Prompt by: Flash Fiction Institute: The Shape a Story Takes
Prompt: Write a story about a place where nothing happens.
Photo by: Sergei Wing (@sergeiwing) | Unsplash Photo Community
All Annie knew was that it was better to be a placeholder and be paid than to do nothing.
Her husband asked her often, “Wouldn’t you like a more fulfilling job?”
Her friends wondered about the purpose of a job where there was nothing to do but maintain a presence? No one visited. No one came into the building. Some even marveled that she got paid to do nothing. Annie smiled knowingly. It was easy money but she still took her job seriously.
The company that hired her had stated that eventually they would be using the space more formally but until then they needed her presence for safety reasons. 25 years later she no longer wondered about it. The pay was good, well better than good. She couldn’t complain. Since the very first day there had been little contact with anyone from the company. Pay raises were regular. Christmas bonuses were given every year. If something needed to be fixed she would phone the number. It would be fixed at night when she wasn’t there. It seemed to be the perfect job.
“It is a job,” thought Annie as she opened her book and began reading. Over the years she had learned to adapt. She researched and booked trips for herself and her husband. She read many books that now lined the walls. She looked up information for her friends and even reached out to help the children she knew by finding answers to questions they were asking. One Christmas she built a humungous Harry Potter Lego for a friend. Her job may have been mundane but she found ways to keep herself busy.
The building itself was not a remarkable building. As she sat at her desk she could see the whole building. There was nowhere to hide anything unless it was in the washroom. Just walls, 4 of them. She had brought in a couple of comfort items over the years, nothing too elaborate, just to help her maintain her place at work.
That was the life she led at work until one day when a wrecking crew showed up on her doorstep.
“What is happening here?” she inquired as a myriad of trucks and men descended on the building. She stood in the doorway preventing the men from entering the building.
“We have a work order here,” said the foreman.
“And I have my instructions,” she replied boldly as she retreated inside and picked up her phone.
“It’s time,” came the directive. “Remove your stuff and go home. We will be in touch.” Annie followed the instruction.
Her husband looked up from his paper. “You are home early.”
She smiled. “The job is over. They are tearing down the building.”
Her husband smiled. “Oh?”
“I have been ordered to stay home until they contact me.”
He smiled some more. “Welcome home,” he said quietly as she wandered around finding places for her work stuff.
“I’ll have to see if I have another building for her to mind,” he murmured quietly, putting his mind to work.
He was trying to keep her away from home? Giving her a job doing nothing? Pretty sneaky.
Oh, this is cute. She found a way to make something out of a boring job. I wonder why her husband didn't want her to have a more fulfilling job out in the workforce, though.