Writing Prompt: The blanket was thick and warm.

The bird is back. I will ignore him and set the timer for fifteen minutes.

This is an interesting one. Not as fab as yesterday’s but something that could be fun. It sounds like her boss is about to get caught doing something illegal.

Friday, September 30th: The blanket was thick and warm.

The blanket was thick and warm and I snuggled down deep into it, reveling in the fact that I did not have to get up at any particular time this morning.  Today was my day off.  The first day off in longer than I cared to count.  I did not have to work.  I had no plans with anyone.  I had no errands to perform.  The house was clean, the laundry done and the fridge stocked for the upcoming week. 

Habit ensured that I woke up around the same time as usual, but with no alarm to demand my rising I was content to lay curled up for the time being and debate my options.  There were books I planned to read, stacked up beside my reading chair.  I could pick one and dive in.  There was also a stack of magazines I had been meaning to get through if I felt like something shorter.  I debated eggs for breakfast and tried to decide what sort I might make if I decided eggs were what I wanted to make.

‘Something with a runny yolk,’ I decided.  Most of my breakfasts were taken on the run.  Protein shakes consumed while driving to work with breath mints and gum to cover up the bad breath until I could pop into the employees bathroom and use my travel toothbrush to refresh myself post breakfast were the most common.  There was also protein in bar form if I didn’t have the time to run the blender before leaving and there was even the occasional drive through when I hadn’t made it to the store to restock on the shakes and bars. 

An egg with a runny yolk would be a delight as it required that I actually sit down at a table to consume.  One could not eat an over easy egg while driving through morning traffic.  ;At least not without being coasted in egg by the time I arrived at work,’ I thought.  That sort of mess was beyond the level of the travel cleaning kit I kept in my purse.

As I was  trying to decide it poached eggs were too much trouble or if I wanted to just stick to over easy, thunder rumbled calling my attention to the window.  The early morning light was still a faded gray.  It hadn’t gotten any brighter since I opened my eyes and I wondered if it would get any brighter as the day went on.  Lightning flashed and ran pelted the window glass like a fist full of tiny pebbles thrown by someone trying to get my attention. 

As it was a one story ranch style house and my name was not Juliet I doubted it was some misguided Romeo and merely a sign that today’s storm would be  intense, at least at the beginning. 

As I slowly untangled myself from the blankets to begin my day, I tried to decide if rain on my one day off ruined the day or not. 

“Not I decided as I finally slipped free from the blankets.  Others would have to drive through the mess the storm would create while I could stay safe at home doing whatever it was that I chose to do.  I smiled as I headed towards the bathroom to begin my day.  At work my efforts were guided by other’s dictates.  My activities controlled by policy, procedure and the needs of the company.  Occasionally mixed in were the dictates of my boss.  Increasingly those dictates had gone against company policy.  It was rare that I had a full day where I decided every action, from the large to the small. 

I would decide when I rose and what I ate. I would decide my activity or even inactivity for the day.  It felt as though a weight was lifted from my shoulders at the thought.