early morning

“You have to get up.”

“But I’m so tired.”

“You have to.”

“But it’s dark, cold.”

“You have to work. If you don’t, you won’t be able to--”

“I’m up, I’m up, I’m up.”

“Good. One foot in front of the next. Bathroom first.”

“I know how it goes. I know this dance. The steps are the same as the day before, the one before that, on back as far as I care to think. You don’t have to narrate.”

“Someone is very irritable.”

“And you don’t have to analyze. Just leave me be. Let me fade away into the familiarity.”

“You can’t do that forever. You can’t keep hiding away.”

“Is that a challenge? It’s how we’ve managed these past few years. How else do you propose to go on? How else can we reconcile the pain of the past with the needs of the present?”

“Nothing changes the fact that we must face our fears.”

“And each and every day we do. When will it be enough?”

“I shouldn’t push you so hard in the morning. I know you’re tired.”

“Now you are kind?”

“I’m trying to find a way to be. If we can’t be kind to each other, how can we be kind to anyone else?”

“It’ll be a good day, won’t it?”

“If we try hard enough.”

“It’ll be a great day.”