A Day In The Life - SOT2023

Superwoman Meredith was the apex female in the workplace. Well educated, well liked, and 47 minutes past her alarm. Superwoman was late.

She rushed around her cookie-cutter California home in haste. She was relieved to see her 15 year old son Timothy had left for school without her being up. At least that didn't start out wrong. She grabbed her things and immediately called her boss to apologize and explain she will be teleconferencing the meeting from her car on the Freeway in she doesn't make it by 10.

Traffic was as usual. A 90 minute schlep with no difference between 7 and 7:55. "Wouldn't be there by 9," was all she knew. Unless she risked the carpool lane.

Malcom was the perrenial whiz kid. Advanced placement everything. 13 and a Senior in High School. Destined for greatness.

His high school was cruel though. Stigmatized for his tighty whities, young appearance, and threatening for his superior intelligence.

One kid was particularly cruel to him. Timothy. The endless names, pushing, and taunting in the hallway had forced an internal change in Malcom. He learned martial arts, sort of. Not in any class, but online. The last few weeks of his life was time he committed to the muscle memory of a single take-down move.

Today was the day he tried it.

Lupeline was in the family business. Her family's business was in contracting. Their current project was a residential tower under construction downtown. Her job was of an administrative capacity in the on-site office. For her, it was just a normal day.

Gregory always wanted to be cop. Even when he was kid riding a dirt bike, he dreamed of a career in Law Enforcement.

Dream was reality now. For him Highway Patrolman was the perfect synergy of risk taking and law and order. The platitude of "not working a day in your life" certaiy applied.

He parked his Truck in the lot and walked into his substation to "work" another day on the highways of the suburban megaopolis.

Arianna was style incarnate. An aspiring model/actress relegated to the role of a pandering Barista, with only the Dunning-Kruger effect to elevate her above all the other Barista-Actress-Waitresses throughout the city.

After sharing her thoughts with her 2,156 Instagram followers she clocked in at her slightly-more-than-minimum wage job at a chain coffee shop.

Meredith was stuck in freeway traffic. But there was that carpool lane. The charge was less than 50 dollars from the camera, so why not? The express lanes were already back to full speed. She might make the meeting after all.

Gregory was at a pullout in the middle divider of the freeway. Radar gun sighted on the express lanes as they passed.

At that same time Malcom was setting a trap. At the last minute he called an audible and decided to lure Timothy into a vulnerable situation.

As he passed him in the hallway he "accidentally" dropped his books. In the past that opened himself up to attack.

Once again, his mark took the bait. Right as Timothy got into range he stuck his left leg strait out, threw his left arm back, and with all his force pushed Timothy over his leg onto the floor. It worked. At which point he proceeded to hit him in the head with Calculus book screaming, "You know what this is? You know how to read this, you dumbs** moth*******er?"

The fight was spotted and broken up. Timothy writhing on the floor.

Administrators and teacher knew the score immediately.

Meredith was only doing 70, but she knew the cop noticed her alone. It was turning into the worst day ever. So much for the meeting. The one day a cop is parked by the cameras. Looks like a double-whammy of impatience for her.

"I just need to get to work and get some coffee," she thought.

They called him Wingnut. His mind was lost long ago. A member of The Eternal Tin Foil Hat Society. Definitely a castaway of greater society.

But he had a mission. He was a spy for a secret government coup. He could transform ATM's into mobile interface devices and access his secret mainframe. He lived everywhere and nowhere.

On this day, it was somewhere downtown.

It was lunch time for Lupeline. 10:30 on the dot with unions and all. She wanted more of a snack. A nice latte and protein pack would suffice.

As she walked into the chain coffee shop there was a disheveled man poking at the ATM outside. He smelled like the street and was talking in some strange fragmented language.

"More of them lately", she thought to herself.

Meredith needed her pretentiously named dose of caffeine. After the morning she had, and meeting she is taking in over the phone, she wasn't paying attention as she barged into the construction worker in front of her.

"Excuse me, Lady", the construction worker said.

Meredith turned back and snapped, "It happens, honey, didn't see you there."

Lupeline decided to let it go. So what if a woman had been rude to her? As she ordered, she noted to the barista the crazy guy at the ATM outside.

As she waited for her latte, the rude woman started getting impatient for her caffeine.

"What is it about downtown that makes people act crazy?"

She pondered that as she returned to the construction site.

Arianna decided to walk outside and shoe away the transient.

"You can't loiter here," she said.

He rambled something about "the mainframe" and shuffled away.

Meredith recieved a phone call. To compound her day from hell, her son now had been suspended per a zero tolerance policy on fighting. If it wasn't for her parking pass, she'd be worried about a parking ticket too.

The coffee was helping though.

By 4:00 PM Gregory had had a typical day. An accident, a few tickets, and only the beginning of evening rush hour to go.

Lupeline was done by 4:30. She might beat the worst rush hour traffic. Or not.

Gridlock already. Such is commuting in this city. Not even to the Freeway and already stuck.

Unbeknownst to her, a crazy disheveled man had darted in front of an oncoming car on the Freeway onramp. Authorities hadn't even arrived yet.

As she passed, she saw a Highway Patrolman dismounting his bike and closing the ramp.

She waived as she passed.

Gregory smiled. "Not many nice people anymore," he thought.

Malcom's father couldn't wait to shake his son's hand when he got home. He went from "nerd" to "genius that kicked the s# out of a dumb bully" in one school suspension. "Don't fall behind in school. And enjoy the vacation," he said.

Malcom booted up his XBox for some Halo.
Meredith was sitting in traffic by 5:30 pm.
Lupeline was almost home.
Gregory was returning to the station.
Arianna was waiting for the train.
Wingnut was on transport to the morgue.

From the Northeast, a rolling came. Out of nowhere, like waves on an ocean. A strong and pronounced up and down. Then the horrendous sound like 1000 trains approaching.

The shaking and swaying lasted 2 minutes. The greater metropolis ripped apart.

Malcom lost power.
Meredith was stranded on a stretch of Freeway by a collapsed section of road.
Lupeline found out when she pulled into her driveway and her neighbors were all outside. She had thought her alignment was going.
Gregory was in the station. Now, on generator power. His shift was not yet over.
Arianna was stranded downtown after the trains were shut down.
Wingnut didn't notice a thing.

Just a day in the life of angels.

The End

a reply to: Degradation33

a reply to: Degradation33

Ok, such a character-rich story, well done on the relationship map and not leaving loose ends. The ending was a shocker, I wasn't expecting it... very good. I never saw the movie you mentioned in the other thread, so I had no point of reference.