Ferris Bueller's Day Off

The rain was light against the window paine, just a reminder of the world that waited outside. Soft pitter patter, the rhythm of her thoughts. Her alarm had gone off an hour ago but she had turned it off and called into work. She nestled in the comfort of her comforter, the warmth of her burrow too inviting to leave. Snuggling deep down she pulled one of her many pillows close to her face and breathed in the feeling of taking a day off. She had needed it for so long, but who didn't. She remembered how staying home from school used to feel. Waking up early with the house to yourself, the siblings at school, the parents at work. She would run out of her room and down the hall in her slippers, sliding across the hard wood floor before plopping down in front of the t.v. Wrapped in a single blanket and ready to feast on the fine programming that school made her miss. Why was t.v. better when she thought about little Jack sitting in social studies. It was the joy of knowing suffering was occuring and that you were far away from harm's way. It was the simple joy of lounging around the house, taking naps and making lunch for yourself while the rest of the world toils away. Not that school was hard or that the kids there even suffered that much, but there was something that just felt so good about sleeping past your alarm and getting up when you were ready for the day, not when the day demanded you be ready.
Presently she lay half awake her hair splattered across the bed, her arms and legs stretching to take up as much room as she could. She was missing a meeting today but nobody would mind, they couldn't say anything, she was there way more than anyone else. They wouldn't be mad as much as they might be concerened, what happened to Janis? She is always here, did she tell you she was going somewhere? Janis smiled uncontrollably a gigantic smile from one end of the bed to the other,a smile that could swallow the world, leaping off her face and floating on its own pure joy. She closed her eyes and dozed for a couple more hours. When she was younger she would stay home from school and wake up extra early just to be able to enjoy the whole day off. Now she relaxed, drifting from waking life to that blurry other wolrd. She got up around 10 and headed to the kitchen, she should have been at work an hour ago but the rain and so many other things made this a perfect day to stay home. Days off from work or school always made her think of Ferris Bueller, the role model for all children taking a day off. She wished she could go see a Cubs game but since she lived in Tampa it seemed a little out of the question. She didn't have a Cameron to call, her circle of friends had been slowly dwindling since college. Her Sloan she guessed would be Tom who she hqad only gone out with a couple times, but they seemed on the right track. their conversations were fluid, the physical attraction bubbled beneath the calmness of their interactions. She sipped her coffee and scanned her yard, the drizzling rain blurring her vision, blending the water and landscape. She wondered why she was drinking coffee since she had no reason to even be awake. Old habits die hard she said as she stirred in another scoop of sugar.
Her kitchen was quaint, a small island for the sink, bordered by counters and cabinets that lined the walls of her one bedroom cottage. The walls were light yellow, the blandness, she said in no way reflected her outgoing and boisterous self. She did order vanilla ice cream though but she just qualified it by saying that it was a good flavor, who were other people to say a flavor was boring. Look at me she thought I am free spirited what am I doing home from work If I am boring and bland. She paused a little as she surveyed the empty house and sipped her coffee. Her smile beginiing to fade a little.

going home...