He checks the time,
5am. 5 hours sleep, half of which he spent alone. He considered holding his pillow
across his wife’s face, noting the simple fact that he knows she is sleeping
with other men. Taking into consideration the fact that he would easily be
found guilty of murder, Roger decides against the juicy idea of having her
breathe taken away from something other than a young, attractive body builder
and instead swings his legs out from under the old sheets and heads towards the
bathroom. His toothbrush is old and has smudges of red lipstick around the rim.
Another enlightening gift from the filthy female in the next room. Roger’s face
is wrinkling at the sides and with every day he knows he is less likely to be
found attractive by the helpless women at his local pub and the idea makes his heart
pound with fear.
His coffee is too hot
and too strong. The waiter is too clumsy and Roger asks himself why the world
is full of such idiots and why he too, is apart of the accused. You see, he
continually arrives at the same pathetic coffee shop each morning to
continually ask for the same stomach churning breakfast broth because he is too
scared and too forgetful to ever try somewhere new.
Roger works in a 10
story high office building as an accountant working day in and day out doing
the same old thing – crunching other people’s numbers.
Roger doesn’t like his
job, he never has. But the idea of money and security appealed to him all those
nostalgic years ago. So now he is stuck working his hairline away in a building
where the greys all merge into one and he finds himself taking a leak at the same
sad time of 10am every morning, wondering how someone’s bleak life could sink
so low. He finds that every person speaks the same monotone ‘I want a
promotion’ sweet-talk that after 13 years, he is ever so used to and that he
can’t even be bothered faking a smile for his boss as she walks past.
At 6pm, as soon as the
second hand flicks up past the 12 Roger bends his aging back past it’s limits
to switch off every power point in his small office as apart of the ‘save the
world’ campaign his boss has decided everyone must follow. He groans as he
notices the seams bursting at his black work boots and the laces that are
fraying at the ends. Another pointless worry that slips past the 37 year old
mind in a matter of seconds.
As Roger drives out of
the underground car park, validating his $7 parking ticket his phone clicks
onto the speed dial so he can call his wife asking the same questions he asks
every time. ‘How was your day?’ ‘What are we doing for dinner?’ ‘No I didn’t
pick up the dry cleaning, can I do it tomorrow?’. And the conversation goes
like that and he ends it without the required “I love you” because he simply can’t
be bothered.
When Roger slips back
into the bed he left at 5am 19 hours later he goes through the same things in
his head just because it’s routine. He thinks of everything that he’s
forgotten, the bills, the 4 o’clock meeting, the doctors appointment and
everything else his sorry life is meant to hold. He turns on his side to look
at the dip in the mattress in which his wife should be filling knowing full well
that yoga classes don’t run at 12pm.
Roger is a glass half
empty kind of guy, it’s something not even his shrink can fix.
***
Roger wakes laughing
at the usual grim, restless night look and morning breath every man he knows,
wakes to wondering why his face and hair get so muddled by the pillow in such a
short 5 hours. Roger looks over lovingly to his wife of four years and despite
the fact that he knows she likes to flirt casually with other men he cant help
but think just how lucky he is. He smiles at the thought of finding her looking
at a body building calendar yesterday in the mall thinking to himself ‘so its
not just guys who can’t help themselves’ and with that, Roger slips his feet
from the silky sheet and moves into the bathroom. His toothbrush is old and has
smudges of red lipstick around the rim but he doesn’t care, because the little
things don’t bother him and he writes down that he must go and buy a new one
after work. Roger’s face is wrinkling at the sides and with every day he knows they’re
simply just signs that he’s wearing more experience and feeling.
His coffee yesterday
was too hot and too strong and the waiter was too clumsy so today Roger decides
to try the new café just down the road from his office block and much to his
pleasure he is able to order a seemingly perfect cappuccino. Roger works in a
10 story high office building as an accountant working day in and day out doing
the same thing – crunching other people’s numbers.
Roger likes his job,
he always has because the idea of money and security appealed to him all those
nostalgic years ago when he was top of his maths class. Now, 13 years later, he
still enters his office with a spring in his step.
Roger finds that every
person speaks the same up beat tone, which he calls ‘I want a promotion’. He
and his boss regularly joke about it so it makes him happy to know that his
boss sees him as a genuine worker and that he, out of all the people in the
office building will be getting the next big bonus.
At 6pm, as soon as the
second hand flicks up past the 12 Roger switches off every power point in his
small office as apart of the ‘save the world’ campaign his boss has decided
everyone must follow and it makes him feel that little bit happier inside
knowing that he’s apart of something worthwhile. He notices that the seams are
bursting in his black work boots and the laces that are fraying at the ends and
it pleases him that he finally has an excuse to buy new ones.
As Roger drives out of
the underground car park, validating his $7 parking ticket his phone clicks
onto the speed dial so he can call his wife and tell her that he has a romantic
surprise waiting for her when he gets home and they talk endlessly until he has
to get out of the car and pick up her dry cleaning.
When Roger slips back
into the bed he left at 5am just 19 hours later he goes through his day and how
thankful he is to be where he is and to have the things he has. He thinks of
everything that he’s forgotten, the bills, the 4 o’clock meeting and the doctor’s
appointment but doesn’t worry because at the end of the day, they’re just
little things.
He turns on his side
to look at his wife glad that he has managed to get her to quit ‘12pm yoga’.
Roger is a glass half full
kind of guy, it’s the reason his shrink told him he would be fine on his own.
