Chapter 1:
Emma Mason had just gotten home from a tiring day at work, as was the case most days. Even though her work would completely wear her out, she could not have found a better career. She was an environmental lawyer, trying to get companies to use more environmental friendly ways and trying to stop nature being demolished for more and more corporate buildings. She had always had a passion for the environment and the creatures that relied on it to survive. At school she was widely known as the girl who´d start petitions to save the littlest bug from extinctation?.
As Emma opened the door to her house she heard the commentatory of the sportschannel. For once Emma wouldn't mind having to watch a football game. She simply wanted to kick of her heels, collapse on the couch and do nothing, but as she stepped into the living room she realized this wasn't going to happen. Her husband, Gavin Mason, was sitting in his chair, a cold beer in one hand and the remote in the other. He had his feet up on the coffee table, which was covered in empty beer cans.
Gavin, to most still known as Spinner, his childhood nickname, had been unemployed ever since he got fired from the Dot. Emma never pushed him to find another job, because she felt guilty about him losing his last one. It had been her fault that the Dot had gone up in flames, after all. However, Emma had hoped that as he wasn't working from 9 to 5 he could do some work around the house, but every day when Emma came back she was confronted with the fact that cooking, cleaning and washing was still up to her.
'Spin, please clean up this mess,' she sighed as she took her heels of and put them besides the door. She slinged her handbag on the couch and walked over to her husband.
'After the game,' he said, waving the remote control at the tv, 'it's only a few more minutes.' Emma took the remote out of his hands and pressed the stand-by button. The tv-screen immediately turned black and Spinner mumbled under his breath.
'Now,' Emma said as she placed the remote on the coffee table and walked towards the kitchen to start diner. Meaning she took two microwave meals out of the freezer, stabbed some airholes in them with a fork and heated them up. Spinner was trying to fit all the empty cans between his arms and just as he grabbed the last one from the coffee table he couldn't hold them any longer. The cans fell out of his arms onto the floor, clinging as the metallic surface of one hit the other. Emma sighed and turned, grabbing an empty trashbag out of one of the drawers and walked back to her husband.
'Use this,' she said, as she handed him the bag. He struggled a bit to open it up, but was then efficiently putting each can inside.
'Where do I put this?' he asked as he came into the kitchen, holding the half-full trashbag in front of him.
'The garbagecan would be a safe bet,' Emma replied. Spinner slung the bag over his shoulder and opened the backdoor. He was immediately greeted by barking and when he came back in he was followed by their dog, Darko. Darko was a blonde labrador, he had just turned two and was still very playful, which was why he was let out into the garden every day for an hour and a half so he could run and chase his ball.
'How long as he been out for?' Emma asked.
'I let him out at 2,' Spinner quickly glanced up at the clock and realized that it was already 6.
'You let him out for 4 hours?' Emma placed her palms on the kitchen table, 'without food and clean water?' She glanced over at Darko who was standing in front of her with his empty foodbowl in his mouth.
'I'm sorry,' Spinner pleaded, 'I didn't mean to, I...' He got cut off by the beeping sound of the microwave. Emma opened the tiny door and took the plastic containers holding their food out. She ripped them open and pushed one towards Spinner. She then filled Darko's bowl with wet food and filled the other bowl with fresh water.
'You forgot our dog?' Emma pushed her fork into a potatoe, as Spinner had focused his glare at his food, as if it could jump up and do a riverdance any moment, 'I knew I shouldn't have let you get a pet.' Emma sighed and Spinner looked up at her for a moment. She was right, he was a terrible pet owner. He had heard Darko bark around half past 3, begging to come in for a belly rub or a scratch behind the ears, but Spinner had been to lazy to get up and simply turned the volume of the tv up. Emma had finished her diner, she had thrown the plastic container into the trashcan and her fork into the sink.
'I'm going to shower and go to bed,' she said, 'I'm exhausted.'
'Goodnight hun,' Spinner said, standing up to press a kiss on his wife's cheek, 'I'll clean up down here.' He sat back and pressed his fork in his until then untouched food.