Before Commute (Otherwise Untitled)
#33 of Short Stories
The moments of morning before the drive.
~ The skunk's morning had been terrible. The alarm clock had been particularly grating with its reminder to become awake, the shower smelled faintly of watermelon for some reason, and his favorite shirt had fallen off of its hanger sometime in the night. In the light of whisps of dawn, in his driveway, in his car to head to work, the skunk sat for a moment. What mattered considered, he was on schedule and wearing his third favorite shirt. The turned the ignition to the START position.
~ For the sliver of time dividing the darkness of night and the hope of a new day, all seemed silent.
~ The skunk's rattlebox of a car then blazed to life with ambitious certainty, all four cylinders roaring to the morning dew that this day wasn't going to get any worse. At least, not for several minutes more.
~ The skunk's breathing returned with an exasperated sigh, as he coaxed the car into reverse gear.