SparklyHorn's Short Stories Shelf

The Worst Possible Thing: December 12, 2012

[Written: August 2020]

"And I thought today was supposed to be a good day," I grumble, raising the coffee mug to my lips and letting more of the thick, cold liquid fall into my mouth.

"Ay, man, I completely agree with you. Wouldn't you think a day with todays date would be a bit more lucky?" Agrees the man sitting next to me. He and I have been friends for a while, Berry being his name. He's a short and squat man, always looking ready to punch something but is really a teddy bear.

"December twelfth, two thousand and twelve," I mumble, looking at the residue that the coffee left behind in my mug. "Happy birthday, little sis."

"You have a sis'tr?" He questions, eyeing me.

I shake my head, meeting his gauze. "No, not anymore. She died at birth, you see, about two o'clock this afternoon, I was about five."

He gives a soft, sorrowful whistle. "I'm sorry to hear that, mate. Any other siblings? I'm guessing not if today is so very special to ya."

"No, my parents couldn't bare the heartache of losing another so I became the only," I set the mug down, glancing at the smudged inc on all those papers I printed earlier.

"Siblings are a pain. I wouldn't recommend wishing for one. Sisters hiding your undies, and brothers getting gum in your hair." He tisks at the memories. I know that he is the youngest, and has a strong personality in result of that. "Well, I should be getting along. My wife ain't gunna be happy if she shows up at home and I havn't served up dinner for us. Anniversary of our wedding, today, too."

"And you two didn't take the day off?" I ask.

"Nah," he responds, getting up out of his chair with a stretch that raised his shirt so I could see the bottom of his belly. "She said the party is going to be tonight, and that she'll bring the drinks if I bring the food."

"She sounds like a great woman."

"That she is. See ya, mate!" He heads off.

"Monday!" I respond after him, turning to face my computer once more. The cracked screen stares back at me, my files still managing to stay at 99% downloaded. Even a positive children's cartoon character would not be able to find the rainbow in this stormy day. Everything, except death, that could have gone wrong has went wrong.

From missing my alarm, to stepping in dog pee. A flat tire, to being late to punch in. I could only wish I knew what charm was causing this curse so I could destroy it with my mythical Excalibur and go to bed without breaking a bone.

I begin to straighten up my desk, being extra cautious of paper clips, tacks, and binder clips so they wouldn't attack any of my fingers. I could have started swearing at any of the metal objects if they decided to jump out at me. With luck, I remain safe and am able to clean up all but that coffee stain swiftly.

After double checking that I had everything in my briefcase, I return the mug to the lounge where the cleaning lady is in the middle of washing dishes. "May want to rinse this out first," I give a friendly suggestion as I put the cup in the pile of dirty dishes. She grumbles, pretty much ignoring me.

Outside the building, I have to wait for a lot of foot and vehicle traffic before I am able to get up the parking ramp to my rental car. I check that nothing is broken on it before getting in and getting out of that parking lot lower then a snail on a vacation. I crank up the music too loud for a man my age, taking any back road I could find to avoid the highways.

I arrive home to find that someone had taken my favorite parking spot, and my garage door was partially open. Who knows when that could have happened, but I can't get it to open with my button. I park in front of it, and get out to investigate, finding that something must've rammed into it, and there is a pile of rabbit poop there now. Not wanting to have to deal with this right now, I go behind the building to find a parking spot near the dumpster.