Payback...?

Sometimes, I get up and find that nothing goes right. You know what I mean: You get shampoo in your eyes, you drop your keys and they jump right under the sofa, you shake the juice container – but the lid’s loose, the file you backed up on your jump drive isn’t there this morning…

I guess everyone has days like that. What runs through my mind, as I look out the window at a sunny day (which started with high winds and rain – but only while I was outside), is: Why is this happening to me? I suppose we all want a reason for things to go so wrong all at once, and naturally my mind drifts across the Bay of Paranoia to the rocky shores of Payback City. I stand on that shore and ask:“What did I do to deserve this?”

There is, of course, no answer but a faintly sinister snicker, carried on the wind that blows down from the barren heights of distant hills where live scapegoats, straw-men, a cadre of devil’s advocates, and the occasional shadow of a doubt. I just file this package of problems away with other mysteries, like why buttered bread always falls with the buttered side down and where goes the odd sock which disappears from the dryer.

Mick

Payback

There are those days, when to get out of bed
Just doesn't seem like the best way to start.
A small pain lurks at the back of your head,
You'd swear caused a pause of your beating heart.
It tastes like there's dish soap in your toothpaste,
Your razor feels like an old carving knife;
In the “wake-up” shower you take in haste:
The coldest water you’ve felt in your life!
Your breakfast burns and your coffee’s like tar,
Outside your front door smells like doggy poo -
You see nothing there, you get in your car,
And find the bad smell -- stuck to your right shoe…
You just want to stuff the day in a sack,
And label it: Anonymous Payback.

Mick McKellar
October 2007