"I got you something." he said, tossing a t-shirt in Maria's lap. It was green and soft, and large. "I thought I was getting an extra large." He explained, setting down a large plastic bag, marked with the familiar red bull's-eye.

"Oh, thanks." Maria said. "I guess I can wear it around the house." She pulled the receipt out of the bag, looked at and frowned. Then she laid the t-shirt beside her on the couch and went back to her crossword puzzle.

"What?" Eddie asked, seeing her frown.

"Nothing ... just that, we're on a budget and all." She said.

"It's just a few t-shirts." He said. "You could go shopping yourself, you know."

"Uh, huh, not me. I'm sticking to the budget." She said. Brushing past Eddie, she stormed out of the room. Eddie didn't follow her. They had had this discussion plenty of times before, and he figured she would just let it go as usual. But this time, it was different.

This time, Maria lay in bed, tossing and turning, the resentment burning deep inside, like peat moss buring in the swamp.

The next morning dawned gray and still, the air pregnant with rain. Maria's mood was as dark as the sky. She got up and did what she always did when she was upset. She started cleaning. Furiously. Slamming and banging and throwing away anything that didn't look important.

After a while, Eddie gave up pretending to sleep and got up and poked his head into the kitchen. Maria was scrubbing a stain on the linoleum, muttering under her breath. The harder she scrubbed that spot, the madder she seemed to get. Eddie decided now would be a good time to catch up on the yard work and he headed out to mow the front lawn.

By now, Maria, still cleaning furiously, had made her way into the living room. She picked up Eddie's work boots, tennis shoes and sandals and threw them in the closet. "Geez Louise," she thought, "how many shoes can that man wear in one day?" That was when she saw the t-shirt, still lying on the couch. She looked at those brand new tennis shoes in the closet, and she looked at that brand new t-shirt on the couch. And suddenly she was as mad as all get out. She picked up that t-shirt, and at that moment, it represented everything wrong with her world.

She took the t-shirt, grabbed the lighter from the kitchen drawer and marched outside. She stood in the middle of the back yard, and holding the shirt high, lit the lighter underneath it. The shirt began to smoke and smolder and then caught fire. Maria dropped it on the ground and stirred it around with a stick, watching it burn. She watched as her anger burned away, curling into the gray sky.

A light breeze ruffled her hair, but Maria, intent on watching that t-shirt burn, paid it no mind. Suddenly a pile of pine straw at the edge of the grass began to smolder, and flared into a small flame. Maria ran over and tried to stomp it out, but she only scattered the sparks further. Soon, the entire pile of pine straw was ablaze with flames that were knee high, and spreading fast toward Eddie's garage.

"Shoot, shoot," Maria screamed over and over as she ran around in circles, waving her hands over her head, stomping on the flames. In a panic, she peeled off her shirt and tried to beat the flames back, but the breeze just fed the fire. Her brain shouted at her, 'you idiot, you idiot," making it impossible to think. The fire continued to spread across the pine straw, getting closer and closer to the garage.

Maria, now clad in nothing but a pair of shorts and a bra, ran back and forth across the yard in a frenzy. Suddenly, she went flying through the air, her feet kicking up behind her, and landed face down in the grass.

"What the heck?" She said, as she pulled herself up to a sitting position. That's when she saw the water hose that she had just tripped over.

"Oh, good lord, I am such an idiot." She thought, as she snatched up the hose and began to spray the flames. It took a few minutes, but finally she put the fire out.

Maria, weak and shaky, sank down in the wet grass. That's when she realized she was almost naked, and suddenly the whole scene was just too bizarre. She started giggling and that seemed even funnier. She began to laugh hard now, and she couldn't stop. She laughed until her guffaws turned into sobs. After a while, she got up and calmly walked into the house. She looked out the living room window, relieved to see Eddie happily cutting the grass in the front yard.

Eddie never did ask her about that shirt, nor did he ask her about the black spot in the back yard, and Maria never brought it up. And though it gave her a sense of satisfaction, she also felt a little sad when she thought about burning it. Truth be told, she really had liked that soft, green t-shirt.

Copyright © 2007 Anna Clay