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LJ Idol Minor+ - Prompt 1
Oct. 31st, 2021 01:42 pm(Prompt 1 - "There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days")
Those were the days of our lives
“Perhaps if we study too much history, we are doomed never to repeat it.”
---
“It’s time to go.”
Nadine hadn’t needed the reminder. She had been awake long before her parents. She had been awake before the birds had begun to sing or the sun had begun to shine. By the time the world had started to wake up, she was already dressed in her favorite overalls, her long-sleeve heavy blouse trapped tightly underneath. Her well-worn army boots covered thick wool socks along with the distressed hem at the end of her pant legs. Her leather gloves sat on the bed beside her along with her mask and goggles.
The only reason she wasn’t already in the car was that she wasn’t allowed to be.
Nadine looked forward to each work day more than anything else. More than dessert, more than travel, more than her birthday even. It was at work that she felt alive, like she was a part of something greater than herself. That she mattered.
“Let’s go Francis. Melody, you all set?”
Nadine was waiting inside the garage by the time her father corralled the rest of the family in front of him through the door and out to the car. He smiled broadly at Nadine when he caught sight of her. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the others, he shrugged at her good-naturedly. As he reached her, he bent down to hug her with one arm while opening the car with the other.
“Good morning my little sunflower,” he whispered in her ear. “At least one person in this family has the right attitude.” Then louder to the rest, “Hop in now, can’t be late!”
By the time the rest of them had their doors open, Nadine was already inside with her seatbelt strapped on.
--
For most people, work was merely a chore. A necessary annoyance that allowed them to do what they really wanted to do. Ten hours in a day that could have been spent pursuing some loftier goal.
For Nadine, there was no loftier goal. She loved to get up inside the machines, covered in grease and oil. She would practically skip along through the layers of grime and muck as she made her way across the lower levels. Her muscles would ache from the labor, and it would fill her with purpose and happiness. Those aches were her friends. They might have been her only real friends.
When she wasn’t working, Nadine was rarely happy. While she made passing grades in school, her social life was a disaster. Music and boys held no interest for her, nor did fashion or gossip. In her spare time, she read repair manuals and history books about the industrial revolution. In school, she sat on the edges of the classroom, and in the cafeteria she sat alone. At home, she interacted dutifully with her mother and brother and wished her father was there to talk to instead. He understood. He was the only one who ever had.
Nadine looked up to her father, not only because he was a towering man at nearly seven foot in height, but because he represented everything she wanted to become: working-class. On the few days that he was home, she would pepper him with questions.
“What was it like?”
“Oh, Nadine, it was truly a different time. Did you know, that once upon a time, people worked every single day out in the fields? There was no time for anything else. Their survival depended on it.”
“What changed?”
“Many things. First came religion, with its day of rest. In reality, it was a day set aside to focus on spiritual rather than worldly things. That may have been a bit less than restful for most people. Then, industrial improvements made each person able to do more in the same amount of time. And therefore, the same amount in less time. Does that make sense?”
“I know my maths, dad.”
“As you should. Well, later on, when two major religions couldn’t agree on which day was the right day to rest and pray, the one day off morphed into a full two-day weekend to accommodate them. The advances in technology made the reduced work hours still sufficient to keep the world running. Of course, once people got the idea that not working was an option, and they began to like it, the course was set. Eventually, people balked at the idea of working even three days a week. Do you know that word?”
“Yes I know the word balked. I’m thirteen and I have lots of friends who want to do stupid things.”
“Fair enough. Well, to make a long story short, eventually people stopped enjoying work. They stopped wanting to work. They drifted away into more ‘intellectual’ pursuits and most stopped working completely. In time, even the advances in science couldn’t maintain everything and society began to fail. That’s when the forced labor was put in place.”
“And now everyone works one day a month?”
“That’s right, Nadine”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
“But you work so much more than that.”
“Yes, but I work so that others do not have to. So that they can find a different path through our seemingly endless, numbered days.”
“Dad?”
“Yes, hon?”
“Are they happy?”
“Who?”
“Those people that only work one day a month.”
“I can’t rightly say. But you know what I think? I think they have lost something they don’t even know they are missing. So they may not even really know if they are happy themselves.”
“I want to be happy.”
“And I am sure you will be, my little sunflower.”
--
“Those were the days of our lives
The bad things in life were so few
Those days are all gone now but one thing is true
When I look and I find I still love you”
-Queen
Those were the days of our lives
“Perhaps if we study too much history, we are doomed never to repeat it.”
---
“It’s time to go.”
Nadine hadn’t needed the reminder. She had been awake long before her parents. She had been awake before the birds had begun to sing or the sun had begun to shine. By the time the world had started to wake up, she was already dressed in her favorite overalls, her long-sleeve heavy blouse trapped tightly underneath. Her well-worn army boots covered thick wool socks along with the distressed hem at the end of her pant legs. Her leather gloves sat on the bed beside her along with her mask and goggles.
The only reason she wasn’t already in the car was that she wasn’t allowed to be.
Nadine looked forward to each work day more than anything else. More than dessert, more than travel, more than her birthday even. It was at work that she felt alive, like she was a part of something greater than herself. That she mattered.
“Let’s go Francis. Melody, you all set?”
Nadine was waiting inside the garage by the time her father corralled the rest of the family in front of him through the door and out to the car. He smiled broadly at Nadine when he caught sight of her. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the others, he shrugged at her good-naturedly. As he reached her, he bent down to hug her with one arm while opening the car with the other.
“Good morning my little sunflower,” he whispered in her ear. “At least one person in this family has the right attitude.” Then louder to the rest, “Hop in now, can’t be late!”
By the time the rest of them had their doors open, Nadine was already inside with her seatbelt strapped on.
--
For most people, work was merely a chore. A necessary annoyance that allowed them to do what they really wanted to do. Ten hours in a day that could have been spent pursuing some loftier goal.
For Nadine, there was no loftier goal. She loved to get up inside the machines, covered in grease and oil. She would practically skip along through the layers of grime and muck as she made her way across the lower levels. Her muscles would ache from the labor, and it would fill her with purpose and happiness. Those aches were her friends. They might have been her only real friends.
When she wasn’t working, Nadine was rarely happy. While she made passing grades in school, her social life was a disaster. Music and boys held no interest for her, nor did fashion or gossip. In her spare time, she read repair manuals and history books about the industrial revolution. In school, she sat on the edges of the classroom, and in the cafeteria she sat alone. At home, she interacted dutifully with her mother and brother and wished her father was there to talk to instead. He understood. He was the only one who ever had.
Nadine looked up to her father, not only because he was a towering man at nearly seven foot in height, but because he represented everything she wanted to become: working-class. On the few days that he was home, she would pepper him with questions.
“What was it like?”
“Oh, Nadine, it was truly a different time. Did you know, that once upon a time, people worked every single day out in the fields? There was no time for anything else. Their survival depended on it.”
“What changed?”
“Many things. First came religion, with its day of rest. In reality, it was a day set aside to focus on spiritual rather than worldly things. That may have been a bit less than restful for most people. Then, industrial improvements made each person able to do more in the same amount of time. And therefore, the same amount in less time. Does that make sense?”
“I know my maths, dad.”
“As you should. Well, later on, when two major religions couldn’t agree on which day was the right day to rest and pray, the one day off morphed into a full two-day weekend to accommodate them. The advances in technology made the reduced work hours still sufficient to keep the world running. Of course, once people got the idea that not working was an option, and they began to like it, the course was set. Eventually, people balked at the idea of working even three days a week. Do you know that word?”
“Yes I know the word balked. I’m thirteen and I have lots of friends who want to do stupid things.”
“Fair enough. Well, to make a long story short, eventually people stopped enjoying work. They stopped wanting to work. They drifted away into more ‘intellectual’ pursuits and most stopped working completely. In time, even the advances in science couldn’t maintain everything and society began to fail. That’s when the forced labor was put in place.”
“And now everyone works one day a month?”
“That’s right, Nadine”
“No matter what?”
“No matter what.”
“But you work so much more than that.”
“Yes, but I work so that others do not have to. So that they can find a different path through our seemingly endless, numbered days.”
“Dad?”
“Yes, hon?”
“Are they happy?”
“Who?”
“Those people that only work one day a month.”
“I can’t rightly say. But you know what I think? I think they have lost something they don’t even know they are missing. So they may not even really know if they are happy themselves.”
“I want to be happy.”
“And I am sure you will be, my little sunflower.”
--
“Those were the days of our lives
The bad things in life were so few
Those days are all gone now but one thing is true
When I look and I find I still love you”
-Queen
