Elephants in the cottage

They hustled and bustled in the cramped room, the floorboards of which creaked but the sounds got muffled in the laughter.

The musty smell pervaded the two-room cottage but the lady in the apron shuffled around carrying an aromatic freshly baked bread with strawberry jam, avoiding the feet of the crowd.

Two sneaky teenagers exchanged looks from the far corners of the room, which were not that far if not for the people blocking the sight of the two restless young men, who jumped at the sound of a siren somewhere far in the curious little town.

A suspicious rat scuffled under the rickety dining table, sniffing away to glory.

The men with cigars in their hands were having a rather serious debate on politics and drifted from the topic every once in a while, being painfully aware of the presence of each other's wives' in the room, who could spill more than they needed at any point in time. They could not resist resting their gaze at the lady in the apron and then sharing a smirk when the wives were looking away.

The racket at home, thanks to the two families that had come to meet the lady in the apron, was a welcome change. The friends rarely met to avoid facing the elephants in the room.

The lady stuffed bits of bread in the mouths of her children and hummed away as she made her way to the kitchen garden, picking up the potted plants that needed to be packed for her journey.

She was soon to leave the town for the city with her two children.

They all thought the man of the house was out of town.

Only she and the young men knew. Some secrets were better off buried in the kitchngarden, where many weeds had made their place on the freshly dug out soil.

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