A dialogue

Carefully settling his steaming cup of extremely hot coffee and throwing his knapsack under the desk, he signs into the computer and turns to the freelancer who’s been working in the office for about a week-or-so now.

“Good morning,” she says before he’s able to offer the same.

“Good morning,” he gives back with a slow sigh as the booting machine connects to the local network.

“How’s it going?”

He doesn’t know her very well but she looks like the open and compassionate type.

“To be honest, it’s all over the place at the moment,” he betrays more than he may have intended and she can tell. “Lots of good, some really, very bad. It’s like just as everything is going great, something really horrible just appears and says ‘Hi, you may not be expecting me, but I’m here to shit on the ice-cream.“

“Yeah, like your life just blows up in an instant”

“It blows up,” he agrees after a pause. “My mother had a heart attack yesterday.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine. She’s fine – now. It’s just everything was going so great. Then, on some quiet Tuesday afternoon – “

“ – your life just blows up.”

“As if from out of nowhere.”

“Sometimes your life is going just great and then it just all blows up.”

“You sound like you might be speaking from experience there.”

“I do,” she says slowly and without turning from her screen. “My life blew up once. A few year’s ago, our daughter’s – the father of my child. He had a cardiac arrest and unfortunately he didn’t make it.“

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“That’s just what happens sometimes.“

His drink was long cold before he was in any mood to consider it. He repeats the conversation in his head as he runs the emptied cup under the hot tap before putting it, still wet, back on the shelf.

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