Pendulum

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Pendulum

Dan groaned as sunlight poured around the edge of the curtains and shone straight into his eyes.  He turned over, pulled the covers over his head and lay there for a full minute before letting out a loud expletive.  Daylight? It should still have been dark when he woke up! He was late! But how late?

One glance at the clock beside his bed told him he was very late.  He should have left the house already.  But he could still make it to work on time and avoid getting into trouble.  Maybe.

He managed to drag on clean clothes, clean his teeth, and be heading for the front door in a little over three minutes.  He paused for a second, realising he hadn’t taken his allergy medication, but there wasn’t time.  At this time of day every minute later he left the house would be magnified to ten minutes or more by the horrendous rush hour traffic.  So he carried on, heading out the door, locking it, rushing to his car and jumping in.

* * *

As Dan fought his way through the rush-hour traffic his stomach gurgled.  He growled back at it, once again frustrated by the messiness of his own biology.  He dealt with the wonders of physics all day long, some of it spent teaching and some of it experimenting.  Those were the times when he truly lived.  Physics was pure.  Physics was beautiful.  The fact it had to take second place to his body’s needs always annoyed him.

Though he didn’t give in without a fight.  He often went hungry if he was deep in complex calculations, but eventually his body always won out and he had to break off to take care of it.  Biology.  Always messy.  Not like his beloved physics.

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