What Is Reality?
The alarm clock beeped quietly the same annoying ditty that it performed every fucking day. He was tempted to just ignore it, but he knew that give the clock a few more seconds, and it would wake up his wife, and she would wake him up mercilessly. Despite the semi-conscious ferocity directed at the clock, it merely shut up and did not give him the benefit of a whimper or any other sort of sign that it was offended/hurt. He stood up and nearly fell into the wall as he attempted to remind his brain that it was in charge of balance. He fell into a daydream as he went about getting ready for work.
***
The tiny bird began chirping right next to him, issuing a little ditty that it knew the man did not like. He was tempted to just ignore it, but he knew that give the bird a few more seconds, and it would wake up his wife, and she would wake him up mercilessly. His eyes were still closed, but he reached for his laser gun on the bedside table, and shot at the bird, missing and creating a hole in the wall. At least the wall will repair itself, he thought as he stood up, nearly falling into the wall as he attempted to remind his brain that it was its job to keep him balanced. He fell into a daydream as he went about getting ready for work.
***
He checked once more in the mirror to make sure that he was actually completely dressed, he had added this step after a rather unfortunate incident with a really hot girl…yeah, that was scarring. Seeing that nothing was amiss, he walked out, grabbing his suitcase and car keys on the way. The car was a mini cooper, he had gotten it for a high price when they were popular, but now that they were not, he could not bear to sell it, there was always a chance. He sped away from the house, not that he was excited to get to work, but he hated the house. The single story pale yellow ranch (complete with white picket fence) screamed of happy young family oh so excited to be populating the Earth beyond its capabilities. He turned on the radio to , that was not its real name, but he never liked any of the music it played, he only kept it on that station because… Because that is what the young guys at the gym listen to. He remarked lamentably in his mind. He continued to daydream throughout the ride.
***
He checked to make sure he had everything, and put his computer into its special little case, then slid both into his pocket. He walked over to the teleportation circle room, pressed a few buttons so that it would transport him over the correct course, and then left the house as quickly as possible. He hated that house, it had been built in the 1950's as a single story ranch, changing colors from white to pale blue to pale yellow; now it was closer to modern but it still looked like it was only from '54, 2554 that is. A few seconds later he appeared in his office, a floating cubicle about 10 feet from another cubicle that was exactly the same as his. He sat down behind his desk and began coding instructions for atomic bombs, he had gotten good at this, he could code them so that they would land within an inch of their target, and they could take alternate routes, not just the most convenient one. He could do all of this in thirty seconds or less; he was the third fastest at the company. He could even do it when he was not paying attention…
***
Within fifteen minutes he was in his office, there were rows upon rows of cubicles until it practically looked like a proletarian sea of holes. Without even thinking about it, he walked back to his cubicle, it was near the center of the twelfth row, sat down at his desk, and began answering the questions of the idiots who refused to read the included instructions. He was one of the best employees there, but he did not care about that, it was still the same job day in and day out, and he hated having to be nice to all of the idiots he heard. He wished someone would shoot them, that way that much idiocy would not be able to reproduce, maybe then society would go somewhere. While still on the phone he began to zone out.
***
He watched the girl a few cubicles over. The only time she actually worked at coding was when the boss was around, the rest of the time she would play computer games, or talk to her friends, or other such unproductive things. He would have picked on her about that, but her ass always stopped him. It was full, and yet not domineering; it was the star, and yet played as perfect support to play up her breasts (also rather marvelous, but not as impressive); he was sure if the Bible was true, God must have taken the seventh day to sculpt and admire her ass. He wanted it. Well her also, it would be rather odd to have one without the other, but he wanted to take her to a motel somewhere near the office, and…a beeping on his computer told him that he needed to get back to work. He returned to his mundane task and allowed his mind to wander.
***
He went to the same diner everyday for lunch, not because it was particularly good (he was sure it was going to kill him one of these days), but because there was a particularly attractive waitress there. The manager had threatened to fire her on multiple occasions, she really never did work, but somehow she was always there the next day. He was sure she probably gave him blowjobs or something, but he had no proof…if only she would do that for him. But she never even noticed him, even when he was one of five people in the place. He knew he was not that attractive, but still, that amount of coldness drove him crazy sometimes. Still, he would dream of taking her to some motel somewhere and…he noted that he had five minutes to get back to work, and so finished up quick and left, leaving a ten dollar tip, hoping that she would pick it up.
***
The day continued uneventfully, sometimes he would daydream, other times he would actually have to pay attention because his boss was around, or he had some time to stare at the paragon of ass-dom. Finally at five o'clock he was able to leave for the day. He wondered where she went home, but he could never work up the courage to ask, and it would be way too stalker-like for him to follow her, he would just have to wait until one day when he could actually say something, and be able to look her in the eye…that would be difficult. He teleported back home 3…2…1…and right on cue, his two kids rounded the corner and tackled him, fortunately the oldest was only five, so they did not send him sprawling, but it still took too much effort for him to keep his balance as his kids clung onto his legs. He trudged into the living room, them in tow, and kissed his wife.
"How are things going?" despite the vagueness of the question, they both knew what was meant.
"He is fine, only two more months to go, and we will be a family of five." She glowed with happiness, this mixed with her natural beauty and grace always managed to melt him; he had married her for a reason.
"I'll go start on dinner." He left the room, and began to daydream while cooking.
"Thank-you honey." She smiled sweetly, glad that he was so considerate.
***
It was finally five o'clock, and he could leave. He always waited just a little while after the main crowd had left, he hated trying to fight through crowds, and he knew that it would only cause an accident, and someone might get hurt, and the insurance would be a nightmare and…why the hell do I sound like a geezer? He questioned himself, a bit disgusted at the fact that he had aged forty years in one minute. Once the crowd had left he went out to his car and drove away, knowing that his kids would end up tackling him the moment he walked in the door, and his wife would be waiting for him in the living room, excited that there were only two more months left before they would have yet another child to take care of. He went into his typical daydream of a man from the year 2570, he did not know why, but he remembered as a child, this man was also a child, and he had so many hopes and desires, and he had created amazing dreams of ruling the world, or defeating space invaders and becoming a hero. That had not happened, he worked a job that he hated, lived in a house that he hated, and lived a life that he hated. He wondered how was it even possible for a dream to get that mundane and bleak.
***
He continued thinking about the man from 2011. When he was a kid, so was the man, he had dreamed of becoming the president, or saving the world from a nuclear holocaust, and other such exciting things. Now the man lived a life he hated, though he could not help but note how similar their situations were. He wondered if either of them would be able to break out of this rut, of course he hoped that he would be the one to do it, but if it were the other man, at least he would have something interesting to dream.
