Have to Tell Al

Al was cooking dinner when she got home. Sarah was the fun and outgoing one in the couple, and Al was the more introverted of the two. He doted on her.

'I really do have it good,' she thought to herself. Al did most of the cooking and the cleaning, leaving Sarah to pursue her career and write books on feminism.

Dinner that night was Moroccan Tagine. It smelled fantastic -- spicy and comforting all at once.

"Fancy dinner!" she called out, as she took off her shoes and hung her purse on a hook by the door. "Smells great!"

"I can't hear you," he said, so she went into the kitchen and repeated herself.

"I felt like doing something special tonight," he said. "Now go out of the kitchen, it's about to get busy. I'll call you when I'm ready."

Sarah poured herself a glass of white wine and took it into the living room. A short time later, Al called her to dinner.

At first they didn't talk, but instead just enjoyed the food.

Finally Sarah spoke. "Al, I got some bad news at work today. I just..." she started to cry.

"Oh, honey," said Al in a soothing voice. "What is it?"

She sniffed a little. "They decided to open a glory hole in the department, and I have to work in it. They asked me to go once a week. Everybody has to, including me, but I really don't want to, I think it's terrible!"

Al had a thoughtful look on his face. "Honestly I'm a bit angry about this," he said.

"I know! Me too!" Sarah said.

"No, I mean, I'm angry because I had to tell the whole office today that I couldn't go to the damn glory hole, because you didn't want me to. And then they made fun of me for it all day, which really sucked. And now I find out you're going to be doing it! What the hell, Sarah?"

Sarah cried a little again. "I could quit..." she started.

"No." Al cut her off. "You can't do that. This career is way too important to you." He softened a bit. "I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I was just feeling a bit stressed by my job. We'll just have to find a way to get through this."

They spent the rest of the weekend avoiding the question. Sarah hoped maybe it would just go away.