Member-only story
Fiction
How to Clean a Broken Timeline
Tuesday Night Trash Night
Mariella sobbed as she wheeled three trash bins out to the curb. It was Tuesday night about 11pm, and she cried alone in the dark.
Just ten minutes ago she had remembered that trash day was tomorrow and the trash cans had to be wheeled out the curb. The trucks would arrive in the morning and the cans had to be out no later than 6am.
Gary said it was easier to put them out the night before. Mariella had never really had to think about the trash, but now she did.
Gary handled the trash because it was on his side of the columns lined up neatly on the house duties list. You see, when they had first moved in together they just sort of muddled along each kind of taking care of the household chores. That was until The Big Fight, which happened after about eight months living together. The fight they had joked about for years.
She screamed about doing too much of the housework. He shouted about having to bring in all of the money. They were both right and they were both wrong.
One Google sheet and one successful job search later and both a division of labor and a better budget had been negotiated.
