Swallow #1

"Hello, good morning." I greeted a customer with sleepy face.

It was in early summer of 1997. I was a night-shift shopkeeper of a convenience store and waiting to switch to a morning-shift person and the store's owner. I glanced at my colleague. He was yearning with red eyes. I looked up at the clock. The analog clock was pointing quarter to eight.

"My shift is almost over." I said in my mind and looked away through the window of magazines' shelves. It was already bright and looks warm with early summer sunshine.

When a cashregister's digital clock said eight, I scanned the barcode of my employee's card.

"See you tonight." I grabbed my backpack and ran to the outside where I parked my bike.

I went through narrow alleys in front of the station. I could see many commuters were standing and waiting for a train. I crossed railway tracks and took another alleys passing by beside shrine. I pedaled faster not to be caught by traffic lights. I was sweating lightly.

I saw swallows flying in the sky. They have arrived from the south to breed. I liked seeing them flying in the city because that was a sign of beginning of a season.

By the time I got home, my mother have already left to work. An empty house with slight smell of coffee, toast, and detergent was all mine. I went straight up to my room on the second floor and turned the computer on right away.

"Yay, I can use the phone line to connect to the Internet as long as I want!"

After a night shift, I didn't feel tired at all. Instead of going to bed, exploring the other side of the planet has begun.

Watching through the window of my room, a swallow flew to eaves of a house next to ours. Swallows made their nest under the eaves.