Wants something bad

By 5:30 on a very abnormal Tuesday evening, Jonathan Smith was the most hungry he had ever been ever in his life. This is what Africa must feel like. Jonathan is a normal guy. He gets his haircut every five weeks the same way every time. He wakes up every morning at 7:35, give or take a minute because he likes to be up one hour before he has to get out the door for work, and by waking up at that time on the weekend, it keeps his body in tune. He follows the same routine every single morning, with the only variable being what he decides to eat and drink for breakfast. That he keeps a surprise. It makes the morning more interesting that way. This Tuesday was different however. For some reason his alarm either didn’t go off or he somehow slept through it. It not going off isn’t entirely out of the norm, after his glass of wine (or two, shhh) Jonathan sometimes forgets to set it, therefore, the minute or two of variation in his waking up, but today he didn’t wake. Little did Jonathan know at the time, but this would set off his entire day.
It was exactly 8:24 when Jonathan finally realized that he had not woken at the correct time. When he looked at his clock, he assumed that it was a dream, there is no way that he slept that late, he hadn’t slept that late since his college days he figured. But after a glance at his watch and a pinch to his arm, he realized it was all too true. Jonathan had never been late to work ever. Okay, maybe once when he was 17 or so, but those were his wild days. Jonathan had eleven minutes to make his ass out of the front door of his house. Actually, eighteen, he always gives himself a seven minute buffer just incase there is traffic or some unforeseeable slowdown on his way to work. After a quick moment to try and figure out which parts of his morning routine were not as necessary as others, Jonathan began getting ready as fast as he ever had. The problem is that all parts of his morning routine are very necessary for the well being of his day, but being how today had already started off on the wrong foot, it was most likely going to continue that way throughout, so he cut some things out. Two of those not so necessary things were breakfast, and making his lunch.
When he walked/ran through the front doors of his building, the sound of his stomach growling interrupted his thoughts about what he was going to say to his boss when he asked why he was late. Why hadn’t he just brought something in the car for breakfast? It was too late now, he would just have an early lunch, it would be alright. He sat at his desk and got to work immediately. Everybody acted normal when he arrived, maybe nobody had noticed. Then there was a knock.
“Hey Jonathan, how are you doing today?”
“Sir, I’m very good, thank you for asking, before you start, I just want to say that I am very sorry and that I know this isn’t like me, and Ted I promise it will never happen again”
After the look Ted gave him, Jonathan knew he had jumped the gun a little. “Jonathan, I don’t know how much coffee you drank this morning, but you’re going to need to settle down a bit. I was just coming to say that your memo that you sent out yesterday was very well written, I think people really got the message. Now what are you so damn upset about anyways?”
“Oh um, nevermind sir, Ted, it’s been a weird morning for me I guess, I’m sorry. Thank you very much though, I just really think it would be helpful for everybody to start labeling there food in the refrigerator. I understand that sometimes”
“Johnny, I’m saying it was a good memo, I read it, I know why you sent it and why you thought it was a good idea, it says it all in the memo. You always have very thorough memos John. I just stopped by to say good morning is all. Now get back to work alright and take a chill pill today, you look like you are going to have a heart attack this morning.”
“Oh, okay, thanks again Ted. I’m just trying to make this office the best it can be, ha. I’ll work on finding some of those chill pills.” Jonathan felt quite proud of his little joke, but Ted looked confused. “I mean, I’m not going to take any pills, ha, uh, I’ve never done anything like that every before so I sure won’t start now right?” Ted just shook his head a little bit and left. Jonathan always wondered why Ted always shook his head before he left. Jonathan knew that he was awkward sometimes, but he didn’t think it was too bad.
It just so turned out that today Jonathan was going to be swamped. This happens often enough, and that is why Jonathan chooses to pack a lunch everyday. After dealing with some of his first clients of the day, the small uncomfortable emptiness in his stomach had gotten larger. Also, the lion that seemed to have made a home in there was getting louder as the day progressed. He needed something, so it was time for a trip to the vending machine.

Unfortunate with this blog I had to make a chose. Keep writing it and finish a story from it, or quit on it for now and finish some other blogs. I chose to make some notes on the route I was going with it and maybe come back to it some other time if I still think it is worth it. So, maybe we will see more from Jonathan Smith some other time, right now I like him, so it is a definite probability.