At home

Photo by Bruno Abreu
(www.olhares.com/Greenstar)

I throwed myself at the sofa and leaned my head back, happy to finally be at home. I realized my husband was also at home, by the sounds reaching my ears, coming from the kitchen.
- Alex? – I called.
- Hi!
I looked at my watch.
- What are you doing at home so early?
- Hello to you too!

I sighed, closing my eyes and rubbing my forehead. I was completely exhausted. When I opened my eyes again, the man of my life was in front of me, with two cups of tea in his hands and a smile.

- Tough day? – he asked.
- You have no idea.
- By the look of your hair, it looks like you had an unforgetable date with a hurricane.
- All dates with hurricanes are unforgetable, my love. – said I, grabbing one of the cups of tea.

He sat down besides me, and kissed me in my forehead, trying at the same time to give back some order to my hair.

- You’re gonna need some good hours to get it all together again. – he joked, smiling.
- It took me the entire afternoon to clean up that room, it’s bigger than our whole house. It was all turned into a mess.
I sighed loudly:
- I just hope those broken vases weren’t Mings or something like that.
- What’s the story this time? – he asked, laughing.
I leaned myself next to him:
- An old man… A fire… He wants to see the grandchildren… But the house hasn’t been inhabited for over ten years.
- Fantastic! - he said, swallowing a little bit of the tea - Does he look very bad?
- Not when he stays calm.
- They are never stay calm, Emma.
I looked at him. He didn’t smile anymore.
- Don’t worry, love. This one is easy.
He didn’t say a word.

In this, the curtains covering the two great glass doors of our living room, which had a view to the backyard, ondulated and someone came in. It was my boy, in his orange trousers and a white and yellow t-shirt. He came to me:
- Hello, Gustave.
- Hello, Emma. – he replied, pushing up his glasses that almost slippered down his nose.
- To him, you say hello. – grumped Alexandre, supping his tea.
I smiled at him:
- He’s only eleven years old.
I looked again at the kid. His blond hair was all perked.
- Did you see my mother? – he asked, with a lovely childish voice.
I shaked my head.
- She isn’t home yet. - he said, lurking at the exit door - Can I wait for her here?
- Of course you can, honey. – I answered, pointing him the sofa – Sit down there.
He sat down at the sofa, soon changing the television channels with the command.
- I hate it when he does that. – protested Alex.
- Shush… Let him be.

I observed the little one, in silence. He focused on the television, very excited, like he had just received a gift.

- I have to be back there tomorrow. – said I to Alex.
- Of course you have. – he riposted, ironicaly – Damn, Emma… Of all the houses on sale in this country, the first one had to be a haunted one.
- You wanna hear the best of it?
- What?
- It was a joke. My own boss sent me there. The house is so affected that everytime someone gets inside, something happens. He knows that and so, he sents there all newbies…
Alex bursted into laughter.
- It’s not funny, Alex.
- Oh, yes, it is!
He kept laughing, under Gustave’s confused stare.
- Ignore him. – I said to the kid, getting myself up.

I picked my purse and looked for my cell. I consulted the house’s file and dialed a number I found in there. A delicate voice answered me:
- Hello?
- Yes, good afternoon. Am I speaking to Mrs. Elisa Nolasco Vieira?
- This is her.
- How do you do? This is Emma King, from Hugo Hauser.

There was a pause. Then she repeated, hesitant:

- The agency?
- Yes. I’m sorry, is it a bad time to call you? I can call at some another time.
- No, no… Not at all. I just didn’t talk with the agency in a long time. What happened, you managed to sell the house?
- Not yet, unfortunately. Which is precisely what I wanted to talk to you about, if that’s possible. Can you meet me tomorrow? We could meet at the House of Lumiar.
- Can’t we talk now, at the cell?
- I hope you don’t mind, but I’d prefer to talk to you in person. - I answered, with serenity – But if that’s very difficult, I can…
- Hold on a moment, please.

For a minute, I couldn’t hear a thing in the cell. She had covered the speaker. Then finally, I heard her voice again.

- Can it be tomorrow afternoon?