Norman Comes Prepared lifeofnorman

Every Monday, Norman’s coworker, Jasper, who worked in the cubicle across from Norman’s, would walk in twelve or thirteen minutes after 9:00, after Norman had already settled in. By this time, Norman would be finished logging onto his work computer, tucking his briefcase underneath his desk, and packing his navy blue lunchbox safely away in the top right corner of the communal refrigerator (Norman liked to be one of the first people to choose a spot for his lunch – the bottom two shelves always got leaked on and more than once, Norman had excitedly pulled out his lunchbox to eat his turkey bologna sandwich only to have a pool of ice water cascade over his work slacks).

And every Monday between 9:12 and 9:13, Jasper would ask Norman how his weekend had been. “It was nice,” Norman would respond, following up with varying attempts to desperately remember if he had left his house at all, other than to do the shopping - “I got caught up on some reading and spent some time with Norman” (Jasper would assume Norman meant his son rather than his cat). Sometimes, Jasper would ask Norman which book he was reading now, but more often than not, he would simply smile pityingly and tell Norman about his excursion to Long Island or his day out on his wife’s sailboat. This particular Monday, however, Norman was prepared. Norman’s son had invited him to a move-in celebration at his new apartment in Upper Manhattan and they had spent a lovely weekend together, with Norman Jr. showing his father his favourite places to go for brunch and the best time of day to go for a walk in the nearby park. This Monday, Norman would have an answer to Jasper’s regular question that he could be proud of.

Norman glanced at the clock on his computer monitor. 9:14. Norman’s brow became increasingly furrowed as he glanced again and again at the monitor over the next sixteen minutes, wondering if Jasper had taken the day off. He finally felt his shoulders loosen as Jasper jogged into the office, panting. Norman smiled expectantly, waiting for his coworker to ask him about his weekend.

“Some traffic today, huh?” Jasper directed the question at Norman. “It’s like three drops of rain trickle down and everybody forgets how to drive.”

“Oh, yeah, right? Nuts,” Norman laughed.

Norman always made sure to get to the office at promptly 8:57, so he had missed the rain and, apparently, the traffic, too. Norman waited for Jasper to follow up with their usual exchange, but Jasper sat down at his desk and got to work, making up for his lost time. Norman opened his mouth, thinking about bringing up the weekend first, but he thought better and closed it again. Jasper was probably eager to get caught up. Disappointed that he couldn’t share his story with Jasper, Norman opened up the Excel spreadsheet he had been working on. I’ll take myself somewhere special this weekend, Norman thought.

Submitted July 07, 2016 at 11:48PM by shannonsnow http://ift.tt/29xKCI9 lifeofnorman