TT 10 First Morning Flashcards
She likes it, closes her eyes lightly,
starts to move to the music.
And he’s wondering, is she leaving with the rest of them?
Will it be just him left here, like it was at first?
Or will he go with them? Is this the last night?
It had been a Wednesday.
He woke up and it was quiet, everything was quiet, though it took a while to know that’s what it was.
6:30 his alarm went, if it had been a clock radio he would have known sooner,
Sometime around pouring the milk on the Rice Krispies…
he actually, consciously noticed. How quiet it was.
Sometime around sprinkling the brown sugar
on the Rice Krispies he started listening,
trying to pick up sounds elsewhere in the building.
Outside. Anything at all.
Outside. Anything at all.
Birds outside his window. Rice Krispies in his bowl. But that was it. Not a human sound to be heard.
Not a human sound to be heard.
Opened his window.
No traffic, not even the occasional car. Not even in the distance.
A dog barking somewhere.
A dog barking somewhere.
He turned on the radio to find out something,
find some obnoxious morning D.J. who at least would be good for a little information.
And that’s when it began to dawn on him.
That exact moment,
No static even. Not a thing. Except hiss.
He got on the phone. Called work, got the answering machine.
Well, okay, it’s early, he thought.
Called his supervisor at home. No answer.
Left for work already, not a big deal.
Who to call?
It’s when he stepped outside that he began to know.
Because it felt like there was something out there,
waiting for him. Because immediately he felt compelled to step back inside. To go back to his familiar apartment, put on some music, eat the Rice Krispies, go back to the normal, back to the way things were supposed to be, to do anything but go outside where something was waiting for him.
He didn’t step back inside, but he didn’t head for the drug store either.
Not right away. He stood there, looked around, mostly listened around. It seemed artificial, somehow. Like a movie soundtrack. A soundtrack with no music, and not quite enough sound effects.
Slight tree rustles, birds, his shoes on the ground as he started to walk. Nothing else.
