Free Zombies! Episode 2 - Abby's Bad Day by Ivan Turner Page A

bed and stared at herself in the full
length mirror on their bedroom door. The nightgown was not
flattering but then again, neither was her figure. She was almost
forty years old and letting it go. The last few months with Martin
being out of work and the pressure of getting their son to and from
daycare while juggling a less-than-ideal work schedule and Martin's
endless array of interviews that seemed to go nowhere had taken its
toll on every physical and emotional part of her. If he said
anything about moving back to England today she was pretty sure
she'd lose it.
     
    Deciding that she was done degrading herself
in front of the mirror, she slipped out of the bedroom and rounded
the corner into the bathroom. Abby followed the same rituals as
most people in the morning. She had a pee and then brushed her
teeth while the water ran hot in the shower and the bathroom
steamed up. Then she shed her unflattering nightgown and stepped
under the glorious hot water.
     
    When she had finished in the shower, she felt
better. She always felt better after a shower. She was ready to
face the day. She would be ready to face the day for exactly twelve
minutes. Humming to herself, Abby ran the blow dryer over her hair.
She never dried it fully because she didn't like the way it felt
after being completely heat dried. The dryer just kind of sped up
the natural process. She couldn't have commented on its effect on
the health of her hair one way or the other. She also didn't notice
any tremendous difference in the way it looked. Letting it dry
naturally just suited her. It just felt better.
     
    Finishing up, Abby wrapped a towel around her
body and left the bathroom. She almost fell onto herself as she
avoided tripping over her two (almost three) year old son. He was
standing in the dark hallway, only the bathroom light, partially
blocked by her frame illuminating him at all. Sammy looked
pale.
     
    "Are you all right?" she asked him.
     
    He opened his mouth to answer in the way that
two year olds will answer and threw up instead.
     
    It was the start of a very bad day.
     
    ***
     
    ABBY was supposed to open the gym at
5:45, which meant she was due to be there at about 5:30. There was
always someone waiting for her when she got there and she always
let whoever it was in to work out while she sorted out the morning
ledgers. This morning she didn't arrive until three minutes before
six and people were upset.
     
    Sammy was running a fever of 100.3 which
isn't particularly dangerous in a two year old but they still
couldn't send him to day care. When she'd told Martin, he'd been
unhappy. What got her was that he wasn't even concerned for Sammy.
What concerned him most was that he would have the baby for the day and have to haul him over to the doctor's office. He had a
job interview with Best Buy in the afternoon. He was certain
he was going to be offered the job because he absolutely did not
want it. But he would have to take it if it was available because
he had nothing else and they were pushing the limits of their
savings.
     
    They'd argued a bit, which made it a typical
morning. Then he'd apologized, which made it very atypical. As
she'd left the apartment, Abby gave him a kiss and a hug and then
squeezed him in a place that made a promise for the evening. At
least when he'd closed the door he'd been smiling.
     
    The good feelings generated by that encounter
had lasted seven minutes. The train was delayed and she'd gotten to
her stop at 5:43. She managed to make her regular fifteen minute
walk to work in fourteen minutes and called it a victory. She was
greeted by a mosaic of angry faces and muttered complaints.
     
    She didn't care for any of it.
     
    It wasn't in her nature to explain herself to
anyone, especially a group of fat bastards who thought they were
doing themselves good by getting in a half hour of treadmill every
morning before work. So she weathered their complaints, opened up
the gym, and got everything going as quickly