A harmless future

joe sat down on the couch of the coffee shop, and pulled his laptop out. as he was browsing the front page of the internet, looking at all the amazing cat pictures and laughing to himself, a lady sat down next to him.

‘so.’ she said, ‘tell me a little about yourself, what’s your name?’

‘joe.’

he didn’t bother looking up from his computer, he was busy typing a witty response to a particularly cute cat photo.

‘so what do you do, joe?’

joe closed the lid to his laptop angrily and looked up into the woman’s blue eyes.

‘i’m in recruiting, and i’m waiting to meet someone about a job i have for them.’

‘so you have a few minutes to chat then?’

joe’s anger at being disturbed was sliding away slowly.

‘well yeah, i suppose so,’ he said a little sheepishly.

‘good, i’d like to pick your brain a little. so you’re a recruiter. what’s the job?’

joe started to tell her about the job, when the coffee table began to beep.

beep beep beep.

beep beep beep.

‘fuck, she was cute.’ joe said, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

joe got out of bed, turned his alarm off, and headed into the kitchen to get some water and breakfast. he couldn’t help but think what a strange dream that was. why would a stranger come up to talk to him?

he hopped in the shower, and kept thinking about it.

he got dressed, got in his car and headed to work.

he pulled into a fast coffee chain on the way to work, and pulled around back to the drive through.

it was gone.

it wasn’t just removed, there was extra parking and a patio where the drive thru lane had been.

it didn’t even look like there had been a drive thru.

he hurried inside, pissed off that he was going to be late for work, but he needed that black nectar of the gods.

‘what can i help you with?’ a bubbly cashier asked with a smile.

‘coffee, black, i’m in a rush.’

‘a rush?’ the cashier was perplexed.

‘yeah, i need to get to work, i’m running late, i had the strangest dream.’

‘what do you mean, late for work?’ the cashier asked, sitting down, and helping herself to a coffee.

‘my boss is going to have a shitfit when i come in 30 minutes late, please, i need my coffee, now!’ he yelled.

everyone in the coffee shop stopped what they were talking about, and looked at him, concerned.

‘relax, i don’t understand why you are upset, but here’s your coffee,’ she said handing him a travel mug.

‘thanks, i’m sorry, how much?’ he asked.

‘what do you mean? you’re concerned about your time, get to work.’

joe was so confused, it took him a full 5 seconds to start walking back to his car.

‘have a good day and good luck,’ the cashier waved goodbye.

joe sped the rest of the way to work, let himself in the building and sat down heavily at his desk.

he saw his boss see him, and start walking toward him. he hurriedly logged into the system and tried to make himself look busy. but his computer wasn’t right, it wasn’t working.

joe gulped, and turned toward his boss. he was not going to be happy.

‘do anything exciting last night?’ his boss asked.

‘no, i don’t know why i slept in late, i’m sorry sir, and the coffee shop this morning, it won’t happen again.’

his boss raised an eyebrow. ‘huh?’

‘the coffee shop, there was no drive thru, i had to go in and get my coffee.’

‘you stopped for coffee before work?’ his boss asked.

‘well yeah, i didn’t get much rest last night, and i need the energy to work.’ joe was starting to lose patience.

‘i was just asking if you stopped for coffee, why are you here so early, weirdo.’

‘huh?’

‘if you didn’t get enough rest, go home, relax a little, unwind, get some good rest, and come back when you feel like it, ok?’

‘huh?’

he began to notice how quiet the office was, compared to how busy the coffee shop was, when his phone began to beep.

beep beep beep.

beep beep beep.