Have you ever woken up and suddenly realized that you were an idiot? That happened to me this morning. I have always had trouble sleeping, but recently I have been using these sleep gummies and they have been helping to send me off to sleep more quickly with no real ill effects Sleeping pills make me sleepwalk which is not good for anyone. These are fine. However I recently picked up a new bottle. Took the same amount of gummies and slept well but then felt really loggy in the morning. I looked at the bottle and realized this morning that this new bottle is extra strength. Yup I accidentally doubled my dose which is why mornings have been so rough this week. I very much apologize for any inflicted .snark. I really hate when I am the actual problem. I do feel better I figured it out though. So on we go with Thursday. Shall we see what today’s writing prompt holds? Timers at the ready and off we go.
This feels like something condensed. Like my brain tried to shove a hunka chunka story onto the page and that when I sit down with this I’ll need to pull it apart and expand each little section. I’, okay with that, but it is what it feels like.
Thursday, April 6th: The first flowers of spring started to push through the still cold earth.
The first flowers of spring started to push through the still cold earth. The green on the black ground was startling. It caught the eye and made him blink as though wondering if what he was seeing was real. This winter had been harsh, the harshest on record, or so they said down at the station.
Many of their group would not see the spring. He wondered for a moment how many of their number died when the snows were deep. As always his mind wanted to run statistics and find the percentage dead versus the percentage alive. It was how he dealt with things, finding early on that math helped him settle himself.
Carline said it made him cold and heartless. He disagreed but knew it was pointless to argue with her. He needed the distance math provided and the comforting solidarity of the numbers in his head to help him cope with being here.
He had not wanted to come. Not wanted to join this expedition and be part of the new colony. When it was brought up at the family meeting, his was the only voice of not eagerly anticipating life on a new planet. He knew his family well.
They saw the romance of it, the experience and the excitement. They saw a bright shiny new world that would let them leave the old one behind. He was criticized then for being the only one who didn’t want to leave. The only one content to eke out a meager existence.
He hadn’t been able to argue back he knew then that nothing he could say would matter. He didn’t want to go. He wasn’t living a meager existence but had an exciting path planned out in front of him. He knew that all of the paths the others chose they messed up and rather putting in the hard work needed to repair them, they longed for the easy way out that the colonizing group represented to them.
He tried pointing out the hard work they would be in for if they decided to go. There was work to set up the community, work to keep it running and work to make it self-sufficient. His words fell on deaf ears. They seemed to believe Coltra734 was some sort of spa resort paradise where they could go and leave all of their troubles behind.
In the end he told them that he wasn’t going.
That too didn’t matter. When they filed the paperwork his file was in there. He had the skills that the team wanted and they were willing to take his family along if he would go. He wondered which of his family members forged his signature on the acceptance papers. It didn’t matter as by the time he found out, it was too late for him to back out. He was already committed and they weren’t going to let him go, forged or not. He was an integral part of the team.
But he would still like to know.
The arrival went just as he predicted. Free of the troubles they created his family was joyous on the trip and disappointed at the landing. They complained loudly at having to erect their own domicile and left it to him to accomplish, only moving their gear in when the work was done.
They were assigned tasks which they avoided and did not complete. They used resources without contributing and while it was not appreciated, the time when it was going to be tolerated was swiftly running out. This winter ended most of the consideration anyone had for those not pulling their weight. There was a meeting this afternoon. It was mandatory and he wondered if his family would bother attending.
Ten til Midnight 