Helen had two paintings that needed to be finished by the end of the week, but how was that even possible with a bloody cold?!
John had already been over twice, bugging her (and neither time with signed divorce papers in hand). She had told him that "now wasn't a good time." And, of course, when it comes to john, it's never a good time, but she has no desire to be around anyone. In fact, her basic plan was to isolate herself until those paintings were finished and this cold was gone. But that's when her thoughts were brutally interrupted by a knock at her door.
Amazing timing.
And guess who it was. Helen sighed loudly "Dr. Zimmerman, What brings you her at . . ." she glanced at her watch ". . . 3am?"
"Could you please turn down that weird music." He said in annoyance.
"Of course." She answered in a dull tone. Ah, a complaint. She should have known. And what the hell was this 'weird' music he was talking about?! But she didn't say anything about that, she walked over to the speakers and turned down the volume. He just kept coming over and complaining, every week, it seemed.
"You know, Abby and I both need to sleep."
Helen rolled her eyes and nodded "I understand."
He began to walk towards his home, and Helen closed the door, mumbling to herself "What a bastard."
Helen woke up on her sofa, the cat jumping onto her "henry . . ." she sighed as she sat up and set him on the floor.
By the way that she was shivering, she knew that this cold was getting worse. The chills were subtle, almost irritating, coming at random.
Helen groaned, massaging the bridge of her nose. To be honest, she felt as if she'd been run over. repeatedly.
She knew that she should be painting, or at least doing something productive. But she just lay back down, closing her eyes. Helen slowly began to fall asleep, something that didn't seem like a very difficult task at the moment, that is, until there was a knock at the door. She forced herself to stand and open her front door.
"Abby?" Helen, still half-asleep, almost slurred her words. She glanced at the clock and realized that it was already noon.
The neighbor from across the street smiled "Hello! Um, we were given your mail." She handed the envelopes to Helen.
"Oh, thank you." Helen took the mail and set it on the end table next to her door.
The awkward silence that suddenly rushed could almost be expected, but leave it to Abby to break the silence. "So how have you been?"
"I've um, I've been . . ." she trailed off when her nose began to burn, and in a matter of seconds that burn turned in her nose turned into that annoying and unfortunately familiar feeling. She cupped her hands over her mouth and nose and almost doubled over at the sneeze "Excuse me." Helen kept her hands cupped over her nose until she found the box of tissues that were sitting on the floor next to the couch.
"Feeling alright?" the younger woman asked.
Helen nodded, still wiping her nose as she walked back to the doorway "Just a cold."
"Yeah, Will says that's been going around at work. I guess a lot of people have been calling in sick."
"You're joking." Helen mumbled. She closed the door in a huff, most likely pissing off and/or scaring her neighbor, but she didn't really care at the moment. The thought . . . that man coming to her house repeatedly with a complaint. Bloody carrier.
