It arrived at ten seventeen am. I know that for a fact because I was setting the kitchen timer for a soufflé I was making for lunch and I looked at the radio clock sitting on top of the unplugged microwave. The doorbell rang as soon as I pressed start and for a second I though the noise was from the timer, but when it kept ringing I realized it was the door. I took of my apron as I walked towards the main entrance and tossed it on the sofa before I opened the door. The mailman greeted me with his usual cheeriness and asked about my family as he handed me all the mail that had been sent to us that day. I said my goodbyes distractedly as I browsed through the packages , searching for the one thing I’d been waiting for. The Wait was over. I can’t remember how many times I imagined myself in this same place, holding this same piece of paper waiting for the information inside it; but dreaming it and living it are two different things.
I stood there for about forty minutes, dazed, staring at it, holding it as if at any moment it would vanish. I only know it was about forty minutes because the timer beeped and that’s how long I had it for. I shook my head as I put the closed enveloped down and walked back to the kitchen while retying my apron. I opened the oven and found that my soufflé, for once, had risen. It was a tempting golden color, fluffy and smelling like melted sugar and chocolate. I transferred the hot plate to the stove top where it could sit and cool, then went back out to face a past I longed to understand.
I finally ripped the envelop open and took out the papers inside and read. “The information requested is unavailable” was all it said. I was numb, for a second I thought it was a joke. I couldn’t believe that after all the stress and worry I would just get a rejection. Or is it an omission? I didn’t understand what it meant. I'd been searching for this information for so long, going through the right channels, filling out all the required forms, spending hours on hold how can this be? What do I do now?
This little moment in time was just a small exercise in fiction that might turn into something bigger or it might turn into nothing at all. Overall I’m happy that is longer than my last attempt at writing something that had nothing to do with the world outside my head. This project is sometimes easier and sometimes harder than I thought it would be. There are days when the words flow and there are days where getting each word out is harder than pulling teeth, but each day helps me get back a passion I thought id lost. My writing juices are finally waking up and with any luck soon all my entries will deal with fiction instead of reality
Word Count: 515
No comments:
Post a Comment