One Straw

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

I woke to the shrill ringing of my alarm. I threw my pillow at it, knocking it off the top of the chest of drawers. However it still continued its persistent ringing. I reached over towards it, lazily, but it was just slightly too far away from my outstretched fingers. I groaned, my voice was muffled by the thick mattress. I rolled out of bed with my eyes still closed, reached for my slippers but couldn’t find them. Drat. Blooming things. My feet stumbled on the hard wooden floor, and my eyes snapped open. I grabbed the offending alarm clock, roughly, to turn it off. It decided to break in my hands. Fabulous. I held the two pieces of the silent clock in my palms and stared dumbly at them. Useless, broken, rubbish, I thought dropping the pieces in my bedroom bin. Not a good start to the day!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 2:

I rolled over in my sleep, restless. I tried to wriggle away from my attacker but he kept advancing towards me. I moved violently in bed and abruptly fell out of it. The thump and the shock woke me up. The pain seared through my body. I woke dripping with cold sweat. My head spun and I felt physically sick. It was only a dream, I thought to myself. But it had felt so real. A nightmare really. Nightmare was a more apt word. I squinted through my bleary eyes at the small digital clock face. Bugger. 09:01. I was supposed to open the cafe at 9 am with my boss today. They would never give me some more responsibilities at work if I overslept like this and was late.Why didn’t my stupid alarm go off… the battery must have died. Urgh. Not a good start to the day!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

I ran out to my car, tripping up on a small pile of clothes at the foot of the stairs on my way out. I rolled my eyes and cursed under my breath – “I really need to put those away later” I thought shaking my head in exasperation. I rushed out onto my driveway and nearly screamed at the state of my little car. It was covered in bird droppings! I scrubbed at it fiercely with a deep frown on my face.

“It is good luck to get bird shite on your car” my neighbour commented as he walked past and out his own driveway.

“Cheers” I forced a smile. God I hate that man.

When the car was finally clean again I got in and, heaving a huge sigh, started the engine. Then, less then 5 minutes down the road I entered a dual carriageway and hit stand-still traffic. Perfect. I was surprised at my own relatively calm persona, proud of myself really!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 2:

I reached into the cupboard for some coffee to wake myself up and tried hard to ignore the unsettled feeling my nightmare had caused inside me. Then my heart sank as I realised I had forgotten to pick up any coffee granules last night after work. I did not ever bother to stock tea bags so had to make do with drinking water. I worked in a coffee shop but my manager was so stingy he would probably make me pay for a cup of coffee if he allowed me to have any at all.

“I wish some terrible accident has prevented him from being in work today” I thought bitterly. That man was mean. I strongly believed myself to be justified in my wish.

I ran out to my car, parked haphazardly on the side of the road. Just as I was walking to the drivers side a large lorry sped past, spraying both my car and I with mud! Fantastic. I rolled my eyes. Whilst starting up my little vehicle I tried hard to ignore the biting cold, for my car heater had packed in last week and I could not afford to get it replaced. Turning onto the dual carriageway I hit huge tail-backs. I groaned thinking how it was going to make me even later for work. Perfect. I was surprised at my own relatively calm persona, proud of myself really!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

I pulled over beside a busy cafe. A large dose of caffeine, that was certainly what I needed right now. I pushed open the door and wandered inside only to be greeted by no free tables! I lurked in the doorway feeling uncomfortable. This was such a difficult morning. Why did everything have to go wrong at once? More than just bad luck!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 2:

I crashed through the back door of the cafe apologising profusely to anyone who would listen. Then he came in from the front. My manager. He gave me a look of disgust and told me to start serving customers asap. In my rush to get out front I bumped into a colleague carrying a milk jug and tipped that down myself. I looked a picture – first the mud and now milk! Why did everything have to go wrong at once? More than just bad luck!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

I moved towards the counter and was greeted by a messy assistant just come out from the back. She forced a smile when she spoke it me but it was clearly an effort. Her straggly hair was barely contained by her ponytail. Her pinny was smeared with something, mud, I thought, and possibly even milk too! Poor girl. She looked how I felt!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 2:

The customer standing opposite me, a youngish woman, forced herself to smile back at me. It was clearly forced. She dropped back to a frown quickly, showing it was too much effort to hold it. I felt like that, but my job was customer service so I maintained my forced smile. The woman I was serving looked terrible. Her hair was messy and she had bags under her eyes barely concealed by too much make up. Poor girl. She looked how I felt!

 

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

I asked for a double espresso and stood tapping my fingers on the counter waiting for it. I was horrifically impatient. Always have been. The serving woman fiddled around with the machine for a minute, then turned to me, dejection in her eyes as she said softly…

 

“The machine, urm, it appears to have broken on me”

 

Unfortunate Individual number 2:

… I mumbled apologetically. The other woman looked lost for a second, then screamed and swore, before abruptly sitting down on the floor. It seemed that the whole explosion of emotion had drained her. I immediately crumbled at the over-the-top rant and felt minorly sick.

 

Unfortunate Individual number 1:

… She, the young waitress, abruptly started to cry. Wail would be a more appropriate word. Then it seemed that, similar to me, the whole explosion of emotion had drained her. She appeared to mirror my actions and also plonked herself on to the floor.

 

Fly on the wall perspective:

Guilt washed over the pair of them.

“Sorry” they said in unison.

One straw. It was the straw that had broken both of the camels backs.

Just. One. Straw…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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