After finalizing a wind power initiative for Austrian farms, Elizabeth and Conrad celebrated with a few glasses of whiskey. Then her team celebrated with a flute of champagne and called it an early day. And yet, she was not quite done with her celebration. When she got home, she grabbed a beer from the fridge and flicked on the TV. One beer became more, and tipsy became drunk.
Somewhere along her channel surfing, she stumbled onto a commercial with dogs. Sad dogs.
"This winter, hundreds of dogs will be left outside to freeze. Without proper shelter, they may suffer frostbite and hypothermia."
Elizabeth burst into tears. How could people be so cruel?
The commercial continued: "They need your help. Please, take the time to donate to the ASPCA. We need to be their voice."
After her tears subsided, Elizabeth felt determination set in. She took another swig of beer, some of it spilling on her shirt. She had to do something.
Roughly an hour later, Henry opened up the door after a long day of work. He kicked off his shoes and chucked his jacket into the coat closet. "I'm home!"
"Hi," Elizabeth said tearfully as she approached him from the office.
His eyebrows crinkled with concern. "Baby, are you okay?"
"Please don't hate me!" she wailed as she flung herself into his arms.
"Babe, I could never hate you," he reassured her. He scooped her up in his arms. "What happened? From what I heard in the news, you had a pretty good day."
Over blonde tufts of hair, he caught a glimpse of empty beer bottles on the coffee table. Was she drunk? He leaned down and kissed her gently, and the tang of alcohol on her lips confirmed his suspicions. "Baby, what's wrong?"
She sniffled and clumsily wiped tears off of her face. "Their little paws are cold."
Relieved that she wasn't in any actual distress, Henry smiled. Drunk Elizabeth was emotional but always has the best intentions. It was a lot like sober Elizabeth, but without impulse control. He held her a little tighter. "Whose paws, babe?"
"The puppies! I wanna save the puppies," she slurred. She looked up at him sternly. "Henry, we need to be their voice."
"Isn't that the slogan from those really sad animal shelter commercials?"
"The PSA... The CAP... The ASCPA," she struggled to spell the acronym. "I went to their website, and I tried to donate five dollars, but..."
"But what, babe?" he prompted.
"Well I wasn't wearing my glasses and everything's a little blurry anyway, so I think I did a little more than five dollars," she admitted sheepishly.
"How's about I check the receipt?" He offered. She nodded. Henry opened up her laptop. 354 dollars. He exhaled slowly.
Elizabeth looked at him with watery eyes. "I messed it up, didn't I?"
"You didn't type in five dollars, that's for sure."
"Are mad at me?" She buried her face in his chest, balling up the fabric of his shirt in her fists.
"Of course not, sweetheart," he responded, stroking her hair gently.
"Mmkay." She rested heavily against him, fighting the urge to slip into sleep. "Love you."
"I love you too, baby. Let's get you to bed, yeah?" Henry guided her up the stairs as helped her change into pajamas. He couldn't help but to smile at how peaceful and innocent she looked flopped on their bed, eyes fluttering closed. Henry got ready for bed quickly and turned off the lights, curling himself around her.
There were a few minutes of silence and he thought that Elizabeth had fallen asleep when he heard her say softly, "Henry?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe... we should get a puppy."
Sorry this is super short! Feel free to leave a review.