1
Henry opened his eyes to the start of another perfect day. He sat up, letting the covers slowly slide off him as a large grin filled his face. The smell of a fresh pot of coffee slid under his door and greeted him with a renewed bout of anticipation for the day ahead.
Henry climbed out of bed and grabbed the outfit his wife had ironed and hung in his closet the night before, a blue collared shirt and matching blue pants. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the black sphere in the center of his ceiling, containing a blinking red dot in the center. No matter where Henry looked, the red dot seemed to be glued to the edge of his vision, which caused him to change faster into his work outfit. Even though he never knew if anyone watching, he still felt uncomfortable.
When Henry finished getting dressed, he stood in front of a large mirror that filled one wall of his bedroom and sized up his reflection. He took the time to lay each hair flat on his head, using spit to ensure that his hair was covering his receding hairline, and tried to tug his shirt so that it fit looser against his growing gut. Eventually, he was forced to admit defeat and left his bedroom with a sad sigh before he joined his wife and daughter in the dining room.
The large dining room table in the center of the room creaked under the weight of decorative serving plates overflowing with stacks of pancakes and waffles, mounds of steaming toast, and piles of perfectly cooked sunny-side-up eggs. The black sphere watching them from the center of the ceiling cast a shadow over the eggs and for a moment, Henry didn’t feel hungry. He knew that it must’ve taken his wife a while to get everything ready, yet despite his guilt, he was never able to help her. His role was to sleep in, and not for the first time, Henry wished he was the one who was able to cook, instead of just eating other people’s cooking.
Henry noticed his wife and daughter standing off to the side as they waited for him to take a seat first. He quickly took a seat at his place of the table and his daughter immediately joined him at the table. Henry noticed his daughter fiddle impatiently as she stared at the food piled high on the table, yet she didn’t serve herself anything. Instead, Henry’s wife walked around the table, serving each of them a single piece of toast and bacon alongside two eggs.
Once she finished serving everyone’s food and setting Henry’s coffee at his place of the table, Henry’s wife sat down in her chair and the three of them started eating. The dining room filled with the sounds of chewing as Henry, his wife, and his daughter ate their breakfast together. Although no one said anything under the watchful eye of the camera in the ceiling, Henry kept trying to catch his daughter’s and wife’s eyes. Although his wife kept her sleep-heavy eyes glued on her plate, he eventually made eye contact with his daughter, which caused his daughter to giggle. His wife was startled at the sound of his daughter giggling and tore her eyes from her plate. She rested her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and leaned over to whisper something Henry couldn’t hear into his daughter’s ear, which caused the smile to immediately fade from her face.
For the rest of breakfast, Henry kept his eyes glued to his plate. He was still hungry once his plate was empty, yet he didn’t dare reach for seconds or for the waffles and pancakes slowly cooling in the center of the table. The rule the Administrators had set for breakfast was bacon, eggs, and toast, no matter whether he wanted waffles or pancakes instead. So Henry plastered a smile on his face and tried to ignore his aching stomach.
When Henry, his wife, and his daughter finished eating their breakfast, Henry’s wife gathered up the serving plates, most still filled with food, and brought them back to the kitchen. With each trip to the kitchen and back, Henry’s wife seemed to shrink more and more into herself and each trip seemed to take more and more time. While Henry drank his coffee, he contemplated for a moment about what he would do if things were different. Would he get out of the chair and help his wife with breakfast, have waffles for breakfast, or coffee with cream and sugar and would he talk to his wife and daughter? Would he ask them about all the thoughts they hid behind small smiles and how they felt about the world around them?
Yet the black orb on the ceiling always stopped him from sinking too far from reality. Even though he had never gotten punished for breaking a rule, he still didn’t want to risk it so he drank his burnt cup of coffee and stuck to wishing.
Once Henry’s wife finished clearing all of the dishes on the table, Henry set his empty coffee cup down and got up from his seat. He grabbed his coat from where it was hanging in the closet by the door but before he could leave, his wife handed him his briefcase, “Have a good day at work, darling,” she said.
“I will,” Henry promised before he kissed his wife on the cheek and left. He didn’t notice the smile on his wife’s face slowly fade.
