Right now

Right now the silence is deafening as the house silently breathes in the lonely air and as suddenly as the noise and chaos erupted six short weeks ago it stops.  Just like that.

The Nerf bullets lie abandoned in dusty corners.

A bedroom windowsill holds the forgotten remains of a desert crash scene.

  

And the wounded stand still.  

The Sylvanians lie undisturbed in their beds.

The keyboard is struck dumb.

And Elizabeth despairs of her tangled hair and inappropriate clothing.  

School is back and I am filled with those same old feelings of redundancy.  I know my days will soon resume their peaceful rhythm and I will rejoice in the hours of solitude but it takes a while.  It takes a while.