Bad Day

“I can’t even tell you how much she’s annoying me at the moment. It wouldn’t be so bad if she genuinely just didn’t know what to do, but she does, she just doesn’t trust her own initiative, so whenever she comes out and asks another stupid timid whiny question I feel like wringing her neck. I so wish Penny wouldn’t persist in reassuring them all and say they shouldn’t hesitate to ask questions because ‘that’s what we’re here for’. No, we’re not! We have our own jobs to do, we’re not there to baby-sit the bloody incompetent interns!”1

Joel grunted in response, swirling the whisky in his glass for no particular reason other than for the purpose of having something to do with his hands.2

Meg said nothing, glancing at him out the corner of her eye to see if he had anything more to add, as she absently toyed with her straw.3

As the silence began to get awkward, Joel realised he should probably say something more. The grunt may not have gone down as well as he had originally hoped.4

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said, with an accompanying stretch. “People shouldn’t expect others to look out for them. Once you’ve left school, you’re on your own. Those interns of yours must be pretty naïve if they think anyone else should give a damn about their life now they’re all growed up.”5

“Well, yeah, but…that’s not…” That really wasn’t what she was trying to say. She was only having her periodical vent about the unfairness of life, not trying to make a statement about society as a whole. “Joel, are you okay? You seem a bit off today. Sorry, I know I’ve been whining tons today. Anything you want to vent? I’m a willing receptacle.”6

“What? Oh. No!” he replied in an attempt at shock and confusion that anyone should come to such an outrageous conclusion over his blaringly obvious melancholy state. “No, I’m fine. Sorry, no, I’m just tired, that’s all. Didn’t get much sleep last night.”7

“How come? Anything you want to talk about? I understand if you don’t want to…” She was now doing that thing where one gets overly sympathetic and consolatory in compensation for having just unloaded all one’s crap onto the other person and thus now felt a certain amount of guilt about it. “Seriously, I’m here for -”8

“No no, really, it’s nothing. Really! It was just too warm last night, that’s all. I’m always tossing and turning for hours when it’s like that.”9

Meg chose not to mention the fact that it was about 5°C last night. Now that she was determined there was something wrong with him, she accounted his stubborn silence to the fact that he was male, and as such was required not to reveal any Compromising Emotions. Instead, she offered to buy him another drink.10

“Ta, but I think I’d best be off.”11

“I thought you had this evening free.” He had definitely said he had this evening free.12

“Gonna have an early night.”13

Meg looked at her watch. It was seven thirty.14

“Well, I suppose if you’re tired…”15

Joel drained his glass and shrugged into his brown leather jacket.16

“Do you want me to walk you home?” she said.17

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. I promise not to talk to any strangers.”18

“Okay. But next time I get to have you for at least an hour.”19

“Fair enough. I’ll make it up to you.” He reached over for a hug. “See you later.”20

Meg watched him shoulder open the bar door, hands in his pockets, and disappear around the corner. 21

She slowly finished her own drink and left the bar feeling herself to be a highly inadequate best friend.22

When Joel got home, he headed straight into the garage. In place of a car, numerous boxes were piled against the walls, most of which were hidden by the multitude of paintings and sketches leaned against them. This was his art room.23

He sat down now on his stool facing the easel. The canvas in place revealed an other-worldly plane of existence. Influenced somewhat by Salvador Dali, Joel’s paintings often retained a theme of surrealism. His current piece showed the pencilled sketch of a skyline of a futuristic metropolis, of spires and domes and buildings that wouldn’t be possible in reality. Above hovered a medieval fortress, stood on a chunk of earth that looked as though it had been ripped out of the ground by a giant hand. In the foreground, a spider crawled across the sand. Joel took up his materials and started mixing the paint. 24

A phone started ringing in the house. He continued methodically swirling the paint, wondering why the world found it so difficult to leave him the hell alone. He sighed, putting down the palette before heading inside.25

It was Kim.26

“You were supposed to pick the girls up over FOUR HOURS AGO!” she yelled down the phone, temporarily deafening her ex in one ear.27

Oh jeez. He checked his watch - even though he knew ‘FOUR HOURS AGO’ still meant the same thing whether or not he knew the time. Regardless, it was now eight o’clock. He was supposed to have picked them up from school. This was his weekend with them. This wasn’t good. 28

“Joel?!”29

“Kim, oh god. I’m so sorry.” He anxiously ran a hand through his hair. This really wasn’t a good day. “I’m just having a hard time of it today - I completely forgot.”30

“You’re kidding me. You forgot? You forgot about your own daughters? That’s perfect, Joel.”31

“I really am sorry. It’s just -”32

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to call you?” she demanded. He couldn’t be sure, but he would’ve put a safe bet on four hours. “What, you don’t answer your mobile anymore?”33

He realised then that he had left it at the office.34

“We’re going to have to have a serious talk about this. You know, those poor girls were left waiting at that school for an hour before I could come and get them. The headmistress phoned up asking why nobody had come to collect them. What was I supposed to say?”35

“I’m sorry. I really am.”36

“That’s not good enough.”37

“I’ll come straight over and pick them up.”38

“No, it’s too late now. You’ve caused enough hassle. It’s almost their bedtime now, anyway.”39

“It’s still my weekend!”40

“Tough! That’s your own fault. If you want to keep seeing them at all, you’d better prove yourself bloody well capable of looking after them.”41

“It’s not up to you who gets to…” He trailed off and heaved a sigh. He really didn’t have the energy for this right now. “Okay, would you listen to me for a moment? I need to tell you something.”42

“What?”43

Joel took a breath, wondering how to word it. He decided to go for the simple route. “I’ve been made redundant.”44

“What? You got fired?” Her voice sounded scathing, as though he had just confessed that he routinely ate from a trough and liked to roll around in muck.45

“No. Not fired. Redundant. There’s a difference.” He said it slowly, as to a child, in the hopes that she might possibly comprehend, but frankly he didn’t care. He’d given up. He’d lost his job. He loved his job. He really truly did. And he now had no idea what to do. It wasn’t that he wasn’t good at what he did. The fact was, the company was losing money. The fucking economy was plummeting. And…he now had no idea what to do.46

“Whatever, so you’re still out of a job. How do you expect to support your kids with no income? This is ridiculous, I can’t believe you managed to lose your -”47

He calmly placed the phone back in the cradle, his hands only shaking a little. He headed over to the kitchen counter, grabbed himself a glass and filled it up with water from the sink. Taking sips as he went, he headed back to the garage. In the dim light shed by the bare bulb, he looked over his paintings. Bright landscapes, space scenes, misshapen faces, clocks, candles, churches, castles, bridges, skyscrapers, quaint little cottages… All worthless.48

The glass flew through the air and crashed into a wall of canvass, water exploding against the sea of colour. Reality collapsed around him.49