A gift from above
Mondays seem to approach faster than ever and stretch for a lifetime. Why do weekends go away so quickly? Maybe it is because I sleep all day and go to sleep early at night too. That can’t be helped, I must compensate for my weeks’ worth of “beauty” sleep.
I hurriedly rummage through the contents of my bag to get hold of my bus card. It gets very stressful as other passengers breathe impatiently behind me. Yes, exactly the kind of stress I need to start my day. As I walk onto the bus, I am welcomed by a depressing state. Men and women with bags under their eyes, with one hand on the handrail, shooting looks of jealousy at the lucky, sleeping passengers who managed to get seats. No matter how mighty, powerful, intelligent beings we may be, we are essentially just animals that want to eat and sleep.
I stand at the same spot for over half an hour and get down at my stop. It is a two-minute walk to my office. Office. I can’t bring myself to think of it. If I could cry and run back to momma, saying my friends are bullying me and my teacher is a scary person, I would do that. But I’m not in kindergarten anymore. I touch my ID card on the card reader and the door opens for me. “This is a blessing”, I remind myself. I remind myself of the pain I had to go through to get a hand at one job. One.
But all my optimism vanishes at the sight of my manager. She hands me a truckload of papers without even greeting me. It’s time to work then. I sigh. I look for my table. “Rue — Data Entry Clerk”, my name board says. As I process the documents on the system, the repetitive nature of the work hovers over me like a dark shadow, adrenaline pumps through my veins, and my fingers work without my direction. Just fifteen minutes before all this is due. As everything around and inside me works with double the energy, my world pauses as my phone rings.
The distraction throws me down the peak of motivation that I was at. I look at the phone and see my mother’s number. “Must be something important”, I reassure myself. I pick the call and hear my younger sibling greet me. Anger takes me over. My precious seconds were wasted over some silly things she’s got to say in her squeaky tone. I roar back at the phone, “What?”. She doesn’t seem to take note of my tone. Stupid kid. “Did you eat?”, she asks. “Of course, is there anything else? I’m working”, I retaliate. “Okay, I called to tell you to leave some space in your stomach, I made a cake”.
This is it. If she cannot sense the air, I might as well hang up. Before I opened my mouth to say a small goodbye, she screams through the phone, “Happy Birthday!!”. I don’t find words to say. She continues,” Thank you for being my best sister ever, you know I hate the others”, she giggles. “I left a little something for you to eat during work, Bye.”, she hangs up before I could say anything. As I am brought back to my workspace reality, I smile heartily at myself. Little human beings are better at making your day somehow. I have ten minutes to finish the task at hand. I find a Choki-Choki in my bag, devours it as I complete the task a minute before due.
Author’s note:
Alhamdulillah, I have finally surpassed what seemed like the most difficult step in starting to write online, which was to write itself. I hope you enjoy this little story I weaved.
Thank you :)
