Away

32. Domestic Bliss

Once all the groceries got delivered, Brett and Eddy leisurely unpacked everything. Brett wiped out the cupboards with the surface spray whilst Eddy washed the plates and things they bought. The glasses had huge white stickers on the bottom that was just not budging. He figures eventually it will come off, and packs all the clean stuff in the newly cleaned cupboard above the sink. Under the sink he packs all the cleaning stuff whilst Brett goes to see how the washing machine works.

They stuff all their laundry in one go into the washing machine. Brett adds some softener and laundry liquid and sets the cycle after closing the door. They hear water starting to fill the machine, so they must've done something right. The cycle shows 60 on a little electronic screen, so presumably the cycle takes 60 minutes.

"Let's go for a walk", Brett says. It was around 6pm, so the worst heat of the day was gone. They walk along the pier of their apartment block first. Some of the boats and yachts look very expensive. "What's the big round thing on the roof?" Brett asks, pointing at one of the speedboats.  "That's radar", Eddy replies.  "So you can see where you are and what's around you.  There will be GPS as well.  And of course a radio".  "Wow.  Boats are almost as complicated as modern cars now", Brett says as they reach the end of the pier.

Where the pier ends, there's concrete steps leading to a wide open beach on one side, and a small concrete path connecting to the sidewalk next to the main road.  As soon as they step onto the sand, Brett grabs Eddy by the arm. "Let's go look at the rocks", he says, pointing at some rocks sticking out of the water a distance ahead.

When they reach the rocks, they climb up as far as possible without falling.  Climbing jagged rocks requires excellent balance, which neither have.  They find a more-or-less flat rock to sit on.  When Brett sits down he nearly slips off the rock and almost lands on Eddy's lap in the process.  "Dude, careful.  Don't want you to become shark bait", Eddy laughs, as he wraps his arm around Brett's waist to steady him.  He scoots back a bit to lean his back against a rock, and pulls Brett closer. They sit together like that in silence until the sun starts to go down.

"I'm hungry", Eddy eventually says. "We haven't eaten anything since breakfast. How about some Chinese Food?" Brett awkwardly turns around so he is on all fours to try and get up without slipping off the rocks. Once up, he holds a hand out to Eddy to help him up. "Good idea", Brett says. "But we have to hang the laundry to dry first, otherwise I won't have anything to wear tomorrow".

At the apartment they rinse the sand off their feet and change shoes. Brett empties the washing machine. "Dude, we have nowhere to hang these things", he groans. Eddy helps him to hang some stuff over the side of the bath and the chairs in the bedrooms. "I guess that's something for the next shopping trip", Eddy says as he stares at the bundle remaining in his hands. They carefully spread them out on the bedroom floors, hoping for the best by morning.

They find a nice restaurant at the shopping mall near them. It's not really Chinese food, more of a fusion thing. They sell stir-fries and some rice dishes, but they also have sushi, burgers and a few Indian dishes. "This is typically South African", Brett explains. "The cultures have integrated so well over the years that there's no exclusive cuisines anymore". "I don't mind", Eddy says with a smile. "We can try something different on the menu every time we come here". They each pick something from the more than 50 items in the menu.

The food was excellent. They sat talking about the music they have to practice. Eddy opened the sheet music on his phone and they were both surprised at how long it was. They decide on a part they could play together. Eddy will play first violin and Brett second. It will make practicing together easier and if they can audition together it will help with the nerves. If not allowed, the second violin part was still melodic enough for Brett to do a solo audition.

When they return to the apartment, Eddy carefully takes the violins from the TV stand and puts them on the floor. Then he drags the TV stand up to the couch. "Movie?" he asks. "We don't have a TV", Brett says. "No worries, I will play it on my phone. Think of it as mini movie", Eddy laughs. He fetches a glass from the cupboard and puts it upside down on the TV stand. Then he sits down on the couch to find a movie to watch. Brett makes them each a cup of tea, carefully places it in the TV stand and then goes to the bedroom to fetch some pillows. Eddy positions the phone against the glass, and when Brett sits down he presses the play button.

The movie was quite boring after all, and it doesn't take long before both are asleep, sprawled uncomfortably on the small couch with legs hanging off either side and heads meeting somewhere in the middle.