Time

This was first published in February 2013 but in adding audio, blogger has bumped it up to the top. 
For the audio click here.

Mike poured water on the coffee granules and heard them sizzle as they dissolved beneath the boiling liquid. He readjusted himself inside his boxer shorts and patted over to the fridge to get the milk, yawning as he did so. How had it come to this? Early morning instant coffee sending him on his way to a day in commuter hell. Crowded trains, stuffy, disease-ridden offices, urgent deadlines and rude colleagues while all the time knowing the train ride home would be a jam packed hell. The whole day spent under leaden skies and artificial lights. Not the lights he had dreamt of when the band were so close to stardom 16 years ago. They were going to be the next big thing, a Britpop sensation, the new Supergrass. He still had copies of that first CD single, the first and last. ‘Time’ had reached number 35 in the charts and had been the Morning Show’s record of the week. Mike remembered the appearances on TV pop shows and the interviews with the countless pop magazines, the tours in the old van and the support gigs with Shed Seven; it was going to happen, they were going to hit the big time, they were that close. But then suddenly Britpop was dead and no one wanted to know ‘the Crow’s Feet’ anymore. Stung by the realisation that they were never going make it, the band broke up and went their separate ways. Mike started his slow ascent up the shallow career ladder.

Mike slurped his coffee and listened to his upstairs neighbour singing in the shower. Mike’s neighbour couldn’t sing but that didn’t stop him from ‘entertaining’ the other tenants every morning from the limelight of his bathroom. His repertoire was wide and varied, hymns, Sinatra, Spice Girls, his latest one was that Every thing at Once from the Microsoft ad. But this morning it was something different; an oldie but goodie as some long forgotten DJ had been prone to say.

Mike had an extra spring in his step as he walked to the station that morning. Suddenly the rain didn’t bother him and the crowded train ride held no fear. Was Mike actually smiling?

He hadn’t recognised it at first, so out of tune was the singing,  but then the words had been unmistakable,

I haven’t forgotten yet will to forget,

I live to remember, I live to regret

A marathon runner, an unwinnable race,

Out of sight out of mind, not always the case.

It was Time, the song that had reached number 35 in the charts, his song, his lyrics, his teenage angst. His neighbour was singing his song.

Enjoyed this? Why not buy my novel Maggie's Milkman? Details HERE.