Someone spoke, far away. It was a very deep
voice, capable of piercing through walls and any other objects. It was kind of
annoying because the rest of the world was at peace except for that voice that
appeared not to be able to calm down. When Jay decided to get out of bed, the
voice appeared to be stronger but still difficult to understand.
Jay stood up in front of his mirror. Not much
light entered his room through the small window there was on the wall, but he
didn’t turn on the light either. He just stood there, looking at himself. He
observed every inch of his body until he decided he recognized himself in that
image. It was a very strange to do but he did it quite often, just to check he
hadn’t lost his mind or something. It was his biggest fear.
He put on the t-shirt he had wore the day
before and some sandals. He looked at himself again on the mirror and went out
the room. The hallway was empty so he knew he had a good chance to arrive at
the bathroom and not find anyone there. He walked rather fast and, when he
pushed the door, he was happy to see there was no one there.
It was difficult to live in a place like that,
where almost everything had to be shared. There was one bathroom per floor but
sometimes something would go wrong on one of them and chaos would ensue as
people from one floor would have to go to the one above to shower or to take a
piss. It was very annoying and it happen frequently.
But that day, everything was good and empty.
After he was done, he decided to go back to his room and grab his shower
things. It was best to take advantage of the unusual situation and do what he
had to do in the bathroom at once. He almost ran to his room, where he grabbed
his towel, soap, his shampoo bottle and toothbrush with toothpaste. He ran back
out and was surprised, again, not to see anyone around.
It really was a strange day. He showered for a
good ten minutes, washing his hair, getting all his body clean and brushing his
teeth with ease afterwards. When he got out of the bathroom, there was someone
waiting by the door. His name was Carl, or something like that. It was one of
the junkies that lived on the room opposite to his. He just said “Hi” and moved
on to his room.
Trying not to turn around and see what Carl
was up to, jay knew it was best not to interact with them too much. They were
really strange people and they were always high on whatever drugs they could
find. Sometimes it was scary, when they got really annoying, but Carl was
apparently on a down mood that day. It was best for everyone that he was.
Once in his room, Jay noticed a bit more
sunlight was entering his room and he realized he was smiling. He didn’t do
that often but his day seemed to be having such a good start, it was hard not
be optimistic. He put on his regular clothes for a Friday and grabbed his
wallet and keys before leaving the room once again. As he put the lock on the
door, he gazed towards the bathroom and noticed there was a line made up six
people and it seemed to be growing slowly. He really had been lucky.
Outside, on the street, the sun was even
brighter so there was no need for a jacket or anything like that. Spring had
moved on to that stage when its more like summer than like winter, which was
perfect because Jay only had one jacket and it was too old now to keep using
it. He needed money to buy a new one before the next winter, in order not to
die frozen on the street or on his bed.
In the winter, he usually slept clothed as the
building had no central heating and his room could feel like a freezer
sometimes. But now, he didn’t have to think of that. Next winter was months
away and his day was doing to good to be thinking of the bad things in life. He
walked block after block, ten in total, until he got to the bus stop that was
closest to is home. He hoped not to be late for it because sometimes he would
arrive just as the bus was leaving and it could be another fifteen minutes
until the next one came into the neighbourhood.
He stood by the stop and realized there was
only one other person waiting: an old woman who seemed to be sleeping. Maybe
she had already been sleeping for too long. Jay looked at his wrist, to an old
watch he had found on the street, and realized it was a bit earlier than
normal. That may have been the reason for his luck so far. Or maybe it was just
a coincidence. In any way, the bus would be approaching in any minute.
As if he had summoned it, the bus appeared on
the street and stopped right in front of Jay. He walked towards the entrance
and realized the old woman wasn’t moving. He asked the driver to wait for a
moment and decided to try and wake up the woman. At first, he thought she might
have been dead because she was unresponsive but she finally woke up and stood
up slowly to walk to the bus.
Strangely enough, the driver had waited and he
smiled at Jay for his actions. That was something strange but even stranger was
the fact that, after paying his ticket, the old woman asked Jay to seat by her
side in the back of the bus. He accepted the offer and sat up there, where the
seats were a bit higher than the rest. He rarely sat on the bus, always
standing up.
The old lady thanked him for his help and told
him she was going to visit her daughter in the hospital. Apparently, she had
some problems with her lungs and was going to undergo a complicated surgery so
the old lady wanted to be on his daughter’s side through all of it. Jay nodded
as she told him every detail of her life, about her husband who had died five
years earlier and about her grandchildren that rarely came to visit her. She
seemed like a nice person. A person that rarely has anyone to talk to.
Some minutes later, she asked Jay to help her
to the bus exit. He did so and she surprised him with money, a proper bill that
was maybe too much to accept. She noticed Jay’s doubt to grab the bill and just
put it in his hands. She said she was grateful for all the good people in the
world and then pressed the button to let the driver know she was walking out.
She did so rather fast, faster than he thought she could move.
Still confused, he got out of the bus himself
ten minutes afterwards. He had put the bill in his wallet but was still
thinking about it. It wasn’t a common thing that random people would come up to
you on the street to give you money. To be honest, his problems with money were
always about not having enough, not the opposite. So he was very confused about
what had just happened. As he arrived to work, he quickly forgot about it as
the good day he was having may come to an end right there.
He worked in the kitchen of a fast food
restaurant, one of those big chains that makes burgers and nuggets and fries.
At first, he loved the smell of it all, even of the ice cream as it got out of
the machine. But now, after almost a year of working there, he had become
rather oblivious to all of it. He flipped burger some days, some other he had
to put salt on the fries or lift boxes with every single product they used in
the restaurant.
His shift began early in the morning and ended
around eight o’clock at night. Sometimes he would stay more time because his
supervisor would need something but, again, that day was a bit different. He
was going to clean the floors but instead his supervisor wanted to have a word
with him, He thought that, for sure, that was the end of his very good day.
His supervisor, a very young man with lots of
pimples, had decided to put him on the register. It was a promotion. He would
win more money, as he had to learn some new things. He had to start right away
so he had to learn fast. All day long, he did great, learning all the codes
rather fast from another cashier. He smiled to every client and one of them
even told him to keep the change, which was a very big tip. That day was really
strange and he was really liking it.
At night, back home, he counted the money he
had made and was happy to know he was a bit closer to what his goal was, which
wasn’t really clear. He thanked life for such an amazing day and hope all
others would be the same.
