Large Planet, Small World

The kettle boiled over and whistled Kathleen into the kitchen. She knew her kettle better than anyone and its whistle wasn’t quite the right pitch for the temperature she was going for. Kathleen was very particular about her tea and waited a few seconds, drying her wet hair before taking the kettle off the stove. She always loved how the whistle would instantly quiet down when taken off the heat. Walking around barefoot on the linoleum floor made soft wet sounds as she went back to the bathroom to get a wide toothed comb which she ran through her hair with one hand, pouring the hot water with her other hand into her usual mug, three quarters full.

Steam rose slowly from the mug as Kathleen fetched a tea bag, a teaspoon and some honey. She tossed the bag into the mug, already warm from the water and let the bag steep for a few minutes. The refrigerator door was heavy, seemingly heavier than Kathleen herself as she searched the shelves for a lemon. There was a thin slice hidden away, for some reason, by the egg carton. Kathleen curled her lips in a half-hearted smile and lifted her eyebrows as if she were surprised to even find anything. She hadn’t been to the groceries in just about a week. Better put lemons on the list, she told herself.

She gracefully lifted the teabag out of the hot water and placed it on a small dish where she kept the lemon and teaspoon. She added some cold water to her tea, impatient to let it cool on its own. One squirt of lemon and a gentle squeeze from the squeeze bottle of honey shaped like a bear wearing a cone for a hat. Kathleen would hardly call herself a connoisseur of honey but she always enjoyed the brand with the bear shaped bottle not for reasons of tastes or nostalgia but because it resembled the cartoonish looking bear on the side of her mug. The bear on her mug was chubby with rosy cheeks and smiled at her in a way that cheered her up whenever she was down. Plus, it reminded her of Tom.

Tom took a deep breath and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he reluctantly got out of bed. He looked over to the clock on the stand by his bed and when the red fuzziness focused into something resembling digital numbers he saw the time and suddenly jolted into the kitchen. He poured two scoops of coffee grounds, contemplating plopping down a third but thinking better of it, into a new coffee filter. The shower head rattled as the water came jetting out of it and the sleepy Tom jumped in only to jump back out with a scream that would have otherwise should have been credited to a small girl. Once the hot water finally got going Tom took a quick shower and got dressed for work.

The coffee machine can be heard percolating as he was combing his wet hair into a less messy clump on top of his head. Tom would rub a bit of gel into his hair and by the time he ran his fingers a third time through a stubborn tuft at the very top of his head he contemplated getting a haircut. He finally tamed the hair as best he could and chose a tie to wear to work and wrapped it around his neck bringing his collar down over it. Eager for caffeine, Tom headed back to the kitchen before tying his tie. He saw his laptop and just realized he had left it on all night.

His favorite mug was hand painted, a gift from Kathleen, with a picture of a lemon being chased by a Kathleen’s teddy bear mug, an inside joke between the sweet couple. Tom poured himself some coffee and was about to pour in some cream before noticing one of the buttons on his dress shirt clinging on for dear life. He put away the cream and decided that some milk and maybe some sugar would be better for him. The steam was still rising from the coffee as he laid it on the table where Kathleen was patiently waiting for him.

“At this rate, you’re going to be late for work again,” Kathleen said, startling Tom.

“I’m so glad I put the coffee down before you said anything,” Tom answered, “I would have spilled it all over myself. You scared the bejesus out of me.” He attempted to tie his tie while Kathleen talked.

“Don’t act like you didn’t know I was here this whole time.”

“I really didn’t.”

“So you didn’t see me sitting here while you were trying to make coffee? Which you made quite a mess doing by the way.”

“Like you said, I’m running late again.”

“Maybe I should get you a better alarm clock, perhaps one that will shower you with ice cold water since that seems to wake you up.”

“There’s an idea,” Tom adjusted his tie to make sure it was the proper length, “Wait a minute… Did you hear me--?”

“--Scream like a little girl?” Kathleen asked. “No, I was just sitting here.”

Tom fixed his tie and finally made eye contact with Kathleen. He smiled at her and took a sip of coffee burning his tongue before grunting in pain. Kathleen jumped and covered a stifled laugh with her hand. Tom saw her giggling and admitted it was probably funnier from her perspective than it was from his.

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” Tom responded sarcastically. He looked at his attire to make sure he didn’t get any coffee on his well-groomed attire. Luckily, he didn’t and took a tea towel to wipe up the parts of the dining table that he did spit up on.

“Fuzzball? Isn’t it a bit too early for that kind of reference?”

“It’s never too early for that kind of reference.”

“Dork.”

“You know you love me.”

“You got me there,” Kathleen sipped her tea as she smiled into it.

“Have you gotten any sleep yet?”

“No.”

“Sweetie, you should get some sleep. Don’t make me worry about you.”

“I had stuff on my mind and couldn’t sleep quite yet. I tried to take a nap but it wasn’t happening.”

Tom gave her a stern look.

“I’ll go to sleep once you take off for work,” she responded.

Tom gave her the same stern look.

“I promise!” she answered, laughing at him.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“That serious look you gave me.”

“There’s something funny about my serious look?”

“You’re too silly to have a serious look.”

Tom gave her a slightly different serious look as if to say, there’s no such thing as “too silly.”

“It’s okay,” Kathleen replied, “I love silly.”

“I love you too,” Tom reciprocated.

Kathleen took a few sips of tea and Tom took a few sips of coffee between random lines of the random conversation that only two people in love would have. The type of conversation that could only be described as mind-numbingly inane (and at times, insane) to those not officially part of it. After about fifteen minutes of their back and forth Kathleen looked out the window.

“I think it’s almost time!” she said as she smiled.

“Perfect! I thought I’d have to leave for work and miss it.”

“There it goes. Just. Below. The horizon,” Kathleen uttered through her smile, looking out the window towards the setting sun.

“Which means,” Tom continued her sentence, “here it come peeking over those trees…”

Kathleen and Tom smiled at their setting and rising sun, respectively. She drank the last of her tea and smiled at Tom through the webcam. Tom’s eyes were still fixated at the sunlight streaming through the trees just outside his kitchen window. Kathleen cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned toward her and drank the rest of his coffee.

“I’m so glad we planned this,” she said.

“Me too.”

“It’s nice that I can enjoy stuff like this with you even though you’re on the other side of the planet.”

“Technically, I’m not exactly on the other side of the planet since the planet’s diameter at this latitude is--”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“You know you love me.”

She smiled at him without answering, knowing she didn’t have to.

“I love you too,” he responded. “I should get going if I don’t want to be late to work again. This was fun we should plan this again sometime.”

“We really should,” she replied as he got up. “Hey! Tom! Wait!”

Tom bent over towards the webcam.

“What? I’m in a hurry!”

“Your tie. It’s a bit crooked, love.”

“Better?” Tom asked.

“Perfect,” Kathleen answered.

They blew kisses into their webcam before shutting off their computers. Tom grabbed his coat, keys, and suitcase full of files that he’d see more than enough of for the next eight hours and headed out of his apartment. Kathleen snuggled close in her bathrobe and put away her mug, teaspoon, and bear shaped bottle of honey. She tossed the squeezed out lemon slice and headed to sleep just as she promised earlier. Each going through the motions of their otherwise bland lives in their own small section of this planet anticipating the next time the other would be online again.