Stress: The Stick That Broke the Camel’s Back
Devon Sterling
“Hey, Chief William, is your shift finally over? You’ve been in the station since seven today!” my coworker Johnathan catches me as I slide my cold rain coat onto my shoulder.
“Yep. I had to stay late because Brian shot and killed someone at the mall today by accident. I got to deal with a ton of calls from higher up and a shit-ton of paperwork,” I sighed, rubbing my head in a helpless attempt to ease my migraine, “some reporters are coming to the station tomorrow morning, so I got to be here early again for that fiasco.”
“Oh, that’s right. You are ultimately the one responsible for their actions since you trained us on our Rules of Engagement. You know, I was jealous when you got picked to be chief over me, but now I don’t feel that way anymore,” Johnathan states. He laughs in the moment, and I join in shortly after.
“Hahaha! Well, I can’t blame you,” I say as I look at my watch, reading 2103, “I best be getting home now. Have a good night, John.”
“You too, Chief.”
I decided to not play the radio on my drive home, as the music would disrupt my thinking. The loud sounds of driving on a highway deafen, however, as I am sorting out what I need to get done tomorrow in my head. “Let’s see… I gotta deal with the reporters, continue working on Brian’s situation… I got so much to do,” my brain keeps telling me. I let my mind relax for a bit until I am interrupted by my headlights flooding my garage door in a bright light. “Okay, it’s ten, so the kids are probably asleep right now, unless Simon is still up playing video games,” I audibly tell myself as I grab my keys and lock the car, “I can’t wait to finally hit the sack. I got a lot to do tomorrow, so I better sleep while I can” I approach the door and unlock it, with the thought of falling into my bed running through my head. I slip off my shoes and reach for the light switch.
Splish! I look down at my now warm and wet socks to see a puddle of piss in front of the switch. “Oh my fucking… DANIELLA!”
I hear my wife run down the stairs. I am lifting my foot slightly to keep it out of the puddle. “What’s wrong, Mike?” my wife says as if the smell didn’t make it obvious.
“The puppy pissed on the floor again! Why didn’t you clean it?”
“I was talking with my mother on the phone and didn’t even know about the mess on the floor.”
“You’re home all day! You couldn’t train him to pee outside?”
“You’re an arrogant asshole, you know that right?”
“That doesn’t matter! You bought the dog! You train it! I’ve said this a million times!”
“Shut the fuck up!” comes from upstairs. Daniella and I both turn our attention to see our son Simon on the stairs. His plaid pajamas stuck out like a sore thumb. “Y’all do this every day, and its fucking annoying! I got school tomorrow! Either talk like normal people or shut up!” Simon then disappears around the corner. Stomp-stomp-stomp… Slam!
We were both quiet for what seemed like an hour. Daniella pipes up, “Mike, I think… we should take a break from each other.”
My heart begins to sink. “What kind of break are you talking about?”
Daniella looks me right in the eyes. I look in hers, as they are glassy. “I think we should have a divorce; everything has been so stressful and I can’t do it anymore.”
She turns around and walks towards our bedroom. I cannot believe the words I just heard.
I exclaim, “Stressful? Do you know how stressful of a job I got? I have…” but I stop myself as I see Daniella continue to walk away. I look down at the puddle of piss, and my eyes started to turn glassy. I walk to the kitchen, not caring that I was spreading the piss across the house, and got a paper towel and some cleaning spray. As I clean up the puddles, my tears get into the paper towel.
“Yep. I had to stay late because Brian shot and killed someone at the mall today by accident. I got to deal with a ton of calls from higher up and a shit-ton of paperwork,” I sighed, rubbing my head in a helpless attempt to ease my migraine, “some reporters are coming to the station tomorrow morning, so I got to be here early again for that fiasco.”
“Oh, that’s right. You are ultimately the one responsible for their actions since you trained us on our Rules of Engagement. You know, I was jealous when you got picked to be chief over me, but now I don’t feel that way anymore,” Johnathan states. He laughs in the moment, and I join in shortly after.
“Hahaha! Well, I can’t blame you,” I say as I look at my watch, reading 2103, “I best be getting home now. Have a good night, John.”
“You too, Chief.”
I decided to not play the radio on my drive home, as the music would disrupt my thinking. The loud sounds of driving on a highway deafen, however, as I am sorting out what I need to get done tomorrow in my head. “Let’s see… I gotta deal with the reporters, continue working on Brian’s situation… I got so much to do,” my brain keeps telling me. I let my mind relax for a bit until I am interrupted by my headlights flooding my garage door in a bright light. “Okay, it’s ten, so the kids are probably asleep right now, unless Simon is still up playing video games,” I audibly tell myself as I grab my keys and lock the car, “I can’t wait to finally hit the sack. I got a lot to do tomorrow, so I better sleep while I can” I approach the door and unlock it, with the thought of falling into my bed running through my head. I slip off my shoes and reach for the light switch.
Splish! I look down at my now warm and wet socks to see a puddle of piss in front of the switch. “Oh my fucking… DANIELLA!”
I hear my wife run down the stairs. I am lifting my foot slightly to keep it out of the puddle. “What’s wrong, Mike?” my wife says as if the smell didn’t make it obvious.
“The puppy pissed on the floor again! Why didn’t you clean it?”
“I was talking with my mother on the phone and didn’t even know about the mess on the floor.”
“You’re home all day! You couldn’t train him to pee outside?”
“You’re an arrogant asshole, you know that right?”
“That doesn’t matter! You bought the dog! You train it! I’ve said this a million times!”
“Shut the fuck up!” comes from upstairs. Daniella and I both turn our attention to see our son Simon on the stairs. His plaid pajamas stuck out like a sore thumb. “Y’all do this every day, and its fucking annoying! I got school tomorrow! Either talk like normal people or shut up!” Simon then disappears around the corner. Stomp-stomp-stomp… Slam!
We were both quiet for what seemed like an hour. Daniella pipes up, “Mike, I think… we should take a break from each other.”
My heart begins to sink. “What kind of break are you talking about?”
Daniella looks me right in the eyes. I look in hers, as they are glassy. “I think we should have a divorce; everything has been so stressful and I can’t do it anymore.”
She turns around and walks towards our bedroom. I cannot believe the words I just heard.
I exclaim, “Stressful? Do you know how stressful of a job I got? I have…” but I stop myself as I see Daniella continue to walk away. I look down at the puddle of piss, and my eyes started to turn glassy. I walk to the kitchen, not caring that I was spreading the piss across the house, and got a paper towel and some cleaning spray. As I clean up the puddles, my tears get into the paper towel.
An intellectual, an Army brat, and a person that others worry is addicting to yoyoing, c/MAJ Devon Sterling is an SROTC cadet who will be graduating on May 2022 and will be a Medical Services Officer in the Army. He will be studying Biomedical Sciences at the University of Washington.