A Day to Forget

My third ever short story. Hope you enjoy it.

As Laura drove, the rain continuously poured down on the windshield, reducing visibility. “This cannot be happening to me after the day I’ve had,” she thought. But as is often the case with life, there are no rules that determine whether it will be fair or not when it comes to sheer dumb luck.

She continued to drive, hoping that somehow the fifty miles towards her house would somehow become less the more intently she concentrated. Since she had time to reflect, she began to recount the events of the day.

Laura woke up at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, very optimistic about the day. It was Friday after all, and only one more day of work before the three day weekend. She followed her usual routine of getting out of bed, jumping in the shower, and then eating breakfast while putting on makeup and getting dressed.

She felt slightly nervous about the major presentation she was set to give that afternoon, but she was confident that her preparation the past week would be sufficient. Her husband, Kevin, also reassured her doubts. “Laura,” he said, “You are an amazing and intelligent woman. You studied at Harvard and you have done everything you can to ready yourself for this opportunity. Just remember to breathe and focus on the present moment.”

Laura always loved Kevin, for he was constantly a bedrock of support. Even when she felt like her entire world was crumbling, Laura knew she could always count on him to lift her up. She kissed Kevin goodbye, and walked out the door. Little did she know, this would be her last sanguine moment for most of the day.

Laura and Kevin lived in a moderately sized house, with a small yard and garden. There were no major disturbances, such as gangs or burglaries. However, one step leading up to the porch had a slight crack in it. Kevin had been meaning to fix it, but had not gotten around to it.

Because she was in a hurry, and also wearing high heels, Laura stepped right into the crack and fell down. She had twisted her ankle. With no time to stop, she jumped up, and with ankle throbbing, walked to her car.

Laura turned the key, but the car didn’t start. Panic began to set in. In her stress about the presentation, she had forgotten that the emergency brake on the car was on, and a new feature ensured that the car would not start until it was let up. She pulled out of the driveway.

Laura had always been safe driver, and avoided being in any wrecks her entire driving life. Today would be no different, but it would not be easy.

She pressed the gas pedal when the light turned green, but from her left side, a driver with tinted windows had decided to run the light instead of waiting his turn. Fortunately, Laura was able to swerve and miss him, but the adrenaline rush did not help in her quest to stay calm.

Finally, at 8:15 she had arrived at work. The presentation was not due until 9, so she had a few minutes to prepare herself mentally. She attempted to turn her computer on, but there was no response. She checked to make sure it was plugged in, but unfortunately that was not the problem. The janitor had come in the night before, and when cleaning, had mindlessly sprayed the CPU with Windex and all the hardware had been ruined.

Laura had a backup on a flash drive, so she ran over to her colleague Jane’s office and asked if she could test the flash drive on her computer, just to ensure there would be no last minute hitches. However, the computer did not recognize the flash drive. It was broken too, and this time by her husband. Kevin had been drinking a beer while watching a football game the night before, and clumsily knocked it down on the table that Laura had left the flash drive sitting on. He quickly dried it off, and crossed his fingers that it would work the next day.

Laura did not know Kevin had done this. Her only concern now was that she had absolutely no visual materials with which to present. She came back to her office, and began shuffling papers looking for the hard copies of the notes she had used to initially work on her presentation. To her horror, she could not find them. Desperate, she went to the middle of the office and yelled out “has anyone seen my notes?” No one had.

Laura would have to go from memory. It was now 8:52, so she ran to the bathroom to attempt to calm herself down and give herself a short pep talk. She told herself that everything would be okay, and remembered Kevin’s advice to breathe.

She walked into the conference room at 8:58, and took her seat at the elongated, intimidating table. Her co-workers slowly filed in. Much to her dismay, the CEO of the company, Kirk Smith, who everyone called Mr. Smith, was nowhere to be seen. He was the very driven type, always competent in his work, and never late to any business meeting. His gaze was fierce, the kind that made you feel small just by looking into his eyes.

Finally, at 9:20, Kirk rushed into the room. He apologized profusely, explaining that he had been in the wreck on the way to work. After he sat down, he sized up the room, and then motioned Laura to step to the front to begin her presentation.

Up to this point, she had been so stressed, she had not thought about what she would say with regards to the lack of visuals in her presentation. She decided to simply tell the story very matter-of-factly, and then proceed from there.

Laura was on a roll. She was pointing out opportunities for company growth, how management techniques were being reinvented for the Millennials, when all of the sudden her brain froze. It was the type of moment every human being fears, when an important speech is being given to a group of people and all of the sudden, the brain shuts off.

Mr. Smith, the CEO, realized what was happening, and immediately jumped in. He stood up and applauded her great ideas and contribution to the company. He then dismissed the meeting.

Seeing Laura’s face redden, he pulled her aside and told her, “This has happened to the best of us. Do not think that just because you are human, I am going to fire you or write a formal complaint. Your ideas are excellent, and your job is safe.” He then gave her a reassuring glance, patted her on the shoulder, and walked away.

Laura finally felt like she could breathe again. The rest of the day went smoothly.

After work, Laura, her favorite co-worker Jane, and her boss Mr. Smith all went out to eat at a high end restaurant, courtesy of Mr Smith. The only downside was, it was 20 miles out of the way. But since it was Friday, and the day had been stressful, Laura decided a short 20 minute drive, even if it meant an even longer one going home, was worth it.

She suddenly came back to reality, when a man honked at her when she began to swerve into his lane. The last thing she needed was to get in a wreck right before she arrived home.

Laura walked in the door at 6 pm. She usually worked late, and was home an hour earlier than usual. She knew Kevin liked to take naps, and so she was going to surprise him by cooking dinner and having it ready when he woke up.

She cheerfully walked down the hall, noticing how clean the house looked. She then slowly opened the door, and to her dismay, Kevin was kissing another woman. This day was one to be forgotten.