Confession #7

Who I am...
Let's get a few things out in the open, right from the start. First of all, the things you read here may not be completely accurate. The reason I omit facts and enrich others is not for your sake, but for ours - those of us who have been through these trenches and seen the other side. Secondly, the characters you are about to meet are sometimes blended for easy reading, and always loosely based on the people who have gone in and out of my life, leaving memories that I will never forget - or so I hope, and just in case I'm wrong, why I'm chronicling these incidinces here. Finally, I never claimed to be someone you will like. I'm just like the rest of you, a girl trying to make it in the world, always trying to make the next right decision. And, unfortunately, sometimes that has disastrous consequences.

#1
The day began as most others did for me - rushed, stressed, and tired. The morning commute had taken longer than usual. The local coffee shop had less than the usual perky service I expected, service I attributed to sniffing coffee fumes forty hours each week and listening to Freebird and the like on Muzak. That kind of treatment would mess with anyone's head. Be that as it may, I got my regular drink and headed on toward the office, where I knew beige walls, lined with pictures of beaches I had never visited, and a grey desk would meet me. These pictures were the only windows in the little world that had long ago come to be my place of business. My only joy came from the random calls to work in the downtown office. The downtown office could not have been more different than the cubicle-turned-office that I worked out of most days. Downtown I had floor to ceiling windows that over looked a courtyard with a large grassy area and a fountain in the middle that had been designed by an esteemed designer. I could easily see the hustle and bustle of the employees of the neighboring office buildings, and usually did not want to leave when my day had ended. It was always the highlight of work week.

The other perk of the downtown office were the long lunches. Because my day was more like a split shift - a few hours of intense work in the early hours of the day, and a few more hours at the end of the day - it allowed me to take a leisurely lunch every time I went. Sometimes I'd browse through the local shops, spending more than an hour comparing the different flowers at the local wholesaler. Sometimes I'd bring a good book and sit at the corner bistro, escaping into the work of Jane Austen or George Elliot. And sometimes I'd simply sit in that beautiful courtyard, with my shoes off and eat a sack lunch as I felt the grass between my toes and enjoyed watching the passers by. This was just one of those days.

It was early spring, and especially warm - the kind of day you wait for all winter. The first day you realize that you can leave your jacket at home, at you may not even need your sweater. It was perfect. White cotton candy clouds dotted the bright blue sky.