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About time
Thinking about retirement, he started his daily routine. Check the watches, water the plants, feed the dog, brew the coffee… Same as always. A foggy day accompanied him as he went through his chores, but it was of the good variety. The kind that invites reflection, which suited his mood perfectly. His current job was not bad at all; excellent pay, great benefits and the feeling that comes with holding a position of power, but he couldn’t remember when he started or what he would do when he finished, if ever. Even if he loved his job, it had started getting to him, and he couldn’t remember ever taking a day off. His job was kind of important, but to him it had become a chore, what with all the appointments and the busy schedule he never had any time for himself. It showed in the way that his dog, sweet old ‘Bus was starting to resemble just that: a bus. “Not even time to walk my own dog, imagine that” he thought to himself. Although it was true that the dog ate too much, as much as three dogs’ worth. Still, it was no excuse to neglect his pet, he told himself. Onwards the clocks ticked, and he had a busy day ahead, although he still wished to stay and enjoy this day to himself. A walk through his neighborhood with his dog and maybe even stopping for a chat with the neighbors would be nice, although he was not sure if they would like that. Countless years living here and he had never invited them over! He would have to fix that for sure someday. Thinking of possible activities, he looked out through the small kitchen window and over his lawn and noticed that he must have forgotten to water the grass, because it was all withered and black. Definitely no barbecues with the neighbors, then. “Well maybe I can show them my impressive watch collection” he thought. And it was indeed impressive: Millions of watches, old styles, modern ones, some very exotic and other plain and boring, and all of them unique and with proper names. He had so many watches that he had forgotten how he got most of them. Even so, all of them were impeccably placed on his living room wall, his whole life’s worth of watch collection and care, but he did not really like watches that much anymore. “So maybe no watches for the neighbors then…” he said, still thinking about interesting activities to entertain his potential guests. The dog was getting excited, so he took it out on his back yard so he could play for a while. “Hey, where are your nametags buddy?” he said, noticing that the dog’s collar was missing. After a short look he found it lying on the withered grass and carefully slipped it over the dog’s three heads. “That’s a good boy Cerberus, good boy!” he exclaimed while patting the dog’s three heads alternatingly. He checked the watches one last time, noticed that two of the timers were about to run out and took them off the wall and slipped them on. The names read Karen and Robert. “Time for work.” He said to no one in particular as he slipped on his black robes and took his enormous sickle from the coatrack. He checked the sickle’s blade, found it to his liking and stepped out of the door and into the street.
