It's Not Too Late

[Richard Norway]

Here's how John sees it:

"I'm not late. I still have plenty of time." John said as his consciousness slowly returned. The clock radio on the night table next to his bed was reporting the morning weather and traffic as he thought of his morning shower and how the warmth would wake him further. ?Okay, he said to himself. You'd better get moving. You're not going to be late this morning. From this point on John was on auto-pilot. Stepping into the shower, he could feel the first drops of water assaulting his skin, but in a moment, their therapeutic qualities took over. ?I still have plenty of time,?John kept thinking to himself. So, he decided to close his eyes and let the water's life giving radiant warmth envelope him.

Finishing his shower, John stepped from the glass enclosure, grabbed a towel from the rack and began to dry himself. It was okay to stay in the shower for those extra minutes,?he thought. I have plenty of time, and I'm worth that little extra bit. As the towel did its duty of soaking up water from his back, he looked in the mirror at himself. The towel stopped moving as his attention drifted to his body and how well it had been filling out. He was 17 now and had lost that toothpick frame of only a few years ago. John let the towel fall to examine himself further. Arnold. You had better watch out. In a year or so, I'll be the one defeating terrorists and getting the girls instead of you, he laughed. He raised both his arms to flex his biceps in a perfect?"John L. Sullivan" pose.

Just then John heard the clock radio announce the time. "Okay doofas. You'd better get going." he said to himself out loud. But he also knew that he had plenty of time. He wasn't going to be late this morning. Picking up his toothbrush, he began to brush his teeth in a frenzy. He looked more like a rabid raccoon. Don't forget to floss,?he told himself. ?You should floss every day, if you have the time, that is. But today is okay. I've got the time,? he thought. He looked closely at his chin in the fogged mirror. Yup. There it is,? he thought. His facial hair was starting to show each morning. He knew shaving took time, but he also knew that he needed the practice for when he had more than the soft fuzz that was emerging now. It was okay though. John knew that he had plenty of time to spare so he reached for the shaving cream canister.

Getting dressed is a breeze,?he thought. Being a guy is so much easier than being a girl, because there are no decisions that need to be made.? Back in the bedroom, John grabbed his boxer shorts, T-shirt, white socks and jeans from his dresser in a few easy fluid series of motions. Man I'm efficient in the morning,?he kept thinking as he put each piece of clothing on. He smiled at himself.

Just before he was about to retrieve his books from his desk, he checked the clock radio one last time to make sure that he still had plenty of time. ?"Oh my God."? he yelled. The time showing on the clock radio was the exact time that the bus was due to arrive at the bus stop. John reached out toward his desk, shoveled his books off the desktop and packed them under one arm as he then bolted from the room. A few strides later, John was out the front door. He leaped from the front porch to the sidewalk in one step and soon his sneakers were gripping the concrete to aid him in making the right turn to head for the drug store on the corner and the school bus stop.

What happened?? he thought. I wasn't goofing off. I had plenty of time.?

There was no school bus to be seen.

[Trab]

Too cute; the story of a teenage ditz.