if ida been a terrorist

I snuck up on my husband today. This is noteworthy only because he is not easily surprised. Famous for saying things like, "If that'd been a terrorist, you'd be dead by now," to jab at my lapses in situational awareness, he prides himself in choosing the seat with a vantage of all doorways in a public place, placing his back to the wall whenever possible. He knew I would be in the field until Friday morning, at least. When my Soldiers and I were allowed to complete training and return to garrison sooner, I did not apprise him of the change. I didn't think I had a great chance of pulling it off, but I wanted to have an aromatic supper cooking, and be shower-fresh when he got home from work. Thursday is deadline day for him, and it can be brutal.

I called him to acsertain whether he would head straight home or grab fast food on the way--it happened that I was still bathing when I heard him walking through the front door and still on the phone with me. I thought there would be too many clues that I was home: the dripdrop of the full tub with me in it, my car parked in the lot, the clear path from the doorway to the kitchen, his mother's spaghetti sauce recipe simmering on the stove. He was so tired, he missed all of it. He even wigged out that the air conditioning was back on--he knew he'd turned it down before leaving for work. I extracted myself from the bathroom and made my way down the short hallway, convinced that my very next move would betray me. In our game of hide-and-seek, I was unsure who was the hunter, who the hunted--had he known for minutes I was in the apartment? Was he now poised to jump out and terrify me? I finished my sentence on the phone while leaning over the back of the couch until he could see me. He didn't move, and I didn't know whether to gloat until he blinked out the slightest bit of disbelief. Only after that passed over his face did he smile, and I knew the unthinkable had occured: my husband had been caught off guard. These small intrigues are an occasional source of unexpected pleasure, as if we had burst into each other's world all over again.