My New Calendar

I don't like my new calender.

My girlfriend recently died in a grease fire around the end of January. I'm not quite sure how it had started, but one second she was in my kitchen making me a steak for my birthday, and the next a section of my beloved apartment had burst into flames along with her beautiful self.

I was sad, but not exactly devastated. I was going to break up with her anyway, as I was beginning to suspect that she had been unfaithful to me with one of the locals at her favourite bar.

Everything in my kitchen had to replaced. The kettle, the cupboards, the cooker, and even the calender. I bought a calender of "Magnificent Churches from Europe" from the 99c store.

"Why not?" I thought to myself, "St. Peter's Basillica will be nice to look at every morning for the month of May."

The much-needed insurance came in a few days later and my new, bland, ready-to-decorate kitchen was in place. I took the calender one boring Tuesday night and decided to mark important dates in it for that February.

The Sagrada Família and a clear blue Barcelona sky sat upon 4 perpendicular rows of Sunday - Saturday weeks. Before I marked down my 2:30 physical I had that coming Saturday, I noticed something odd about the 25th.

There was an hourglass on it.

"Huh. Odd." I said to myself. Accidental misprint? A funny little tribute to the person who invented the hourglass? I thought nothing of it though really, and continued marking dates.

That Saturday, I checked the calender again just to remind myself what time my physical was at. The hourglass had caught my eye again. I wasn't sure if it was just the weary head of mine I have during mornings before my coffee, but I could have sworn there was more sand in the bottom half of the glass this.

More perplexed by it, I checked the other months to see if there was any other hourglasses.

Only one.

On January the 28th.

My birthday.

The day the grease fire had tragically taken my girlfriend away from me.

And the bottom half was full.

I don't like my new calender.