Monday stretched diagonally across the bed, listening to the birds Doppler whistling as they swooped by her window. As sometimes magically happens, she woke up three minutes before the alarm. She watched the numbers change and smiled as NPR turned on in the middle of a story about endangered tree frogs in some south american jungle.
She crawled to the bottom of the bed and reached into the pile grabbing from it's depth, any outfit. The least dirty, the least color, the least shape, the least furthest from the edge of the bed. She walked to the bathroom, splashed her face with water, fingerbrushed her teeth, and took a pits-tits-and-ass shower at the sink. She pulled her hair back, sprinkled her clothes with water before throwing them into the stack dryer with a slightly used fabric softener sheet still stuck to the pile of unfolded clothing on the washer. Monday hated to iron.
Naked, shivering and still not quite awake, she reached into the fridge and pulled out a jello, a cucumber, an old chunk of cheese, and a banana then dumped them into a shopping bag: lunch. She heard the crescendoing chirps that meant she only had a few minutes before work. She opened the dryer at mid tumble and threw on her hot drab shapeless clothes. She swore and grabbed the cool jello container, holding it on her skin for a second. The back of the grip on her pants had scalded her beneath her belly button.
She grabbed her things, slipped into her shoes, and ran outside, down the block, and to her favorite old brick tower on the east horizon. She threw her bag over her back, vaulted up to the bottom rung and climbed up the slippery fire escape. She loved her usual spot. She took a long deep breath and folding her arms over her chest, she concentrated on the horizon's center point until a blinding yellow speckle grew and rose into a pink warmed sky.
The traffic hum began. all the shop owners started sliding back gates and putting out sidewalk chairs. All over the city people began reaching for their clock radios' snooze button. Monday sat on the brick corner and dangled her feet over the edge. She pulled out her banana and watched the garbage truck clunkily empty the dumpsters on the street beneath her. Another beginning to another week.
She snapped out of her proud job-well-done-moment with the feeling someone was staring at her. An impeccably dressed man of about her same age stood with his hands on his hips impatiently tapping his toe. With his chin down he was looked up at her through perfectly plucked eyebrows.
She was so startled at seeing him, she almost choked on her banana.Through a mouthful of mush she said, "hi tueshdah, whatchya doig heh?"
"Excuse me?" he walked over to her and pulled a small piece of banana from the loose tendrils around her face and flicked it away.
She swallowed and cleared her throat, "just wondering why you're here?"
He cocked his head from one side to the other and said he should be asking the same question.
"Huh?" the garbage truck was beeping loudly from below. She leaned out over the edge and let her banana peel drop down thirty four stories into the dumpster.
The young man rolled his eyes, and began buttoning up his suit jacket waiting for the beeping noise to stop, "You can't keep doing this."
"Doing wha?" the beeping started again.
"It's not your day," he yelled at her.
Just as the noise stopped she yelled back, "it's not my what?"
"It's not your day." He pulled a palm pilot out from his inside left breast pocket and in one movement flipped back the cover and put it in front of her face. A digital calendar appeared on the screen with redX's through every day that had passed. Her eye followed down to the current week. There was a red X on Monday.
"Oh", she stood up and scrunched her face in an apology, "sorry." She recalled the blur that was sunday and how she'd been completely enthralled in her book. Could she not have noticed losing an entire day, everyone loosing an entire day? The book was pretty incredible. It had really made her feel like she was there, in that small town in Italy after world war II. She couldn't believe she had made everyone loose an entire day. AGAIN.
She started into a cold sweat and looked at him pleadingly, "Oh, no. Oh, no, what am I going to"
"I took care of it." He flipped the cover back on the calendar and slipped the PDA back into his inside pocket. "Just, try to be a little more responsible okay? I had to cancel a date for you." For a moment he looked his age, despite his suit. His cheeks cherried and he half smiled. "I mean, I cant always look out for you. I have a life you know. Right now in fact." He looked at his watch. "I have to go, I'm late for an appointment. Just please, " he awkwardly put his hand on her shoulder and patted. "Please try not to do it again."
"I wont!" She looked so relieved she was almost crying. "I promise, Thank you!" She reached for his hand, just missing it, as he walked across the roof to the door of the building's stairs. He waved his hand over the door knob and then opened the door and disappeared behind it without saying goodbye.
She smoothed her hair back into her ponytail and picked up her bag already day dreaming about which book she would read next. Yawning, she swung her bag back over her shoulder and crawled out onto the fire escape being careful not to slip on the still damp rungs. She couldn't wait to sit with her new book and a huge cup of coffee. She did wonder how Tuesday knew to be there for her yesterday, to fill in. She'd have to find a way to thank him. She dangled from the bottom rung and dropped to the sidewalk. Maybe next week she would bring a thermos so she could have her coffee first.
At a crosswalk, a school bus stopped near her and a line of kids climbed in. She could hear some of them singing a song about the days of the week. She had seven days until she had to be here again. She promised herself she would not mess up next time then crossed the street to her favorite half price bookstore. The owner was in the front window arranging the display and saw her walking towards him. He raised his eyebrows and opened the door for her. She said hello and asked him how he was. He shrugged and said, "The weekend was too short. But aah," he shrugged again "Not so bad for a Monday."
She smiled and sat down next to the rolling rack of the newest of the used. The books he hadn't yet had a chance to place in the store. The owner shook his head and walked into the back office. She turned sideways reading all the book spines, another seven days of reading before her. Monday loved her job.
...
