Good morning one and all. I hope you are doing well. It has been a busy week for me with a lot of scheduling to figure out. Have you ever realized that you have plans that last longer than your day? I’m kind of in that boat at the moment and trying to figure out what needs to be chucked overboard so the boat doesn’t sink. Fun stuff. But as always we will kick off with our fifteen minute prompt. It always helps me clear the mind and settle. So timers set and off we go.
I have danced around this before. I also think it plays into the theme of the fifteen minute novel I am working on this year. Still like it.
Wednesday, September 10th: I would never dare interrupt.
I would never dare interrupt. When Elliot was on a tear it was better to remain quiet and look attentive. It didn’t matter if what he was angry about, what he felt the need to lecture you about had absolutely nothing to do with you. If you were there, then you were his audience and the lecture was clearly meant for you.
I watched him pace, watched his hands wave through the air as though trying to illustrate points. It was a grand performance. When he turned away from me I looked over the others in the room. They were, like me quiet and waiting until the end of Elliot’s performance. Sadly unlike me, they were the ones the lecture should have been directed towards.
Today’s topic was budgeting.
Each one of us was supposed to stick within a certain personal budget. Elliot was tired of paying out all the extras and adding to the monthly bills.
As he pontificated it was difficult to keep my expression thoughtfully neutral. To pretend that I was taking his words of wisdom in. Unlike the others, I did not get a household allowance. I worked and not only lived within my paycheck, but often kicked back my share into the household budget. It had been the way things always were until Elliot took control.
As I was working I was not given the allowance the others were when he decided to dole things out. I was fine with that. I like everyone else who was working kicked in a little towards the main budget, paying for things like food and utilities. The house was solely owned by Elliot so he managed it.
The problem was that fewer and fewer people were working in the house and the allowances were increased annually to make up for inflation. My portion of what I kicked in were increasing. It too was set down to inflation. I was told it was my part of the bills and that I was lucky to live in the house instead of having to fend for myself.
A few weeks prior, however, I did the math. With what I was paying into the household budget, I could afford to live on my own. My desire to do the math came after I was informed there would be another increase at the end of the month.
I listened to Elliot pontificating about the need for a tighter budget and watched the others more or less ignore him. It was all very routine. But that morning, I put down a deposit, first and last month’s rent on a small apartment. I had already ferried most of my stuff over before this meeting was called. I actually thought that was what the meeting was about.
Eventually Elliot wound down. The general meeting was dismissed. “Please stay a moment longer,” he said to me as the others filed out. I waited. The room cleared.
“I noticed that you were looking around as I was speaking, as though you thought the lecture for the others instead of yourself.” His tone was accusatory, and I felt something inside me snap.
“Only because I don’t take anything from the household budget,” I told him.
“Oh,” he said “You don’t eat here? You don’t sleep here?”
“I won’t after today,” I told him. “I’m moving out.”
Ten til Midnight 