Wednesday, August 15, 2012

77. Lulu and Jack

Lulu walked down the street, looking back over her shoulder as if Jack might reappear at any moment.  “That’s silly,” she told herself, “it’s not like he’s a ghost!” 

She replayed their last conversation over in her head, like her brain was the TV screen and she merely had to flick the remote control:  rewind.  “Lulu, I want us to move in together.  You are all I think about every moment of the day, and I need to wake up next to you.” 

Every moment of the day?  Gah, I hope not, she thought.  He is a pilot, for goshsakes, he’s going to crash his plane and kill a bunch of people if he is that easily distracted. 
Lulu couldn’t tell the difference between an innocent compliment and full-blown obsession, she just knew she felt suffocated. 

Right after he said it, she broke it off.  “It’s best if we stop seeing each other for a while,” she uttered, or some such nonsense cliché.  “It’s me, not you.” 
But what might life have been like if she stayed with Jack?  Where would he have taken her (literally)?  He had good seniority with the airlines; he was always jetting off to Japan or Paris or someplace else she had only seen in movies.

She snapped back to the present moment when she tripped on an uneven spot in the sidewalk.  A woman with three dogs walked past her, mumbling something about red and blue dots and a man named Jim.  Lucky girl, she has a man that doesn’t make her feel like running away. 
Lulu glanced at her watch:  7:30 PM.  Good, no one will be here now, she thought.  She walked in the pristine lobby and approached the bank of elevators.  She pressed the button and waited.  She stepped in and rose to the 15th floor.

The receptionist was still there.  “Lulu, welcome back.  You weren’t gone long this time.” 
Lulu grinned wide and finally exhaled.  Her office.  Her work.  Her salvation. 

Her home.       


***********
trifecta writing challenge:  the word is "home" and the story is 333 words exactly

7 comments:

  1. This is so real...and painful! I guess I'm biased, but I think she should give the guy a chance. Great write.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sad that she has to feel that work is her home. Take a break Lulu! Go on vacation :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Work is not a home...it is a distraction just like the dog walker was for a moment. Great story ! I had to throw out my remote control I was rewinding to often :))

    ReplyDelete
  4. Agree with lumdog...sad story. The problem with short stories is leave us wondering about a scenario that is never going to provide us with answers.

    So MOV write a book and tell us about this person that is afraid of a relationship that is from her perspective "suffocating" by the fact of his over-zealousness and why her job has become her identity.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Makes me wonder what she does that home is work for her! Or what she's running from...

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is sad. I hope she can overcome her past and find a future...that isn't lived in an office building.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for linking up with this sad little tale. I think the beauty of the short story is exactly what Cheryl believes in the problem with them. The readers have to fill in some blanks, or else the storyteller has to do a great job filling them in for us. I think it's nice to layer some interpretation over what the writer has given us.

    I do agree with whomever said that work is not home, it's a distraction. Those are powerful words to think on.

    Hope to see you back again soon.

    ReplyDelete

People that leave comments usually* win the lottery.
(*Usually= not very often)