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Sunday Morning
It was Sunday morning, and Harry was waking up from his late night out with his friends. Julia was making pancakes in the kitchen, you could tell by the smell of sweet bananas with which she made them. They had been married for about 6 years, both on their early thirties. He was a businessman while she stayed home cooking, cleaning and making a comfortable living out of their small apartment at the second street in the center of Chicago.
Harry walked through the kitchen with his white pajamas on, as he grabbed his pancakes he nodded at Julia as if saying a spiritless thank you with his head. He continued his path and went back to the living room to finish reading the newspaper. Julia was getting used to his behavior. It hadn’t been like this since the beginning, he would be very caring and thoughtful back on their dating days but as the years passed suddenly he had this work meetings all the time. He would go very early on the morning and would arrive home almost around midnight everyday claiming he had this big important client that would be investing on the company. Julia was sad at first, but as the years went by she started to getting used to the idea of not having a husband anymore but a distant man that would pay the bills, every month. She loved him though but she was starting to wonder if Harry still felt the same way about her. Either way, after making the pancakes Julia decided she would go for a walk with their dog to take her mind off Harry’s behavior, so she went. After a long walk she finally sat down and rest on a bench and tied the dog to a tree nearby some kids playing baseball. She was resting when a baseball passed near her head making its way to the street. In that moment the dog started jumping to catch the ball untying himself from the tree, the dog started running to get the ball, Julia went running after him so he didn’t run away and get lost. In that moment Julia saw a car coming directly
to the dog, in an attempt to stop the car and save him she stepped in front of the vehicle. The driver immediately pushed the brakes, but it was useless the car was going too fast hitting Julia and killing her almost instantly. The driver escaped the scene while the dog stayed with her crying for his owner. Harry received the bad news and quickly went to see what was going on and he saw Julia’s body covered by a blue blanket surrounded by the police.
The funeral was that night and harry bought the most beautiful flowers he could find. There it was, Julia’s lifeless body as if she was sleeping, beautiful as the first day they met. Days passed by and Harry felt incomplete even though he never paid a lot of attention to Julia he did love her with all he had and now the feelings of impotence and frustration started to fill him up for not spending time with her when he could and cherishing what they had when they had it.
He sat down on the living room, thinking of how much time he could have spent with her, how many mornings he could have shared eating with her or how many Sunday and Saturday nights they could have spent on their relationship. Nothing of that matter now since it was too late and life had taught him a lesson he will never forget. It was there that he realized sometimes when you surround yourself with work and stress you start losing focus of life and forget to make time for the things that make life worth it.
This story was written by Paula Marcos and Arturo Cantú
