Ambrosious
Weaver of Written Worlds
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2000
- Posts
- 6,346
The door closes behind me with an audible click. Why was I here? Some type of experiment for the members of a loosely held confederacy that held clandestine meetings. They had members from all over the world, and had chosen ME for this great honor. The room was unusually bare, possessing a small table, two chairs, and one rolled up mattress that was against the eastern wall. I turned to look at the peeling paint, and noticed that the door didn’t reach all the way to the ground. There was a three or four inch gap where the door should have met the floor and a draft was coming in with some force. The draft did keep the room cool.
Settling in, I unpacked the mattress and tried to decide which wall to place it against, I wish the wife was here, she is so much better at decorating. I smiled at my own joke and threw the mattress against the wall nearest the door; it would give me fresh air at night that I loved so much. How long was I to stay in here? No reading materials, no television, and no computer were in the room. Made me a little panicky, truth be told. I waited for some type of indication of when the experiment would commence.
I circled the room and sat at the table, the bare table and stared at my fingernails. There was not even a window here. Bored. Man I was bored. Nothing to do. Nothing to say, no one to talk to. I started a song in my head, changing the lyrics of popular tunes. I played a mental game of chess, but quickly lost track of the moves I had made, so I switched to checkers. I stood and stretched after my checkers game (I won) and paced the floor. Nothing had changed. No activity to be heard anywhere made me a little antsy. I thought about my wife and how we met. I thought about the good times I had spent with her, I thought about the bad times and how they always made the good times better. Whew. Sitting at the desk again, I took out my wallet. I went through the accumulated junk that had been building for six months and separated the stuff I needed to hold onto from the useless junk. I picked out several business cards and read them out loud. It was good to hear a voice, even if it was my own.
Man I needed to get a grip, next I would be reading the tag on the mattress. My eyes strayed to the mattress at this thought and noticed there WAS no tag on it. Damn…just damn. I stood and walked to the mattress and turned it over, hoping beyond hope that it was there, but no. It was gone; there was no tag. Depressed now, I sat again in the hard seat that had been provided to me. Looking around the room for the hundredth time proved that nothing about my plight had changed. CHANGE! Cool. I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and took out my pocket change. $2.43 is what I had in small change. I know, because I counted it 12 times. I studied the images on each coin, trying to notice a difference in the shape of the president’s heads that coins from different years might produce. Near as I could tell, they were identical. I sighed out loud and stood to pace the room once again. I moved the mattress to the wall furthest from the door, just because.
I sat once again at the table and scooped up my change and returned it to my pocket. I was bored out of my mind. I started singing out loud, “The old’ gray mare she AIN’T what she used to be, AIN’T what she used to be, AIN’T what she used to be…” My voice trailed off when I realized that I didn’t know any other words to this song. I had to admit, the acoustics in here were incredible. The experiment should start soon, I was sure. They can’t leave me here all day, can they? I looked at my watch and my face sunk when I realized that only 7 minutes had passed since I first entered this room. Damn…just damn.
Settling in, I unpacked the mattress and tried to decide which wall to place it against, I wish the wife was here, she is so much better at decorating. I smiled at my own joke and threw the mattress against the wall nearest the door; it would give me fresh air at night that I loved so much. How long was I to stay in here? No reading materials, no television, and no computer were in the room. Made me a little panicky, truth be told. I waited for some type of indication of when the experiment would commence.
I circled the room and sat at the table, the bare table and stared at my fingernails. There was not even a window here. Bored. Man I was bored. Nothing to do. Nothing to say, no one to talk to. I started a song in my head, changing the lyrics of popular tunes. I played a mental game of chess, but quickly lost track of the moves I had made, so I switched to checkers. I stood and stretched after my checkers game (I won) and paced the floor. Nothing had changed. No activity to be heard anywhere made me a little antsy. I thought about my wife and how we met. I thought about the good times I had spent with her, I thought about the bad times and how they always made the good times better. Whew. Sitting at the desk again, I took out my wallet. I went through the accumulated junk that had been building for six months and separated the stuff I needed to hold onto from the useless junk. I picked out several business cards and read them out loud. It was good to hear a voice, even if it was my own.
Man I needed to get a grip, next I would be reading the tag on the mattress. My eyes strayed to the mattress at this thought and noticed there WAS no tag on it. Damn…just damn. I stood and walked to the mattress and turned it over, hoping beyond hope that it was there, but no. It was gone; there was no tag. Depressed now, I sat again in the hard seat that had been provided to me. Looking around the room for the hundredth time proved that nothing about my plight had changed. CHANGE! Cool. I reached into the front pocket of my jeans and took out my pocket change. $2.43 is what I had in small change. I know, because I counted it 12 times. I studied the images on each coin, trying to notice a difference in the shape of the president’s heads that coins from different years might produce. Near as I could tell, they were identical. I sighed out loud and stood to pace the room once again. I moved the mattress to the wall furthest from the door, just because.
I sat once again at the table and scooped up my change and returned it to my pocket. I was bored out of my mind. I started singing out loud, “The old’ gray mare she AIN’T what she used to be, AIN’T what she used to be, AIN’T what she used to be…” My voice trailed off when I realized that I didn’t know any other words to this song. I had to admit, the acoustics in here were incredible. The experiment should start soon, I was sure. They can’t leave me here all day, can they? I looked at my watch and my face sunk when I realized that only 7 minutes had passed since I first entered this room. Damn…just damn.
