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31_days2007-12-02 09:32 pm
rosehiptea.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-12-02 09:32 pm
[December 2] [Original] Happy
Title: Happy
Day/Theme: December 2/failure to communicate
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: "Eve" and "Al", no pairings
Rating: PG-13 for one swear word and references to bodily/medical stuff.
Word Count: 337
A.N.: This is based on something that actually happened to me. Unfortunately it's a "glurgy" sort of thing that actually happened to me .
“This,” Eve thought to herself, “is a shitty job.”
Unfortunately this was literal, as there were several diapers to change every night. Then there was scrubbing the toilets and mopping the floors. She was usually stuck there alone with only the company of the residents, who were asleep and were not big talkers when they were awake. In fact most of them knew very few words or none at all. Oddly enough the fact of their disability wasn’t as depressing as it sounded, for them or for her, and at least she had finally found a job. But this wasn’t what she had originally planned for her life and either, and it looked like she might be stuck here forever. Wandering around in the darkened group home trying to keep everything and everyone clean wasn’t exactly as fulfilling as some people seemed to think.
Tonight as she shifted Jack’s position and put a pillow behind his back, his roommate Al woke up.
“Hi!” said Al rather cheerfully.
“Hi,” Eve replied a bit vaguely.
“How’re you?”
Since this wasn’t the time to say “Life sucks,” she went with “Fine.”
Al was still smiling, so Eve added “How are you?”
“Happy.”
She had to think about that for a moment. It would be easy to say that the lesson to be learned here was that at least she didn’t have a tube up her nose and another one through her stomach, and at least she had her own apartment to go home to. But even “Don’t feel sorry for yourself, Eve” was beyond her some days, no matter how much she tried to keep everything in perspective.
On the other hand, at least someone was in a good mood and she could get into that. And she hadn’t even realized Al knew how to say “happy.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. Are you warm enough?” she asked when she reached the door of the room.
“Yes,” he replied with some difficulty.
“Good night then,” she replied, and shut the door.
Day/Theme: December 2/failure to communicate
Series: Original
Character/Pairing: "Eve" and "Al", no pairings
Rating: PG-13 for one swear word and references to bodily/medical stuff.
Word Count: 337
A.N.: This is based on something that actually happened to me. Unfortunately it's a "glurgy" sort of thing that actually happened to me .
“This,” Eve thought to herself, “is a shitty job.”
Unfortunately this was literal, as there were several diapers to change every night. Then there was scrubbing the toilets and mopping the floors. She was usually stuck there alone with only the company of the residents, who were asleep and were not big talkers when they were awake. In fact most of them knew very few words or none at all. Oddly enough the fact of their disability wasn’t as depressing as it sounded, for them or for her, and at least she had finally found a job. But this wasn’t what she had originally planned for her life and either, and it looked like she might be stuck here forever. Wandering around in the darkened group home trying to keep everything and everyone clean wasn’t exactly as fulfilling as some people seemed to think.
Tonight as she shifted Jack’s position and put a pillow behind his back, his roommate Al woke up.
“Hi!” said Al rather cheerfully.
“Hi,” Eve replied a bit vaguely.
“How’re you?”
Since this wasn’t the time to say “Life sucks,” she went with “Fine.”
Al was still smiling, so Eve added “How are you?”
“Happy.”
She had to think about that for a moment. It would be easy to say that the lesson to be learned here was that at least she didn’t have a tube up her nose and another one through her stomach, and at least she had her own apartment to go home to. But even “Don’t feel sorry for yourself, Eve” was beyond her some days, no matter how much she tried to keep everything in perspective.
On the other hand, at least someone was in a good mood and she could get into that. And she hadn’t even realized Al knew how to say “happy.”
“I’m glad you’re happy. Are you warm enough?” she asked when she reached the door of the room.
“Yes,” he replied with some difficulty.
“Good night then,” she replied, and shut the door.