Swallow #3

When I woke up, I could smell of food that my mother made. I didn't want to get up and just wanted to keep hiding in the bed. I forgot to set my CD player's alarm clock, so I grabbed a remote and pressed play button. Music started to play. The CD was Weezer's Blue Album. I got up and listened to a song for a while, then went downstairs.

My mother was sitting on the chair near dining table and watching a comedy show. When she was watching TV, she was nodding for some reason. I had been telling her that she was nodding, at least, her head was moving up and down. It was such a small movement. She always denied and insisted that she wasn't nodding. This was a weird behaviour of my mother when she watched TV. "Can I change the channel, mom?" said I. "I am watching this show." said my mother. Nevertheless, I grabbed a remote and started to change channels. A silver television that my parents bought a few years ago looked very 80s. The remote control were fixed and covered with scotch tape that was turning yellowish. I surfed limited channels available, and stopped at the channel that has an animation show. "When does this animation will have an ending?" I thought in mind.

My mother served me left over dinner she made earlier. "Thank you," said I. I ate them all and brought dishes and a cup to the sink. "What time are you going to work?" my mother asked me. "Around 9:30," I replied briefly. My mother was the only person I spoke to often in my family. Whether she understood what I was saying fully or not, she was the only person who paid attention to me when I talked.

I said "I am off to work now" to my mother. I rode on my bike and started peddaling to work. It was such a warm night. I heard noise of scooters that were customised to make louder noise and probably belonged to some highschool students. It was way too noisy as usual. "Fucking stupid people," I said in mind and start to speeding up.

I didn't really want to go to work. The job at the convenience store was not really what I wanted to do, but it was better than doing nothing then. On my way to work while I was riding on my bike, I usually talked to myself and thought about numerous things. It was funny enough that I didn't remember those thoughts very much later. "Where have my thoughts gone?"

"Hi" said I when I opened the store's door, the store's owner was working still. He was a guy who quit being a salaryman and started to have this convenience store franchise business. I thought that quitting being a salaryman was such a brave thing to do. "Do I want to be an owner of a convenience store? – hell no, that's not what I want to do at all."

I scanned my employee's card and started to work. I shut off my mind and growed a wall higher not to allow anyone to see what I was really thinking.

I thought about going to see my friends tomorrow.

Japanese pop songs from the cable radio for the store's background music were very annoying.

Swallow #2

Since I connected to the Internet, I was so amazed by volume of the information available. Bee-prrrr-boo-zeee-sht-sheeew, I was fond of the noise that my default 28.8k modem made after calling to an access point.

The computer was a new toy I got. I was a post-bubble-era spoiled 19-year-old kid. I knew what I wanted to do, but I was afraid of getting out of my world. I was in a moratorium to enter adulthood then. My pocketbell beside the computer started to vibrate. A short message arrived from my friend, Kiku, saying "what are you doing?" I picked up a codeless phone and called Kiku's poketbell, I punched number keys to send a message saying "I'm tired and going to bed soon. Where are you?" Kiku responded, "I'm at school. Good rest!"

I looked at the computer screen, the connection to the Internet has already been cut off by making a call to Kiku's pocketbell and I saw the clock saying quarter past noon. I heard squeaky noise of breaks of my mother's bicycle. She came back home from the factory for lunch. I shut down the computer and went down to see her.

"You are still awake... Aren't you tired?" said my mother. She was checking mails. "I will cook something quick for lunch. Do you want to eat some?" I wasn't hungry at all."No, thanks. I will eat something later before work" said I. I came down to tell her something, but I didn't remember what I wanted to tell. "Well, I am off to bed. See ya." I went upstairs and slided into my bed. I noticed that I left the window slightly open. I started to fall asleep as noises of bicycles' brakes, cars, a Cessna, and a helicopter fading out from my head. I felt warm wind coming in from the window.

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.