The Factory Worker

It was 5.01 pm when the worker left the factory. He glanced at his watch and silently cursed to himself. If there wasn't any traffic jam, it would take him around 50 minutes to get into the city, so he had to hurry if he wanted to arrive at the construction market on time. It was Friday, so the market would close at 6.00 pm.

The worker hurried across the parking lot in front of the factory and headed towards an old Renault. He fumbled for his keys and eventually found them buried deep down under his cigarettes and medicine. When he finally left the parking lot, it was 5.10 pm.

Of course there was traffic jam. The worker cursed and repeatedly honked his horn. He pulled out of the line a couple of times and started some dangerous overtaking manoeuvres, which let to a chorus of horns following him. Just when he arrived at the construction market, the clock changed to 5.55 pm. The worker jumped frantically out of the car and rushed towards the entrance. The last costumers had just left the store and the employees were already starting to bring in the goods for the night. "We're closing!" shouted one of the employees at him, but the worker ignored him and entered the market at 5.56 pm. He only had four minutes left to do his shopping, but he knew exactly what he wanted to buy and where he could find it. Often enough he had stood in front of the shelves and had pictured this exact moment. Now it had finally come. The worker hurried through the aisles without any hesitation and only stopped a few times to grab the articles he wanted. As fast as he could, he rushed back to the checkout and put everything on the conveyor belt. It was now 5.59 pm and the cashier had already started to close the checkout. When she noticed the worker, she rolled her eyes. "Couldn't you have turned up a bit earlier?" she complained, but the worker didn't react. He just stood there stiffly and waited quietly for the cashier to scan his items. After the cashier was done, the worker paid and left the store at 6.01 pm. He heard the doors being locked behind him. When he got back to his car, he threw his items on the passenger seat. After sitting down in the driver's seat, relieved that everything worked out just fine, he went through all the articles to make sure that everything was there. And suddenly he realised that he had forgotten something. The tape. He had forgotten the tape. Horrified his heart began to race and for a moment he couldn't think clearly. Then, with a desperate cry, he hit his stirring wheel and jerked when the honk went off. He forced himself to breathe in and out deeply for a few times to calm down and then he started the engine. He would just have to make it work without the tape. Slowly the car took off and the worker headed straight home.

When he arrived at his house, it was already 6.43 pm. Normally he would have been home by 6.04 pm and the worker panicked when he thought about the scolding he would get from his stepmother. At the same moment, he remembered why he had had to stop so urgently at the construction market to get all the items and suddenly he realised, that he would never have to worry about a scolding from his stepmother ever again. Actually, he would never have to put up with her at all again and this realisation made him feel happier than he had felt in a long time. He started whistling cheerfully while spreading out all the items he had bought in front of him and then he finally began to wrap up the body.