Daily writing prompts from June 9th, 2008 to December 31st, 2022
Thursday October 14th, 2021
The exercise:
Write about: playing catch up.
I've been running behind all week at work after the three day weekend. Finally got close just before end of day today, so hopefully tomorrow is a little more manageable.
Ah, long weekends can damage your working week quite considerably! I hope you catch up by tomorrow too :)
Playing catch up I suppose I'm naïve at times, but I thought it would be easy to find an unattended, unused rod of metal in an engine room. Of course, the people who maintain the engines of ships don't actually leave lengths of rebar lying around in the open where they could get loose, get thrown around, or hurt people, but that didn't stop me just poking around the engines and the corners, thinking I was contributing. "Try looking for a store room," called Stef from where he was opening doors on the other side. "They'll be tied down and stacked if we have any." I started looking for a store room, trying to pretend that I hadn't been doing something stupid and my face burned with the shame of it. Now I was playing catch-up and really wanted to find a metal bar first, but still it was very much a relief that Kraulik growled, "will this do?" and appeared from somewhere holding what looked like a two-metre metal pole. If this had been a smaller boat I'd have called it a boathook. Missing the hook, of course, but it wasn't my day for getting little things right. "Looks good," said Stef. He appeared as well holding up a large pair of rubber gloves. "These are a bit big, but that's not the important thing; the thing is they don't conduct so we can get the stick... er, pole, back up off the floor again." He looked at Kraulik and essayed a smile. "Compensating?" "What?" Kraulik snapped the word out and glared at Stef, who now thought to look at the bottle that Kraulik had brought with him, and clearly changed his mind about explaining. "Nothing," said Stef. "Stupid thought about something else. Let's get this moving." "Haven't I said that six times already?" Stef took the pole and threw it onto the design. It clanged and clattered, but there was no flash of light and no other noise. We both looked at him. "Looks like it's inactive," he said. He knelt down and moved it around a bit, careful to only touch it with the gloves, until it looked like it had rolled over the whole design. "Ok," he said. "Last test, and it's the worst one." I took a step back without thinking about it and even Kraulik looked slightly worried. Then Stef pulled a glove off and laid his hand on the floor. "Jesus!" The word escaped my lips before I could stop it. Kraulik turned pale, which actually worried me more. "Slightly warm," said Stef. "Sorry, but that is the only way left to be sure it's safe. Do you two want to go up on deck for a bit? It's going to take a while now while I look at every little bit of this and work out what got shorted." "Da," said Kraulik, and I blinked; he had an accent but I'd not suspected anything like Russian. I shook my head. "I'll stay," I said. "It's not that we don't trust you--" "--but you've got no reason to trust me," said Stef, cutting me off. "I get it. One of you stays with me, just in case the way off this ship is behind that door and I run off through it leaving you behind." "Fresh air," said Kraulik, and pushed past me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and thought he might be telling the truth. When he was gone, Stef looked up at me. "This is still going to take a while," he said. "And even then all I might learn is that the short is somewhere else."
Greg - I think they'd be better if everyone agreed to take the holiday off. Complainers especially, but let's toss in companies sending invoices and the bylaw enforcement department as well.
Nice to be back on the ship... is probably something no one in this world has ever said. Still though, I'm glad you've left them all alive for the moment so that they may all journey onward together for at least a little bit longer.
2 comments:
Ah, long weekends can damage your working week quite considerably! I hope you catch up by tomorrow too :)
Playing catch up
I suppose I'm naïve at times, but I thought it would be easy to find an unattended, unused rod of metal in an engine room. Of course, the people who maintain the engines of ships don't actually leave lengths of rebar lying around in the open where they could get loose, get thrown around, or hurt people, but that didn't stop me just poking around the engines and the corners, thinking I was contributing.
"Try looking for a store room," called Stef from where he was opening doors on the other side. "They'll be tied down and stacked if we have any."
I started looking for a store room, trying to pretend that I hadn't been doing something stupid and my face burned with the shame of it. Now I was playing catch-up and really wanted to find a metal bar first, but still it was very much a relief that Kraulik growled, "will this do?" and appeared from somewhere holding what looked like a two-metre metal pole. If this had been a smaller boat I'd have called it a boathook. Missing the hook, of course, but it wasn't my day for getting little things right.
"Looks good," said Stef. He appeared as well holding up a large pair of rubber gloves. "These are a bit big, but that's not the important thing; the thing is they don't conduct so we can get the stick... er, pole, back up off the floor again." He looked at Kraulik and essayed a smile. "Compensating?"
"What?" Kraulik snapped the word out and glared at Stef, who now thought to look at the bottle that Kraulik had brought with him, and clearly changed his mind about explaining.
"Nothing," said Stef. "Stupid thought about something else. Let's get this moving."
"Haven't I said that six times already?"
Stef took the pole and threw it onto the design. It clanged and clattered, but there was no flash of light and no other noise. We both looked at him.
"Looks like it's inactive," he said. He knelt down and moved it around a bit, careful to only touch it with the gloves, until it looked like it had rolled over the whole design. "Ok," he said. "Last test, and it's the worst one."
I took a step back without thinking about it and even Kraulik looked slightly worried. Then Stef pulled a glove off and laid his hand on the floor.
"Jesus!" The word escaped my lips before I could stop it. Kraulik turned pale, which actually worried me more.
"Slightly warm," said Stef. "Sorry, but that is the only way left to be sure it's safe. Do you two want to go up on deck for a bit? It's going to take a while now while I look at every little bit of this and work out what got shorted."
"Da," said Kraulik, and I blinked; he had an accent but I'd not suspected anything like Russian. I shook my head. "I'll stay," I said. "It's not that we don't trust you--"
"--but you've got no reason to trust me," said Stef, cutting me off. "I get it. One of you stays with me, just in case the way off this ship is behind that door and I run off through it leaving you behind."
"Fresh air," said Kraulik, and pushed past me. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, and thought he might be telling the truth. When he was gone, Stef looked up at me.
"This is still going to take a while," he said. "And even then all I might learn is that the short is somewhere else."
Greg - I think they'd be better if everyone agreed to take the holiday off. Complainers especially, but let's toss in companies sending invoices and the bylaw enforcement department as well.
Nice to be back on the ship... is probably something no one in this world has ever said. Still though, I'm glad you've left them all alive for the moment so that they may all journey onward together for at least a little bit longer.
Post a Comment