Naomh- Chapter 11

“Love never fails” Read the inscription of the gold wedding ring that Sylvia Breslyn removed from her finger. She placed it on the windowsill above her kitchen sink before plunging her hands in to wash a pair of man’s trousers in the warm basin below. The pants had earned a good wash. As Sylvia frothed the soap through to work up a good scrub the grime oozed its way through the white lather turning it brown. It would take a few rounds, top to tail to come clean. Sylvia enjoyed making things come clean helping things become what they ought to be. The simple task of setting one thing right in the world, even a pair of pants set her at ease.

The trousers were one of two pair owned by Sylvias husband Neil who at present lie sleeping on the living room couch and at present washed dishes at a café in the Harbor and on any given day was another man entirely depending on the weather and his pocketbook and the stiffness of the drink. A baby’s cry rang from the other room breaking the silence of the afternoon. Baby Trudy. Sylvia’s hands were still wet and soapy, she looked into the living room. Neil was unroused by the baby’s cry, or at least he pretended to be so. She squeezed the pants through again and brown streaks continued to bleed into the water below. “Not finished”, she thought. She paused before calling to Neil to go to Trudy. He had come home late again last night. Drinking. She had heard him heaving in the bushes at 2am. Now, he lay in what looked like an uncomfortable position, his legs off the sofa and his arms catawampus to fit the small couch. He was still greasy from the day before. She looked at him and could only imagine his smell. Sweat and vomit and food odors of many kinds. And his breath… It was better he didn’t get the baby. She looked down the half washed trousers. They would have to wait. She dried her hands on a dishtowel nearby and looked at her ring on the windowsill, “Love never fails” She laughed to herself and slipped the costume back on her finger, exiting to gather baby Trudy for another morning nurse