Alex was mad, extremely mad, if  John was going to be honest with himself he would admit that she was livid. Livid enough that for the past three days she had given him the silent treatment, she had not spoken a single word to him since the “incident”. It wasn’t that he hadn’t ticked off a woman before, quite the opposite actually, but he hadn’t ticked off a woman who he lived with since he lived with his mother in high school.

Back then all he had to do to get back in her good graces was clean the house. It didn’t seem particularly logical but it was the best idea he had come up with so far. Maybe, just maybe, Alex would start speaking to him again if she came home to a sparkling, dust free apartment after work. Smiling to himself he believed he had figured it out, maybe living with a woman had given him a newfound sense of understanding. Precious information that perhaps he should share with his fellow man.

Several hours later; after all the scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming he could muster Alex walked in from work.

“Nice try”, was all she said as she sailed into her bedroom. John couldn’t help but to shout in return, “at least I got you to talk to me”!