The room was
littered with
newspapers, a few empty pizza-boxes, empty soda-cans,
compact discs. Near the
window a couple of plants tried to catch at least some of the
light streaming through the
venetian blinds. A
television set created a
stroboscopic lighting effect on the otherwise unlit room. A soft
background noise
murmured out of the twin speakers doubling as table for the television set.
The
computer standing underneath the desk was open on one side, giving a view of the messy
inside.
Red,
black and
yellow wires connected the various
devices to one of the
power converters. Several
fans were blowing to keep
temperatures within
operating limits.
On the bed in the corner of the room
a leg had bared itself from its covers. A tangled head of hair had slipped off the
pillow shoved up against the wall. The only other part showing from under the covers was an upturned hand draped over the
remote control lying next to the leg, pointed at the television set.
The
apartment consisted of one room and a small bathroom, demanding less than a quarter of the twenty-four square metres the apartment occupied. The sink, next to the entrance, was filled with plates, glasses and
cutlery.
Suddenly the
refrigerator rattled to life. The humming produced by the
fridge was drowned out by the high-toned
whine of a
defective ball bearing in its
compressor. The head twisted onto its other side, trying to get rid of the insistent sound. When that
tactic didn't work the other leg shot out from under the covers and hit the refrigerator. The whine died out as the ball bearing had second thoughts about its defective state and the sound reduced to a normal
hum. The head twisted back to its
former state, but sleep had
vanished.
Reluctantly she sat up in bed, reached for the
remote and switched
channels a couple of times. After five test-views and three
commercials she switched off the television. With the same remote she switched the stereo set to the
CD-changer and raised the
volume till it completely
drowned out the hum and returned whine of the fridge. Sinking back to her
elbows, she placed her
hands on her
midriff, just below her
breasts. Slowly moving her hands up
against the bottom of her breasts, she hung back her head and looked at the
ceiling, where the
wall went over into the ceiling with a sharp
bend, a
corner. Looking at the corner she pushed up with her hands, feeling the
edge where her flat midriff ended and the
bulge of her breasts began.
Checking the digital
clock next to the
bed, she
groaned and swung her legs out of bed.
Somewhere; 15th of November 2000