Why Didn't I Think of That?

It was a cold, cold winter morning in small town West Wood, California. It is December 15, 1999 at 4:23 a.m. Outside the  La Paloma building on Devon Ave.,  the night still lurks over West Wood with its extreme darkness which seems as black and cold as the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. Apartment 287, as Mortimer still faintly sleeps away his last few minutes of rest the phone rings RRINNGGG, RRIINGG, RINNNGG… RINGG RRIINNGGG, Mortimer leaped out of bed, almost suffering from a minor heart attack from his sudden fear. It was then that he looked down seeing it was only his alarm on his cell phone going off, it was 4:30 a.m. and time for him to be up and begin the day. Mortimer was 44 and unmarried so he was alone in the morning with no fear of accidentally waking anybody when he would have to awake in the mornings.

So, half awake and a little flustered he noisily ventured down his long hallway of his dark and seemingly barren apartment and turned left into his kitchen. Much like the rest of his apartment Mortimer’s kitchen was not composed over very much other than a loaf of bread, a half gallon of milk, a few eggs, a 12 pack of beer that was missing 3, a can of Maxwell Master Blend coffee grinds, and an older coffee machine on the counter top next to the sink. Stumbling into the kitchen he flicked on the light and proceeded to the coffee maker. He quickly cleaned it out and put in his usual 2 scoops of Master Blend, 2 cups of water, then turned it on and moved on to the bathroom. After Mortimer took his morning shower and got dressed in his black work pants and “Computer Boys” polo shirt, as he walked out of the room he remembered to quickly grab his hat, and heavy coat bringing them with him into the kitchen. BINGGG BINGG BING, his coffee was done at precisely 4:45 a.m. like every morning, he poured his first cup and added 2 teaspoons of 2% milk from the fridge. Mortimer sat down by his window, which over looked the Johnsons Bay, and watched the first part of the sunset while he drank his first cup of coffee. By 6:00 a.m. he had finished his first cup and moved back to the kitchen to make his second cup in his “to go” cup the same way he had done his first. He then put on his shoes, coat and hat and grabbed his keys and coffee.

After making it out of the abandoned looking apartment building Mortimer trudged down to 1967, Chevy, pick-up truck and jumped in to go to work. It was when he looked over that he saw it “UGHH, I cannot believe I did this” he grumbled when he realized he still had not returned Sherly Hanson’s library book that he promised he would do over the weekend. Sherly Hanson is the pretty brunette desk clerk at Computer Boys inc., she is the sweetest woman and seems to just love Mortimer. She is a rare find since he is well, a little on the older side, about fully gray headed, tall, and lanky. But in her eyes he was a great guy who just needed to be taken for who he is and not his looks. So, Sherly was not something Mortimer could let just go away and he knew that!  So he thought out loud, mumbling to himself, “okay okay I’m early still I don’t have to be to work until 7:30 I can still make it there and be on time for work!” But then as Mortimer tried to start his little blue truck it would not start!

Mortimer began to get worried and frankly a very frazzled and flustered! “It has to start it just has to!” he kept saying, “If I turn the key just one more time that will be it, it will be it the engine will turn over and I can go before I have a very big problem!” As the next few minutes went by and the engine would still not turn over Mortimer had to come to a new solution. He suddenly remembered that a bus going his way would be stopping out front of his apartment complex at exactly 6:35 a.m., which is the same precise time it runs every day all year. He quickly grabbled all of his stuff shoving it under his arm and made sure to grab the library book and his wallet.

It is 6:32 a.m. and Mortimer is standing at the bus stop impatiently waiting for 6:35 a.m. to come around so he may finally get his day started and this book returned for Margret. Finally after what had felt like hours of waiting the bus was there and Mortimer quickly got on and made way to the town library to return the book. He was able to successfully take back the book with no late fee and walk to blocks to work all by 7:10 a.m. and for this he was quite proud of himself as he should have been. That was another quality that Mortimer possessed he was able to successfully figure out a great deal of problems and make logical sense out of them! This skill is what actually gave him the incentive to engage in the field of computer programming, which he greatly excelled at making many people wonder why he never did more with his high intelligence and valuable skills.

Today was a big day at work for Mortimer. He had four computers that needed re- programming and some also needed to be rid of viruses and programs reset. But before that he had to go around to various computer stores checking their computer stock and insect new computer designs and models. It was when he was inspecting the new incoming 1984 Apple computers that he saw the newest computer release section to his right. And he immediately stopped what he was doing to explore his amazement.

He had always dreamed of doing more with his career and had intended to step up his game over the past few years. But when he saw the newest brand called “MAC” he felt a sudden pit of sadness and defeat growing in his stomach. As he looked over the computer he mumbled to himself a world of thoughts. “This is it, exactly it every last detail! Identical all the way down to the screen size and programmer used this is my idea! Excepting for the name, but this is mine, it should be mine…” He had a seemingly depressed look stowed upon his face, which seemed whiter than normal, his eye browns bent down and concerned and his lips pursed all with amazement, disbelief, and wonder. Because, this was his, his exact computer he had designed as a young man in his sophomore year of college not knowing that a nobody like him would be able to do great things with their thoughts and ideas and to sell them to the public and become rich off of nothing more than his own thoughts.  And the thought came to him “Why didn’t I think of that?”