LJ Idol Week 15: Nimbus
It’s just one of those days
The clock read 7:27 as Paulina slammed on the snooze button for the fourth time that morning. She turned over to face the other side of her bed without looking at the clock and welcomed the nine extra minutes of sleep, even if they would only feel like nine seconds.
The alarm clock buzzed again, and this time, Paulina turned to face her morning fate. 7:36.
“Fuck,” she groaned to herself. On a good day, she needed to be out of the house and on her way to work by 7:45. She laid in bed for an extra minute, knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference at this point. Already, she had a headache and lower back pain, but were they severe enough to warrant calling out of work for the day?
Paulina then thought about the generations of women before her who did not have the luxury of having heating pads and ibuprofen at their disposal, and then concluded that her cramps weren’t bad enough to justify not going to work. She immediately felt guilty for even entertaining the thought, inwardly calling herself a crybaby.
She eventually rose from the bed, and as she told herself to suck it up, she text messaged her supervisor to let him know that she was going to be half an hour late to work.
that a girl goes through
“Ah, only twenty-seven minutes late,” Harry, Paulina’s supervisor, exclaimed when she walked through the threshold of the building.
“I know, I know,” Paulina mumbled. “I overslept. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Harry said. Paulina rolled her eyes at his back as he stalked back to his cubicle office.
She took her seat at the receptionist’s desk, and began to set herself up for the day. It was still early, so the phone wasn’t ringing, and since she made it a habit to finish up her day’s work in the same day, there were no overdue tasks waiting for her from the night before.
Paulina booted up her computer, checked her email, and almost on cue, Ron and Donnie both instant messaged her with “Good morning” messages. She sent smiles back to the two of them, not in the mood to start any conversations. After that, she walked over to the nearby kitchen, and made a cup of tea to take with her Advil.
It was barely nine o’clock, and her headache was already getting worse. Her back pain had already moved to her abdomen, and she wished that she kept those travel heatpacks in her purse, but of course, they were all back at her apartment, being useless.
One of the IM windows on her computer screen blinked. It was Ron.
Paulina closed the IM window, and signed off the service altogether. Ron did dumb things sometimes, but he never irritated her to this degree. He should have just stopped the conversation at her first “no,” and left it there, but of course, he didn’t do that, and now, she was utterly annoyed with him.
She took a deep breath, because she inexplicably felt the need to start crying.
This was not how she wanted to start her day.
when i’m angry inside
The end of the day came, and Paulina felt beaten down. Donnie, Audrey, and Juanita had all text messaged her to ask about dinner that evening, and she politely declined each of them. Why had they asked her about it anyway, as Ron had been the one to plan the event, even if it was rather poorly?
In addition, her aches had not subsided, and the pain she felt behind her eyes was almost unbearable. It was all that she could concentrate on. She was amazed that she had gotten home through rush hour traffic without either screaming or getting into an accident.
When she got into her home, Paulina made a beeline for a bottle of Tylenol #3 she had leftover from a previous trip to the emergency room. She took two pills, hoping that it would do a better job than the Advil had done earlier in the day. She then went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She would have laughed at herself and the stereotype if she had not been in so much pain.
Paulina ushered herself into the living room, and turned on the television. The evening news was on, and it was depressing. She changed the channel.
Judge Judy. How could these people be so dumb as to air their dirty laundry all over TV?
Afternoon cartoons. These were terrible. They weren’t like the cartoons she had grown up with, which were far smarter than what these little kids watch today.
Law and Order. Ordinarily, Paulina loved this show, but she hated Serena Southerlyn’s character with all of her might, and changed the channel yet again.
“Fuck,” Paulina said out loud, turning off the television. “Nothing’s on. Why do I even pay for this shit?” Angry, she looked at the pint of ice cream, and returned it to the freezer.
She went back to her bedroom. It was barely six o’clock, but she climbed in bed and pulled the covers around herself anyway. Paulina began to cry large crocodile tears, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she was sad about.
Soon after, she heaved a sigh and closed her eyes and drifted off into a soundless sleep, her last thought being that she wanted to trade her raincloud for a rainbow.
don’t wanna take it out on you
The clock read 7:27 as Paulina slammed on the snooze button for the fourth time that morning. She turned over to face the other side of her bed without looking at the clock and welcomed the nine extra minutes of sleep, even if they would only feel like nine seconds.
The alarm clock buzzed again, and this time, Paulina turned to face her morning fate. 7:36.
“Fuck,” she groaned to herself. On a good day, she needed to be out of the house and on her way to work by 7:45. She laid in bed for an extra minute, knowing that it wouldn’t make a difference at this point. Already, she had a headache and lower back pain, but were they severe enough to warrant calling out of work for the day?
Paulina then thought about the generations of women before her who did not have the luxury of having heating pads and ibuprofen at their disposal, and then concluded that her cramps weren’t bad enough to justify not going to work. She immediately felt guilty for even entertaining the thought, inwardly calling herself a crybaby.
She eventually rose from the bed, and as she told herself to suck it up, she text messaged her supervisor to let him know that she was going to be half an hour late to work.
that a girl goes through
“Ah, only twenty-seven minutes late,” Harry, Paulina’s supervisor, exclaimed when she walked through the threshold of the building.
“I know, I know,” Paulina mumbled. “I overslept. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Harry said. Paulina rolled her eyes at his back as he stalked back to his cubicle office.
She took her seat at the receptionist’s desk, and began to set herself up for the day. It was still early, so the phone wasn’t ringing, and since she made it a habit to finish up her day’s work in the same day, there were no overdue tasks waiting for her from the night before.
Paulina booted up her computer, checked her email, and almost on cue, Ron and Donnie both instant messaged her with “Good morning” messages. She sent smiles back to the two of them, not in the mood to start any conversations. After that, she walked over to the nearby kitchen, and made a cup of tea to take with her Advil.
It was barely nine o’clock, and her headache was already getting worse. Her back pain had already moved to her abdomen, and she wished that she kept those travel heatpacks in her purse, but of course, they were all back at her apartment, being useless.
One of the IM windows on her computer screen blinked. It was Ron.
Paulina closed the IM window, and signed off the service altogether. Ron did dumb things sometimes, but he never irritated her to this degree. He should have just stopped the conversation at her first “no,” and left it there, but of course, he didn’t do that, and now, she was utterly annoyed with him.
She took a deep breath, because she inexplicably felt the need to start crying.
This was not how she wanted to start her day.
when i’m angry inside
The end of the day came, and Paulina felt beaten down. Donnie, Audrey, and Juanita had all text messaged her to ask about dinner that evening, and she politely declined each of them. Why had they asked her about it anyway, as Ron had been the one to plan the event, even if it was rather poorly?
In addition, her aches had not subsided, and the pain she felt behind her eyes was almost unbearable. It was all that she could concentrate on. She was amazed that she had gotten home through rush hour traffic without either screaming or getting into an accident.
When she got into her home, Paulina made a beeline for a bottle of Tylenol #3 she had leftover from a previous trip to the emergency room. She took two pills, hoping that it would do a better job than the Advil had done earlier in the day. She then went to the freezer and pulled out a pint of ice cream. She would have laughed at herself and the stereotype if she had not been in so much pain.
Paulina ushered herself into the living room, and turned on the television. The evening news was on, and it was depressing. She changed the channel.
Judge Judy. How could these people be so dumb as to air their dirty laundry all over TV?
Afternoon cartoons. These were terrible. They weren’t like the cartoons she had grown up with, which were far smarter than what these little kids watch today.
Law and Order. Ordinarily, Paulina loved this show, but she hated Serena Southerlyn’s character with all of her might, and changed the channel yet again.
“Fuck,” Paulina said out loud, turning off the television. “Nothing’s on. Why do I even pay for this shit?” Angry, she looked at the pint of ice cream, and returned it to the freezer.
She went back to her bedroom. It was barely six o’clock, but she climbed in bed and pulled the covers around herself anyway. Paulina began to cry large crocodile tears, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she was sad about.
Soon after, she heaved a sigh and closed her eyes and drifted off into a soundless sleep, her last thought being that she wanted to trade her raincloud for a rainbow.
don’t wanna take it out on you