The sound of clacking keys resonated throughout the room as
the bright screen, beaming on his face, illuminated his surroundings.
“Tom, you’re not done
yet?”
“No…” he mumbled
back, knowing that his co-worker already left without bothering to hear
a response. Exhaling a good amount of carbon dioxide, he slowly stretched
out his arms and leaned back in his office chair, exposing his oversized
stomach. He closed his eyes and pinched the thin layer of skin that
separated his eye sockets. After a resting a good couple of minutes,
he pushed himself up, and closed his laptop. Packing his papers, he
made a mental note to himself to go work out, and then he left the building,
checking out his time card.
He strolled down the stairs
carefully holding onto the railings as he descended. Streams of light
covered the seemingly dark night of New York as cars and taxis speed
by. Gripping tightly onto his briefcase, flailing out his arms, he called
out, “Taxi! Taxi!” The taxi stopped, shortly, a couple meters away
emitting the bright red tail lights as it braked. Thomas toddled over,
almost stumbling on a crack and dropping his briefcase. He finally found
his way to the handle. Pulling it open, he then realized that he should’ve
just walked. But then again a dying urge to eat kicked in so he climbed
into the cab.
“Where to?” asked
the taxi driver turning his head swiftly.
“Uh…the burger joint
on second.” He let out a sigh. I am never going to get married and if I ever am getting married,
it’ll be to my job, he thought. He glanced upward at the rear
view mirror; reflected was a middle aged man, full of grey hair, just
a little chubby in the middle, but with broad shoulders that supported
his muscular arms. He flexed his biceps; I guess working out occasionally is pretty nice. Noticing that
the cabby was watching him, he quickly made a motion of scratching his
head. The driver took a right then another right and pulled over. The
meter read $4.10. Thomas quickly pulled out a five and handed it to
him.
“Keep the change.”
He said as he opened the door and scooted himself out of the cab; just
as he stepped out and shut the door behind him, the taxi sped away. Fifth time this week,
Paul’s Burgers, Paul must be really happy, he thought while
chuckling to himself. After debating with himself, while waiting in line, about
whether or not to eat in or takeout, he finally decided eat while walking. Compromise.
Happily with his Eastsider
Burger in hand and drink in the other, Thomas walked out passing the
two enormous sized colored concrete burgers stacked by the door. After
unwrapping the specialty bacon cheeseburger filled with ham, mushrooms,
tomatoes, and onions with oil dripping over the edge he instinctively
turned his head, slurped up the excess oil and took a bite out of his
bacon burger. His body shook as he took another bite. Having trouble
swallowing, he felt a slight pain in his chest. Lightly pounding his
chest, he headed towards his apartment.
Occasionally taking a glance through the blurry windows, he slowly
drained his 30 oz. of coke, but still keeping a third of the burger
in hand. He then stopped and looked at an empty store. He saw his full
body reflection on the glass. Taking a step closer he stumbled onto
a crack. His briefcase full of papers flew into the air and slid across
the hard grainy asphalt; his massive body fell after plummeting head
first. His breath fell short while clenching onto his chest. Color drained
from his face as he lay limp on the sidewalk a couple feet away from his
apartment.
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