Lengthening shadows

by kwatz

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Janine hated Thursdays. It was the day of the week that her boss began to panic about their department not accomplishing their checklist of goals for the week.

Nevermind that they had never completed everything for the week; not to mention that no other department in the company had either. Yet somehow, her boss liked to pretend that it actually mattered for them.

So, sometime around 10 am on Thursday morning, an unplanned emergency meeting would be called (Janine put it on her online calendar in advance) where her boss would breathlessly ask for updates and progress reports, cajoling them to make better progress.

And every Thursday for lunch Janine made her way to the “artistic” concrete slabs in front of the building, sat on one, and ate her tuna fish sandwich. But today was different.

As she ate and watched her shadow slowly lengthening on the concrete in the blistering afternoon sun, she saw her shadow calmly scratch its nose.

The only problem was that Janine hadn’t. And there was no one behind her.

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 5.0 stars out of 5

  1. Lengthening shadows

    Ana Cristina's Buddy Icon Ana Cristina

    Posted 2 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Love the ending! OK, this is simply begging for a sequel. (Hint, hint…)

  2. Lengthening shadows

    kwatz's Buddy Icon kwatz

    Posted 2 months ago

    Please, be my guest, Ana. :)

  3. Lengthening shadows

    Ana Cristina's Buddy Icon Ana Cristina

    Posted 2 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    OK, you don’t have to offer twice. I’m working on a sequel right now. ;)

  4. Lengthening shadows

    Mistress Elsha Hawk's Buddy Icon Mistress Elsha Hawk

    Posted 2 months ago

    Great story beginning! I’m going to read Ana’s sequel, now…

  5. Lengthening shadows

    THX 0477's Buddy Icon THX 0477

    Posted 2 months ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I like the total and absolute monotony of her predictable work life laid out so carefully, and the just a little bit of oddity at the end.

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