Asylum, Chapter Four
Peering out from between the books on the shelf, looking as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the man in the corner attempted to introduce himself.
"Hi. I mean Hello. My name is John."
Then he ducked quickly back behind the shelf and went on to consider what else he had to say.
"i am john. i am a software engineer. that means i understand how computers work and take notes on that so other people that don't understand how computers work can still use them. i am single. my mother and me, we talk on the phone every now and again, when i don't manage to dodge it mostly, and she says i should get married and have kids. do you think i should? what if the software market collapses and i am left unemployed and with no chance to ever be employed? what if my kids will hate me? what if they wont get married and have kids? i speak with my father a lot less. actually there is very little we could speak about. and we didn't use to talk much when i was a kid either. sure back then grades and sports and borrowing his car and allowances and such things made for ready subjects of conversation that would last you, with some care and planning, every breakfast until either of us had to leave, every weekend we spent at home and every other time circumstances forced us to occupy the same few square feet. i never understood this fascination people on tv seem to have with talking. i don't think very much can be accomplished talking to anyone. overall we would be a lot better off if we just had a simple and powerful code that allowed us to communicate with no time and effort lost over pointless intricacies. every morning i wake up at 7. well except that time last month when i had the flu. that was a real bad time. i was in bed with a fever and very dizzy, the apartment kept spinning around me. i was thirsty most of the time, and at first i tried to go for water but i fell down on the floor and then it was so difficult to get back in bed i never tried again, just waited it out. my iq is 129 but they say that is really not very relevant. after i wake up at 7 i work out. i do 15 push ups, 25 sit ups, 30 stand ups. my apartment is made of one room that is sort of a kitchen-living room combo, 25 square feet, a bedroom, 15 square feet, a bathroom, 6 square feet. i take up 46 square feet of living space. then i eat muesli crunchy cereal with parmalat low fat milk. 4 spoons of cereal and milk to cover it in the blue bowl. then i shower. then i take bus 32 and then switch to bus 68 at the 3rd stop. then i get to the office. my place is the cubical f23 / b / 785. there i work. from time to time debby from the copy room passes by my cubical. she has black stockings every monday, wednesday and friday. she has skin-color stockings every thursday and tuesday. she has very nice legs. sometimes she has a long dress but usually she has short skirts. she knows she has very nice legs. maybe she knows i look at her legs as she passes my cubical. she is usually late though. i think she might get in trouble for it. it would be really sad if that happened. i always think it's a real pity i can only see her legs as she passes my cubical. i think if she were to get fired i will get out of my cubical one time as she passes it and look at her face. but i hope she is not fired. after all most people have some trouble and they arrive late, but that never got anyone fired. after work i get back home and watch tv. sometimes i play games on my home computer. i really like one particularly. it is about organizing people to work and founding cities and building important buildings and making armies and conquering other people, but you don't have to, you can live in peace with everyone too. i think i could be good at that, forging an empire... with many cities in which people worked and built important buildings and factories and made many useful objects. after that i go to bed, so that i can get up the next day. weekends i don't have to work, so i stay at home and just relax. i go eat pizza at joe's instead of ordering it. on the way to joe's there is a furniture shop. they don't only sell furniture there, they have all sorts of decorations. they have a very nice vase. i think it's porcelain. it is blue and has a painting on it of flowers and a little bird. i like that vase very much. i think one day i will just walk in there and buy it. then i could put it on my table, near the computer. although it might fall and shatter, and that would be very bad. maybe i could put it somewhere safe, inside a drawer somewhere. but then i wouldn't get to see it... maybe every now and again i could open the drawer and look at it. still i could drop it and it could break. how wonderful it is that every weekend on my way to joe's i can see the vase safely inside the furniture shop."
Distracted with his daydreaming the large book John was holding slipped from his hand and fell to the floor with a loud thump.
Red-faced he snatched the book from the floor and retreated to an even darker corner behind the book shelves.
