All Because of a Remote

Suzan paused her show and got up from the couch to go get a glass of water from the kitchen when she heard the front door open. “I’m home,” said her husband Jim’s voice. He had just come home from his trip to Venice for his job. “Hey welcome home” Suzan replied as she greeted him from the kitchen. Jim took off his shoes, hung his coat, and went to sit on the couch in the living room. “What are you watching?” he asked as he sat down. “Just a romance show sort of thing” Suzan answered. Jim picked up the remote and changed the channel. Suzan walked into the living room “what are you doing?” Jim looked up at her “what do you mean what am I doing? “I meant, why did you change the channel?” Suzan asked. Jim looked back down at the TV “because it was boring”. Suzan glared at him “I was watching my show before you came in so please change the channel back.” Jim rolled his eyes “well I want to watch a different show so I’m sorry but I can’t change the channel back. Suzan was getting angry. She couldn’t believe that as soon as he came back he was being like this. “Listen I’m asking nicely so please change the channel back, and when my show is finished then you can watch something else. Jim just ignored her and continued to scroll through the channels. Suzan snatched the remote from his hand and changed the channel back to her show. “I asked nicely but you didn’t listen.” Jim stood up and tried to get the remote back but Suzan moved it away. “I’m not going to give it to you! I already said, when my show is over you can watch something else!”

Jim shook his head “I just came back from a long work trip that I had to go on and you can’t even let me change the channel?! How selfish can you be?” Suzan gasped ''selfish? Selfish!? You’re calling me selfish? I said you could change the channel after I finished watching my show since I was here first, but you decided you have to watch something else right now, at this moment. If you ask me, you’re the one being selfish right now!” Jim was starting to get really angry “listen here, I pay the rent, I pay the bills, and I bought this TV! I should have a right to watch whatever I want, whenever I want on this TV!” Suzan scoffed “excuse me? We both pay the bills for this house, and just because you bought the TV doesn’t mean you get to have every right over it and get to stop me from watching what I want to watch on this TV!” Jim rubbed his temples “see this is what’s wrong with you, you always have to disagree with everything I say. I’m the man of this house so what I say goes!” Suzan was highly offended “you’re the man of this house? That’s why everything you say goes? How patriarchal of you Jim!”

“It’s not patriarchal if the situation is like this!” Jim answered. Suzan couldn’t believe what she was hearing “when we got married we agreed for everything to be equal! This is most definitely not equal!” Jim rolled his eyes again “that was 15 years ago Suzan, promises are meant to be broken” he growled. Suzan was fuming “promises are meant to be broken?! Do you even hear yourself, Jim?!” “I hear myself loud and clear” Jim drawled “so give me back the remote if you don’t want any problems.” “I won’t!” Suzan yelled. “Since you think that a remote and a TV is more important than our marriage vows, let’s see how you like it when they’re both gone!” Before Jim could move to stop her Suzan turned around and threw the remote at the TV with all her strength. The TV screen shattered and went black while the remote broke into 3 separate jagged pieces. “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” Jim roared. Suzan looked at Jim with tears in her eyes “I had to. The TV and remote are the things causing us to fight like this so they had to go.” Jim wasn’t having it “no, you did that so I couldn’t watch anything! You’re so selfish that you want to be the only one to watch TV!” “LISTEN TO ME JIM!” Suzan screamed. “I didn’t throw the remote to stop you from watching! I threw it to stop us from arguing!!” “How does that make sense?!” Jim shouted back at Suzan. “Admit it, you threw it because of how stupidly selfish you are!!” “WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME?? Suzan exploded. “I JUST WANTED US TO STOP FIGHTING!” “WELL, IT'S OBVIOUSLY NOT WORKING!” Jim yelled back. Jim was tired of this. He was tired of Suzan, he was tired of the TV, he was tired of everything. “Fine then if you’re going to keep on being selfish like this you might as well just leave” he uttered. “What? You want me to leave?” “You heard exactly what I said” Jim confirmed. “No, you’re taking this too far Jim. Do you even hear yourself right now?” Suzan begged. “Listen, this is your own fault, Suzan. If you had just given back the remote it wouldn’t have come to this.” Jim quipped. Suzan sobbed and apologized but no matter what she did, Jim wouldn’t listen. “Just get out of my house Suzan” Jim snapped. Was this really the end? Suzan wondered. They were leaving each other… just because of a dang remote?! Suzan sighed “alright then I’ll leave” she accepted. “I can’t believe you’re doing this all over a stupid remote controller and a TV.” Jim ignored her. “Look at how immature you’re being. We could have just talked it out like normal adults but-” Jim cut her off “listen if you want to talk like that, do it somewhere else but not in my house.” Suzan went upstairs to pack her stuff and came back down. Jim was waiting for her at the door. “I hope you’re happy about this,” she told him as she walked out. He said nothing and slammed the door shut. Suzan couldn’t believe it. It was really over. 15 years of marriage all into the bin. She looked up at the moon with tears in her eyes. Then she set off and that was the last time Suzan and Jim would see each other.