Options

Option A

My daughter's hands are frozen. From where we are standing I can see the fire we abandoned. It's not smart to light fires, I know, but we had no choice. It is cold. Really really cold.
I take the child off my back and notice that she is completely drenched from my sweat. She walks with that funny gait of hers to my wife who hugs her. One of them cries softly.
I think an entire platoon of boots is making its way towards us. Boots, we call them, because it makes no difference where they are, their boots are always gleaming. I think they know we call them so, and it only encourages them the more. Among their shouts one can also hear barks and shrieks. The sons-of-bitches have started using dogs!
Soon night shall end, and I think it is only a matter of minutes before dawn breaks, not that it changes anything, but I feel that it would be better if it were day. At night everything feels much worse.
I am exhausted and I am sure the girls are too. I look at my wife and notice how much thinner she has become. She looks frightened. It would have been best to walk a little further, just a little, but instead I hug her and the girl. My wife places her head on my shoulder so that the tip of her nose touches my neck. We have always laughed at how she loves placing her nose right there.
The howl of a dog sounds near. I pee in my pants.

Option B

I try to warm my wife's frozen hands. She looks at me and we both burst out laughing. We are drunk but it isn't just that. We are on our way back from a party. The babysitter is probably all worked up because we didn't tell her we would be back so late. We will simply pay her more, my wife reassures me. I have a feeling dawn will break soon, but I'm not certain, because it is very cold and maybe this is one of those days when you see the first light really late. In our state, I think we will dump the kid in kindergarten, get into bed and emerge at noon – even though it's a working day.
A newspaper delivery man on a scooter tosses a pile of newspapers above our heads, and it lands near the grocery store that has not yet opened. The abuse case is in the papers again . I know it is one of those events that will not leave me anytime soon – as it is, I've suddenly noticed that I've started feeling afraid of walking the streets. I'm told that it is because I've become a dad, but it isn't true, it's since the streets have become crazy.
My wife's hands have become red from too much rubbing and it seems to me she has recovered somewhat. I hold her to me and hug her, and she puts her head on my shoulder. Exactly on that spot where it is most pleasant.
I am aware of the headlines in the paper behind me. I know the babysitter must be angry. I know that at the end I will go to work because I'm afraid I will be fired if I don't, and that's altogether strange because I can't stand my boss, and yet, at this moment, I think things are good. Really good. True, we are drunk, but it isn't just that.

Option C

Although it is really cold outside I am smoking on the balcony. In the living room my wife is lying on the sofa. Her eyes are closed but she isn't asleep, even though it is really late. There is only one matter we still have to settle. I assume that had we done it a few years ago it would have been much more vocal, but the girl is sleeping in the next room and we don't want to wake her up. But if truth be told, even if she were not sleeping, we would not be shouting, we have passed that stage already – long ago. Most of the night we talked of the girl, and how we would settle matters between us, and fortunately it went pretty smoothly, but before the cigarette we talked of the mortgage, and she said she thought quite the opposite. I know her, she won't give up easily and that's pretty bad.
When I enter the living room, she asks me – with eyes still closed – if there isn't, in fact, another option. We both know she is not only talking of the mortgage. We both also know there isn't.