The electric rattle of the alarm clock woke me up. I hate alarm clocks. Doesn't help that I have a warm body curled up against mine. Her cheek rested blithely on my side, and I think she was drooling on me a bit. I turned off the alarm and got up, careful not to disturb my bed-mate, and stepped into the shower. The big window in my bathroom didn't have a head lurking in the bushes, which was somewhat surprising. Normally someone was waiting around the time I woke up. Or maybe I just missed the face hidden somewhere.
I stripped off my shorts and stepped into the shower. After toweling off and brushing my teeth, I dressed for day. Picking a purple tie for the day, I fled my vault with a piece of toast hanging from my mouth. The city of Escapist was a familiar one, and I had a wave of nostalgia seeing posters and group photos of my old friends I hadn't seen in a while. Still, living nearby the country club meant seeing pictures of the old rich people. It shouldn't have surprised me.
Leaving the suburbs of Escapist, I approached downtown fairly quickly. Living off of the lakefront wasn't too bad, and it gave me good scenery on my stroll to the city. The monument of the Escapist gleamed from the early-morning dew. The silver statue displayed a showdown of SpinWhiz, Russ Pitts, and Susan Arendt. I smiled, and continued my stroll.
Once downtown, I immediately sat down at the local coffee shop. Several familiar faces were already there, chatting amicably amongst themselves. I waved and approached the counter. Combined was busy making my usual, accepting a small bill in exchange for my morning glass of milk. I took a seat at the table nearby Blaze and Varchld, and enjoyed my glass of milk in good company. After a good forty minutes of blathering blithely to Escapists in the cafe and making my conversational rounds, I had to take my leave.
The downtown loft office was pretty familiar to me, and I felt comfortable here. There was a minifridge, a television, and a handful of game consoles on a shelf. On the opposite face of the room, was a desk, a netbook, and a printer. I started typing up an article pitch, chewing a pen listlessly as I wrote. After two hours of staring over the two paragraphs worth of a pitch, I decided against what I was doing and deleted the pitch. Waste of a day, as usual... I got up, pilfered a Dr. P from the 'fridge, and headed out of the door.
The late afternoon sun was comfortable, and a breeze was drifting through downtown. I walked along the sidewalk, looking around for "halo sux" and "twilight = suck" spray paint on the polished downtown. I passed a Red Guard, running a mop jerkily over a particularly offensive bit of graffiti on the wall. The "artist" of the graffiti was on the floor, in handcuffs. I wasn't sure how I felt about knowing the offender by name.
Downtown was pretty, but had seen a lot of pollution and foot traffic over the years. I watched the Red Guard bustling about the street, cleaning up all manners of debris and litter. One of them smiled and waved, and I wasn't sure if I could have done the same in their shoes. Their job looked like it sucked. I smiled back and waved, betting that they did it for individuals like myself.
I finally left the downtown, heading off toward the country club to settle down at home for the evening. The country club seemed thinner than I remembered, and a lot of houses stood with "vacant" signs in the yard. People were coming, but not nearly as fast as they were going. I waved to Saskwatch as I passed, and settled into my vault for another night with the television.
It was long after dark by the time I trudged from my couch and into bed. I would be lying had I said I not passed out on the couch. Bed was nice. I dreamed of the city as I remember it, a big and scary place filled with lots of the upper crust and lots of wine-tasting parties and political discussions. I woke up the next morning to another chime of the alarm.
The walk back to downtown was filled with thoughts of whether or not the city had changed any, or if it was just my perspective. I got to the coffee shop and sat down with my glass of milk, greeting friends as I went. Ah well. Another day, another dollar.
