So there’s this thing called Fiction Friday. I wanted to give it a shot.

A writer’s computer begins to flash messages on its screen, as if trying to communicate.

It was far too early to be up, but the sun just wouldn’t let him sleep in any longer. It was far too early to even be awake, but with a cup of coffee in hand, he went to sit down at the computer. If nothing else, he could use the misfortune of an early morning to get a few words down of the copy he needed to finish today.

His computer seemed to have other plans, though.

There was a message in the corner. Windows Update. Pass. He had programs on here that tended to stop working as soon as the update went through. He closed the little window and hit the start button.

The warning returned.

He ignored it this time. The thing would get the point eventually. He opened up Word. The blinking cursor was conspicuously missing.

His music player opened without him hitting anything. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun blared much louder than it should, breaking a little through his early morning stupor. Where was that stop button?

Music off, he went back to the blank page. Nothing. What was he supposed to be writing again?

An image popped up on screen without his bidding of an obviously doctored photo of a half ant, half walrus creature at a party. When had he put anything like that on his computer? Maybe it was the internet.

He looked idly over at his router. It was off.

He wasn’t quite sure, but he had the feeling something was wrong here. He took a long drink of his coffee, draining the cup. When he looked back at the screen, the image was gone. Instead, the word document was filled with ones and zeros in bright colours, oddly resembling a birthday cake.

He blinked and it deleted itself.

Getting up, he went to get a fresh cup of coffee. He could hear as he poured the new cup that his computer had started to play 16 candles. He peered around at the screen and decided he wanted to stay in the kitchen for just a little while longer.

Maybe today was a laptop down at the coffee shop day. He moved quickly, ignoring Molly Ringwald’s antics on the screen and headed down to the shop with his laptop under his arm.

He was just about to order a very strong espresso when he remembered it was his daughter’s birthday.

Well, that was fun. A little meandering, but fun.