004

“I don’t want to”, he complained in his whiny little boy voice. “Why do I have to?”

“Bob, you’re 32 years old. Act like a man. And while you’re at, pick up your dirty clothes and clean the vegemite off your face”.

Bob was 32 years old. Married. Wife. 4 kids. House and a mortgage. In an alternate universe, Bob flew around in tights and underwear saving old ladies from getting run over by buses. In this reality, Bob was rapidly approaching middle age and had a strange growth of hair on his tummy in the shape of an elephant.

003

Today was the day. Her heart beat with excitement as she jumped out of bed and began checking her things for the fifth time since she had packed them. She wanted to make sure that the day was perfect and that she didn't forget a thing. It was so hard to be quiet but she knew that she had to be. She collected her clothes and tried not to run downstairs. Once dressed, she popped the bread in the toaster. Her heart beat strongly with the anticipation of the day ahead. This was going to be the best day of her life: her first play date!

002

The pencil scratched across the paper for a moment before pausing again. He sighed and looked out the window. Writing was the hardest thing in the world to commit to. You had no boss, no deadlines but those which you set and which you could amend as you saw fit. You sit there deliberately trying to let your mind wander and, well, it does. Almost everything else looks more interesting. He looked around at his desk littered with mangled shapes of folded paper. Not discarded drafts, the latest distraction was origami. Sort of. With no instruction manual and no one to show him how, he’d decided to give it a go anyway. Kids can do this stuff, so someone with a degree from Sydney Uni should be able to do it, no sweat. He picked one up. If you looked at it from the right angle, it could be a dog. Or a rocket ship. Or even a really crappy piece of badly folded paper. Smartarse kids. He picked up the pencil again.

001

Sipping the warm tea, she looked out the dirty window into the street below. Even on the cold and grey day, the world looked so calm and peaceful. It made her relax a little although she couldn't entirely shake the heaviness of her other thoughts. For the moment though, she just wanted to enjoy the colours of the streetscape, the rain dripping from the bright green spring leaves and mostly, the quiet.