Chapter 2 - the servant

The next morning Jim woke up tired, which wasn't unusual given the amount of work he had done the previous day, ordering people around and arranging furniture and stuff, but mostly ordering people around.

His hand searched the other side of the bed for Sarah but only found the cold sheets. Sarah was an early bird, always had been. She would rise early in the morning and go for a run. Jim would always join her, except the days that he slept in(which were so far and few). Today was one of the few rare days that he did sleep in but that was alright, he could make sure that the remaining work for the house was taken care of.

He called his mother and asked her to arrange for a caretaker who would look after the upkeep and the maintenance of the house. It did please him to know that they had qualified help in the area and he would soon have a servant at home.

He went downstairs to the living room and peeked outside the window, the sun was slowly climbing up the horizon and people were up and about walking their dogs or jogging around. It was a residential area with lots of trees and less of anything else; just like living in a park.

He walked back to the kitchen and realized that the fridge was only stocked with ready-to-cook frozen food and sweet snacks. There was ice cream and packets of processed food. He shrugged, neither of them had to learned to cook though he knew how to cut vegetables and fruits to make a salad, in the absence of that, he had to resort to the ice cream. He made himself comfortable on the couch and indulged himself with the latest sports news and the sweet relief of the rich and comforting ice cream.

"Saved anything for me, Chef?" Sarah asked in a jovial tone, drenched in sweat and walking in to the sight of her husband lying on the couch with an empty tub of ice cream and gazing blankly into the tv.

"Stuff, but requires cooking." Jim said, motioning towards the fridge, he also added, "Mom is sending a servant, he'll be here soon and clean up and cook and stuff."

"I hope soon is before 9, I have to reach the office by 10."

"You don't have to work" said Jim in an almost-whiny tone.

Sarah actually did not. Neither of them had to work. They had inherited enough from their parents to not have to work for the rest of their lives. But Sarah, unlike Jim, was actually passionate about her work. She loved discussing ideas and seeing them come to fruition.

"Aww, does my baby miss me already?" Sarah teased, as she went over to Jim and placed a light kiss on his forehead. "Straighten up the house and the servant," she said, playfully messing up his hair, "and then maybe we can get decent breakfast every morning?"

Jim kissed her chin in reply and, equally playfully, lightly shoved her out of the way of his view of the tv, "shoo!"

With no sign of the servant till half past nine, Sarah got ready and cycled for work without breakfast. She would drive but she preferred to keep active.

It was ten when the doorbell finally rang. Reluctantly, Jim left the comfort of the couch and opened the door to a handsome man in his thirties.

"Good morning sir," the man greeted politely, "I'm Adam, your newly appointed housekeeper."

Jim noted begrudgingly that the man was of a better and more aesthetic build than him. He had to remind himself that the man was there to serve him, not compete with him.

"Yes Adam," Jim acknowledged, and offered a handshake, "you can call me Jim."

He led the man inside, "My wife, Sarah, and I are desperately helpless when it comes to household chores," he motioned his hand towards the dirty dishes, "and neither of us knows how to cook. We would like you to come by early in the morning and prepare breakfast for Sarah before she leaves for work at 9. After that, you will have to take care of the rest of the chores like cleaning, doing laundry and assist me with my work should I ask for it." Jim searched for the man's face for any sign of unwillingness but was only met with a polite nod. "I would ask my mom to help find another person to assist you if you find the burden of the work to be too much. I just need this house to be in a perfect condition to host guests should anybody show up at any time of the day. You may leave for the day once you are done with dinner preparations. Any questions?", he looked expectantly at the man, who stood there assessing the dirty kitchen.

"May I start right away, sir?"

"Jim."

The man nodded and began collecting the clutter, starting with the tub of ice cream lying by the sofa.

"Also, make sure the fridge is always stocked with ready to eat food items, just in case."

"Yes sir."

As Adam went to work with the kitchen, Jim went to lie on the couch, mindlessly surfing through the channels and gazing into the changing lights. Time was barely moving from him when suddenly, there was a plate of freshly cooked bacon and sausages being placed on the table in front of him.

"Breakfast sir?" Adam said, arranging the table.

For some reason, Jim felt ashamed to admit that he had had a breakfast of a tub of ice cream to Adam so he sat up and picked the fork.

It was new to him, having a second breakfast. Usually, Sarah or he would cut some vegetables and make a salad or heat some bread and make a sandwich and make it last till dinner when for dinner they would order food from somewhere or make it a date night and go to a fancy restaurant. It was quite the same at his parents' house where they survived on two meals of greens a day.

He slowly started to eat food. He quite liked the greasy taste of the meat. Surely Adam had added something to spice up the taste. His tiny stomach was growing taut and he was rather full. Having barely eaten 2 of the four sausages and 2 of the eight stripes of bacon.

He put the fork down and laid back in the couch, with the housekeeper at work, he had nothing to do and he wasn't inspired to paint. Slowly, he dozed away.