Self-sketch: Morning Routine

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It was noisy like always in the Indoor Quarantine room of the Virginia Aquarium. The smell of wood chips permeated the air, and the cacophony of chirps and whistles made it nearly impossibly to hear the doorknob turning. A lonely figure entered and sighed as the door swung shut behind her.

She stood on the tips of her toes to reach the top shelf of the cabinet, her mud-stained sneakers slipping a little on the tile. She felt around for a moment before her fingers caught what she’d been seeking: a pen. The walls were whitewashed brick, but every available surface was covered with papers detailing the most recent events in the department, and clipboards. She twirled a lock of mousy brown hair as she recorded the morning medications.

Her legs were covered in insect bites, most of which were scabbed from endless hours of scratching them. The skin that wasn’t red and irritated from insect bites was paler from the knee down from the boots she wore every day.

She wore a teal shirt so bright that “obnoxious” couldn’t even begin to describe the effect it had on the eyes. The lettering on the front of her bright teal shirt was faded and speckled with yellow-white bleach stains, and already it was splattered with fresh mud from catching birds for morning medications. The logo of the silhouette of a sea turtle on the back had nearly disappeared.

Her khaki shorts were stained with dark brown marsh mud and a few spots of dried blood. The outline of her cell phone was clearly visible because the mud clung to the sharp corners it created as it sat in her pocket all day. One belt loop was stretched far past its normal limit by a set of keys that bounced and jingled as she walked.

“Hey, Lee, take this,” she said, raising her voice above the din to catch the attention of one of her co-workers. He stood and reached for the tray of empty syringes and catheters.

“Smile, kid. You don’t have any reason to mope, you don’t know about the real world,” he replied, laughing. The girl laughed and rolled her eyes, but her shoulders tensed and her laugh cut off quickly as though she felt she knew quite a lot about the “real world.”

She ducked under Lee’s attempt to ruffle her hair as she walked by, elbowing him in the ribcage and laughing at his indignant response. Her posture relaxed as they fell into a routine of teasing and laughing.

“You’re a jerk,” concluded Lee as he pulled a cart loaded with food bowls through the door into the hallway. She laughed and followed him into the hallway, tossing the pen onto the counter before she shut the door behind her.

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A/N: Written for a creative writing course Fall of 2006. Feedback would be nice.