Monday, November 8, 2010

Twenty-Four


I've been worried all day. When the alarm blared this morning, I tossed off the covers and picked my way across the carpet, keeping my gaze away from the windows, lest I see an owl. My breathing came quick and shallow on the drive to work for fear I'd see a black cat or spin out into on-coming traffic. When the car rolled into a parking place, I raced through the front door, holding the banister as I climbed the stairs and slumped into my cubical, taking long, hardy breaths. Minutes later the back stairwell door banged open and footsteps clumped on the linoleum floor. The maintenance supervisor dragged a ladder through the maze of cubicals, all the way back to my desk.

My eyes widened. "What are you doing with that ladder?" I whispered in a shaky voice.

He cocked his head and stared. "You wanted your light bulb changed."

I never said anything about one of the overhead florescent lights being out. I pressed back into the chair, remaining completely still until he'd finished his task and hauled the ladder away.

It has been 24 hours. That seems like enough time, don't you think? Last night about this time I had some Chinese food. After the meal I broke open my fortune cookie and there was nothing there. Nothing. What does it mean when there is no fortune at all? Bad luck? Or that I won't last the day?
I'm home now and have buckled myself into my easy chair. I'm not moving until the stroke of midnight.

9 comments:

  1. That happened to me once....and I'm still here. But I have no $$$ fortune $$$....

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  2. Max,

    Thanks. You've no idea how relieved I am to be able to answer your comment. (Sorry about the no $$$ fortune $$$, however.) And what is up with that cat avatar?

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  3. OK. You need some Vitamin D. You've been hunched over your computer too long without sunlight. You live in a rainy place. You need at least 10,000 units a day--probably more if you're not out in the sunshine. It needs to be oil-based not dry. Without enough, you can't sleep well and you get depressed and anxious and you start catching cold at the drop of a hat. I know these things..... =o] (Love ya!)

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  4. Jewell, you are right. I'll start taking vitamin D as soon as I get a fortune. Actually, I won't need it then because I'll be living in Big Sur on a cliff along the Pacific. (love ya, too)

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  5. I think Jewell has a point. But why is dry D no good? the oily one makes me break out.
    Isn't Big Sur foggy quite a lot. You'll still need D. :)

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  6. Dale,

    Jewell is like a fountain, raining down interesting facts and folklore. She should right a book. Or...maybe she is.

    Big Sur is foggy? Carmel, then.

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  7. Wow, I need some vitamin D. Then I'd have the right write when I need it.

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  8. Hi! I'm back! Vitamin D is an oil based vitamin, like Vitamin A. I just know that only the oil-based helps me. The dry doesn't, no matter how much I take. Our doctor says the drops or oil-filled capsules are the only way to go. The very best way to get your Vit D is to bask in real sunshine with as much hide exposed as the neighbors will let you. Go vacation on a tropical beach!

    My husband got an empty fortune cookie for lunch on his BIRTHDAY a few days ago. He looked stricken. He said out loud that he wondered if that meant....but he didn't finish his sentence. I told him that it meant there were so many blessings in store for him that they couldn't fit in a little ol' fortune cookie and that they were so glorious that there were not words to describe them. Then I told him to just watch and see what happens. Things are going pretty well so far. =o]

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  9. Tell your husband if he can make it through the next 24 hours, he should be good to go. But be careful not to see an owl in the window.

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