Yup!
Just like this...
-4
Alarm - snooze - off. Get up - makeup - dress - kitchen - coffee - toast - bite - run - no - jog to the car - stop - spilling coffee - walk fast - get in - drive - get out - go into the building - smile - hello - hello - hello - shake a hand - don't forget to smile at him - he's the boss - okay - on time - sit - go through paperwork - talk with employees - men and women in suits - frustration - stupid - incompetent - no one pays attention - all their hunger - all their lies - little - white - obvious.
"Gabi, the printer isn't working! We can't do anything!"
"I'll call someone."
Gabi picked up the phone, "Hello! Is this Raul in the service department? Can someone come up and fix our printer?"
Must get production. What to do? Calm - calm - calm - order and calm...
Gabi sat down in the cafeteria to eat her lunch, healthy food, counting each calorie. Can't eat too much. Just a quarter of an inch will show...
Finally, the day was over.
Home.
She stared out the apartment window, the endless afternoon, light reflecting, filtered in through transparent curtains, bright but somehow also dim.
A breeze bent tree branches. Feet stepped without sound under the patio fence.
Rows of short three-story boxes stretched forever: apartment, apartment, apartment...
Millions, everyone in the same living room, turned away from the same black box. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, baseball, Leave it to Beaver, rerun, rerun. Everyone looking out the same window, dreaming the same dream.
She picked up the phone and dialed a number. The phone rang and rang.
She thought the endless thoughts that fill a mind when left alone. Stay positive. Plan the future, forget the past and its failures. Grow mentally, get stronger.
Where she was, she at least had calm and order, but somewhere else, she couldn't predict.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number. Still no answer.
~ ~ ~
At the other end of the line, a man stared at his phone.
"Who is it?" asked a girl.
"My wife," he said.
-5
Jogging - she stared at an old man and woman. They were kissing.
To her right, a woman holding a phone, was crying. She walked across a street, heard a car horn honking and jumped out of the way just in time.
Still trembling, she ran by an outside bar and stopped to catch her breath. She made her way through the maze of chairs, found a secluded table, looked at a beer on a table, but ordered water.
From the bar, a tall man glanced her way and smiled. Another said something. She turned away.
A short, wrinkled woman with white animal hair-a dog or cat-on her navy-blue coat was handing out cards.
"Hello, young lady," she said to Gabi.
Before Gabi could smile back, the woman handed her a card. At the same time, the server placed Gabi's bottle of water on her table.
YOU ARE READING
Reluctant Souls
RomanceA man. A woman. Both married. A chance encounter that leads to romance. Dallas and Gabriela meet only twice, but vow to divorce their spouses, reunite in Brazil, and marry each other. Except, when Dallas tries to leave, his wife climbs out on the le...
