want to feel good. I just wanted the day to be over.

Lying there, feeling sorry for myself seemed like the right thing to do. Until. I heard the front door slam and the clop of Neanderthal’s big feet. I laid perfectly still, hoping he won’t see me.

Of course the minute I heard him snarling, asking where I was at, I threw the covers off my head and yelled, “Back here. In the bedroom.”

The thumps of his large feet hitting the floor as he stomped down the hall were both comforting and distressing. I pulled the covers back over my head, turned onto my side, and curled up into a ball. I knew he was in the room when I heard his heavy, caveman breathing.

“No, I’m not sick,” she sighed when Neanderthal growled questioningly. “I put myself in time-out.”

I tried to hold onto the blankets when Neanderthal pulled them down. It turned into a pitiful game of tug-of-war. Oh, I knew I’d lose. My hands are slim and dainty while Neanderthal’s hands resembled a baseball mitt. A hairy baseball mitt! A hairy baseball mitt that’s lined with steel. That’s the only reason he won-those big-stupid-hairy-steel-baseball-mitt hands.

And you know what else is stupid? His big bushy eyebrows. Drawn in toward his nose. But you know what isn’t stupid? His look of concern. It always takes my breath away that he loved so fiercely. That he loved me so fiercely.

I was almost catapulted off the bed when he flopped down beside me. I grunted at him. Seriously we’d been married too long-I now spoked Neanderthalese. I struggled a little when he tried to wrap his tree-trunk arms around me.

I didn’t want to be comforted! I was in a deep blue funk and wasn’t quite ready to get out of it. My struggling stopped when he barked and brought one of those big-stupid-hairy-steel-baseball-mitt hands down on my bum.

So, ok. I let him comfort me. And we laid there like that. He even pulled the covers over our heads. With a little air hole so we could breathe.

We laid there for days. Ok, maybe it was just like 15 minutes. Then, “I just had a bad day.”

He gnarled questioningly.

“Nothing specific. Just...you know. Everything.”

His chest vibrated when he murmured to me that, yes, he did know.

We laid there a couple more weeks. Or maybe it was just like 5 minutes. Then I was almost catapulted off the bed again. Neanderthal was squirming around like he had ants in his pants. My whine of displeasure only brought that big-stupid-hairy-steel-baseball-mitt hand down on my cute little backside again.

After a few more twists, Neanderthal pulled out his phone from his back pocket. He dialed and then grunted to whoever answered. They must have spoke Neandertahlese as well because the phone call ended.

I looked up at him.

He answered my unspoken question with a grunt. And a growl. Then a little snarl.

My heart melted right then. And even though the sun had set, my day got a little brighter. Neanderthal had ordered pizza. And we were going to eat it, here, in bed. We were going to be in timeout together.

Yeah. The day sucked. But the night was looking pretty good. I should be put in timeout more often. Especially when Neanderthal joins me.

End

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