Jeremy

It is raining as they drive there. He is looking out the window at the trees and cars that whiz by. When they stop at a traffic light, he throws his hands up in despair, crying, "Traffic jam?!". They all laugh.

They turn off the highway. He is ready for it today. He knows that it's a Friday so the weekend is here. A lady has held up traffic 200m back to drop her kid off in shelter, but no one beeps their horn.

Little by little, he has begun to accept the new routine. Yesterday he did and tomorrow he might once more, but today, Jeremy did not cry in class.

Wake Up And Go Beserk

No more.

Home

After the rain, a rainbow appears in the East. The leaves on the trees are glistening wet. He can see as far as the horizon for now. There are people flying radio controlled aeroplanes in the field, for now.

The hum of the ceiling fan relaxes him.

Last Living Souls

The dust balls swirl across their feet as they walk along the path that crosses the north-west field. It is further from home than they have ventured at any time since the deadly dust clouds began. But his son has been badly missing his mother for a few days now. He needs to distract him a little, so he takes the risk.

They reach a deserted playground soon. There is a father with two kids already there. The sun is searing. The slide is rusty, the swing and see-saw creak, and the rubber on the ground is cracked in several places. There are skeletons underneath the play shed. Yet his son gleefully starts running around. Soon the children are chasing each other and the two men are smiling. Children find such intense joy in the moment, and they transmit the joy magnanimously.

The other man's smile suddenly turns upside down. He himself turns around to see the sky darkening at the horizon. He picks his son up and begins to run. The sirens begin now. His son realises they are in trouble and begins to sob.

Just as they exit the field, the cloud catches them. Exposed for less than 10 seconds, they suffer for weeks on end.

Man Next Door

He is the kind who turns his porch light off on Halloween. The children wouldn't go there even in daylight anyway. The wailing cats sound too much like Hansel in a cauldron.

Once he had to ask his neighbour for help to reset the circuit breaker. He was so annoyed with himself for being needy. Yet he was disappointed when the neighbour did not check in on him the next day.

Days later, they finally do cross paths. He whips out a five-year-old letter from his wallet - a testimony to his 30 years of service before being let go. He mimes that he can only find work as a sweeper or cleaner. There is also a black-and-white photo in the wallet of a young man, happy and without any scars on his face.

Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car

It's black and it drives like a dream. Some dreams are good, and some are bad though.

They go to many places with it. They build sandcastles at the beach. They visit their new Home with it. They go to the gardens by the bay with it. Waking up from this dream will be difficult.

As a consequence of buying a car, he walks less. Earlier, he walked an average of 8.87 kilometers per day. After buying the car, he has walked an average of 7.81 kilometers per day. And that is only because he has started jogging again. Otherwise it would be a much more drastic decrease.

It is certainly more convenient, but it is also more expensive. Tolls, gasoline, parking - they all add up very quickly.

Moonlight Serenade

The sun is the moon. As long as it is yellow and round, it's the moon. In fact, anything yellow and curved, like a helmet, is also a moon. Since we're going there, how about we call anything round a moon too? I know it isn't but what can you do about me calling it a moon?