When Someone Silently Snips Off a Year

Like a thief in the night. Photo/oyster.ignimgs.com

Some not-so-hostile strangers passed by last night and relieved us of some of our sentimental possessions, which needed replacing anyway. 

I float into this wakeful state of sleep, thanks to the vibration from my phone. Since I had a deadline to beat, I push my joints, sinews and tendons to not just get up but change and prepare to leave the house before 7.00 a.m. As I stagger into the sitting room, I first notice that the laptop isn’t where it was the previous night. Next thing I notice is that the door is ajar, curtain hem swaying in the morning breeze. Shouldn’t I have noticed the door first? Good question. We should discuss that over tea some time.

You know when that first drop of awareness first hits your mind? Then you shake it off and decide that being rational should serve you better at this point. That’s what I do. So, let’s think...

The guy I live with might have taken the laptop/gone for a jog early in the morning and not necessarily left the door open, but loose enough to swing open. I decide not to close it, either for dramatic effect or to allow everyone the joy of a memorable image, intact. I don’t know.

I cajole...no,not cajole. I forcefully nudge my mind to ignore the sight of missing instruments that lay there the night before and focus on the one thing our brand of burglars are unique for: The Meko Gas Cooker. I head to the kitchen. This is probably minute 3 since I woke up. My eyes sweep through the rest of the room, admiring the cushions (intact) as I head to the kitchen door. I reach it and there it is!

At this point I tell myself in a sage-like voice, hoarse from years of living (and probably drinking whisky)

‘It is time.’ 

My brain then scans through the most dramatic, brief, concise phrases that won’t cause panic but enough curiosity to make everyone else wake up.

‘Hey! You guys should come and see this...’ 

I’m not waiting. I’m still taking it all in. I realize the keyboard’s missing too. They step out of the room. I’m standing where the speakers, DVD player and external hard disc were. I watch them go through the motions even as I explain my discovery amid chuckles. That is how I deal immediately after anything. I’m not hysterical, just light. It will sink, for now there is no need to look distressed.

As the rest ponder, investigate and finally express their loss I’m thinking...6 hours ago this place looked almost exactly the same, with everything intact. I have a perfect image in my head of the house at 11 p.m. on Monday. 6 hours. Crap!

Oh, the headline? I, we have spent a year accumulating all that-laptop, what was/is on the laptop, guitars (3 of them), keyboard (birthday gift from mathe), meko (long story), external dvd drive, external hard disc, everything on my laptop (articles, second design of my mag, resources, photos, movies...life). A year that will have to be gathered up again, in scraps.

That is how my 2013 was snipped off from me.

2 years later, I've recovered-almost everything actually. My roommate Kevin too. Life is beautiful, innit?