-Can you handle them? -Doris asked incredulously, trying to fasten her boot.
-Yes! How many times can I repeat?” the man answered angrily.
Doris straightened up and looked doubtfully at her company: her husband, her four-year-old daughter, and her little son, who had just turned two.
How did she even dare to go somewhere alone?
Doris did not know who was more responsible for the children or her husband, who had never been alone with them…
-Go to the wedding and don’t think about anything. Relax there with your mother, your sister will be happy to see you, – Roy reassured her and smiling added:
-I am a grown man, and these are just children. At work I manage a whole department, which is much more difficult…
The younger son was bored, and with a long: “Dad, peek-a-boo!” he grabbed his father’s pants, which quickly slid down.
Blushing, Roy pulled up his pants. And then, somehow tearing his son’s clinging fingers from his clothes, he took him in his arms.
-See! We can do this! – Roy exclaimed cheerfully.
Doris tried to hold back her emotions. But, unable to stand it any longer, she turned to the door and muttered:
-That’s it, mom is gone! – she jumped out on the staircase.
After running two flights, she found herself on the street. That’s when she started laughing.
-So, you say that it is easier to cope with children than with subordinates at work? – she laughed, wiping her tears with a handkerchief. “Well, well, we’ll see what you say the day after tomorrow…
Having somehow calmed down, the woman straightened her tousled blond curls and went to the bus station, where she had to meet her mother. Over the past four years, it was her first “escape” from home without children.
Doris was going to her sister’s wedding, in another city, where she had to have fun and not think about anything. Although… How can a mother put her children out of her mind, especially if they stay with… Roy?
-Doris, hi! -the mother was happy when she met her daughter at the bus station. -Why are you so sad?
-Hi, mom. I’m worried… Do you think Roy will make it?
-Where will he go? Let him try himself a little in your place, – Mom smiled. – He needs to be taught a lesson.
-That’s a bit harsh.
-Doris! He’s not a little boy. You’ve been carrying the whole household for years, including the children. And Roy doesn’t lift a finger,” the mother shook her head. “Of course, I understand that he earns money… But the children are not only yours, but his too! When he was walking with them alone, without you?
Doris was silent.
-It never happened, – Mom nodded, – And now that it just so happens that he’s on vacation, and our Maria is getting married, why doesn’t he stay with the kids? The children miss their father very much. And you need to get out a bit, Roy can’t be the only one going to corporate parties with overnight stays!
-You’re probably right, – Doris sighed, “I wrote him a detailed instruction… Only he didn’t even look at it.
Her mother waved it off.
-You cleaned everything there, prepared everything. Everything. The apartment won’t go anywhere else!
The young woman, who recently turned thirty-seven, sighed with relief. At this time, a bus pulled up to the stop and they started to board.
-Children! – shouted Roy, who was already dizzy, “Stop running around. It’s time for you to bathe and sleep!
-We don’t want to! -squeaked the daughter on the run and jumped on the couch.
Roy glanced at the clock: it was half past ten.
-“And how does she manage to reassure them that everyone is asleep by ten?” he muttered.
Another hour passed before the man managed to gather the children in the bathroom, bathe them and put them to bed. But, his adventures did not end there.
-Drink! – the daughter cried out.
-To the toilet! – shouted the son.
-Now…, – Roy grumbled, entering the room for the fifth time. -What? How come? I put a diaper on you! – he turned to his son.
After changing his son and fixing his daughter’s blanket, the man left the room again, but before he reached the kitchen
-Dad! Now I want one too!” – the daughter screamed laughing.
Roy gritted his teeth. He was so looking forward to drinking coffee and watching a movie!
The morning was not joyful. The daughter saddled her father, who was snoring all over the room, and said loudly:
-Dad! We are hungry! And brother, you’re wet.
-Call your mother… – Roy muttered, taking the girl off him.
-She’s not here.
-Where is she?
-She’s gone!
Roy’s eyes snapped open. It was no dream – Doris had really left. Getting up with difficulty, the man looked at the clock, which showed six in the morning.
-Daughter! Go to sleep. It’s still a long time till nine…
-I’m hungry! -the girl frowned.
-Okay… – Roy filtered out, crawling out from under the warm blanket.
Having dressed his son, the man went to the kitchen, where an unpleasant surprise awaited him. He had not cooked porridge in the evening.
-Are you going to watch cartoons? – he understood, seeing the beginning of hysteria on the children’s faces.
-Yes!
-Great.
After sitting the children in front of the TV, Roy slowly went to the kitchen. He slowly washed the cereal, carefully measured the right amount of milk, and putting the porridge on the fire, smiled.
-Nothing complicated. And she didn’t believe in me…
When the cereal more or less began to boil, a scream came from the nursery. Roy dropped everything and rushed over there. There was a smell in the air.
-What is it? What is it that smells so unpleasant?
-Brother!
-Where’s the pot? -Roy looked around.
He took a step forward and when his foot stepped on the carpet, the man felt something warm and slippery under his heel. Looking down, he screamed, and the children laughed.
-What is it?!
-Brother! – said the daughter and laughed.
The girl waved her hand towards the window, where the boy was skillfully hiding behind the curtain. And the blue pants with an eloquent stain were lying orphaned near the radiator.
-Why didn’t you call me? And why did you do that?! – the man asked, holding his nose.
-I did call you… – the boy said indignantly, looking at his hands
-Just don’t lie!
Roy rushed to his son, looking at his feet to avoid stepping on anything else. It took an hour to wash the child, wipe the carpet and find burnt porridge on the stove.
Finally Roy fed the children and then, not wanting to tempt fate any longer, decided to take them for a walk.
Did he think that the process of dressing would last for an hour, that running after the children around the room, and then collecting the scattered clothes, he would be even more tired than if he had washed all the carpets in the house?
Of course, he sometimes heard Doris yell sometimes when they were going outside, and even shamed her for it! But now he began to say the same thing himself, breaking into a shout.
-Put your hat on! No, it’s not prickly! Stop taking it off. Where are you going? Don’t throw your socks behind the sofa.
It seemed that the worst is over and you can relax outside. Doris, on the other hand, walks with children twice a day, so she likes it… But not here…
The children scattered in different directions: the daughter wanted to dig in the sandbox, and the son wanted to jump into the puddle, pretending to be a diver.
No matter how hard the father tried to keep track of both, the boy still managed to achieve his goal. He went home satisfied and dirty: dark water was dripping from his yellow overalls, his gloves were soaked through with it, and his beige hat… He could safely throw it away!
Late in the evening, when Roy put the children to bed, he lay down on the couch exhausted.
-What movie? What games on the computer? How does Doris stand it?
Without thinking, the man snored loudly. He woke up at nine in the morning, because the front door slammed, and his daughter rushed into the corridor.
-“Mom!
-Really… – the man muttered, burying his nose in the pillow.
He wanted to lie down, but remembering that yesterday he had not cleaned the nursery and forgot to hang the washed carpet, which was still lying in the bathroom… He immediately jumped up.
-“Doris!” he called out, looking down the hall.
-“Hello,” she said suspiciously. “Are you still asleep? Strange, with me they jump up no later than half past seven…
She sniffed.
-“What’s that smell? The sewer, or what?
Roy blushed. He didn’t answer anything… He just gallantly took off his wife’s coat and complimented her, assuring her that Doris looked very rested.
The woman was looking at her husband in surprise: she had gotten up at four in the morning and was pretty crumpled after the bus and yesterday’s holiday. Of course, she managed to relax a little, but Roy… looked very exhausted.
-How are you doing here without me? – she asked cautiously, entering the nursery.
-Fine… – the man muttered, -But don’t go anymore, because we are very bored without you… And I’m sorry.
-For what?
-You were right, – he stammered. “It was just too much to bear. At least, I couldn’t…
