March 15, early morning - Phoenix, California
Five thirty in the A.M.
One long, lightly tanned arm shot out from under a mound of blankets and pillows to paw around over a small mahogany night stand until searching fingers finally found and slapped a long, oval button, abruptly silencing the whining drone of the clock's alarm. Kalita hated that thing some mornings, cursed it with every choice word she knew, some she didn't, and a few that even the gods themselves had never heard. In the next instant, the clock was screaming at her again. This time, she yanked herself upright and glared down at the time piece, squinting and blinking for a few moments before her eyes decided to pity her and focused just a little on the blistering red glow of the numbers on the dark face. For the life of her, she couldn't read them, but familiarity with her killjoy of a timepiece, she knew she had fallen asleep again. The alarm would sound every nine minutes without fail once it was set to go. In the spirit of laziness, she was tempted to let it try and wake her again in another nine minutes, but after hitting the snooze button a second time, something clicked and had her convinced it was time to start her day early.
Not that she didn't start early enough. David didn't open his clinic until seven sharp and even walking that distance, Kalita knew she could make it there in just over a half an hour's time. It wouldn't be long until the weekend hit and despite the soft warmth of her comforter, a bath sounded even better. The cold air of her apartment almost made her reconsider that bright idea once she'd tossed off the covers, but she managed to keep herself sitting long enough to wake up a little more, and words were clear to her once again when she reached her computer chair. Whining at the chill of the cushions, Kalita waited impatiently for her laptop to boot up. A few clicks of the mouse later and music finally came blaring out of the four speakers she had positioned in each of the four corners of her bedroom. Letting her eyes close without any intention of sleep now, she let her head fall forward, unbrushed hair falling in thick locks about her face. Soon, they were waving against her skin, slapping her lightly as she began bobbing her head, arms and fingers rocking out on the air guitar she carried with her always.
With a slight bounce in her step, Kalita all but jumped out of her seat again and danced her way to the adjoining bathroom, to a cabinet to retrieve a towel and a wash rag, and set about her morning ritual with the door wide open to let the music continue in through the noise of the shower water. She laughed and wiped toothpaste and spittle off the mirror at a particularly passionate verse of Let Me Be Myself and then paused. The woman in the mirror suddenly adopted a perturbed look as her counterpart wondered over that voice, something about it ringing bells. She had heard the song enough to know every word, every note in the music, and yet that wasn't what bothered her about it now.
Try as she might, she couldn't quite grasp what it was that caught her attention in such a way and so she shrugged it off, finished brushing her teeth and tongue, and gargled out the last of the song before drying her hair and getting into her work garb for the day. The computer fell silent with a few more clicks and was replaced with a pair of ear buds cranking out something uppity from the way she had changed her dance. Purse hanging off her shoulder, breakfast and lunch money tucked safely within, iPod in its holder under her sleeve, keys in hand, Kalita stepped briskly out of her apartment and locked the door, then turned and headed out to her waiting car, waving to the neighbors across the way as she set out to begin her shift and the sun tore up the sky with orange fire in the east.
Five thirty in the A.M.
One long, lightly tanned arm shot out from under a mound of blankets and pillows to paw around over a small mahogany night stand until searching fingers finally found and slapped a long, oval button, abruptly silencing the whining drone of the clock's alarm. Kalita hated that thing some mornings, cursed it with every choice word she knew, some she didn't, and a few that even the gods themselves had never heard. In the next instant, the clock was screaming at her again. This time, she yanked herself upright and glared down at the time piece, squinting and blinking for a few moments before her eyes decided to pity her and focused just a little on the blistering red glow of the numbers on the dark face. For the life of her, she couldn't read them, but familiarity with her killjoy of a timepiece, she knew she had fallen asleep again. The alarm would sound every nine minutes without fail once it was set to go. In the spirit of laziness, she was tempted to let it try and wake her again in another nine minutes, but after hitting the snooze button a second time, something clicked and had her convinced it was time to start her day early.
Not that she didn't start early enough. David didn't open his clinic until seven sharp and even walking that distance, Kalita knew she could make it there in just over a half an hour's time. It wouldn't be long until the weekend hit and despite the soft warmth of her comforter, a bath sounded even better. The cold air of her apartment almost made her reconsider that bright idea once she'd tossed off the covers, but she managed to keep herself sitting long enough to wake up a little more, and words were clear to her once again when she reached her computer chair. Whining at the chill of the cushions, Kalita waited impatiently for her laptop to boot up. A few clicks of the mouse later and music finally came blaring out of the four speakers she had positioned in each of the four corners of her bedroom. Letting her eyes close without any intention of sleep now, she let her head fall forward, unbrushed hair falling in thick locks about her face. Soon, they were waving against her skin, slapping her lightly as she began bobbing her head, arms and fingers rocking out on the air guitar she carried with her always.
With a slight bounce in her step, Kalita all but jumped out of her seat again and danced her way to the adjoining bathroom, to a cabinet to retrieve a towel and a wash rag, and set about her morning ritual with the door wide open to let the music continue in through the noise of the shower water. She laughed and wiped toothpaste and spittle off the mirror at a particularly passionate verse of Let Me Be Myself and then paused. The woman in the mirror suddenly adopted a perturbed look as her counterpart wondered over that voice, something about it ringing bells. She had heard the song enough to know every word, every note in the music, and yet that wasn't what bothered her about it now.
Try as she might, she couldn't quite grasp what it was that caught her attention in such a way and so she shrugged it off, finished brushing her teeth and tongue, and gargled out the last of the song before drying her hair and getting into her work garb for the day. The computer fell silent with a few more clicks and was replaced with a pair of ear buds cranking out something uppity from the way she had changed her dance. Purse hanging off her shoulder, breakfast and lunch money tucked safely within, iPod in its holder under her sleeve, keys in hand, Kalita stepped briskly out of her apartment and locked the door, then turned and headed out to her waiting car, waving to the neighbors across the way as she set out to begin her shift and the sun tore up the sky with orange fire in the east.
