I so need coffee this morning. Could not fall asleep last night for more than ten minutes at a time. So while the coffee brews, lets do the morning prompt. Timers set and let’s see what happens.
Not where I thought this was going to go. I thought I would go with someone actually messing with his building’s system to thwart the project.
Thursday, September 26th: The tree fell across the road.
The tree fell across the road. Harold tried not to take it personally. It seemed that today was filled with obstacles specifically designed to slow him down and get in his way. ‘It isn’t personal,’ he told himself. ‘It is just my perception.’
The sentence had become his mantra since his mandatory therapy sessions. The therapist suggested he use it to remind himself that the world was not specifically out to get in his way no matter how often it felt that way.
He knew he was single minded and the rational side of him knew that just because he had something he wanted to get done didn’t mean that anything slowing him down was deliberate. Sometimes that was just harder for his emotions to wrap around. He had been doing better lately, but today he knew if he could just have a few uninterrupted hours of work then he would be able to finish his project. Getting those few hours had proven difficult. Today it was hard to remember nothing was deliberate.
This morning the fire alarm went off and all were forced to abandon the office. It seemed a glacial age before the building was cleared and they were allowed to go back to work. He didn’t know if it was a prank or an actual fire and didn’t much care. He dove straight back into his project. Tn minutes later, the power went out. He sat staring at the dark computer screen willing it to come back on so he could get back to work. There were comments about potential fire damage as they all waited to either have the power come back on or to be sent home.
The power came back on and He sighed with relief. H and the rest got back to work. Then just as he was hitting his stride, the sprinkler system decided to turn on, flaring sprays of water over the office. There was a mad rush to protect electronics and cover power strips. Others were called to turn the system off.
When the water stopped, everything had to be dried out before it could be turned on. At that point, he and the others were sent home. There would be no working until everything could be dried. While he felt it was a deliberate attempt to thwart his project’s completion he knew he could get home and use his lap top to log into the server to finish things.
‘And at home I should be able to get quiet.’ At this time of the day everyone else would be elsewhere. He would have the quiet he needed to finish the project. With luck he could do it before anyone else returned.
With the tree blocking the road, he turned onto a sie street and took a different path home. H swallowed back a curse as he saw the car in the drive. He would not be alone in the house. He hoped he would be able to lock himself in the home office regardless. He parked and entered the house. His greeting died on his lips ass he heard laughter coming from upstairs. He felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. He suspected Julie was having an affair. He had suspected for several months now.
It wasn’t her first. These things usually came when she was stressed at work. He pretended not to notice, she grew tired of the affair and ended it. He pretended it wasn’t happening. If he continued on, he would not be able to pretend. He stood in the foyer debating.
Ten til Midnight 