The Dot Matrix

By David O. Zeus

A young man re-evaluates his office-bound existence when he comes across the printout musings of an old dot matrix printer. A Short Story (9,400 words approx).

• Language: English
• Publisher: David O. Zeus
• Release date: Jun 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310905070

David O. Zeus

A UK-based writer of short stories (and a few longer ones in due course). See http://www.davidozeus.uk/ for details.

Book preview

The Dot Matrix

A Short Story

by

David O. Zeus

Table of Contents

- I -

- II -

- III -

- IV -

- V -

- VI -

- VII -

- VIII -

- IX -

About the Author & Copyright

Copyright 2015 © David O. Zeus

The Dot Matrix

– I –

His office day started at nine, but he liked to get there early and have a quiet hour by himself to do all the e-chores of sending emails, paying bills and shopping. Coffee in hand, he stood looking around the empty open-plan office trying to summon the strength for the day ahead. Now thirty-two years of age he had been stuck in that office for six years and it was now proving a challenge. At least the felt-covered, chipboard partitions between the desks put some space between himself and his twenty-something colleagues.

He was at a time of his life when life had no time for him. It had given up and moved on. Or so it felt. It wasn’t as if he was lazy or uninspired. He had tried. He had put money and several years into setting up a website business, but the project had failed because people had let him down. The failure of the venture had been an eye-opener and many, many months later he was still feeling beaten up. He had just about cleared his debts thanks to this office job, but try as he may to paddle upstream he would soon find himself swept down the river of despondency.

Although the website project had sunk to the riverbed, a few little pearls of hope were keeping it company. Occasional glimmers of possibility for the project’s revival were refracted through the gloom. But did he have the energy? He had been promoted once at work and there were rumours that there might be another promotion in the pipeline. He would be asked for his opinion in meetings. Words would fall out of his mouth, smack the table and dribble across the wood veneer towards his colleagues, some of whom, for some unknown reason, would lean forward and lap them up.

What encouragement he felt from hearing himself speak in the meetings was dissipated by the reasoning which followed. His observations were based on the experience of working in an office in which he had never wanted to work. He was making a good living at being unfulfilled. In weak moments he even found himself thinking that maybe it was not such a bad place. He would save for a mortgage and get his own place to live; buy a decent car; maybe develop a bit more ambition and responsibility. But was that his destiny?

While in this state-of-mind he found himself