A rare morning with nothing
to grade, no one to pick up. 
His teenagers were asleep,
His wife was in the shower.

He made a coffee, 
put on his earbuds,
sat in the still living room
of his comfy house.

He thought, before pushing play.
“What can a guy even learn
at one point five speed (or worse)?”

Earbuds on transparent mode,
he could just make out
the clicking of the dog’s paws.

He’d have to get up
to take him out & make sure
the coyotes & bobcats
weren’t out & about.

(It is the suburbs,
but the animals don’t know.)

Softer, his wife’s footsteps come.
She laughs at some FB post. 
Her eyes, clean, joyful, turned up — 
her dark almond eyes.

She looks five years old,
like in that one old photo,
seated between her brothers,
her whole body saying “cheese”.

She looks just like that.

He joins her in the kitchen.
They talk and take the dog out
together in their pjs.

A boy, a girl, & the dog.
The kids still asleep.

Another sort of jueju, this one inspired by a prompt suggested by Tricia Ebarvia & Kim Parker -- "What's saving your life right now?"