Remains of a hope!

What are those infernal insects called? Fruit fly or a more inclusive variety of the larger species of flies? You don’t really care to know the answer. He is only concerned with his nefarious activities. They are so tiny … like microorganisms … only they are visible … otherwise they would be very much like the virus that has been rampaging outside … threatening to enter at any moment … and this fear, this damn fear, which has kept him locked up … maybe for eternity!

You can’t help but be amazed at their prowess: any ripe fruit or any remnant of it, and they will materialize out of nowhere … swarming around you, silently but with a purpose. Not only that … for that matter, any remnants of anything, any leftover, from uneaten food scraps left on dishes to dark red stains at the bottom of the unwashed teacup … and they will agglomerate. Like black dots, they will be immersed in their existential task … you can easily fire them … they will fly as silently as before, but they will return again, very fast. Do you want to kill them? No way, you would just waste your time clapping without the celebration.

He looks in disgust at the hordes of them, busy as ever in their congested one-room dwelling. Her abode, she prefers to call her cursed, is particularly prone to her attacks: at the table with the leftovers on the plates, in the teacups on the floor pushed under the cots for actions to be taken later, in the fruit basket. although it is adorned mainly by a lone blackened banana, everywhere in the place carved into the wall called the kitchen and the open hole at floor level below it called the sink.

He smiles hysterically at the thought of having to get out of the sweltering surroundings a couple of times during the day … a relief? Say ah! Say ah! Say ah! Well, not for any output or productive activity, but just to answer the inevitable calls of nature. And there too! Hellish bugs completely dominate community bathrooms that have been crying red and green due to a lack of dedicated cleaners.

He’s also in awe of another basic aspect of her existence, he muses as he continues to sit on the dirty cot, leaning against the rough, hard concrete wall.

The seemingly unpleasant attributes of his place of residence had never really been a disturbing thought before … when he worked for a restaurant that was frequented by customers despite the dilapidated building he was in, for his good food, and so on, regular activity from early morning to early morning was the daily norm. The earnings were good. The handsome tips from the tummy-rubbing customers more than supplemented his modest monthly salary. And life was good. His wife was taking good care of their tenement house that he rented a couple of years at work after leaving his parents’ house in the poor neighborhood, and their daughter entered a good school.

The remnants … the flies … the visitors … they were all there, but then, the invisible flies flocked in, powerful and overwhelming. Everything changed in a single day … they closed his workplace … they imprisoned him in his congested home … infested by visible flies.

For a couple of months he continued to collect his salary, and with his moderate savings, life was not so difficult. But slowly and inevitably, things got worse. He grew tense, stiff, and irritable, boxed in against her desire, intolerably heated the following summer.

He also began to notice ominous changes in his wife’s behavior patterns and mood swings: she seemed to have completely lost interest in cooking her favorite dishes; She was also constantly angry and irritated, pouncing on his immobility or anything he wanted to do as a way of helping, saying nasty things about his wasted manhood, etc. He continued his classes online, forcing him to part with his much-desired smartphone in its painful confinement.

The suffocation and sadness only increased over the months as the rent for her house got into the pending queue, her small TV ran out of air due to the accumulation of cable charges, and she could no longer order online. your favorite, ready-to-use grocery items. to cosmetics that were called nonessential because of the invisible flies.

You now have two growing concerns. Has the love that has always been the mainstay of your married life been thrown out the window, forever, and that your loving wife only hates you now? Would he ever get his livelihood back? You’ve heard that your restaurant will never reopen, because city officials are considering demolishing the dilapidated building. Have you lost the whole plot in your life?

He blames himself for at least two reasons: he never really cared about his wife, he always left her behind in that congested dwelling, and he never allowed her to do odd jobs, such as his favorite as a cook-maid, and never He even seriously considered his demand for a sewing machine, a job in which he said he was very competent; and he himself, thanks to his false sense of dignity and now proven lifestyle, never wanted to do the jobs advised by his working brothers in the slum.

The hordes settle on the table next to his bed. In a fit of rage, he claps violently on them. The hordes disperse, but now they are returning to haunt his mouth and nose.

He sits quietly for a minute on his cot, thinking about something, with a stern look on his face. Suddenly, he explodes into a frenzy of activities: he picks up all the unwashed utensils and all the debris wherever they are, and begins to wash; take the broom cleaning all the corners of the house; and spray the remains of a bottle of air freshener.

Knock the door. He takes a satisfied look around his room, opens the door, and sits down on the cot, sullen as usual. Enter his wife and daughter. His ten-year-old daughter immediately sits on the other cot, concentrating on her smartphone. His phone! think, not sadly now, but with pride … with love.

He is quite surprised by the somewhat more cheerful and smiling face of his wife. Closing the door, she puts her purse on the table and sits on the floor at her feet. She looks at him and says:

“My mask design is approved by the lady, do you hear me? From tomorrow you call me at your house, there you will allow me to work on a sewing machine of yours and I will receive a commission for each mask I make!”

“Congratulations!” responds in a practical tone. “I have also decided to visit my brothers tomorrow! We will talk about the jobs we can start with. The future is uncertain, you know! We must earn ourselves and give a better life to our daughter and ourselves!”

If she was surprised, now she doesn’t show it. She puts her hands on her thighs, places her face there, and silently cries. He puts the palm of his right hand on her head and smirks.