Winds of the Heavens

Winds of Heaven
About 715 words

"Oh, no!" Geoff groaned when he saw the furniture store delivery truck pull up in front of their house. "Not another piece of clunky over-sized furniture!" When his wife Madeline came home, he was going to really rip her a new one. By the time he had turned the stove down and stormed out the front door, two guys with a dolly were wheeling an immense box up the walk.

First, he tried to refuse the delivery. "Out! Go away! Take it back!" he barked at the bewildered crew. He was shooing them down the sidewalk when Maddie drove up and parked behind the delivery truck.

"Oh, wow, it came!" Her delighted smile drove away his last remnants of self-control.

"Madeline Dunham, what on earth is the matter with you? Have you no sense? What have you bought now? You're a shopaholic, you know that? It says 'leather recliner' on the box. Good grief! Where do you think we're going to put this monstrosity? The house is already full. We have no room for more furniture!"

"Hi, honey." She hugged him and kissed him thoroughly. The delivery crew watched with interest and got ready for round two.

"Don't you 'honey' me, Maddie! We've talked about this. We can't afford it. We certainly don't need it. Hey, guys," he turned to the crew, "please just cart this right back into your truck and take it to wherever the hell it came from." Round two to the mister. The crew turned to look at Maddie.

"It was on sale, Love, at a really good price. Guys, it can go in the garage for now, thanks. We'll unbox it later and decide where to put it." Match point to the missus. They wheeled the box into the garage and waited with the paperwork.

Geoff growled like a tiger and pulled at his hair as he glared at the box. "Maddie, dammit. You can't buy every sale item you see. Take it back."

"But it's a perfect match for the sofa we got last month. Wait until you see it! Black leather, soft as...." She glanced at the delivery guys and whispered the rest in his ear.

His eyes widened. "That soft?" He too glanced at the delivery guys, then sighed. "But where the hell will we put it? The living room is already stuffed because of that outsized sofa...." Madeline signed the delivery receipt and the crew drove off. "...there's no room in your office, and it certainly can't go in the bedroom."

"But we can. Come on, we've got time before supper."

Over a somewhat delayed meal, Geoff continued. "So exactly where do you plan to put this oh-so-soft leather recliner? If we throw out the TV, it could go where that was."

"No, Sweetie, we don't need to throw out the TV. In fact, there's a new 54" high-definition unit coming next week." She looked smug. Geoff was bewildered.

"But-but-- Last month when we reviewed the budget, we agreed to hold off on purchases for a while, to save up for our next vacation." He frowned in thought. "Last month, a new sofa. This week, a big chair. Next week a new TV. That's not exactly holding off. What's going on, Maddie?"

"What's going on is that I got an unexpected bonus after my last sale kicked me into top spot for the year."

"Wow, that's great! Congratulations! But why are you spending your bonus on furniture we don't need and can't find room for?"

"Oh, Geoff, have you really forgotten what month it is? It's August."

"Yeah, so? Is August 'National Buy More Useless Furniture Month' or something?"

"August 31 is Geoffrey Dunham's birthday, silly."

"Yeah, so? Oh. Is the chair for me?"

"Yes, and the sofa, and the TV."

"Oh, wow, thanks. But where on earth will we put them?"

"We never use the garage for anything but junk. The renovator is coming next week to clean out the junk and convert the garage into a man cave. The sofa and chair and big TV will go there. Oh, and I got this to go in it, too."

She handed him a poster. It was a quote from Kalil Gibran:

Let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

"You know we've been getting on each others' nerves lately. You can have your space out in your cave, which will get you out of my hair, and vice versa."

"You did all this for me? Oh, man, I feel like such an ass!"

"Yes, sometimes you are. But soon you'll have a nice soft place to park it."

Winner

Winner, Writers Cramp