Just one of those days

“Tootles,” Carol called out behind her shoulder as she made her way out the door. Before she knew it, she tripped on the edge of the new door mat which had a rather sarcastic phrase written on it. Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you, it stated in plain lettering.

Negotiating a graceful four-point landing, Carol read the words to herself, while emitting a colorful phrase of her own. Grrr, she thought. That’s the second time this week!

She made her way to the car in the garage without further incident. Her mind now on all the tasks she had to complete that day, she backed out of the garage. Bump, thump, she felt the ominous lifting and lowering as the car obviously rolled over something. She placed the car in Park and jumped out to see what she ran over. One of her favorite planter pots rolled off a nearby shelf and under the car sometime over night. When she hit it with her front tire, it spun over to the other side and she hit it a second time, crushing it.

Kicking the mess back into the garage, Carol continued backing out. She would have to clean it up later. She was already running late for work. Back in the car and on the road, she made it to the other end of the street before the punctured tire went flat.

“Are you kidding me?” she belted out before turning around and going home. Slamming the car into Park, she thought, this day has been a mess since I got up. She sent a quick text off to her boss explaining her morning and calling in “sick” before anything else went wrong, then stormed back into the house. Enough, already, she thought as she whipped up a Bloody Mary and flopped onto the sofa. “I’ll call AAA in a minute… or two… or tomorrow. Damn, Murphy’s Law.”

— The Writers Workshop meets every Thursday at the Cheney Free Press to hone creative writing skills.