It was a Sunday, you see. A day so overcast it would make a raincloud wanna go tanning. Every hunch I ever had told me not to go into the office that morning. But I had a character stuck in a jam and stories wait for no woman. So, even though my nose was so stuffed it could’ve passed for a carnival prize, I still made the long trek across the house to get to my office.
But hunches never lie.
I heard the noise before I saw the trouble. A horrible gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk coming from my computer. Then I saw the screen. Frozen like a popsicle in the middle of winter.
Terror struck at my heart. Ice filled my veins. The truth cut at me with a horror so cliche that it would leave you all speechless.
I hadn’t backed up my new story.
“Help!” I screamed.
The door burst open and in strode my technically-adept husband, a man so geeky that Velociraptors mongoliensis run in fear. But it turns out, even the good guys have their kryptonite.
“Hard drives…” he gasped. “My only weakness.”
“Keep it together man!” I said, giving his handsome mug a smack.
He shook off the panic and glared down at that computer like it was a gunslinger a second after high noon. “Maybe I should teach it a lesson it won’t soon forget.”
And without flinching, he gave my computer a technical tap.
Wham!
Gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk-gunk.
My husband shook his head, turned his back on the sound, and ordered a new hard drive at the first stop off the information superhighway.
Sometimes the bad guys get thrown in the slammer. Sometimes the guy does get the girl. Sometimes the good guys do win the good fight.
But today wasn’t one of those days.
I sighed, slumped in my chair, and pulled out a pen. It was time to take matters into my own hands.
6 Comments
Oh no! That’s awful! So there’s no hope of recovering the data?
No, sweetheart. It’s gone like an ice cube in a volcano. Like a shoeshine after recess. Like health insurance when you need it. Gone!
But that’s okay. At least it was just first draft stuff… it was chapters I’d written quickly to figure out plot. Only real problem is facing that blank page again! Thanks for the sympathy!
Awesome ending, awesome voice. What could be more noir.
Funny, when I had my hard drive problem, one of my most technically savvy friends gave me the sage advice that some hard drives really do respond to a “technical tap.”
Mine was not one. But it’s good to know you tried everything!
Hahahaha! This is awesome! Well, not the situation, but your retelling of it. Dark humor can save us from even the most horrible of fates! I have every confidence that your book will come out bigger and better in round two. And as someone who’s recently faced a blank page after god knows how many revisions, if I can do it, you, my far braver and more fabulous, friend can too!
Far braver and more fabulous, Edith? I think not! Thanks for the confidence though:)
Rita: I’ve seen the ‘technical tap’ work a few times… most recently with the hard drive in tony’s ipod. It’s a sight to behold!
my dear,
only you could turn a tragedy into an engaging page turner!!
oh, and “Yay” for son #1!