Midas Touch In Reverse

It was one of those weeks that started promising but the further it developed the worse it got. By the end of the week, Martina had a feeling that everything she touched turned to shit.

Her job had been oppressive for a while, the atmosphere less than healthy and the superiors buzzing around with ever new demands. Coping with the workload was difficult enough without having to put up with irresponsible or incompetent, or both, colleagues or associates.

The stresses in her working environment left Martina with little energy for her social life. She had abandoned most of her activities and seldom went out for a chat with a friend or acquaintance anymore, let alone join in a party or another social gathering. She found them too unsatisfying to be worth wasting her time and energy. But she kept a few friendships she considered precious and nurtured them as best she could, trying not to jeopardise them in any way.

So, that Wednesday Martina managed to accomplish a few things that had been dragging along for a long time and felt like celebrating with a friend. She rang Michael but his mobile was off. Then she tried calling Thomas but nobody answered the phone. She thought she'd try again from home and set for the bus stop. She waited nearly half an hour for her line and when it finally arrived, it was stuffed full with passengers. She let the bus go and waited another ten minutes for the second one, only slightly less full. She entered anyway, thinking she would be almost at home had she chosen to walk in the first place. Then, three stops from her own, something screeched and broke and the bus refused to move any further. She descended while cursing profusely, and walked the rest of the way. At least the weather was fine.

She finally arrived home, almost an hour later than usual, and checked the mailbox. Among the usual spam was an official letter. What the..., she thought and then remembered the ticket she got for leaving her car in a no parking zone a few months ago. She'd had an appointment with her dentist and had been already running late as she couldn't have found a place to park so she had been left with no option. But nobody cares about that. She'd have to pay that fine.

Then she remembered she wanted to have a drink with friends and tried to call them again. Michael's mobile was still off and she remembered him telling he'd go skiing with his family. Damn! So she dialled Thomas, again with no luck. She sighed and poured herself a glass of red wine. But she couldn't drink it. She kept dialling Thomas until, much later, he finally answered, only to tell Martina that his wife had had some serious health issues and they had spent all of the afternoon in hospital and he would be unavailable until further notice.

Something broke in Martina and she reached for a bottle of brandy to drown her woes. When she was found the following morning, the bottle was three quarters empty and the remaining sleeping pills lay scattered all over the kitchen floor.