Life Ain't A Fairy Tale by Miguel Rivera Page A

everything to the lead principal scientists supervising
her.
    We stop at a restaurant. We are taking out an
order of chicken, rice, and mashed potatoes. During the morning,
she previously asked me what kind of food I like for dinner. I told
her chicken and rice. She knew beforehand of this restaurant that
has this kind of food.
    When we arrive home, I am startled to hear
that we have to clean the house. Yes. I have to help her clean the
entire house on both floors. This is so unnecessary. Cleaning the
house should be left to once every two weeks. I wanted to watch TV
and relax like I normally did.
    "Clean everything? When is the last time the
house was cleaned, Sara?"
    "Last Saturday, I cleaned the house. Sunday,
I spent the whole day at Gina's apartment. The house needs to be
cleaned." Sara insists with a serious and determined look on her
face as I playfully hug and give her cheek multiple kisses.
    "You cleaned last Saturday? We can skip
today."
    "No. We are going to start cleaning right
now."
    "We?" I could not get her to postpone the
cleaning. I keep harassing her with kisses on the cheek as she
turns her face away from me.
    "Yes. It will be much easier and faster
between the two of us." Sara goes for the brooms and mops in the
closet as I follow her around with my hands on her hips.
    "Aren't we going to relax for an hour or two?
I am tired." I sit down on the couch. I need to take a
breather.
    "You are tired. Are you serious? You did not
do anything today." Sara looks irritated. She dislikes my
unwillingness to clean today.
    "Yes. I did do something. I spent the whole
day tutoring people." I defend myself in a losing battle.
    "Yeah? So what? You sat there the whole day.
You didn't do any physical activity. You should be ready to roll."
Sara's frustration increases. I don't understand how she has the
energy to even want to clean the entire house. Especially after the
rough day she described to me.
    "Look. You had a hard day at work today. You
told me the HPLC-MS/MS instrument was not working, and you had to
fix it. Aren't you tired? Let's relax today and recover for
tomorrow." I signal her to sit down on the couch.
    "No. We have to do it now. Grab a broom. I
will clean the second floor while you clean the first floor."
    "Sara. Are you serious?" I start laughing.
She will not budge on postponing cleaning the house.
    "Do you see me laughing, Jimmy? No. Let's
go." Sara grabs me by the arms. She drags me away from the
couch.
    "I did not know you were obsessed with
cleaning." I stretch my legs out to sweep.
    "I did imagine you would start complaining.
You are used to doing nothing. Why are you stretching? All you are
going to do is sweep the floor." Sara looks at me shocked. Her
hands are on her waist.
    "I am injury prone. I got a terrible back
pain once for not stretching. Better safe than to be sorry. We can
postpone the cleaning for tomorrow. It is not like anyone is going
to visit us these days." This is my last pitch to prevent this
madness.
    "Are you going to help or not?" Sara rolls
her eyes at me.
    "Okay. Give me the broom." I extend my hand
to receive the broom.
    "The broom is right behind you. Are you
blind?" Sara walks past by me. My lips are puckered up, and she
doesn't even kiss them. She gets her broom and walks upstairs to
start cleaning.
    I am obligated to clean the floor. It upsets
me that I have to sweep the floor. There are good TV shows on now.
Later, there will be prowrestling. I won't see any of them now.
Watching TV is the highlight of my day. I sweep the dust from all
corners of the first floor and place it all together. I am sweating
and hot. I search for the dustpan and don't find it. Since I am
desperate to sit back down, I pick up the dust with my hands. I
place it in the garbage can.
    As I sit down on the couch and watch TV, Sara
asks me, "Wow, are you done already? Even with mopping?"
    "Mopping? No, I just swept the floor with the
broom."
    "What? Get back up again. Here's the mop and
the bucket