Entering The Apartment

By Mario Fraioli

The smell of coffee permeates the apartment as we walk through the front door just before 9 o’clock on Monday night. I place two large bags of groceries by the entryway and take off my shoes as my wife walks across the living room to turn on the overhead light in the kitchen. The dryer rumbles in the background, our small living space in shambles following a weekend away and a busy start to the work week. A packed suitcase sits unattended in middle of our bedroom floor, drying laundry hangs freely in the second bedroom, and laptops and paper notebooks rest quietly atop the desk in the office as well as on our kitchen table. If Monday has a “look,” this is probably an accurate depiction.