Marie woke with a yawn, grateful that she didn't have to bow to the whims of her alarm that morning. It was Saturday, and the day was positively brimming with possibilities - she didn't have any plans, so she figured she'd play things by ear. She threw off the blankets and wiped the sleep from her eyes, then got up to get her day rolling with an optimistic smile.
After a long, hot, and relaxing shower, she rolled her long, brown hair into a couple of messy buns, brushed her teeth and got dressed for the day. She made her way out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen. Sunlight streamed through the windows, and she checked the weather on her phone; the forecast said it would be a gorgeous day - sunny, but not
too
hot, thankfully.
It had been too long since Marie had had a day like this - there always seemed to be
something
that managed to ruin her plans. Last weekend, she had found a mouse in her apartment, so she had to stay in while the exterminator came to deal with it. The weekend before that, she had plans to hang out with her boyfriend at a concert, but it was cancelled due to the weather... at least she had been able to get a refund on the tickets.
Marie let out a sigh before she shook her head - she was filled with determination. Today would be different... she could feel it. She would let nothing get in the way of her having a fantastic day. Her stomach rumbled, and her eyes flicked to the cabinets and the fridge - she was famished, and breakfast was in order. She walked over to the cabinets and surveyed her options.
She pulled out the half-full bag of bread and grimaced as soon as she felt the bread inside - it was hard as a rock. Upon closer inspection, there was a hole chewed into the bag. She let out a sigh; the exterminator clearly hadn't gotten rid of the mouse. She grumbled as she grabbed the bag of stale bread and tossed it into the trash can.
"Okay, so no toast, I guess. Cereal sounds alright, though," she said, as she looked at the box of cereal sitting in the cabinet. She picked it up and gave it a tentative shake... only to hear the disappointing rattle of mere crumbs in the bottom of the box. She shook her head and tossed the cereal bag, too, as her stomach protested yet again, only louder this time. She shut the cabinet doors and turned her attention to the refrigerator - perhaps she'd have better luck there.
She opened it up and perused her options for breakfast. Pretty much all she had was some milk and eggs - but scrambled eggs
did
sound pretty good. She grabbed the bottle of milk and gave it a quick sniff; she wrinkled her nose and scowled at the slightly sour smell that hit her nostrils... and into the sink it went. She opened the carton of eggs to find that she had a couple left, so she figured she'd make some fried eggs - it was something, at least. She placed the open carton of eggs on the counter and grabbed a pan from the cabinet below the counter, then stood up to set it on the stove and turned on the front right burner. She grabbed an egg and went to crack it... and that was when she saw a gray blur skitter across the countertop.
Marie let out a little scream, and she jumped back a bit as her heart leapt into her throat. In her fright, she dropped the egg, and it hit the ground with a little splat and made a mess on the floor. Marie instinctively scooped up the skillet and brandished it like a weapon, but the furry fiend was nowhere to be found. She let out a groan of frustration as she tentatively set the pan back down onto the stove and stared at the single, solitary egg still left in the carton.
"This is... fine," she said, just before she took a deep breath. "Everything's
fine
. I can still make this work." She grabbed the egg and cracked it on the edge of the pan... only to use entirely too much force, sending the yolk spilling into the pan along with a mess of eggshell fragments. Marie wanted to scream, but she settled on wrenching the pan off the stove and angrily tossing the mess into the trash. She turned off the burner and then froze when she heard a little squeak ring out in the kitchen. She slowly looked down to see the mouse pawing at the egg sitting on the ground. She let out a sigh; it was only hungry... just like her. She felt a bit guilty for wielding the pan earlier. "You know what? Take it; I don't care anymore." The mouse just looked at her while it pawed more egg into its little mouth.
She grabbed her phone from her pocket and pulled up the number for the apartment, but then she shook her head - the exterminator clearly didn't do their job last time, so what was the point? She'd just take care of it herself with some traps. She needed to hit the grocery store, anyway, judging from the miserable state of her pantry. She looked down at the mouse again.
"You enjoy that while it lasts, you fuzzy little bastard. I'll be back later," she said, with a smirk. Maybe some fresh air would do her some good; clearly, she was going crazy, if she was actually talking to the mouse that had been terrorizing her for over a week. She grabbed her purse and put on her shoes, then headed out the door.
Marie opened her car door and tossed her purse into the passenger seat before got in and turned on the vehicle. Her face lit up with recognition as one of her favorite songs came on the radio. It felt like a sign that today was still going to be her day, and she smiled as she cranked up the volume and headed to the store. Nothing was going to ruin her day off, whether it be her own gnawing hunger or that of the mouse in her apartment.
A few minutes later, she arrived at the store and frowned - the place was absolutely packed. It wasn't all that surprising (it was the weekend, after all) but it still sucked. Marie steeled herself and headed inside, grabbed a cart, and got to shopping. The first order of business was the mouse traps. She swung by the pest control aisle and perused the options. Some of them seemed a bit... cruel, and she decided that she didn't want to kill the poor thing if she could help it. She decided to grab a few humane traps and threw them into the cart, satisfied with her choice. Speaking of
satisfaction,
she really needed to do something about the rumbling in her stomach. Next up? Breakfast.
There were people everywhere in the damn place. Children were crying and she almost got hit a few times because the aisles were too narrow. Plus, the shelves were pretty bare, thanks to the fact that everyone and their mother had decided to go shopping that day.
"It'll be okay. Just a few more things to go," she muttered to herself as she made her way toward the dairy section, dodging the employees frantically trying to keep the shelves stocked amidst the onslaught of shoppers.
Despite the crowd, she managed to grab some more milk, eggs, and some cheese for the mouse traps. Marie looked down at the bag of cheese cubes in her hand - mice liked cheese, right? Or was that rats...? She shrugged and decided it would probably be fine as she threw them into the cart. Next up was cereal, and then, finally, more bread. She managed to grab some more cereal without issue, and as she made her way toward the bread aisle, the delicious scent of cinnamon filled her nostrils - it was decidedly more pleasant than the smell of the spoiled milk earlier. She grabbed a loaf of bread off the sparsely-filled shelf, then followed her nose toward the alluring aroma and found herself in the bakery.
She was surrounded by a plethora of pastries and desserts, from donuts and cakes to cookies and pies. One item in particular caught her attention though: the cinnamon rolls. It had been so long since she had them, and they were on of her favorite breakfast foods. She eyed the pre-made pastries in their plastic carton, each cinnamon-swirled confection covered in a thick layer of creamy icing. They looked delicious, but her gaze wandered back to the dairy, where the ready-to-bake tubes of cinnamon rolls were located. If she was going to have cinnamon rolls, she wanted them piping hot and fresh from the oven, but was it worth fighting her way through the crowd again? Yes, she decided... yes it was.
Marie made her way back to the dairy section, and she had to wait a bit for a few shoppers to finish grabbing their items when she reached the area with the cinnamon rolls. The crowd finally cleared and she made her way up to the refrigerated case... only to be met with disappointment when she saw that every last tube of cinnamon rolls was gone - there was a really good sale going on for the premium brand, and even the generic brand had been wiped out.
So much for it being her day.
She let out a sigh and looked over to see tubes of cinnamon rolls in other shoppers' carts, and her stomach grumbled as she imagined that perfect first bite of the piping-hot, delicious pastry... the delectable drizzle of icing that she had so lovingly applied herself... her stomach growled again, and she began to feel a dull pain in it - she really needed to eat something soon.
"I just want some cinnamon rolls. Is that too much to ask. Can't one thing go right for me today? Please?" she muttered to herself. Suddenly, the lights in the store flickered, and Marie looked around, but no one else seemed to notice; they just carried about their shopping as usual. "That was... weird. Anyway, I guess I'll just have to have some cereal or something," Marie said, feeling dejected as she took one last longing glance at the vacant case before heading toward the checkout.
She stood in line for what seemed like ages, and she was relieved when she was finally able to check out and head back to her car. She quickly loaded up her groceries, eager to get back home. As she sat down in the driver's seat, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see that her boyfriend Nick had sent her a text.
Hey babe! Did you want to grab dinner together tonight?
Marie quickly typed out a response and sent it.
I'd love to! I'm going to go home and eat something, then I'll get back to you and we can make some plans, alright?"
A second later, he replied with a thumbs-up emoji, and Marie headed back to her place to finally get some food in her stomach. She cranked up the radio again and did her best to put the disappointing shopping trip behind her.
