Surrealism - The Beginning
“No! No! No, Please No!”And I feel a sharp jolt of pain in my eyes… it’s already morning, and somehow a ray of light had managed to escape from my almost fully drawn curtains. Damn it… I looked at my bedside clock. 6.15am. damn it, time to wake up. I got off the bed, and was greeted by the stone cold marble floor of mine. My right leg had gone numb. “chuuuu! Ah chuuuuu!” the sneezes went. The cold had sneaked into my system again. Winter in my city is always freezing. I squint my eyes and looked out… its white… just white, nothing else. The forecast was sub zero degrees, and seems like the weather had a good time. It was minus fourteen degrees celcius. “chuuuu!” franticly rub my right leg to life and grabbed my robe. It IS freaking cold!
My toilet seat was freezing cold, real cold. Luckily my butt never got stuck onto it. I had forgotten to turn on the seat warmer. Damn again… managed to get the water flowing to brush and wash my face. Had my first cup of coffee and a few tomatoes for breakfast. I had wished for some bacon or ham, but didn’t go to the super mart to stock them up yesterday night after work. It was hell of a day… anyway the tomatoes are fine, I never really ask for much during breakfast. And mostly I go without them. It’s just one of those mornings where you have got to have something in the tummy… and you know it’s going to be a tough day at work again.
“now… where are my keys?” the thought ran through my head, again. Sometimes I wonder if it has something to do with my age. I prefer keys to those electronic gadgets people use these days. It’s the jingle of the keys in my pocket… I love them. I opened the door and felt the cold seeping through every pore that they can find in my triply wrapped body. Pulled up my scarf, just in case it gets into my nose. It’s a blistering cold morning. Two days of snow, and its four inch deep already. I look at where my rose bush used to be. It’s all bare and white now… the snow flakes are still falling, slowly to the ground. It’s beautiful. It’s always beautiful in my town in winter. But the cold always remind me of autumn… fondly. But well, they all have their beauties.
Slowly I make my way to my office. It’s just down the street, a turn to the right. Maybe not office, should call it laboratory. Saw Ting from next door shoving the snow off her walkway. She never accepts my offers to help out every winter. She’s a lovely lady, a year or two younger than me. She treats those snow shoveling times as exercise. “Hi Ting! Lovely snowy morning isn’t it?” I smiled as I greeted her. She turned from her work and smiled. The cold had given her two rosy cheeks this morning. “Yup! Best time for exercise again!” She waved as I walked past and was back to her shoveling in a split second. Then I saw Tammy jogged pass me. She always amazes me with her tolerance of the cold. She had never failed once to jog every morning, even in winter. She is one hell of an athlete. After school she has theatre practices too. Sometimes I really wonder how she managed to find 48 hours a day. It’s as mysterious as she is herself. I briefly waved at her, and she smiled back. She has lovely eyes… she really does. Its one of those that really tells a story every time you looked at them. Even for five seconds…
I turned round the corner and saw my lab window. Fifth floor, second building on the left side of seventh street. I quicken my pace, crossed the road and got to the lift lobby. That’s the one of the things I like about winter. No traffic. And central heating, so that makes two. The security counter is empty again. Well, they always complain about theft and the occasional peeping tom, yet they aren’t willing to spend a little for security. Wonder why… and every staff gets peanuts here. Sometimes I really would love to work as the security officer here, if my research had not been so time consuming.
I saw Mr Tang at the lift lobby. He’s standing there talking softly into his cell. Must be his girlfriend again. He loved his girl so much, he always spend his spare time with her. And his own time. Sometimes I wonder if he has time for his own work. His partner at work is always missing. He’s my great pal, but well… I can’t interfere with his work. I just hope his work gets done on time. He gave me one of his trademarks “no choice” looks when I walked pass him. Stuck out my tongue and winked at him. And I managed a sniggle. Got a kick in the shin as a reward. Ha… what are pals for right?
First thing in my office… off came my jacket and scarf, then my mittens, and my snow cap. Got myself a hot cup of cocoa mixed with coffee. Creamy and perking. I got over to the next cubicle and saw Patrick typing furiously away at his computer. “hey… what’s the issue? And the hurry?” and he turned to me, showing me his semi concussed state. My goodness, he must have been working since the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes we do that, when things get really busy. I think he has a seminar paper or something like that to rush these days. I offered him my drink. He drank a sip and went back to his work. Patrick is a great guy. Real hardworking and smart. Sometimes I wonder why I don’t have even half his capabilities. Maybe that’s why I am just a research associate.
I walked into the testing room and saw TS. He was already doing some testing at this early hour. “hey, you know if I up the photonic emission to five hundred electron volts, will the substrate experience triple morphology?” he asked me immediately after my third step in the lab, even without turning his head from the computer screen. And that’s with his back to me. I am always amazed at how he recognizes who came in even without looking. And that’s one hell of a question to ask me, first thing in the morning. I took another sip at my coffee, and replied “you want some of my drink?” “take that funny concoction of yours out of my face! Ask you again, do you know if…” “I don’t know… at least not now…” my brains aren’t working yet… not this early. That triggered the 180 spin of his lab chair. I didn’t see his eyes. They were covered by his two middle fingers. “oppppsssss…..” and I made my exit.
That’s my partner in crime, TS.
We work on the same field of research under the same boss. Patrick’s also from the same research group, but he is our senior, and he earns more. Smart people… ha…
I zipped into the pantry and scanned through the cabinets. I looked at my own cabinet lastly. Some crackers, a few plastic cup that I taken from the cafeteria, a packet of instant noodles and some lollipops. I took out a strawberry flavored one and a chocolate flavored one. The strawberry one I’ll have for myself. The chocolate one is for pat. She loves chocolate. Chocolate biscuits, chocolate snacks, chocolate dips… and something we both like, dark chocolates. She’s often late for work though, so she isn’t in her cubicle yet. Work is calling, so I just left it on her table.
“click” and all my three screens are going… time for work…
posted by luxy @ 10:26 PM
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