Monday, Monday and back into a normal schedule we go. I’t amazing how easily I slip into the sleeping in and staying up later and later over a holiday. It doesn’t help that one of the holidays requires a late night in order to celebrate I suppose. Still I’d be much happier if morning started at 10 am and the day ran until 2 am. I keep sending memos, but I don’t think anyone reads them. So back into the regular wakeup hours we go. I suppose it is only right that we wake the brain up as well. So timers at the ready? Then let’s begin.
And now I am wondering what made Frank so detestable and what he is planning to do in the future. I suppose there are worse things than to wonder about vengeance on a Monday.
Monday, January 4th: I just couldn’t help myself.
I just couldn’t help myself. I knew there would be repercussions, dire ones. But I just couldn’t help myself. When Frank bent down, rear end pointed straight in the air to pick up the dropped penny by the pool’s edge, I just couldn’t resist.
My foot lifted from the ground before any conscious thought hit my brain. By the time my thoughts actually caught up to my actions, my foot was mere millimeters from his upturned rump. My balance had shifted and it would have been more trouble to lower my foot than to continue.
Honestly, I didn’t want to stop. Frank had been such a pain in my own posterior for so long that being presented with such an opportunity seemed like a gift from the divine.
Little pressure was needed, his balance was already shaky. There was the possibility he would have ended up in the pool even without the interference of my foot. But then there was my foot. I pushed and he tumbled. His entire face became a giant set of surprised circles. His mouth, his eyes, even his somewhat pointed chin seemed to convert into a more rounded shape to help more fully exclaim his surprise.
Water fountained up around him and for a moment he flailed about. Then he seemed to realize that the water was not that deep, and he stood, his feet firmly on the bottom of the pool. The water sloshed around his waist. It looked like the sea in the midst of a terrible storm. The bottom edge of his sport coat fanned out just under the water’s surface, waving with the water’s movements. His trousers ballooned out beneath them.
I could have run and at least then later I might have retained the possibility of pretending innocence. But I didn’t I stood there, watching, just in case his head didn’t break the surface. The thought that he might not know how to swim only occurred to me after the water fountained around his body. I detested Frank, by nearly anyone’s mark he was a detestable human being. However detestable though, I did not want to be the cause of his death. And so I waited until he surfaced. Waited until he gained his footing and stood above the water’s surface. Waited until he looked around for an explanation and then saw me.
I didn’t smile or wave jauntily, although later he would claim I did both. Instead I simply turned and walked away. Behind me I heard the cursing and the struggles as Frank waded over to the ladder and hauled himself out. It wasn’t until I was well out of his sight that I allowed a small smile to slip to my lips. I knew there were repercussions, but I just couldn’t help myself.
Ten til Midnight 