Zenalda the old lady

Zenalda turned the knob once more to make sure that the door was locked, confirming that it was, she began to walk towards the dark alleyway. Just as the day before and the day before that, she was the last one to leave the building.

This was the life before, a world where the Kingdom of Nowar was nothing but a dream, a time where Zenalda was nobody but an old lady.

It was a Monday, around ten in the evening, and there were only a few who were still on the road. Everyone was eager to go home early--- still hang over from the weekend. 

Most of the crowd were standing in the shield, waiting for the last bus to arrive. 

Instead of joining them, Zenalda walked pass by the bus stop--- her home was only a few blocks away anyway.

She patted both of her shoulder to ease her pain. She massaged her arms to ease her tense muscles. Her aching body was becoming worse by the day--- there was nothing to blame but her old age.

For a cleaning lady such as her, physical strength was necessary to keep her job. As someone who was old, she was dreading the day that she would be replaced by someone younger and stronger. To compensate for her weakness, she would always put extra hours to clean the laboratory--- something the younger ones were not willing to do.

An umbrella was hanging on her right arm, the weatherman forecasted a rain shower tonight --- the air was cold, but no drops of rain was falling from the sky.

A middle-aged man was walking sideways towards her, his balance was off and Zenalda predicted that he would fall on the ground--- and he did.

Zenalda avoided the man and walked around him, but he grabbed her by the heel. "What are you looking at old hag!" he grabbed Zenalda to help himself on his feet.

Zenalda could smell that the man was reeking of alcohol. "Move before I kill you!" she slapped the man all over the place with her umbrella, thankful that bringing it was not useless after all.

"Geez," the drunk man crossed his hands in defense. "I bet you're an old maiden." he distanced a meter away from her. "Your kind is always grumpy!" 

"Leave before I kill you with my umbrella!" Zenalda warned.

The drunk man pivoted around and swaggered as he walked the opposite way, leaving Zenalda alone.

The good thing about being angry was that the ache in her body was suddenly one. "People these days," she began her walk again. "All fun and no work!"

Without any warning, rain began to pour out. "Argh," she opened her umbrella, finally able to use it. "You should have let me go home first before pouring!" she looked towards the sky.

She doubled her pace, noting to always tune in to channel eight from now on for an accurate weather forecast. 

Amidst the loud pouring of the rain, there was a whimper.

There was a not better sound to make Zenalda stop on her tracks--- she scanned the area to look for its source.

The sound was coming from a dumpster, she walked towards it and saw an old box. Zenalda peeked in the box and saw no trash at all--- inside of it was a golden retriever puppy. 

"Poor puppy," she took the puppy and wrapped it in her arms. "you have no home?" the puppy was shivering from the cold. "I'll take you to mine then, you're always welcome there."

One thing that would make her forget her aching body and her anger was a one cute puppy. She walked towards her home with a light heart.

Dogs began barking everywhere as soon as she reached the gate. She opened her door, and a strong stench of damp, feces, and animals was overwhelming--- but to Zenalda, it was the smell of home.

If her neighbors would be asked how Zenalda was as a neighbor, they would say she was the worst. Her pets were wild, loud, and stinky. Even though she was still new in this home, it was already a constant battle to demand Zenalda to move out--- even her landlords are afraid her dogs would bite them.

There might be no husband or children to welcome her home, but there was nothing as welcoming as her dogs waiting for her at the door, waggling their tails for their human. "My babies." She greeted them back.

Zenalda had twenty-three--- now twenty-four--- dogs in total, with two of her females currently pregnant. It had not always been this way but picking up one stray dog to another made her family grow throughout the years.

Even though cold herself, she prioritized the puppy first, she towel-dried the puppy on her kitchen top. "I see you're a girl." She pondered for a moment. "I'll name you Rainy then."

She then placed the puppy on the floor, letting the others get acquainted with her. "Be nice with her." she said to her dogs. "She is your new sister." The dogs were circling over Zenalda, waiting for their food. "Alright, alright." she opened her kitchen cabinet and took the dog food--- all of the dog's attention on her.

Zenalda filled the eight steel bowls to the brim as the bigger dogs swarmed into it. It was chaotic and loud, each dog battling for a better position. 

Rainy was no match at all, the veteran dogs would gnarl at her as she attempts to go closer to their meal. Zenlada decided to feed her separately on the kitchen top. Zenalda grabbed a piece of cold pizza from the refrigerator for her dinner. Zenalda and Rainy ate their dinner peacefully together.

Zenalda looked at the remaining dog food, it would only last another day, she needed to buy more. 

In this household, a big bag of dog food would not even last a week.

Raising these dogs had taken a toll to her financially. Two months ago, she was forced to leave the apartment she was renting because her neighbors warned to sue her. Knowing that she needed a bigger place to raise her growing family, she rented this bigger home, stretching her take home pay. 

Zenalda did not have enough money after paying her rent, the stacked-up bills on her kitchen table were proof of it.

Her utility and credit card bills were piling up, she will soon turn bankrupt if this continues on.

Setting aside her problems for tomorrow, she decided sleep all her worries away. Since it was Rainy's first day, Zenalda allowed her to sleep on her bed. But in truth, more than Rainy, it was Zenalda who needed the comforting.

***

Zenalda woke up at exactly four in the morning with no help from an alarm clock--- her dogs are her wake-up call. 

Her dogs were barking, demanding to be fed. 

The noise can be heard by her neighbors--- actually, it was first on their long list of complaint.

Zenalda could not care less of what her neighbors think.

Her day began with feeding the dogs and cleaning for them, she would do this before she would take a bath. 

"Sunny take care of Rainy okay?" she bid her pets goodbye and walked her way towards the laboratory. 

She was the last one to leave in the evening, and she was the first one to arrive in the morning. 

It was five thirty in the morning when she began to sweep on the floor, half an hour had passed by as she began to clean the glass walls.

"Good morning Zen!" Ana, one of the resident biochemists, greeted her. "Too much cleanliness is also bad for our immune system." she lifted a paper bag for Zen to see. "Bought some sandwiches, breakfast?" 

Zenalda beamed, Ana would always share her breakfast with Zenalda. "Sure." Ana would not take no for an answer.

They ate at their usual spot on the pantry area. 

"You've been early lately." Zenalda observed.

"Yes, we're planning on this big project." Ana yawed. "You know Kathy, she's a perfectionist. She'd prefer us sleep deprived than being behind schedule."

Brian, the resident microbiologist, snuck behind Ana. "Yes," he chimed in. "Only a cup of coffee would keep us awake in the meeting." he placed a big cup of coffee in front of Ana.

"Thanks," Ana offered her breakfast. "want some sandwich?"

"Hell yeah, I'm starving." he grabbed a BLT sandwich and shoved it on his mouth. "Did not have time for breakfast, did not time for showers, traveled straight in here."

"Seriously?! Ew," Ana wrinkled her nose. "Zen, I guarantee you that he would be the biggest microbes you'll ever see."

"Should I get my disinfectant and wipe this one away?" Zenalda's eye turned into slits as she looked at Brian.

"Noooooo," Brian pretended to disintegrate. "I might be dirty," he smelled his armpit. "and a little smelly..."

"Ew!" Ana wrinkled her nose once more, but she was smiling.

"…but I'm still a living organism." He took a big bite of his sandwich. "Please spare me, Zen!"

Too occupied in their conversation, nobody noticed that Kathy entered the pantry room, she knocked on the table. "Breakfast's over. Let's start our meeting." done with her announcement, she stormed away from the pantry.

"Who starts a meeting at seven in the morning!" Brian finished his sandwich with two big bites and chugged his steaming coffee down. "Wish us luck, Zen."

Ana began to clean up the table, but Zenalda stopped her. "Leave the mess to me. Go, your meeting is about to start."

"Are you sure?" Ana asked.

"Yes," Zenalda smiled. "Go before Kathy shows up and drag you."

"Thank you, Zen." Ana smiled at Zenalda.

Zenalda cleaned up the table and refrigerated the leftover--- making sure to tag it as Ana's. In a laboratory filled with hungry scientist, food seems to vanish all the time.

While she was at it, Zenalda began organizing the refrigerator--- scientist were not known for their tidying skills.

This was how Zenalda managed to keep her job, the employees liked her the best. They would choose her side just as they defended her the last time HR department attempted to replace her with a young blond woman. 

After all, there was only one Zenalda, the old cleaning lady.