30: emotions in her heart

Penelope

Something is different in this house. I feel it in the air. It's as though everything is a thousand times lighter. I blow a kiss to Eulises from the bedroom window, before going about my daily chores. I finished a tapestry. It was for our room as it matters only to me. But something makes me hang it in the hall.

Telemachus should be home soon. He went to see his grandfather. I assume he'll slip in the back gate once he's properly armed. And Argos, where did the poor dog go? I hate to think of him injured somewhere in the forest. Poor loyal animal, thought it was his lot to wait patiently for his master's return. Hopefully he didn't go off with Laertes, Laertes and Telemachus always feed the dog table scraps and I've got him on different, leaner food for the old dogs and they don't heed that. His joints are already stiff without fatty meats and bread and no oils.

"You're smiling, my lady," Clea says, finding me in the hall hanging the tapestry.

"I am, actually, it feels like a good day, doesn't it?" I ask.

"Yes, now that you say that, I think it does," she says, "Where's your boy?"

"Probably off being stupid with his grandfather."