richard quigley

by nick nelson

richard quigley woke up. he did not know where he was. or who he was. or what he was. or what, if anything, he had to do that day, this was the story of his life. it always took him a while to remember these things when he woke up. but he always knew who he was in his dreams. or what he had learned to call his dreams. he believed that the so-called dreams were real, and that the so-called real world was an illusion. but he could not get anybody to agree with him or to believe him. or to do much of anything except laugh at him. now it all started to come back to him. he was forty-six years old, and had graduated from midville high school in midville u s a twenty-eight years ago. he had a job unloading trucks and stocking shelves at a one world food store location in the great metropolis. he had been working at this job for twelve years, the longest he had ever held a job, and considered himself lucky to have a job. he had no possessions except the clothes he wore, the wallet he kept his i d in, and a phone, which was not the latest model. it was wednesday - richard’s day off. he checked his phone but there were no messages on it. no surprise there. richard did not generally have strong emotions or strong opinions about anything - in the so-called real world that is, his so-called dream life was a different story altogether - but he hated his phone more than anything in the world. he had no real use for the phone, but he had to pay to keep it going, as it was necessary in the modern world which he generally hated as well. he thought he might leave his room and go down to the corner coffee shop and buy a cup of coffee and a bagel. but he could not decide whether to consume the coffee and bagel at the shop or purchase them and take them back to his room. there was a woman who worked behind the counter at the coffee shop and richard was tempted to stare at her if he was seated at a table in the shop, but he realized what trouble he could get into if he were caught doing so. he hated the modern world. outside, it started to rain. richard forgot about the coffee and bagel and began indulging in a fantasy.