WAS1 Productions

I had this quick idea for a scene. Daylight Savings Time always annoys me. Well the extra hour of sleep is nice, but sunset getting earlier as the days are short enough already, that’s the part I don’t like. So I imagined a conversation with someone who would appreciate it.

Daylight Savings Time
by Will A. Sanborn 11/08/12

It’s only 8:00 but it’s cold and rainy and dark out and it feels like it’s much later. I want to just go home, but I promised myself that I’d bang out a scene of at least 500 words as practice and also to get my word count up. Even when you’re playing fast and loose with the rules, National Novel Writing Month is a harsh mistress. Also, I’m waiting for a tools install to unpack from a tar file so I can install the software on a lab PC, so this seemed like a good way to make more productive use of my time than just browsing the net on my smart phone.

So I’ve written myself into this bar. I have a cold and a sore throat and feel like crap. I’m drinking hot tea spiked with some mulling spices and some alcohol that’d go good with that. I don’t want to take the time to look that up and does it really matter, it’s not about me, it’s about this scene I want to write, which is more of a sketch really.

The bar is quiet and cozy, there are a few people in it, but not so crowded that you can’t hear yourself think. I’ve decided that it’s a piano bar and that Tom Waits is at the old piano in the corner playing away and crooning out a tune. Yes I know I’ve used him in a throw-away scene before and maybe it makes me sound like a pretentious hipster, but I dig his music and he feels right for this scene.

So anyway, I’m sitting at a table next to the bar, enjoying the ambience and the music and letting the tea soothe my throat and hoping to get a bit of a buzz from the alcohol. I could say that I don’t have to worry about driving home because this is just a scene that I’m writing, but breaking the fourth wall is really passe and lame even for a hipster wannabe.

There are two guys sitting at the bar next to me, one dressed in a stylish black cloak, his dark hear slicked back and he speaks with a thick accent. He’s drinking what looks like a bloody-mary. His companion is shivering even though he’s inside and wearing a heavy winter coat. His complexion is a dark bluish-green and he doesn’t look well. Not counting his color, his leafy hair hangs down lifeless and matted and he slumps against the bar stool, cradling the glass of an amber fluid in his wispy hands.

“I don’t know why I let you talk me into coming out here tonight. It’s just so cold this time of year and winter isn’t even here yet.”

“Bah, this weather is nothing, back in my old country…”

“I don’t want to hear about that again. How many years have we known each other and you keep wanting to talk about your ancestral homeland, even though you’ve been in America since the mid 1800s? Get over it already.”

The sickly figure gives his companion a dismissive wave with his limp arm. His friend also has a pale complexion, but looks strong and healthy otherwise and he just flashes a toothy grin at the annoyance of his companion.

The smaller figure continues. “Besides Daylight Savings Time always screws me up. It’s bad enough that we’re losing daylight every day this time of year, but then they need to go ahead and shift the clocks around. It makes me wish I could just hibernate until spring.”

“Oh you don’t have it that bad. With your freelance gig you can work from home and sit under the lights all day.”

“I still need to go to meetings and you try and be chipper when you’re down on vitamins and all your clients are all start-ups with spastic twenty-somethings. At least you have it lucky this time of year, the extra hours of the nights let you get out on the town earlier.”

“I know my friend; it’s just too bad you’re always like this every year. In the summer you’re lots of fun, with all that energy, but do you give me any slack when I can’t get up until late evening? No you’re all hopped up on sunlight and banging on my basement apartment when the sun hasn’t even set.”

The larger man runs his hand through his perfect hair with a practiced move and gives his disheveled friend another smile, showing off his fangs. “Well as fun as it is hanging out with you, Mr. Lack of Sunshine, I’ve got a date tonight. She’s more free-spirited than the normal goths I get and she’s a lot of fun.”

The pale green man scowls as he looks down into his glass. “Spare me the details…”

“Ah, don’t be like that my friend. She’s a groovy chick and you’d like her. She runs a greenhouse and has some really good plant food. I think she’s adventurous and would like to meet you. Plus if it doesn’t work out you can take a nap under the sun lamps while we find something else to amuse ourselves with…”

Seeing his friend’s face brighten, the vampire stands, leaves a tip on the bar, and then leads the plant-man out of the establishment and into the cold night.

As they leave, another figure enters the bar. The polar bear is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and he grins at the bartender who waves him over. “Hey Micky, it’s good to see you again. It’s about time we get some cooler weather here.”