TOUCH THE SKY

 ‘Platinum books’. A publishing company presently in its prime as the public’s interest in their work grew hysterically after they released the best-selling book few months ago with the title “THE STORY” by Umoru Praise. Since the release and the public’s elation towards the book, Platinum books have been business with the creation of the Novel’s sequel, including numerous interviews that comes in, minor publishing books, magazines, articles and many more. 

Naomi was on her messy desk once again. She had two laptops she fixed her attention on, at the same time. To her left are piled up papers she is meant to approve, while to her right are double the number on the left, papers she hadn’t edited yet. 

The past couple of weeks have been stressful and draining. Apart from being the chief Editor of the ‘Story writing’ Department, she was also a wife and a mother of three kids in their teen. While she did official work on one laptop, she used the other to secure her kids’ weekend camp out schedule. It’s Friday and the kids would be going for a religious camp out for two days. She was filling the parent’s approval form online while she also made her checks on the venues and comments about the campout to make sure her kids would be safe.

“Hey Naomi” John, Naomi’s colleague, walked into her office “have you approved the papers I left on your desk two days ago?”

“What” Naomi responded confused “I didn’t see any papers?”

John sighed with a disappointed look. He went over to her desk, lifting up some papers and scrutinizing the desk like he was looking for something, and then he picked up a folder and stretched it towards her “common Naomi, I told you it was due today by five, and this is three.”

“Oh my God, I am so sorry” Naomi took the bulky folder from him looking more stressed out “just give me an hour, and it will be ready” she looked at him still looking disappointed “I’m sorry. I just had a lot to do, just an hour”

***

By 8pm, Naomi packed her car at the garage. She hastily walked towards the front door with her hang bag along with two bulky folders she carried on her left arm. She was tired and exhausted, but she still had to make dinner, and get the kids ready for bed.

She stood at the front door, took a deep breath to get herself read. She opened the door and was she was greeted with a sight that was both shocking and sweet

“Hey… you home” Maxwell, Naomi’s husband whispered his words as he took Ben, their youngest from the couch into his arms. Ben had slept off while watching T.V

“Hey mum” Shine, her first born, who is eleven, left the reading table and came to give her mum a hug. 

“Hey baby” she hugged her little girl tightly. While Maxwell took ben upstairs. She mouthed a soft “hey” to him with a smile as a response. Her gaze strolled to the reading table and she sighted some textbooks, she knew Shine was either doing her homework, or just reading as usual. She was always the last to go to bed because of her readings, on rare conditions does Ben stay up longer than her.

“How was work? Dad cooked dinner” Shine beamed a smile and Naomi’s her melted both out of love and relief.

“Really… and you ate a good plate right?” Naomi asked her daughter that seemed to watch her weight even at her tender age

“I did mum, Steven ate a lot, like two plates. He quickly feel asleep because of his heavy tummy” they both laughed. Steven never relented in eating to his satisfaction which always made Naomi happy “while Ben didn’t finish the lunch you packed up for him this morning, so Dad fed him the rest of it” 

Ben was still four years old and wasn’t much of an eater. “It’s good enough.” Naomi replied simply as they were now on the reading table “seems everyone had dinner already except mummy…”

“And daddy” Shine cut in “he said he would wait up for you” Shine began to pack her books “I’m done with my Homework, I’m going upstairs now. Good night mum” she gave Naomi a peck and ran up as Maxwell came down. Shine also bid her dad a good night peck and went her way.

Naomi gazed at her sweet husband who has lifted a huge load off her busy day. He was coming closer with a smile on his face. She needed a hug from this wonderful man that always understood her

“How are you” Maxwell asked as he locked his wife in an embrace

“I’m so tired” Naomi responded still on the embrace

Maxwell withdrew from the embrace but kept his hands on her waist “then you should eat, and take a warm bath to cool down and after that… how about a nice sweet massage” he beamed a sweet smile to her and placed a quick kiss on her lips

Naomi giggled like a kid to her husband’s sweet act “I would love that”

***

Inside the couple’s room, Naomi was sitting up on her bed focused on her laptop. She had already taken a bath and Maxwell had gone to check on the kids one last time.

Maxwell came back into the room and met his wife on her laptop once again. For days now, Maxwell has been really concerned about his wife. She eats less most times because she wants to catch up with her undone paper work. He thought this night was going to be different. He had picked the kids earlier than usual from His brother’s house. Since Naomi and himself where used to coming home late, they had both settled on letting the kids stay with his brother after school hours till they close from work. He knew his wife needed maximum rest but she couldn’t have one because she would still have to take care of the house before she even takes care of herself, so he planned today out. He hurried off from work, picked the kids earlier than usual, and cooked the easiest meal he could, helped the kids with their homework, and tucked them in bed, so his wife won’t have to an prolonged stressed out day when she comes in late.

But here he was staring at his ever busy wife, who made his day’s effort look unnecessary. All he wanted was for her to have as much rest as she works. He sighed as he walked over to the bed

“How about that massage I offered” Maxwell asked his wife lovingly to get her attention. His aim for the massage was not only to make her feel relaxed but that hopefully she would doze off and get a good sleep.

Naomi on the other hand didn’t even offer him a glance as she uttered her reply “hmmm… I can’t… you know what babe, don’t worry about the massage, I feel much better after the bath. I just need to finish this up before going to work tomorrow. I still have folders piled up”

“Oh” Maxwell expected the response but still felt dejected “So when are you going to bed”

She still didn’t spare him a glance as her eyes were still fixated on her laptop “I’ll go to bed soon, I just have to round up a few paper work”

Maxwell stretched his neck to look at the work she wanted to ‘round up’ and his eyes caught two bulky folders on the mini table close to the bed. He knew she wasn’t going to sleep until the early hours of the morning and he didn’t bother to be pushy, else he would be reducing her little sleeping hours

“Good night then” He pecked her and turned to the other side of the bed

“Good night” Naomi responded

***

 Maxwell put off his mini alarm clock off which woke him up at 4am. He also had some unfinished work from the office which he brought home to finish up. He turned to the side of his wife and he saw her still sitting up on the bed with a folder on her laps but she had already dozed off. He felt pity and pain in his heart. He hated seeing her like this. He had once suggested she quit her job and relax, since he had a well-paying job, but Naomi was stubborn, she loved writing and being a full time housewife was not an option for her.

Maxwell gently removed the folder from her laps and slouched her gently on the bed, covering her up with the mattress’ blanket

He went for his suitcase and tried finishing up his undone assignments as quickly as possible. By 5:12am he was done. He went to the kitchen and thought of what the kids would have for breakfast. He remembered their campout schedule for the weekend. Naomi had sent him an email for a review and he was cool with it. They had to leave by 8am, while Naomi had to leave by 7am. It was her usual time whenever she had unfinished business at work.

He concluded that the kids would take cereal as breakfast and he would make coffee and toast for Naomi, which were both easy tasks. 

He rushed off to the boy’s room and began to pack suitable clothes necessary for their camp out. 

By 5:45am, he was done packing up the bags for the boys. He didn’t bother going to Shine’s room to pack up. She was more eager about the camp out than the boys, so she already packed two days ago with her mom.

He went back to the kitchen to fix himself a quick hot tea. He leaned on the kitchen counter as he took sip after sip and just then he saw it. He paused his sips as he couldn’t take his eyes off it. It was aesthetic and breath taking. He smiled softly as he couldn’t tear his gaze off it. He couldn’t remembered when last he took notice of its appearance. It’s been ages since he last gazed on it. He plundered on the irony. He was only a few meters from it but he had forgotten what it looked like. 

Maxwell sighed deeply. If he hadn’t seen this in ages, he wondered the position Naomi would be in.

His alarm beeped announcing the time was 6:00am. He went over to his room to prepare Naomi’s bath. 

When the bath was ready, Maxwell placed a tender kiss on Naomi’s head. She shrugged cutely as she forced her eyes open

“Good morning sunshine” Maxwell beamed a tender smile at his sleepy wife

“Good morning” she said with her sleepy voice

“I readied your bath. You should wake up so you won’t run late. It’s Saturday, and I need you home early. I’ll like to show you something”

Naomi squeezed her fore head with a confused expression. She yawned effortlessly as she twisted on the bed. She wondered what he wanted to show her but she quickly disperse it when she remembered her pending work load. “Thanks Honey, we will talk when I get back then”

***

Hours passed very quickly for Naomi at the office and before she knew it, it was already 5:30pm. Her kids were already at their camp out, and Maxwell promised to pick her up by 5pm. She wondered why he was 30mins late. She attempted calling his line, when he walked into her office

“I’m sorry I took long” Maxwell apologized

“It’s okay, I just finished up the pending folders. Let’s go”

***

Naomi slouched the front car seat backwards so she could relaxed. She closed her eyes so she could feel the natural breeze caress her cheeks but as she took a peek on the high way she noticed they weren’t on their way home. Their home was few meters away from the ocean and a 30minutes drive from her office. They lived on the island and what she needed now was to feel the breeze from the water dance through her body when she lays on her bed but here she was going off to another direction.

“Where are we going?”

“To touch the sky” Maxwell simply replied with a smile

“Naomi was more confused. That phrase sounded familiar but could pin where she had heard it from. She wondered what Maxwell meant by touching the sky at this time of the day. She was so tired and hungry and all she needed was to relax but she had to be patient.

Maxwell has been the most understanding, loving and caring husband she would always thank God for giving to her. He made things less stressful and easy for her. He solely took charge of today’s chores as he had told her he would before she left for work. He had made breakfast, dressed her up, and even arranged her work files for her before she came out of the bathroom. So she would be patient with him, no matter how tired she was.

***

“We are here” Maxwell said as he pulled over. Naomi looked up and saw the ocean. The fresh air blew her way and played with her hair and dress after alighting the car.

Naomi gazed at her husband who was now in front of her. He offered his hand to her and she took it “we have a good view from our home, why did we need to come here” Naomi didn’t want to sound ungrateful, so she spoke her words tenderly and ended with a light smile

Maxwell interlocked his fingers with hers and they strolled closer to the water that came back and forth “you hardly place your foot elsewhere apart from the house and ‘Platinum’ these days. You have even forgotten how we used to ‘touch the sky”

Naomi felt her heart drop “I’m so sorry Maxwell. I know I have been distant these past couple of days and I haven’t…”

“It’s okay. I understand. I just don’t want you drift off to a world of your own and forget the people around that love you.”

Naomi sighed. She became speechless but her tummy gave her out. She was famished. But just then, Maxwell smiled and brought the picnic basket he had been holding closer. Naomi didn’t notice he took a basket along with him since they alighted the car

“I ordered pizza” Maxwell said as he opened the big box and Naomi’s tummy growled the more at the aroma it offered. She hastily took a piece and had a big bite into her mouth.

She sighed with satisfaction as she savored the sweetness. It was accompanied by the ocean breeze. The water played with her toes and gave a cool feeling she had missed for so long. She closed her eyes to enjoy the moment, the pizza, the ocean breeze, the tickling water on her feet and the presence of this loving man beside her.

And then she felt it, she felt it on her face, so warm yet so cool. It was calming even with its warm temperature, she opened her eyes closely to remember the creator of this feeling she had missed. It was orange in color surrounded with red shades at the moment. It shared its beauty with the ocean that was calmer now. The ocean reflected its shine so beautifully even with its stay in the sky. It descended graciously to align with the ocean as the mighty waters hummed happily in the soft breeze. 

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?”

Naomi heard Maxwell’s words and she felt beautiful was an understatement.

And then she saw them, they came up to the surface… even at a far distance, everyone would know the peeping fishes were dolphins. It was rare to see the dolphins come out at this side of the ocean, only few were lucky to see them whenever they showed up at these odd but beautiful hours of the day

“It’s magical”

Naomi responded to Maxwell’s rhetoric. He looked at her and saw a tear drop on her cheek. He smiled because he knew what she was feeling. It’s been too long since she touched the sky. He moved closer to her and placed her head to lean on his shoulders. He patted her head softly as he fixed back his gaze to the view

Now the sun had descended lower and it looked like it was entering into the ocean.

“Do you want to go ahead” Maxwell asked his wife that had been calm for a while

“Let’s go together” She responded softly

They both stood up and walked simultaneously towards the ocean. They went deeper and stopped when the water level was at their kneel. The ocean was very calm and the reflection of the sun had stretched below their feet. 

They gazed at the sunset, holding hands and feeling the warmness of the water. It felt like the sun was literally beneath the cold waters, making it warm for them.

They both breathed softly. It was their way… their little way of touching the sky