Circles

Cassandra looked into the living room where her husband sat watching TV, and in her sweetest voice asked, "Honey, could you go to the store and get some cinnamon and eggs?"

"Yeah, just a minute, I'll go as soon as this show is over."

Cassandra shook her head, causing her short, dark brown hair to swirl about her round face, and shrugging her shoulders she replied in a sing song voice, "OK, but it's you who wanted me to bake that pie for desert tonight!"

"Yeah I know, but the show will be over soon, and I'll get it then." Adrian sat in his chair and didn't bother to even look back at his wife when he spoke. But why should he? She knew he was watching TV.

"What are you watching that's so important anyway?" This time, Cassandra couldn't quite keep the exasperation out of her voice. It wasn't that Adrian was lazy. After all, he worked hard and was a good provider, but trying to get him to do something around the house was entirely a different matter.

"It's a special about that big earthquake and tsunami that hit the islands the other day.

"Oh, that's real important! It's a good thing I don't need you to get me some medicine or anything like that!"

This time, Adrian did turn his head. "Why do you always say things like that?"

Cassandra put her hands on her hips, and standing her ground she replied, "Because it's always ‘just a minute’ with you! You never just say, 'Ok, I'll get it,' and then get up and go."

"That's because you're always asking me to do things for you when I'm in the middle of something else!" Adrian tried to keep his rising anger out of his voice, but it did go up a slight notch in spite of his efforts.

"And when are you not in the middle of something? If it's not some science show, it's a ballgame, and if it's not a ballgame you're out there doing something with the car."

"Well what do you want me to do? Just wait around twiddling my thumbs until you need me for something?" Adrian was a good looking guy with dark hair, dark features and a nice strong frame. He could have had just about any woman he wanted, but he loved Cassandra almost from the beginning. Even now, with his temper flaring, he knew that he'd never be happy with anyone else. "If only she'd just quit bitching at me all the time!" he thought.

"No, I just want you to be a little more responsive to me sometimes. Sheesh, all I asked was for you to go to the store to get a couple of things so I could make your pie!"

"And I will … as soon as this show is over."

Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Why does it seem that all of our arguments end up in circles? We always wind up right back where we started from."

"Because they do. Everything goes in circles you know. Think about it. You start out not having much money, and then when you finally get ahead something happens and you wind up back where you started. We're born, we grow old, and when we die another baby is born to continue the cycle. Countries and whole civilizations are the same way. They start out as practically nothing, grow powerful only to slip back into chaos before fading back into nothing again.

"Even tornadoes and hurricanes twist around in circles. The moon circles around the earth, the earth around the sun, and even they are circles themselves! Hell, even the galaxy is twisting around in one great big cosmic circle. Don't you know? The whole damned universe is based on one massive circle!"

Cassandra didn't bother answering him. She was used to him going off on some stupid rant to prove some point that didn't really matter and learned to not listen to him a long time ago. She did notice that the show he was watching wasn't nearly important enough to keep him from spouting his little speech even though it was important enough to keep him from going to the store!

One thing was for certain, she knew that if she really wanted the eggs and cinnamon, she'd have to go and get them herself, and if she hadn't already gotten the other ingredients ready to be mixed, she would have just forgotten about the stupid pie altogether!

It was with an exasperated sigh that she took her coat off from the hook along with her hat and scarf. There was always some clown somewhere spouting off about how the world was steadily getting warmer, and how everyone had to do something about it, and with a loud "humph", she opened the door to go outside.

"Liars! It's cold as hell out here!" she breathed. Even though there wasn't anyone around to hear her words, she said them anyway. "In fact, I have never even heard of it ever being this cold around here before!"

Actually, the weather wasn't the only unusual thing that's been happening. That earthquake and the resulting tsunami were pretty unusual themselves, but there were other odd things that have been happening over the past few years as well.

"Adrian is right about one thing though," she mumbled, as she started the car. "It wasn't that long ago since we had to struggle just to make ends meet." Indeed, since it had gotten so cold, Cassandra was doubly thankful for Adrian's new job, and the dependable car they were able to buy because of it.

As she put the car into gear, she saw some snow flakes floating down onto the windshield and murmured, "Damned lucky!"

Cassandra eased the car out onto the thoroughfare, and figured she could get to the store and make it back inside of twenty minutes if she hurried, but she never made it back. She had just turned the corner towards the store when suddenly, a huge wave of water at least a hundred fifty feet high swept over the buildings in front of her, crushing and obliterating everything in its path!

In a matter of moments, Atlantis had sunk into the ocean never to be heard from again save some obscure legend told by a Greek poet.

***

"Honey, could you go to the store and get a loaf of bread and some milk?" asked Carol, with more hope in her voice than expectation.

"Yeah, in a minute, as soon as this ballgame is over."

Carol rolled her eyes and thought about how horrific the Houston traffic was that time of day. Still, she knew that if she wanted the milk and bread with their dinner, she'd have to go get it herself rather than wait on her husband to get it. She'd have to bundle up good though. It was really cold outside. In fact, never before had they had as much snow as they'd had this year.

"Global warming my foot!" she breathed, as she stomped out of the house.

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