Marian and Aidan - a typical morning part 1

 

Chapter 1

 

Marian and Aidan - A typical morning part 1

 

Marian would wake up every morning at half six. Her internal clock never let her down. She would be out of the bed, and into her baby blue fluffy full length fleece dressing gown and brown swade moccasin slippers on in seconds and be whizzing toward the bathroom. She has a very small bladder does our Marian. As she goes to wash her hands, she finds a pair of her husband’s glasses in the sink. Her dressing gown has no pockets so she puts them on her head.

 

She makes her way to the kitchen to make breakfast. Its winter and the timer on the heating is on the blink. She could really move when she was cold. ‘Ill have to get Pete over later to fix this bloody thing’ she mutters to herself as she walks to the corner of the dining room to manually put on the heat. Pete is her grandson. According to Marian the sun shines out of Pete's ass. They have a great relationship. Pete really does look after her whenever he can. Both of their daughters and grandchildren are very, very good to both Marian and her husband Aidan. They are very lucky that way.

 

As this particular morning is a Monday, and Monday was French toast morning, Marian was ecstatic. She loved French toast. She put together the mixture but didn’t want to dip the bread until himself was up. They would only have turned to mush.

 

Now she had to get the morning tablets ready for both herself and her husband, Aidan's. The tablets had a press for themselves in the kitchen, they are on a good few pills between them. It was the small upper press right beside the microwave.

 

She took out the two blister packs the chemist puts together every week sits down at the wooden kitchen table. She punches out the window for Monday morning for both of them and puts them into little plastic container which she then put beside their respective mugs. Aidan had a Batman mug courtesy of his grandson Pete who is a Batman fanatic. Marian had a tatty teddy also courtesy of Pete.

 

Next job on the list was to get himself up. Marian woke her husband the same as she did almost every day for the last 66 years. ‘Breakfast is ready love, time to get up!’ She whispered in his left ear, he always slept on his right hand side. He would smile back and with a toothless grin say ‘morning my sweet’ and they would kiss. Not a passionate kiss, but one that looked as though, and in all honesty was, part of their routine. She left to let Aidan get ready as she started on the breakfast.

 

After the bathroom, he would whizz toward the dining room. He loved French toast Monday’s. It was also one of his favorite breakfasts. As he was walking down the oak wood floor he was salivating over the thought of it.

 

Marian licked her lips as she starts to fry the egg soaked bread when Aidan sat down she served it up. She was licking her lips. ‘Mmmmm’ was all that could be heard from the pair of them.

 

Marian went to get the 20 year old tea pot from the press beside the window. It was nothing too impressive. They were a couple who were creatures of habit and didn’t believe in buying for the sake of buying. If they needed something they would buy the best but they weren’t wasting their money on things they didn’t need.

 

Marian was great at the old knitting and crocheting so the teapot always has some sort of woolly contraption on it. This month is navy and baby blue entwined together because they followed Dublin playing GAA

 

‘This smells lovely!’ he said. ‘What love’ she calls out. She couldn’t hear what he had said over the kettle. She goes over to Aidan with the 20 year tea pot in one hand and the French toast in the other. She places them both in the middle of the table.

 

Just before she sits down he looks up at her and smiles a toothless grin. ‘Where are your teeth love?’ She asks ‘You can’t have French toast without teeth’ he looked up at her and smiled. Marian rolls her eyes and starts for the bedroom ‘It’s a good job I wasn’t sitting down!’ Marian she mumbles to herself as she goes down the hall. Sure enough the teeth were in a glass of water on his bedside locker. She grabbed them and shook her head as she muttered ‘French toast will be cold now!’ To herself. She walks back to the kitchen muttering ‘feckin eejot’. She places the glass onto the table in front of him and said ‘now love, you’ll enjoy it more with your teeth’, and so he did!

 

They would eat breakfast together slowly with radio one on in the background every morning in the dining room. There was just an island separating the dining room from the kitchen. The kitchen was too small for their table. The dining room is bigger and it’s easier to maneuver around, especially when the family gets together. They have a big table that expands.

 

The radio would sit on the black marble top of the island. Aidan who needs hearing aids but he was in denial sits beside it. ‘They are only for owl ones’ he’d say every time they were mentioned although the man is 85. The neighbors’ have complained more than once about the noise and they live in a detached bungalow.

 

‘What do you think about the storm?’ Marian said to him, but he didn’t respond.   ‘The storm love?’ ‘What’ he replied? ‘The storm?’, ‘what storm?’, ‘the one that’s due love!’, ‘what?’ ‘They’re just after been talking about it for the past twenty minutes,’ Marian says under her breath. ‘What?’ he said. This drove Marian bananas but Aidan refused point blank to get his ears tested. What he didn’t know was that Marian had made an appointment with the doctor for this morning to make sure he didn’t have a buildup of wax. She was doubtful but the question had to be addressed.

 

The radio started playing Daniel o Donnell and the pair of them said in unison ‘gobshite’. Aidan asked Marian ‘more tea?’ ‘No thanks love, I’m grand. ‘No, I was asking you for more tea. The pot is empty’ Aidan says shaking the tea pot. ‘More tea? Why do I have to do everything’ she says as she begins to get up. Her new hip is still a bit stiff. ‘Why don’t you get the tea sometimes?’ she asks Aidan, ‘why do I always have to get it, you have legs too you know!’ ‘You’re nearer the kitchen he says with a cheeky wink. ‘Nearer the kitchen my ass. You’re just a lazy git!’  Marian mumbles. ‘What? He says. ‘Jesus Mary and holy saint Joseph, you’re as deaf as a post’. ‘What?’ ‘Nothing’

 

As the kettle boils, Marian gazes out the kitchen window and wonders if Aidan was actually hard of hearing or just had selective hearing. He always had selective hearing throughout the years but now he is so bad that she’s worried. It’s gotten so bad so quickly which makes her extra worried. Then again, he is 85 years old and still has most of his faculties so she’s lucky. Most of her friends are widowed and even though he can be a pain in the ass at times, she loves the bones of that man.

 

She takes the kettle and fills it up. Marian takes the tea pot cozy off the tea pot and empties its contents into the sink. She scoops the used tea bags from the drain with her hand and put them into the little used food bin that’s on the draining board.

 

When the kettle boils Marian automatically puts a little bit of water into the pot, swirls it around and pours it into the sink. she then untwists the top off the black jar with the silver letters T E A on it, puts her hand inside the jar and removes three tea bags that are then put into the tea pot. She then fills her up and reapplies the tea cozy.

 

Marian walks back into the dining area and says ‘there you are love’ as she places the pot onto a placemat between them. Aidan looks at her and winks. ‘Thanks’ he says and leans over to give her a kiss. 66 years of marriage and the romance is still alive. That would give anyone hope that true love is out there however long it takes to find it.

 

Aidan tries the tea. ‘Ah that’s as weak as piss’. ‘For god’s sake Aidan, you have to really start watching your feckin language! Show me’ Marian takes a teaspoon and stirs the tea bags in the pot making the tea stronger with every stir. ‘Woow, woow, woow. We want tea, not tar woman!’ Aidan says taking the spoon out of Marian’s hand. ‘What?’ Marian asks ‘you were stirring the shite out of the tea!’ Aidan replies. ‘What?’ she looks down and quickly shakes her head ‘sorry love! I was in another world there! If it’s too strong ill make more’. Marian closes the lid and puts back on the Dublin jersey. She pours more tea into both the batman and tatty teddy mugs.

 

‘Well this is a really nice cup of tea love!’ Aidan acknowledges. ‘No problem’ she winks. ‘We better take our pills.’ They both pick up their little cups of pills and and clink them together, ‘cheers’, and they both take them as if they are drinking a shot tequila alongside a big mouthful of tea. ‘Aaahhhh’ Aidan says. ‘Nothing like pills to start the morning’. He smiles at Marian.  Marian smiles back.

 

‘Right so’ Marian sighs, ‘time for you to get ready’. ‘What?’ ‘You’ve to get ready to see the doctor!’ ‘What?’ ‘Exactly,’ Marian shouts. ‘What?’ ‘Oh just go and get ready you deaf fool’ Marian says and ushers him out of the kitchen. ‘I'd better go and get ready for the doctor’ says Aidan as he walks out of the kitchen. ‘Good lord, give me strength’ Marian mutters.

 

She brings dishes from the table over to the sink and grabs her iPod from the window sill and puts in the ear buds. She likes to sing when she is doing house work. This particular morning she was singing chandelier by sia.

 

Marian got a new hip 12 weeks ago. Their grandson Pete is a dancer and always encourages music to be played in the house so Marian could shake her hips making sure it took properly. Marian has said on numerous occasions of her recovery how she would crack up if she had to listen to one more song by Daniel o Donnell on the radio. She liked something she could move to, so Pete got her an iPod with loads of music on it. It wasn’t head phones though because that would ruin her hair, but ear buds that she used to listen to it. Sia would have to be her favorite right now.

 

‘1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3 drink, Throw 'em back, till I lose count, I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier, I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist, Like it doesn't exist, I'm gonna fly like a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry, I'm gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier, But I'm holding on for dear life, won't look down, won't open my eyes, Keep my glass full until morning light, 'cause I'm just holding on for tonight, Help me, I'm holding on for dear life, won't look’, ‘holy Christ’ Marian screamed as she felt her husband tap her on her shoulder. She quickly turned around from the sink with a fork in one hand and a yellow and green wash cloth in the other, and took out her ear buds. ‘I nearly needed new underwear there, love!’ ‘What?’ ‘You nearly frightened the shite out of me! ‘What?’, ‘never mind’

 

‘Are you ok? What’s wrong?’ she asks Aidan trying to regain her composure. ‘Is the light blue shirt with the pocket ready?’ Marian is astounded because Aidan never usually cares what he wears. She knows exactly what shirt he’s talking about.

 

Aidan had 5 blue shirts with pockets. When Marian was buying them she bought 5 of the same kind. There were on special offer, five for the price of three. They were good shirts and it was a good deal. Marian knew that Aidan would love them and she just couldn’t pass the deal by. At the time of purchase Aidan really needed some shirts and there was a choice between blue, black or pink. She knew he wouldn’t wear the black or pink so she got him 5 blue ones.