by Reayah Lundquist
I always want to be supportive, I do.
Sometimes it’s hard—you know, sometimes the person isn’t deserving of your support. Whether they just had a bad day—which I can understand, being who I am, whether they’re always like that is difficult to tell. Still, I always try. To be supportive.
It’s not my fault they may get uncomfortable, or stay too long and rise, complaining about stiff limbs and lost time. It’s not my fault they had something gastronomically deprecating for lunch—and they’re not the only ones who suffer the consequences. Still, I try to be supportive. I mean, I have bad days, too.
I have days when I wish I had any other job—any other job. In fact, there are days when I’ve just heard one complaint too many—smelled one digestive problem too many, that I just want to explode, and take them down with me. But that’s a very rocky road to travel.
I could get fired, and have to spend the rest of my days sitting alone, with no one to support, no
one to talk to me, and relax and take a minute.
Because there are good days, too. Great days, when I’ve felt I do my job well.
A pat, a good-natured complaint of having to leave instead of staying with me, a feeling that they truly relaxed and got comfortable. Then, it’s easy to be supportive.
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I’ve lived with the same person my whole life and supported him and whomever he asked me to.
I always support, them, too—even if they’re not as kindly as he is. That isn’t to say he’s always genial—like me, he has his good days and bad days, too. On his bad days, I can always tell. He rants and raves, worked up before he finally comes home. It’s hard for him to relax, then. But when he does, finally, it’s nice for both of us. He has a saying that he always says when he is at ease with me. He says, “Man, I love this chair.”
About Reayah Lundquist
Reayah Lundquist has been working on novels and writing short stories for years, one of which was featured on the podcast ‘Story Pirates’ in the summer of 2019, and another published in the Penultimate Peanut magazine in April of this year. You can follow her on Twitter @bookscrutiny, and Instagram @lundartee.