Brian, for heavens sake, do something already! Laura snapped, jerking her husbands arm as he slept. This is unbearable!
What? he muttered halfasleep.
The shrieks from the flat above didnt bother Brian at all, but Laura could not cling to sleep.
Nancys screaming again! Cant you hear her?
Brian gave no answer, slipping back into his dream.
Fine, keep sleeping! Laura roared. Ill go myselftheres no one else in this block to calm that monster!
She threw on her robe, slammed the door with a bang and stormed out. Brian groggily sat up, cursed the world under his breath, and shuffled after her.
***
Laura stood at the battered front door, pounding on it with all the force she could muster. Brian arrived just in time as Paul flung the door open.
From somewhere inside the flat, the wail of sixyearold Danny rang out, mingling with Nancys sobs.
What do you want? the drunken landlord snarled, swaying on his feet.
Did you check the time? Laura shrieked. Its the middle of the night!
Now what? Paul stepped forward, fists clenched.
Nothing! Brian bellowed, swinging his fist and knocking the neighbour to the ground. The man crumpled at the threshold, then fell silent.
A few moments later, a terrified Nancy emerged, a fresh bruise marring her cheek. She stared at her husband, frozen, too scared to move closer.
Call the police, Brian said, his tone softening as he looked at the distraught woman. Hell wake up and start again.
He wont, Nancy sniffed, hell just go back to sleep.
Are you sure? Laura asked, eyebrows raised.
Nancy shrugged, I hope so
No, Laura snapped, voice icecold, I wont stand for another act of this circus. I have work tomorrow. Take your son and stay with us for the night. As for you, she glared at Paul, sort it out tomorrow.
***
Latenight squabbles had become a routine in the building; most residents kept their heads down. Only Brian, obeying Lauras demands, sighed heavily, dressed, and trudged upstairs.
Soon Laura grew tired of it. She also noticed that the farther she went, the more eager Brian was to rescue the neighbour.
Again? Youre a saint! she hissed after him.
Brian didnt hear. He saw only Dannys frightened eyes clinging to his mothers lap, and Nancys pale, terrortwisted face.
After dealing with Paul, Brian habitually led the woman and child to his flataway from the chaos. Laura spread a blanket for them in the living room.
The next evening Nancy repaid them with scones and a Victoria sponge, and a tentative friendship blossomed. Soon Nancy and Danny became regular visitors at Laura and Brians house. Nancy offered to help with chores; Danny adored Brian, looking at him like a superherostrong, steady, smelling faintly of pipe tobacco.
Brian welcomed the attention, buying the boy toys, fixing his model cars, once bringing home a metal building set, later a football.
***
Laura and Brian had no children. At first they wanted to stay childfree; later, they simply couldnt conceive. That silent grief was the third tenant in their flat.
And then the boy his wide, hungry eyes
Laura kept her frustrations bottled up at home, but at work she let them loose. The smoking break became her refuge.
You wont believe itNancy showed up again last night, crying! Her husbands been out drinking again. I cant stand women who put up with that. Id have thrown him out in a heartbeat! she vented to her colleagues, voice trembling with anger.
She loves him, probably, whispered Valentina, the senior clerk. You did say hes a decent bloke when sober.
Decent? Hes a wretched idiot! Not a fish, not a fowljust a clueless calf! If I were you, Id have walked away ages ago!
Maybe shes got nowhere else to go, piped up young Ira. One kid, its hard.
Nothing like that! Laura snapped, exhaling a plume of smoke. Hes not even on the lease! Its about time we sweep him out with a broom. Shes a spineless lot!
She shouted as if trying to convince herself, to cement her selfimage as smart, strong, independentfar superior to Nancy.
Yet each night she saw Brian and Danny bent over that metal set, heard the rare, coveted sound of her husbands genuine laughter.
One Saturday Laura returned from the shop, bags heavy. The door to Nancys flat stood ajar; she peered inside, freezing on the threshold.
They werent kissing or embracing. They were simply there.
Brian sat on a stool, hammer in hand; Danny stood beside him, solemnly handing over nails. Nancy, leaning against the doorframe, watched them with a serene, deeprooted happiness that sent a chill through Laura. They were a unit, a picture of a perfect family she could never have.
What a monstrous thought, she muttered, turning away. Nonsense! Brian could never Im everything to him! And Nancywhat a foolish hen!
***
The next time Nancy knocked for help, Laura stopped her at the door and, loud enough for Brian to hear, blurted:
How long, Nancy? When will you finally get a grip? He isnt even your husband! Why put up with that drunken monster in your own flat? Get rid of him, end it! Or are you enjoying playing the victim? Shame on you! Your son is watching!
Her words landed like poison on fertile ground.
A week later, a haggard Paul shuffled out of the building with a suitcase and never returned.
Laura celebrated. At last, Nancy and her son would vanish from their lives forever. No more protection needed.
***
Peace settled in. Saturdays no longer smelled of fresh muffins, and the hallway was silent of childrens giggles.
Laura first rejoiced in the quiet, the order. But soon the silence in their flat grew heavy, oppressive.
Brian came home, ate dinner in silence, and retreated to the living room to stare at the television. He grew darker, more withdrawn.
Hes just tired, Laura told herself, thats why he doesnt look at me at the table, doesnt laugh at my jokes. He sleeps with his back turned, as if Im not even there.
Then everything flipped.
Laura returned home early from work, a splitting headache in tow. In the lift she pressed the wrong button and stepped out a floor down. The door to Nancys flat was ajar
Déjà vu.
She slipped inside
She kept asking herself why, why shed gone in.
Seeing Brian and Nancy tangled together, oblivious to everything else, Laura froze, unable to speak, barely leaving a whisper as she slipped out on tiptoe, closing the door gently behind her.
Brian appeared an hour later, ate in silence, glued to the telly. Laura kept her mouth shut.
She never told Brian what shed seen. She convinced herself that knowing his secret was enough to try to fix things.
How she loathed Nancy then! And herself, for having pushed Paul out, freeing a space for her husband. But Brian wasnt really hers. Hed invited her to the registry office countless times; she always balked, saying a stamp wasnt everything Now he could walk away from this.
No, she wouldnt confess she knew about his affair.
What if she and this hen never worked out? She would wait.
She would endure
***
And endure she did.
Brian and Nancy carried on their hidden romance. Laura pretended obliviousness, feigned ignorance.
Sometimes Nancy visited, bringing the boy and a cake, just as before. Laura smiled, forced a laugh, and swallowed the silence.
She had been a patient martyr for years.
One day, calling Nancy a martyr in contempt, Laura didnt realize she was scripting her own future. Now she sat in an unenviable spot, her silence the loudest confession of her defeat.
Laura feared spilling a word that might shatter her happy family, where she played the starring role of the longsuffering wife. The role of the martyr.
