One of these Days: 04/27/13

Welcome back! And now... meet Heather

The minute my feet as much as touch the ground, I can hear them fight next door... just great. Seems like this is going to be one of these days again

But hey, at least I don´t have to kick them out of bed today. From the sound of it, they are already elbowing their way out of the bathroom and getting dressed


Suits me fine. The less they cling to me, the better... ah, time to face the pack. I draw a deep breath and yell- "GET INTO THE KITCHEN NOW OR I´LL COME FOR YOU AND YOU DON´T WANT THAT! I MEAN IT!!"

The moment they stomp into the room I can tell what their argument has been about- again. And guess what, I am right! First thing Kaine blurts out is the same old crap he keeps going on and on and on about ever since he found out he can annoy me more when babbling nonstop
"Mom! Mom! Seamus says our Dad doesn´t like us any more than his likes him, but ours pays child support and his doesn´t, so OUR dad loves us better than his loves him, right?!"

I just can´t believe this!
"Christ almighty why do you have to be such a pain in the butt child! I told you a hundred times the only reason your father pays for you two brats is because there is no way he could wriggle out of it!"

"Other than Seamus´ dad, who is one sly bastard and managed to talk me into accepting a payoff in cash" I add trough gritted teeth.
Oh yes. Rub salt into that wound, why don´t you? I could still slap myself first thing every morning for having been so stupid!

"You know what? You eat your pancakes now, and I get ready for work. And I don´t want to see or hear a THING of the three of you, understood?!

"Great Job Bro. Now she will be stomping all over us for days, again"
"But... I just thought, yanno, at least he liked us"

I just don´t get it. How, again, did I of all people in the world end up with THREE of those little monsters and no guy to roll in the cash?!

I can hear the door to my windowless chamber open. Great! Didn´t make myself clear about the ´don´t want to see or hear a thing`bit, apparently?
"Mom.... he didn´t do it on purpose... he´s just a little kid.."

It´s kind of hard to hold my temper with these boys, I swear to god I have no idea what I have done to deserve this
"Your brother is eight, Seamus. That´s pretty big boy if you ask me - besides, I can hear the school bus honking in the street. How about you get the twins down... NOW?" I snarl

I can hear him swear under his breath as he turns on his heel and calls out for the twins... so I wait for the sound of the elevator going down

Finally alone. Dear me... I scuffle into that bathroom and check my makeup again. Phew, still ok... I really hate it when I have to redo it in the morning
...Hmmmm sweet mama ...
I grin and wink at my reflection in the mirror

As I return into the kitchen to finally find myself some grub, too, I see they have not even cleared the table before leaving. Splendid.

And one of the three has not eaten his pancakes again. This is incredible! I pay for all this, I make the effort to fix breakfast for them, and one doesn´t even bother to EAT? We didn´t have the last of that yet, fellas!

When I am an finally done with the dishes and walk to work, I realize I am fairly late again. Oh dear

And this means, the kiosk will be open already. Damn!

And it is open indeed. Fortunately, Darren is busy reading some book- the geek! - so I try to get pass him

"Oh! Heather, is that you?"

Typically my luck. Shizz!
"Good morning Darren! Long time no see" I chirp

"Long time no see indeed"
he chuckles and various parts of him start to wobble along merrily... yuk...
"How have you been lately?"

"Ah, fine, fine... listen Dar, so sorry, but I really need to get going... I am already late for work today, yanno..."
I slowly back off while I am talking

"... but, you know, I am sure we will find another opportunity to chat about old times some time soon. Bye hon!"

"Yeah, sure... one day you will deign to waste a minute of your precious time on me..."

And off I go. Phew! That was a close shave... imagine, this sorry excuse for a man was giving me puppy eyes since we were back in highschool. Some guys really don´t get it

Uh, I am late indeed. The university grounds are completely deserted already!

At least the boss is not patrolling the corridor today. Swiftly I stride towards my office and open the door quietly

... and he is not awaiting me inside, either. One plus at last

... immidiately followed by a minus, of course. SHE is already in.

Le Anh. My office partner. Always on time, always friendly, always in a good mood, always efficient...
you name any annoyig trait somebody might have, be sure she has it

As she is happily typing away, I just mumble some ´mornin´ in her direction and slump into my own chair

The clacking of the keyboard stops dead "Aw good morning to you, too, Heather! I feared you or one of the boys might have fallen ill"
she chirps in that cheerful little voice of hers

The cow....
"Naw all is good, thanks for asking hon... just some trouble with the boys, you know how it is..."
why doesn´t the woman just shut up, I have more important things to do right now!

The brats reminded me of something this morning, so I go online and check my bank account...
WHAT! THE!

This can´t be happening- soldier boy has not paid yet! I am still in overdraft!!

And as if this was not enough yet, Mr. Ashtree pays us a visit right now
"Good moring ladies... ah Ms. Sweeney, so you are in today? Funny, I did not see you enter the office this morning"

"Good morning to you, too, sir. I am glad to be able to tell you that I could achieve the information about Dr. Deadwood that you asked for yesterday...
do you want me to sent you a mail with my research file attached?"

"Ah Ms. Su, where would we be without you... and yes, please do. But I´s like to call him asap, so would you please give me his phone number in advance..."

Aw Miss Suuuuu...
Dear me, what a creep. But as she distracts him atm, I have a chance to sneak out and make a call

So I stomp into the toilet on the other side of the corridor to make sure I have my privacy for this one...
I hit the numbers....

"Hi there, this is Alan Wright´s mailbox. When this is on, I am probably out of the country right now... or just to busy to answer the phone"
- this is followed by an idiotic girlish giggle -
"But you can always leave me a message after the beep!"
A message? Can do that...
"Alan you piece of crap, this is Heather! You ´forgot´ to file the child support again this month- you got ONE WEEK before I put you to court, do you hear me?!"
I hiss into the phone before hitting the red button violently. The BASTARD!

Time really flies when you are having fun... to bad it crawls if you don´t.
Argh.
I pour myself some coffee before I return to my desk... what a truely shitty day.

I bet the stupid cow has not even noticed I walked out of the room

And right, Miss perfect keeps typing away like there is no tomorrow while I try to find out if Alan has really left the country. Unfortunately his simbook page confirms this info- how the hell am I going to pay the rent this month?!

Seems like I have not to many options here... I will have to work overtime again. Or kick Seamus butt a bit harder about finding himself a part time job... hmmm...

I wish I could swap places with Le Anh. She is single, obviously does ok financially... ok she is thick as a brick but anyway. It would be a bargain for my part

Few hours later, she adresses me all of a sudden with one of these big bright smiles of hers
"Say, do you have any plans for your lunch break yet? We could pay the canteen a visit, they say they have a new cook now"

I tentatively rise an eybrow... canteen, hm, why not. I won´t be home in time to eat with the boys today anyway, and maybe I can even milk her a bit. Gee sometimes it is so hard to supress a smirk when talking to her
"Sure, love to hon"

Jep, right, they have new staff at the canteen, that´s for sure.
Yuk, the messy hair of that woman makes me think again about eating here, but Le Anh has already ordered to plates of salad for us

"Thanks again Le, this was SO embarrassing... I must have misplaced my purse in the other jacket this morning"
"Ah you welcome, this could happen to anybody. Never mind..."

Success, she bought me the lunch, heheheh... on the downside, this means I will chat with her during the break. Ah whatever. It´s considered impolite to chat with your mouth full, right? Right! So I just add the occasional grunt while she effortlessly keeps our ´conversaton` going on her own

Frankly, it doesn´t bother me overmuch. As a mother of three I am used to zone out while someone is talking to me... wait a minute, the background noise stopped. Who is she staring at?

Ashtree! Is it really possible?! That man is a pest!
"I am very sorry to interrupt you ladies, but... I need your help Ms. Su. Proffessor Len is on phone, and it seems that his interpreter is not available... if you would be so kind to help out..."

Le shoots me a glance and jumps to attention
"Yes sir, of course. See you later Heather"

"Aw, what a shame- but what can one do when duty calls, right? See you later Le..." STRIKE! I can eat my lunch in peace and quiet now... plus... hm...

Well I´ll be damned if he wants her to do just translations work for him in the privacy of his office. How interesting...

Being the secretive obedient slave she is, Le refuses to share any juicy details after she finally returns to her desk. In fact she pretends to be a little annoyed, so I drop the subject

Not to long after that, she starts to clear her table and gets ready to leave

"Good bye Heather, see you tomorrow" she tosses me as she walks out of the room "Yeah, whatever" I respond in an uninterested tone

How great for you that you can leave now while I have to stick around for another two or three hours, goat

When I have finally not only reached my day hours but also managed to busy myself an extra one and a half, I am out of the place and take the long walk home...

The sun is already setting when I pass one of the local clubs. Hm, why not end a crappy day with a bit of fun? Couldn´t imagine why not, that´s it.
With a new swing I cross the street and enter

Ha, that I didn´t think of that earlier in the day, would have made it more bearable! But first things first, I need some drink now

Yeah, that´s more like it...
and now let´s see...

... what´s on the menu tonight

I don´t have to scan the room for long until one of the dancers locks eyes with me and shoots me a smile from the other side of the room, so I stroll over

"Hey pretty lady.... wanna dance?"
"Hey pretty boy... I´d love to, but my throat is a bit dry..."

"Oh my, we can´t have that, can we? Why don´t you let me... buy you a drink?" he offers with a lot more offers attached to his smile

"A drink sounds great... for starters" I purr

Ok ok, maybe I had a few to many drinks, and maybe I even had a bit to much fun with ... eh... whatshisname, but who cares? I am an adult single, right? A girl needs her fun sometimes

No need to wake the whole house, though... so I stagger upstairs instead of using this noisy old elevator and use the opportunity to get rid of some more drinks on the way up. We tenants pay for the cleaning anyway, right?
Finally I tiptoe into my appartment

*CLICK*
The blinding light hurts my eyes - and the yelling doesn´t please my ears, either. Ouch! I think I am getting a headache...
"MOM! Where on earth have you been?! It´s almost four in the morning! I have been waiting for you!"

"NOT in that tone young man, and turn down the volume, too! Actually I would like to know right now why you are still up -and besides, I don´t owe you ANY explanation!"

"Are you kidding?! I am up because I waited for you! For the last hours I tried to decide if I should call the hospital, or go looking for you- why can´t you even TEXT me if you do this? You never do! I am so sick of this!"

"Enough! This is it Seamus Sweeney, you are grounded! And now, off to bed, right now!"

"Fine. Next time I won´t stay up, promise"

*SLAM*

Although my head seriously starts to hurt now, I can not help but smirk. The little brat, trying to play smart with me? Ha, two can play that game boy, and I have a lifetime of experience ahead of you. YOU are going nowhere fun anytime soon