Inhalt

MY LIFE, MY WORLD, MY LUNCH

When Thomas’ alarm clock rung, he pounced on it with great force as if it had done something very cruel to him. He pushed it off of the night stand then kicked it like a football across the bedroom. He screamed, “I hate the sound of that darn alarm clock”. It was 6:00 am and he had only an hour to get ready for work. He picked up the underwear he had worn two days ago then grabbed his acid dirty jeans off of his bedroom floor then walked into his kitchen. He opened his refrigerator and looked around inside for some milk. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any, once again. Thomas slammed the refrigerator door and picked up a box of cereal from the table and opened his mouth up wide then shook the box of corn flakes into his mouth. Afterwards, he dropped the box on the floor, wiped his mouth with the back of his dirty hand. Thomas rushed to his couch which was covered with dirty clothes and sat down to put on his shoes. He poked through the pile of clothes on his couch until he found a wrinkled shirt that he decided to wear to work. Out the door he went to catch the subway.

While on the subway, he totally ignored all the other passengers as usual. Instead, he wondered how his life would have been if he had just gone into the marines like his dad told him many years ago. He thought, if he had not let the opportunity pass him by, he could have traveled around the world and made his parents proud. He felt he was never going to have any excitement on his data entry job. So far, Thomas had only gained more weight after sitting in that same office chair for 23 years. The only excitement Thomas had in his life was choosing where he would have his lunch each day. Thomas truly loved to eat. Every day, he made every attempt not to eat at the same restaurant. It was very easy for him to find different restaurants in Manhattan, New York. As Thomas worked on the computer, his eyes stayed fix on the clock every single day in anticipation of his lunch time. He was given an hour each day to eat lunch then he had to return to his work station promptly because his supervisor was always snooping around. Thomas was typing on his computer when Geneva, one of his co-workers, approached his work station. Geneva asked, “Tom, would you like to go eat lunch with the rest of us today?” Thomas replied, “No thank you Geneva, and would you please excuse me? You are blocking my clock.” After receiving such a cold response from Thomas, Geneva sighed and walked swiftly away from Thomas but paused for a moment and looked back and rolled her eyes at him. Geneva set down in her chair and mumbled, “You weirdo, I’ll never ask you out for lunch again!” Thomas never heard a single word she said and if he had, her words would not have affected him at all, for he was in his own little world which included just him and lunch time. Thomas continued to stare at the clock on the wall as he typed on the computer because he was not willing to miss out on one second of his lunch time. He began to count down in a soft low voice saying, “5, 4, 3, 2, and 1, it’s lunch time.” Thomas sprung out of his chair and rushed out of his office.

Once he was outside, he stood there for just a second looking to the left then to the right. Finally, he walked quickly across the busy street, weaving and dodging many cars until he was at a chinese buffet. Thomas entered the buffet and kept his eyes fixed on the menu above his head. Yes, he was in a deep trance. Without looking at the server Thomas said, “I will have the buffet please” as he reached into his wallet and gave the worker a twenty dollar bill and walked away. The worker screamed, “Wait sir! What about your change?” Thomas never responded. Instead, he went straight to the chinese buffet, never looking back at the worker. The worker caught up with Thomas as he piled his plate high with the different choices and said, “Sir you left your change.” Thomas continued to put the food on his plate then said, “Keep the change.” The worker smiled and walked away saying, “Thank you, thank you sir.” When Thomas felt he had just what he wanted on his plate, he looked around the restaurant for a private area in which to sit and eat. He smiled when he saw an area where no people were around, and immediately ran to secure him a seat. With a huge grin on his face, he began to consume his chinese food one large spoonful after another. Then suddenly, his entire surroundings began to change.

Thomas continued to smile as he walked along a busy street where the names on every building were in another language, chinese. Literally hundreds of people were riding on bicycles through the congested streets. The people along the crowded sidewalks where short in statue, possessed yellowish skin and slanted eyes and was selling all sorts of products. Therefore, Thomas purchased several types of food, even some food he had never tasted or seen before. As he ate, he continued to smile and look around at his unfamiliar surroundings. He was mesmerized by the unique Asian architecture which was displayed on every building. They had such bright and eye catching colors such as red and gold. Next, he came upon a building that appeared to be a museum. Yes, because some of the writing was in English, it read MUSEUM OF XIAN. As Thomas entered, his mouth opened up as wide as it could because he saw the most beautiful statues he had ever seen called the PIT OF WARRIORS. There were literally hundreds of hand carved statues of chinese warriors all lined up in several rows in trenches in the stone floor. Thomas thought about how life like they appeared. He left the museum because he was anxious to see more of this new place. He came upon a zoo. Thomas entered and smiled as he saw the odd looking animals in cages. He giggled when he saw two giant pandas and a chinese tiger. When Thomas went out the rear exit of the zoo, he walked down a croaked pathway. It took him a few seconds to realize he was walking the pathway found between the GREAT WALL of CHINA. “This is great!” Thomas shouted, “But I always thought THE GREAT WALL of CHINA was just one huge wall but it’s actually two bricked walls that wind around for hundreds of miles, wow! Who would have known?” He was having so much fun when he realized he had to get back to work right away. Thomas traced his footsteps and went back in the same direction he had walked, still smiling from ear to ear. When he reached the same chinese buffet, he sat back down and continued to eat his food. A tall Asian waitress asked him if he needed something to drink and Thomas said, “Yes, why thank you. I’ll have a glass of water please.” After receiving the water, He continued to eat then fell back into a trance.

Suddenly, he was back in the initial chinese buffet. He got up and placed his empty plate and tray on the counter and rushed back to his office building. As he entered, all of his co-workers looked at him and began to whisper amongst themselves. However, this wasn’t anything unusual for Thomas because their behavior was the same each and every day. A few hours passed then it was time to pack up and go home. Thomas counted his coins then boarded the subway. While on the subway, all he could think about was his incredible adventurous day, so he continued to smile all the way home. When he arrived home, he went directly to sleep without removing any clothing because he was physically exalsted.

The next morning, Thomas over slept. “Oh no!”, yelled Thomas. He leaped out of his bed and ran out of the front door. While riding on the subway, he never looked at anyone or said a word. However, Thomas did make an attempt to wipe the sleep out of his eyes and the crispy hard dry saliva from around his lips, but was not successful nor did he really care. Upon arriving at his office, He rushed to his work station and turned on his computer and began entering data. Thomas was only two minutes late therefore his supervisor did not confront him because he always came to work and completed his assignments. Once again, he continued to type but kept his eyes fixed on the clock. The last time Thomas glanced at the clock, he realized it was lunch time, 12:00 pm. He ran as fast as he could to the closest exit but was stopped in his tracks by his supervisor Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson said, “Hey, wait a moment Thomas. I need you to look at my office computer before you go to lunch.” Thomas’ face turned red as a beet and a noticeable frown looked as if it had been engraved upon his forehead. Thomas never said a word, but instead walked quickly to his supervisor’s office. As Thomas turned on the computer, he asked his supervisor, “What seems to be the problem sir?” Mr. Johnson stated that he just couldn’t seem to get the slideshow presentation to operate. Thomas pushed a few buttons then the problem was resolved. Before his supervisor could say a word, He swiftly walked to the closest exit. As he left the building, it was obvious that Thomas was quite upset about starting his lunch time late. “How inconsiderate” Thomas said angrily to himself. He walked quickly down the street until he saw a restaurant that had colorful Mexican sombreros painted on the exterior windows.

As he entered the restaurant, he looked around and saw it was just about full to capacity, but he was determined to eat Mexican food for lunch. Thomas quickly ordered two burritos with a chipotle chile pepper, an enchilada, a taco salad, one quesadilla and a glass of water. When his order was ready, a waitress led him to an available seat because it was very crowded. Thomas was not satisfied with the seat she found him so he refused to eat until he found a more secluded area. Finally, a couple got up, emptied their trays then left the restaurant. Before the couple could exit the restaurant, Thomas rushed to their seats and wiped off the table himself with a napkin. He was so happy and was just about to start eating when an elderly lady asked if anyone was sitting in the other chair at his table. With great disgust and sadness, Thomas replied, “No Mrs.” The elderly lady sat at the table with Thomas and began eating and talking to him about everything that had ever taken place in her life. He attempted to ignore the old lady but became very frustrated and ran out of the restaurant leaving all of his lunch on the table. Thomas was very angry that he did not get a chance to consume his lunch in peace. Instead, he went to a mobile taco stand up the street and ordered four tacos and sat on a bench near the busy street. As he ate, he smiled as he began to slowly drift into a trance. The more he ate the tacos, the more his environment changed. He looked around and smiled as he saw the many stucco buildings which were quite colorful. As he looked down at his arms, he realized he was getting terrible sunburns so he walked to a nearby store. He purchased a hat and sun block cream to protect him from the hot blistering sun. He continued to eat his tacos as he walked through the narrow streets. He said to himself, “This is a very crowded city and the people are not very tall and they all have very brown tanned skin.” Everywhere he looked, there were market places. He was surprised to see plucked raw chickens hanging outside in the dusty air uncovered and for sale. The chickens had turned completely yellow and were covered with flies. His stomach became upset even at the thought of eating one. All of a sudden, Thomas began to feel severe pain, dizziness and nausea. Sweat started pouring down his face and he fainted.

When Thomas woke up, he was in Harlem Hospital completely covered with bandages and in a body cast. He asked a nurse, who was taking his vitals, how long had he been there. She told him he had been there, in a coma, for a week because he walked into the street during his lunch time and was hit by a car. Next, his doctor walked in and said, “Thomas, so you are awake! You are one lucky man to have survived such a tragedy. Did you purposely walk in front of the car attempting to kill yourself?” Thomas said, “No way! I would never do that doc.” The doctor checked his vitals and told Thomas to just relax because he had several broken bones, a punctured lung, kidney damage and other serious injuries that will take a long time to treat and heal. When the doctor left, Thomas began to feel very depressed because the last place he wanted to be was in a hospital. He would miss his exciting journeys during lunch time. Thomas felt that his life was truly over as long as he was stuck in a bed in the hospital. Deep in his heart he kind of wished that the car had killed him because he just couldn’t lay there in a hospital bed for an extended period of time, no way. Thomas thought to himself that he had too many new places to explore and people to meet during his lunch time at work to be a prisoner in a hospital bed. Suddenly, he heard a light knock on the door.

In walked the hospital dietician saying, “Hello, are you Thomas? I realize you are unable to hold or read our lunch menu on your own, but I just came up to ask you what you would like to eat from our lunch menu.” As she began to read the lunch menu, Thomas’ eyes lit up because he heard several dishes he would like to try. However, one dish in particular caught his attention above everything else on the menu. It was the Australian grilled chicken, rice pilaf with a vegetable medley. Thomas with great enthusiasm ordered the Australian meal and asked her when it would be delivered. The dietician told him they would bring it to him at 12:00pm. Thomas tried to smile but it hurt too bad to use his facial muscles. His spirit was even more uplifted when he noticed there was a big round clock on the wall. As the dietician continued to talk to him, Thomas completely ignored her and stared at the huge clock. The dietician realized he was not responding to her so she left his room.

It was 11:45am when Thomas heard something rolling down the hallway. Whatever it was, it was coming closer and closer to his room. At 11:55am, a young lady entered his room with a tray of food. The lady said, “Hi Thomas, my name is Sarah and I will be feeding you your lunch today. I have a tray of delicious Australian grilled chicken. Is that what you ordered?” Thomas said, “Yes.” She first, adjusted his bed then began to cut up his Australian grilled chicken into tiny bite sizes. As she fed Thomas, he drifted off quickly into a trance. The more he ate, the hotter the temperature got. He looked around and smiled at the beautiful landscape. Thomas almost jumped out of his skin when a kangaroo hopped quickly pass him. He picked up a khaki safari hat he saw on the ground and placed it on his head. While Thomas was walking up a steep hill, the dietician screamed, “Help! Help! Someone come help! Code Blue! Code Blue!” Doctors and nurses rushed into the room and tried to revive Thomas but they were unsuccessful. However, Thomas was very happy because when he approached the other side of the hill, he saw several dark brown people with dark curly hair. He knew exactly who they were. He said to himself, “So this is how the indigenous people look in person.” Some had multicolored paint on their faces, feathers in their hair and spears in their hands wearing large smiles on their faces. One of them shook Thomas’ hand and said, “Welcome, we’ve been waiting for you.” Thomas smiled and followed them into the wilderness.

Impressum

Nächste Seite

Seite 1 /