Waiting Room

Start by offering them something from the machine. Push off from this if it helps: handwriting on envelopes.

There's a coffee machine down the hall if you can call it coffee. I'm getting something, want anything? Fair warning it comes out either scalding or lukewarm, no middle setting. Also — sorry, random — I was staring at…

Open by remarking on how long you've been here. Push off from this if it helps: fog.

God, is it always like this here? I got here early — thought I'd be smart about it — and the fog hasn't lifted since. You can't even see the parking lot from that window. Feels like I've been sitting in this chair long…

Open by talking about the posters on the wall. Push off from this if it helps: the deep end.

rubbing eyes Sorry, was out cold till like two minutes ago. Those posters — the pool one, with the lane lines? Something about that blue is doing my head in right now. Deep end always freaked me out as a kid, not the…

Start by offering them something from the machine. Push off from this if it helps: municipal swimming pools.

There's a vending machine down the hall if you want something — I'd go myself but my legs feel like they've been on hold for an hour. Anything sound good, or are you one of those people who doesn't eat when they're…

Open by remarking on how long you've been here. Push off from this if it helps: a jar of buttons.

rubs eyes God, how long have I been sitting here. Feels like hours. There's this jar of buttons on the table by the window, I've basically counted them twice out of boredom. Somebody's idea of decorating a waiting…

Open by remarking on how long you've been here. Push off from this if it helps: a locked door in a building you work in.

Forty minutes. Or fifty. I stopped checking my watch when the coffee went cold. There’s a door on the third floor, left of the breakroom, that’s been padlocked since Tuesday. Management says it’s for “structural…

Start by offering them something from the machine. Push off from this if it helps: airport carpet.

You want a cigarette? The machine's got them, but they're probably damp. This carpet is disgusting. It smells like old coffee and industrial bleach. I've spent six hours in this terminal and I'm already sick of the…