One day Addie sat at her desk writing, or at least trying. Virtually every time she started to get a thought on paper someone interrupted. First it was her husband. It irritated her but he truly needed to speak to her before leaving so she got over it fast. Then one of her children had a very urgent request for juice.

Following on the kid’s heels was the family dog. He didn’t understand why playing fetch wasn’t more important than the chapter his master was working on. Next came a mouse, causing Addie to scream and climb on top of her desk but giving the dog something to do.

She was able to get a few unexpectedly scary scenes written while the two animals destroyed her office around her. If only she’d hadn’t been writing romance. The doorbell stopped the frightful stuff and it was the mailman delivering printer paper that Addie was praying she’d be able to use that night so it was an acceptable interruption.

The kids’ toilet overflowed, because of course it did and the doorknob to the bathroom miraculously locked itself. Half an hour later her husband came home and saved the day leaving another thirty minutes of cleanup time for his wife to handle. She was a little angry at being stuck with the messy part but was so relieved that he’d arrived before she could kick the door down that she didn’t complain.

Addie asked everyone to leave her alone for a while since she was behind at that point. They all agreed. Until her five-year old twins decided to fight over which game controller was the coolest to use. After settling that dispute there was a Lego disaster that proved painful to her feet for hours afterward.

Her least favorite neighbor stopped by saying she desperately needed to talk about the new couple down the street. Addie’s mother called, then her brother. And on and on it went until she finally gave up. She put away her laptop, packed up her notebook and put her pens, pencils, note cards and highlighters in a drawer. The journal and book on character development went on a shelf. She washed the ink stains from her hands and oddly her nose and walked into the living room.

Addie asked her husband if he wanted to watch a movie but he was in the middle of some crucial sporting event and barely shook his head. She inquired if any of the kids wanted to play a board game but they were busy with the Legos. She tried throwing the ball for the dog but he was chewing on what might have been a dead mouse.

Sighing she went back to her desk. She opened her laptop and waiting for the first person to come in and stop her. Nothing happened so she pulled out her notebook and index cards. Still silence. She pulled the drawer out slowly so no one was alerted and she grabbed a pen. Finally, she thought.

She thought for a few moments and after remembering where she left off, put the pen to paper. Her husband walked in the room stating that the game sucked and asked if she wanted to do something. A yelling match erupted from the other room. The doorbell rang. The dog started barking. Her oldest kid began screaming about bloody dead mice.

Addie slowly turned her head and…well no one will talk about what happened next, but within ten minutes the rest of her family, including the dog, was loaded up in the car and driving very fast away from the house. They seemed nervous when they came back five hours later, or so neighbors, who no longer try to visit, said. The mailman always leaves packages on the porch but doesn’t knock and her mother waits for her to call.

To this day, when it’s writing time, she is left in peace. The downside is no one she knows has the guts to read her work.

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My family may or may not have inspired this piece.

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The lovely art was done by my daughter.

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