Ned

Ned arrived home from the baker with a loaf of bread instead of the bagels he had hoped for. When entering the small hall he felt tired and uneasy which was very unusual for him on such a beautiful Saturday morning. He took a small glance at his face in the hall mirror while taking off his leather coat. Yes, the last months’ strain at work had indeed left deep dark circles beneath his brown eyes and the shirt hung looser around his shoulders. He looked forward to getting past the deadline at work and taking a well-deserved vacation. Quietly, he tiptoed into the kitchen and started making coffee. He could hear the hushed snoring of his wife, Linda, from the bedroom and tiredly sat down at the kitchen table to read the morning paper. However, too many thoughts were swirling around in his head so after having read the same sentence three times, he sighed and glanced out the window.
He thought about how he had been letting his family down the last four months. He had been away from home until late at night and when they finally spent time with him in the weekends, he had been sulky and dismissive, thinking only about work. Ned suddenly realised how much he missed spending time with his children. In the past, he had helped 10-year-old Camille with her homework every night and had gone to every football game that 13-year-old Tom played in the weekends.
Tom had lately been busy starting a band with his best friend, Michael, and had hardly noticed his dad’s changed behaviour in the everyday life. That was, until last night. Ned had finally gotten off work at nine and when he entered the house he felt as if he could sleep for a year. He had silently gone straight to the bedroom and lay down on his bed without even taking off his tie. He had almost fallen into the sweet world of dreams when a roar of noise reached him from the living room. Rage was not a feeling which overwhelmed Ned often. He was a kind man who cared deeply for his family and his work. This evening, however, Ned felt exhausted and stressed out, so hearing this vehement interruption of his sleep made him jump to his feet and tore out through the kitchen and into the living room. Here he almost toppled over Michael’s keyboard before arriving at a halt in the middle of the room. The setting was almost comical. Linda and Camille sat on the couch looking surprised at this new arrival. Tom was jumping around the carpet, which portrayed a stage, singing loudly into a fake microphone while Michael hammered on the drums – neither of them had noticed that Ned had entered the room. Ned could hardly remember what he had yelled, but the boys had stopped quite suddenly and stared dumbfounded at him. Ned felt all the stress and frustration from the last months of work fill his chest when he pointed at the boys and hysterically yelled: “You cannot be romping and barking about when people are trying to sleep!” Before waiting for an answer, he turned on his heel and marched back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He fell back on the bed, but somehow sleep evaded him for a time now. He had almost never raised his voice against his children and he felt ashamed of himself for doing it now. Somehow the workload had made him snap and just before he fell asleep he swore that he would take a serious talk with his boss on Monday.
Sitting at the kitchen table now, Ned feared that he had ruined Tom’s rehearsal for his first concert at the market place later today – and even worse: perhaps made him not want to go and play at all. Ned wondered how he had gone from supporting his children in almost anything they did to screaming at them when they were trying to reach their dream. Linda was awake now and he could hear her rustle around in the bedroom. When she entered the kitchen she smiled and hummed while pouring coffee into her cup. She talked about the neighbours’ new dog and what she was going to serve for dinner – not noticing Ned’s bad conscience.
They were supposed to go to the market place later this afternoon to hear Tom and Michael’s small concert and as the hours passed by, Ned felt more and more guilty about the incident last night. He felt surprised that Linda was acting perfectly cheerful as if nothing had happened and when she asked him what was wrong, he did not have the heart to tell her about his worries for how Tom had reacted to his outburst last night.
The market place was about a mile from their house and Linda decided that they would walk in the warm weather. Ned agreed and as they walked side by side through the suburban street, Linda again asked him what was troubling him. Ned finally told her about his concerns for whether Tom would be able to perform at the concert after the outburst last night. When he finished explaining, he looked into Linda’s face and was surprised to find her smiling. She started laughing at his puzzled look and began to explain how the incident had occurred from their point of view. When Ned had entered the living room last night his hair was standing up in the air and his tie had somehow gotten stuck on his left cheek. He had spluttered some unintelligible words and pointed at Tom yelling “Romping!” and at Michael yelling “Barking” and then turned on his foot and marched out again. Everyone in the living room was rolling on the floor laughing for about twenty minutes after his appearance. Linda was laughing again now. Ned suddenly realised how silly he must have looked and could not help but laugh himself. They had reached the market place and Linda happily grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the tent where Tom was to play. Ned felt a joy he had not felt for months and as they entered the tent he smiled widely when he saw the newly made sign above the stage: “Romping and Barking Kings of Sound”.