Meanwhile, Annabeth was in the shop, perusing the shelves and scrutinising the price tags. In the past, she would have filled a trolley with groceries for the whole family – for a week. Today her small basket contained only yoghurt, cheese, bread and chicken breast. She hadn’t even looked at the fish fillet that Levan loved so much.
The evening passed remarkably quietly. At home, Annabeth quickly cooked herself a baked chicken breast with vegetables, ate dinner, washed the dishes, started the laundry and made herself comfortable on the sofa with her tablet. She had three TV series to watch, which she had been meaning to do for a long time, but had never found the time. A message from Levan came on her phone, ‘I’ll be home in half an hour. What are you having for dinner?’
Annabeth smiled and put the phone aside without answering.
The key turned in the lock, and Levan entered the flat, tired from the day’s work. He went straight to the kitchen, expecting the usual wonderful aroma of dinner.
‘Anyut, I’m home!’ – he shouted, taking off his coat.
There was no reply. He entered the kitchen, but found it empty and clean, and no sign of dinner. He opened the fridge and saw half-empty shelves – yoghurt, cheese and some vegetables.
‘Annabeth!’ – He called out, heading into the living room.
His wife was sitting on the couch, absorbed in something on her tablet, headphones on. Noticing him, she pulled out one earpiece.
‘Oh, hi. Are you home already?’
‘Yeah, I’m home. Where’s dinner?’ Levan looked around as if food might be hiding somewhere in the living room.
Annabeth looked at him with mild surprise. ‘What dinner?’ – She asked. ‘Did you give me money for it? No! So what’s the matter?’
Levan froze, not believing his ears. ‘Are you serious?’ His voice rose almost to a shout. ‘I come home after a hard day’s work and you didn’t even make dinner?’
‘You didn’t give me money for your half of dinner,’ Annabeth replied calmly, taking out her other earpiece. ‘You said fifty-fifty yesterday. I bought my own food, with my own money. I cooked it myself, I ate it myself. Just like we agreed.’
‘But…’ Levan stood, stunned. ‘That’s not what I meant! I meant joint expenses…’
‘Exactly,’ Annabeth said, shrugging her shoulders. ‘Joint expenses are fifty-fifty. We both need dinner, so I bought groceries for myself and cooked it myself.’
‘So now I have to starve?’ asked Levan, anger building up in him.
‘Of course not,’ Annabeth replied calmly. ‘You can go to the shop, buy groceries and cook dinner. Or order delivery. After all, you have money.’
Levan stared at her, his thoughts running wild. ‘Is this a strike?’ – He asked finally. ‘Are you refusing to fulfil your duties as a wife?’
Annabeth slowly set the clipboard aside and turned to her husband. ‘The duties of a wife?’ – she repeated, her voice getting firmer. ‘Until yesterday, I had fulfilled them faithfully. But yesterday you offered to divide the money fifty-fifty, and I thought, why are you so unfair to me?’
‘To me?!’ sighed Levan. ‘I…’
‘Yes, you are,’ interrupted Annabeth. ‘We used to use your money to pay the big bills, and mine to buy groceries and some other things. And I still cooked and cleaned and did the laundry. Every night after work. And on the weekends, full cleaning, cooking for a few days to free up time. Remember last Sunday when I spent three hours in the kitchen cooking? And three hours cleaning the flat? That’s six hours of work, almost a full day’s work. On my day off.’
Levan was silent, mulling over what he had heard.
‘And now you say it’s fifty-fifty,’ Annabeth continued. ‘Well, that’s fair enough. But let’s really make it fifty-fifty. Not just money, but chores. Cooking – we’ll take turns, or each of us will cook for ourselves. Cleaning, we’ll split the chores. Laundry – we each do our own laundry. How does that sound?’
Levan shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot.
‘Look, it’s… I don’t even know how to switch on the washing machine…’
‘I’ll show you,’ Annabeth smiled. ‘It’s not hard.’
‘And anyway, if you’re not going to cook and clean, why do I need you?’ exclaimed Levan, immediately regretting his words.
Annabeth stared at him for a long time without blinking. Then she slowly rose from the sofa.
‘It is a man’s duty to provide for his family,’ she said quietly. ‘But I don’t ask, “Why do I need you?” although you’ve never been particularly gifted, since I’ve had to work. And now you refuse your manly duty.’ She tilted her head. ‘But you see, I don’t ask that question. Because we’re a family. At least I thought we were.’
A heavy silence filled the room. Levan stared at the floor, feeling his righteous anger turn to shame. Annabeth stood with her shoulders squared, waiting for his response.
‘I’m sorry,’ he finally said. ‘I overreacted. Let’s go back to the way things were, okay?’
He expected Annabeth to be overjoyed, to rush to hug him and go make dinner. But she only shook her head.
‘Why would that be?’ – She asked with genuine curiosity. ‘I would have made dinner for you, ironed shirts, washed dishes. But right now I’ve already eaten, done everything, and I’m going to watch a new episode. I’m even more comfortable that way, you know.’
With those words, she returned to the couch, put in her headphones and started watching on her tablet again, leaving Levan standing there with his mouth open.
The end