He Sat at His Table
He sat at his table and stared at his coffee, it was still warm and he’d drink it as soon as he felt he’d be able to lift up his arm, it wasn’t a problem but sometimes he found everything felt a little bit harder than perhaps it should, he reached for the mug and the moment had passed, he sipped at his drink then he stood and he wondered whether there was something that he should be doing instead.
The sink wasn't empty but room for a mug, the washing up could wait until his next meal, which would come, when it did, in a couple of hours. It wasn’t like anyone else would be coming around, not to see him or to see the piles of plates and the newspapers, he’d clear them up soon as he’d got his head round it and maybe today he would get out the hoover and possibly push it around...
Between now and then he might go out and look at the flowers in the park, perhaps they'd be open, some people might pass but then he would get home and find he hadn’t spoken to anyone else, he'd kept to himself and he'd watched as they passed him, he’d stopped at the shop for a loaf of white bread, but no words were exchanged, he’d left the right change in the tray on the counter, and quietly gone on his way.
Perhaps he should see what was on television but time seemed to stretch, to slip through his fingers then evening descended and it was too late to make any more plans, the moment had ended. He wished he could think of a reason to change, but still nothing came. The creak of the staircase, it sounded familiar, it caused him to linger, and there for a second some memories of happier times.
Then he reached the landing and the piles of clothing, he’d wash them tomorrow, summon the energy... He managed to squeeze out the end of the toothpaste, he climbed into sheets that still needed changing and lowered his head, onto his pillow, that day was done, then onto tomorrow, he allowed his eyelids to close in the knowledge that nothing would change, that sleep wouldn’t come but at least he had done with that day.
23 April 2020
