Daily Grind

Everynight, right after work, before he even left the parking lot, Joe took his sleeper. He did this for years, he'd never had any trouble. He lived so close, even a roadblock wouldn't delay him long enough for it to take effect before he made it home safe and sound.

Everynight, but tonight.

***

The day started in a bad way. The dog had been waking joe up all night, jumping in bed and taking all the space. So when Joe woke up and saw that it was almost 4pm, time to start his shift, he wasn't surprised. He WAS however, angry. So after a half hour or so of stomping around, Joe grabbed his coffee, and headed out to... wipe the snow off his car. More delays, great.

When Joe strolled into work almost an hour late, a warm reception was what he least he expected. Seems that this day, Boxing day, the majority of the employees had opted to call in or just stay home rather than brave the cold. Joe guessed his luck wasn't all bad after all.

But as the day went on, payroll mistakes, sloppy data entry(compounded by the fact that those responsible for the sloppiness were nowhere to be found), technical difficulties and irate customers, all seemed to work together to keep Joe down. Joe pondered the phrase 'rest in peace'.

And as the day rolled on, and Joe redosed on coffee, then came down again, Joe realized he was going to make it, through another day of work better suited for robots. As the last 10 minutes melted away, Joe breathed a sigh or relief, knowing in less than an hour, he'd be staring blankly at the weather channel, waiting for sleep to lift the weight from his waking life. Today, Joe took his sleeper before he even rode the elevator to the ground floor. This was a small difference in routine, no more than 10 minutes.

When Joe left work, he was feeling fine. No drowsiness to report, just the mental exhaustion he associated with a full days work. The roads were slippery, but the tires were new, and Joe's reflexes sharp. He was not prone to panic at a minor loss of control. Joe eventually settled in behind a row of fellow north-bound travellers, at a speed slower than Joe preferred, but fast enough in the weather. Joe got a little bored with the low-speed(low-thought) travel and turned up the music to occupy his mind. He soon was lost in a pattern of beats and lyrics he'd known a hundred times before. When the turn came, Joe was still lost in the music.

When Joe floated over the scene of the accident, and realized what had happened, and how. He was amused to learn that his first thought was "Well, at least I don't have to go into work tomorrow". Rest in peace indeed.