BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Dedication
  4. Dedication2
  5. 1994
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 2006
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 2018
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. Acknowledgements

She leaned over, picked up her phone and looked at her calendar. There was a list of things she needed to do, and she had ticked these off one by one until she couldn’t tick off any more. There was one job left and, really, she needed to do it but maybe not until the afternoon. She could pop out for a coffee maybe. She messaged Heidi but Heidi was busy. She got up and had a cup of tea and then a shower and had some breakfast. The Tamagotchi phone didn’t make a sound. She fed the monster and played with it. To begin with, she hadn’t cared about the monster-pets. She was interested in the messages. Sometimes, new pets turned up out of nowhere for her to look after, but she let those die, too. The other monsters were coming from the same number as the messages, though, and after one of the visiting monsters died there wasn’t a message for nearly a week. So, she started looking after the monsters. It was tedious. They would call her at inopportune times, needing to be fed, wanting to play and sometimes not needing anything, which meant they needed discipline. She turned off the alert sometimes and found that by leaving the clock in ‘set’ mode she could have a break from them. She was getting good at looking after them while she was doing other things. This morning when she checked the monster’s hunger and happiness it was fine, and no messages came. Everything in the house was quiet.

She put on some jeans and an old band T-shirt. Her hair was still wet when she logged in. This was habit. Work was the path of least resistance. There was always more to do and while she was sitting there she felt safe. She could have gone for a walk into town, but by herself it felt weird. She was much more comfortable here in front of the desktop computer, getting stuff done. She thought about watching a movie or TV show, but it felt like such an indulgence. She’d tried it a few times, but she ended up feeling agitated sitting in one spot, knowing there was more work to get done. That having the morning off was more trouble than working. So, today, she worked, getting up occasionally to drink tea or eat, and then it was night and she looked at her watch and walked to a meeting.

She said hi to everyone as she walked in and hugged a few people she was happy to see and sat halfway from the front and listened and felt better and afterwards they were going out for coffee so she went too.