A Flash Fiction: "Jeremy Has Become Bored"

Jeremy has become bored. every day, he wakes at 6:47 in the morning, showers, toasts a bagel, and rushes down the street to catch the 7:27 bus at 7:28. On the musty and crowded bus, he desperately tries to find a seat free of snoozing office rats, chattering students, or fetid pariahs hiching a ride to some nameless place for some nameless purpose. Promptly, at 8:13, the bus releases Jeremy to the Starbucks around the corner from his office for caffeine and a false sense of superiority: "I want a tall toffee nut macchiato, no whip, soy!" After sipping his coffee and reading a free City Weekly, he glances at his watch to see that it is 8:53, and he has seven minutes to rush down the street to his office, hop on the elevator, and get into his cubicle.

If he is late, Jeremy is called into his manager's office for a lecture on the importance of every member being on time: "This company is only as strong as its weakest link." Then, the manager assures Jeremy that although he is late, his work quality is still better than most.

However, today he is on time, and at 8:59, Jeremy logs onto his computer for eight hours of repetitive memos, phone calls, copies, meetings, and water cooler breaks. Although repetitive, Jeremy knows that not everything about his day is boring: the water cooler is the one place he looks forward to finding himself, especially when Eliza is there.

Since meeting Eliza, Jeremy has been enraptured with the eccentric, jovial beauty. When she guffaws, because she always and only guffaws, her curly red hair springs across her head, tagging her shoulders and escaping into the air. her topics are always about far-off lands, obscure conventions for any kind of enthusiast imaginable (like the Convention for Environmentally-Minded Firefighters), and philosophical essays found in academic journals for psychology professors. How could anyone not be fascinated by Eliza?

At 1:38, after hours of repetition and boredom, Eliza's guffaw flits into Jeremy's ears. He saves his work and hustles towards the break room. Once near the door, he slows to a trudge and pretends to be uninterested in all around him.

"Hiya, Jer," Eliza calls.

"Hello," he returns.

The other employee grabs his coffee and excuses himself, leaving the two alone (at last).

"What did you read about yesterday, Eliza?" Jeremy inquires.

"Peru!"

"Peru, eh?"

"Yeah! I'm going tomorrow," Eliza's voice drops to a whisper. "Come with me!"

"To Peru? Tomorrow?"

"Yeah! Why not?"

Jeremy ponders, but no excuse appeals to him. "OK!"

At 1:43, Jeremy and Eliza leave the office for good, and the next day at 8:25 in the morning, they watch the ground slip away from them. A week later, Jeremy wakes, stretches, and realizes he has lost his watch. But he doesn't care.

And (coincidentally) at 9:15 in the morning, Jeremy and Eliza marched into the forest to study plants and animals for no other reason than they wanted to.