Dressing it up a bit…

Since I’m still relatively new to this, my first two posts were just unadulterated mash-ups of what came to mind when I put my fingers to keyboard. The whole idea is to write, right? But I get it; presentation is a good thing too. This came to mind as I browsed the stories in my “in-box” seeing all the nice pictures telling part of the story or at least framing it and I thought, I should do that, put a nice picture at the top of my next post. So there you go. With “hundreds” of feet of snow forecast for the Northeastern United States, I thought it fitting to put a nice picture of a sunny beach up top for warm thoughts of course. ☺

Happy Thoughts

Jake sat at the end of the counter watching the other people in restaurant, most of them oblivious to everything around them. Sheep he thought, they’ve never had to worry about anything, being led through life without a care in the world. What kind of problems could they have? The bracelet on his wrist beeped once, the orange dot turning red, his first warning. He realized he had been thinking like this for some time now, he was working himself up he needed to calm down. He picked up his cup of coffee, took a sip, added another packet of the pink stuff, stirred and took another sip. The dot turned orange; after three more sips the light went from orange to green. They’re always watching he reminded himself.

He waved to the waitress she came over. “What can I do for you Hun?” she said, she was pretty in a plain sort of way. “I need the check and a large decaf to go” he told her “two creamers this time.” She smiled and winked at him and turned to get his coffee and the check. Jake glanced over at a couple of teenagers sitting in a booth by the big picture window. They were both engrossed in their devices, not talking to each other, half empty plates of food in front of them. Behind them, a man sat with his back to Jake, staring out of the window. He remembered seeing him when he came in, he looked old, maybe in his 70’s, a newspaper sat on the table in front of him, next to a pencil and a cup of what he guessed held coffee.

The waitress came back, “Here you go sweetheart, anything else I can get for you?” she smiled at him again. He thought he might have to change his mind she was more than pretty. “No, that’s it” he stammered then chuckled “I, um, need a few more of those pink packets if you don’t mind.” she just smiled and reached down behind the counter, he got a good look down the front of her dress when she bent over. As she stood back up, he averted his eyes and handed her a twenty dollar bill. “Keep the change”, he said winking. She smiled, said thanks and went off to help someone else. He checked his bracelet, still green, happy thoughts!

He left the diner and the sheep behind; he had things to do, places to go. He loved living in Chicago, tall buildings, museums, culture, and it was near one of the last large sources of fresh water in the U.S. it was also north, a hell of a lot cooler than say the deserts of Arkansas or Tennessee. Global warming was still on the rise, and people living south of St. Louis had it hard. He walked the few blocks to the train station sipping his decaf, keeping his mind on happy thoughts. It was the middle of December but there wasn’t a snowflake to be found, it barely rained anymore. He missed the snow, rumor had it that there was still snow in Northern Canada and parts of Alaska; maybe if he could save enough money he could go there one day.

The train took him downtown where he caught a bus to his final destination. Still holding the half-full cup of lukewarm coffee, Jake stared out the window as the bus moved down the city street. The scenery soon moved from upscale to slightly less influential to finally desolate. He watched as progress moved backward, clean, smooth streets to less cared for and pitted asphalt. From pane glass windowed storefronts to boarded up, graffiti splashed shops. Neatly trimmed and natty people in suits, to slightly dirty and disheveled beings bustling along.

The bus dropped him off at a stop far north of where he should be but he had been calm the whole trip and he still had his magic elixir, even if it was cold now. Checking his bracelet, the light was a puke-yellow, somewhere between green and yellow but that was still OK. He thought he might be able to make it there and get back to the bus stop before the light turned orange again. He knocked back the last of his decaf, waited, checked his bracelet again which had turned green and began walking the two blocks to journey’s end.

The first block was easy, but as he crossed the street to the last block, he could feel his heartbeat getting faster. He stopped, he was almost there but he had to calm down. The dot was now yellow, he looked up the street, he could see the house, the stairs leading up to the door. He wondered if he just stood there long enough, she would come out, and then he could see her. His heartbeat continued to increase. Looking down at the orange light on his bracelet, he started walking backward, stumbling off the curb and into the street. He decided that today was not the day. Turning he walked back towards the bus stop, taking deep breaths trying to calm his racing pulse. By the time he made to the bus stop, his breathing was back under control and the light was now yellow.

Waiting for the bus, he decided that he would wait another week and try again. He had made it far this time there had to be something else he could do to trick the system. His friend Jason had it down to a science, no matter what type they put on him he could always figure out how to fool it. It was either that or she would have to drop the restraining order, he’d start in on her brother again, he was sure he had him convinced he had changed. They were close, Dan and his sister. Dan was a good man, a little soft between the ears but he was pretty sure Dan could talk her into dropping it. Then they would remove the bracelet, he smiled, and then…

~Marisa