Sebastian, issue two

First few paragraphs of this can be seen:

http://adventuresofasuburbanstreetposse.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/sebastian.html

On this morning the alarm was allowed 5 dulling rings before he begrudgingly swung his arm with an accurate blow to the ‘snooze’ button. This was followed by the usual morning denial, as Sebastian asked himself whether he really needed to get up, before concluding the same answer he always did – yes – and removing the covers with a sigh.

He put on his dressing gown and mechanically walked down the stairs in the same steps he did yesterday and the day before. When your life revolves around the same routine, over and over again, it’s drilled into your hard-drive and robotically becomes all you’re used to. Eventually all you’re used to becomes all you dare to do, and the thought of leaving what you know so well is utterly absurd. If you live like a robot, you will become a robot, as Sebastian was oblivious to oh so well.

When he reached the kitchen, clean but for a few pots and pans waiting to be dried and sentenced back to their rightful place, he reached to his right and turned on the lightswitch without looking. He then turned towards the cupboards on his left and removed a bowl - a dull blue and something you’d expect to find as state regulation kitchenware in a Communist regime. He bought it from a car boot sale 3 years ago and always ate breakfast from it.

After pouring himself the Supermarket value equivalent of Rice Krispies, whatever they were called – he never read the packet - he sat himself in his chair at the four person table in his dining room. It was 5 to 7 and he mused to himself about the day ahead and what exciting endeavours it might entail. He wondered whether Carly had replied to his email about his departmental budget and where he might go to lunch that day. He then decided he would go to the café he always went to, although it wasn’t really a decision; it was more of a reaction.

When you do your times-tables enough, knowing that 7 multiplied by 8 is 56 isn’t mathematical logic – it’s just a reaction. It’s something you know, as a fact, and something you wouldn’t challenge because you know it’s right. You don’t need to re-examine the logic because you’ve examined it before and you still trust it and don’t see why it need be changed. It was the same for Sebastian and going to that café for lunch: a long time ago he’d asked himself where he wanted to go for lunch and he thought the café looked nice, nicer than the canteen at work some of his colleagues went to and nicer than that bistro down the road. He didn’t see why any of this had changed, and when he asked himself what he wanted to do for lunch, he wasn’t really asking. He just followed the logic he always had; that logic he trusted and that had never let him down, that never changed.

Confident in this reaction, Sebastian cleared the table and went back upstairs to shower and get dressed. He had no lingering regrets about his decision and as far he was concerned that was the issue solved for the day, another little victory in a day of tiny hurdles.