On a cold and dark winter’s day, a father leaves the house to go to work.

A mother clears the table of the breakfast dishes, then proceeds to do the laundry.

In passing one of the three bedrooms in the house, the mother straightened a photo hanging askew in the hallway on the wall.

The doorbell rings.

The mother pauses.

She looks to the front door,

then glances at the bedroom door half-open.

The doorbell rings again.

The mother continues to look at the bedroom door half-open.

A loud knocking from the front door.

The mother turns and walks to the front door.

The father is standing in the doorway.  He had forgotten his keys to the house.

He  walks into the hallway.

He picks up the keys from the hallway table.

He turns to the mother and sees the half-opened door to the bedroom.

He pauses.

He looks to the mother.

Then he reaches out to his wife, cups her cheek, kisses her.

He turns and leaves.

He did not return.

On a cold and dark winter’s evening, a mother, a wife, sits alone in a lamp-lit room.  She stares at the wall, frozen.