Wait. How do you get this thing to play? Is it the green button? HARRY! IS IT THE GREEN BUTTON? I'M GONNA PRESS THE GR-
Tell us about your life. Oh, okay. It's working. Uh... hello. I'm forty-seven. I live near Coxbury, in a cottage. I'm divorced. I've got one son, Harry. He's seven years old, and he never talks to me. He just spends all his time playing on stupid electronics that his dad, Alexander, gave him. All that time, just tapping away, killing virtual faceless soldiers. It does my head in. I'm worried that he's gonna grow up thinking that's the way the world works. Anyway, I work in London, and poor little Harry has to go to school in London too because I can't drop him off.
What was your occupation before you started commuting? Oh, I've been commuting ever since I got out of uni. I only stopped when Harry had been born, then I went back to it when he was old enough to start school, around the time of the split. I'd had a stressful time, and I needed something to distract me. Alex wasn't paying nearly enough money for Harry, saying he'd spent it all on the electronics, and honestly I just needed something to take my mind off everything. Harry and I also needed a steady flow of money, so to get that I had to go back to work. His school fees cost a fortune. It's not like he learns anything anyway. They just spend all their time sitting around having 'Quiet Time'. It's a wonder he knows how to speak.
Why are you based in London? Well, before the split, Alex would look after Harry while I worked. The best job I could find was in London, the job that paid the most, and even with Alex's night shifts, which paid some, it just wasn't enough. Then after the split, I needed the money even more, so I had to stay commuting. Harry and I, we scrape along. It's a lot easier during the holidays, when he's at his dad's, I can tell you. Only one person to cook and cater for. I'm able to compromise with the money I spent. No constant amount of sweet-buying. I save all that money for the term-time, so I can treat Harry sometimes.
Why don't you just move to London? It would cost too much. That's it, really. It would cost too much to uproot and move to another city. Housing prices have rocketed, you know. It'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack if you wanted to find a cheap house in London that isn't a slum. Trust me, I've looked. There's nowhere near my work and Harry's school that's actually nice enough and cheap. It's one or the other.
Lastly, tell us an interesting fact about you, or your family. Harry's dad is rich now. Richer than I, or all of us put together, ever were. He owns a mansion in Ireland, deep in the middle of the countryside. Whenever Harry's angry at me, when I won't let him play on his iPad, or have more sweets, he yells at me, "I WISH I COULD LIVE AT DAD'S HOUSE ALL THE TIME! DAD IS BETTER THAN YOU! DAD LOVES ME MORE THAN YOU!" and it breaks my heart, it really does.
Thank you for your time. Is it over? Do I press the red button? HARRY? DO I PRESS THE RED BU-
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Commute - Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015
HumorMaya McKenna is a regular twenty-eight year old and an aspiring journalist. After bagging a job in London, she discovers that she has to commute every day, at half past seven! Maya is understandably not looking forward to this, but when a project re...
