Charlie burst into the apartment like a raging typhoon, hurled his briefcase at the shoe rack, and began furiously unbuttoning his jacket. “This is the end! THE END!” he bellowed from the doorway.
“What’s wrong?” his wife asked calmly, without taking her eyes off the TV. “They switched my coffee! Gave me decaf! And then I fell asleep at work! IN FRONT OF THE BOSS!”
“Oh, come on,” she waved her hand dismissively, “it’s not that bad.” “Easy for you to say! I spent the whole day like a sloth on sedatives!”
“You’ve got to look at it differently,” chimed in his brother-in-law, who was stuffing his face with cookies. “At least you’ll be healthier!”
“Oh sure!” thundered grandpa from his TV spot. “And when they give you cafeteria vouchers instead of money, you can tell yourself at least you won’t go hungry!”
“What happened?” asked grandma. Charlie opened his mouth to repeat it, but grandma had already fallen asleep. “You should just drink tea – that never gets mixed up,” suggested his mother.
“And be grateful you even have a job!” his brother added.
“You have to understand, the barista was probably having a rough day,” aunt butted in. “You never know what’s going on in someone’s life.”
“You weren’t assertive enough when ordering your normal coffee,” accused the neighbor, who had suddenly materialized in the doorway.
“Poor dear!” sighed grandma in her sleep.
“It’s all THEIR fault!” proclaimed the conspiracy-theorist uncle. “Those green-eating militants fighting against caffeine!
” Charlie meanwhile turned red, then purple, then pale. He spun on his heel and headed for the kitchen.
There he ran into his son Little Charlie, who was spreading jam on his bread. “Dad, you look weird. Did something happen?” he tilted his head to the side. Charlie sighed and opened the mug cabinet. “Yeah. They accidentally gave me decaf at work, I fell asleep at my desk, and the boss caught me. He really laid into me.”
Little Charlie thoughtfully licked jam off his finger. “Hmm… so that made you really angry, huh? Or more sad?” Little Charlie paused, wiping his hands on his shirt as he looked up at his dad.
“Yeah… probably both,” he admitted. Little Charlie thought for a moment, then grabbed his slice of bread, broke it in half, and handed one piece to Charlie. “Here, have some bread and jam with me. That always helps.”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile. He sat down at the table, took the offered half, and took a bite. The jam was sticky and sweet on his tongue, and with each bite, he felt the tension melting away.
When someone brings you their storm, do you question why the clouds gathered – or simply share your bread?
© Interestingbedtimestories.com Author – AraMonaTara