A Time to Quit

A Time to Quit (PMx)

I almost slid off the road

three times, just on the way

to work.

It was raining in the middle

of winter and the earth had

had become a sheet of solid ice.

I arrived at work to find a

quarter of the people had already

called in sick,

I had lost my chance by my

initial appearance.

There was a lot of mail and an

equally large amount of flyers to

be delivered.

Sometime in bad weather we

were allowed to leave some

behind.

Today the bitch said no,

everything had to go.

The wind was blowing the rain

and I was soaked within

minutes.

Ice had formed on my face

and my rainwear was drenched,

making it useless,

I had my cleats on but I

still slipped on the icy parts,

doing a little dance and hoping

not to fall on the hard ice.

The mail on my bag became saturated,

and the flyers fell apart as they

made the trip from my hand

to the mailbox.

They were rendered unreadable

but I had little choice

and continued on my

foolhardy adventure.

I have never been so cold and

so wet,

my boots had filled with water

and my feet had become numb.

Each step became slower and the

pain increased in my legs as my

skin froze and rubbed against

my frozen icy pants.

The mail was destroyed,

I was pouring cocktails of Hydro Bills

and Mastercard statements

into mailboxes with a garnish

of Pizza Hut flyers disintegrating

as they fell.

The streets were empty as I

continued my lonely travail,

after I had fallen the

third time I stopped

counting.

The ice was stinging my

cheeks yet I could feel warm

tears dropping down,

melting the ice and as I

stifled the urge to cru I

realized I was already crying.

The last hour passed in a daze

and as I trudged back to my

car,

I sat in the front seat so wet

and miserable, I couldn't feel my feet.

My cigarettes had become doused

and I had nothing to smoke, it

seemed the heater in the car did

not start working until I pulled

into my driveway.

I came so close to quittng

that day.

MCC