Write a scene where your character is deprived of one of the five senses.
Wednesday morning I woke up blind which is sort of a strange thing to have happen. Had I overslept? The alarm clock failed to wake me. I must have snoozed one too many times. The computer had withdrawn the blinds automatically; on my face I felt the warmth of the sun. So why couldn’t I see anything? I reached up to touch my eyes, but my eyelids were just flat flaps of skin. There were no orbs underneath. My finger slipped into the socket which really kind of stung. Some one had absconded with my eyeballs! Again, this is sort of a strange thing to have happen because it’s not like my eyeballs were some cheapo knock-offs that get imported from the who-the-heck-knows-where Martian Colonies. Only the surface dwellers wore those kinds of things. No, my eyes were the flesh-and-blood, genetically-replicated real thing, connected to my optic nerve which connected to my brain and everything. Gosh, this really made me mad.
So where the heck were my eyes? They couldn’t have been repossessed; I paid them off in full. And I’m sure all the business about the eyeballs thieves was just an urban legend ghost story sort of thing. Nobody steals eyeballs, especially up here in the Stratospheric Cities.
To make things worse, I had some important clients to impress in a few hours. How do I close the deal with these people if I show up blind? Talk about your amateur nightmare. They’ve been making prosthetic sight for years. Decades. No body was blind anymore. All that business about the worldwide epidemic was ancient history.
Well, I had to get up because by now, I must have been running late. I’d just have to make do with my cheapo prosthetics from the days before I worked my way up to the Cities. I’m sure I had them in a drawer somewhere. This whole being blind thing was really beginning to irritate me.
I threw back the covers and stepped out of bed. What the heck? Instead of landing where my slippers were supposed to be, I tripped over my shoes, and instead of being in my fleece jammies, I was fully dressed. I had my tie on and everything. Something about today was way off. I pulled my tie off and threw it on the floor. As I unbuttoned my shirt, I noticed it felt all crusty and dirty and smelled like bile, which made me aware of the taste in my mouth, which was pasty and tasted like metal and made me gag. Because of the whole blindness thing, I didn’t realize how crummy I felt. I felt really crummy. I’d need coffee to get the gears turning before I sorted out this mess. I made my way toward the kitchen.
I shuffled down the hallway, hands in front of me like a zombie. A floor board beneath my foot creaked. That meant one two three more steps to the end of the hall, right turn, one two steps, and I was in the kitchen. It smelled like burnt coffee.
Computer, why is the coffee burnt?
That is yesterday’s coffee, sir.
Why didn’t you make a fresh pot?
You habitually instruct me to keep it warm until the pot is finished, sir.
That was true. I did program the computer with those instructions. I really thought I finished all the coffee yesterday, but maybe I didn’t. Computer, please make a fresh pot.
Yes, sir.
I needed a shower, so while the coffee brewed, I put my hand on the wall and retraced my steps back down the hall. Under my feet the fluffy carpeting gave way to cool linoleum so I knew I was in the bathroom. I told the computer to run a shower, at the usual temperature. I heard the water running so I stepped in. Holy geez! The water was freezing! I stumbled over the edge of the bathtub trying to avoid the cold spray and pulled the shower curtain down around me as I landed in a heap.
Computer, why did you make this water so cold?
You reprogrammed me yesterday, sir.
I’m sure I didn’t. Change it back immediately.
Yes, sir.
I climbed back in the shower leaving the curtain on the floor. I let the warm water relax me. Computer, can you locate my sight prosthetics anywhere? Are they in a drawer somewhere or something?
I will check the house, sir. One moment… I cannot find them.
Will you look again? I really need them. I’m blind this morning.
Blind, sir?
Yes. Blind. My effing eyeballs are missing.
How is that possible, sir?
I was asleep. You tell me.
I am sure that I do not know that, sir.
I’m running late. Are my clothes ready, the outfit I picked for today?
I do not recall a special outfit for today, sir.
Computer, end shower. The one that I chose for my big meeting today?
Sir, you wore that outfit yesterday.
Computer, what day is it today?
Today is Thursday, the twenty-third of October.
I stood there dripping. I felt myself retch, but my stomach was dry. Nothing came out.
Sir, are you all right?
No, I’m not all right. Today is supposed to be Wednesday. What happened to Wednesday? Computer, what happened the last forty-eight hours?
Checking…Sir, those hours have been erased from my database.
On whose authority?
According to the codes, you did it, sir.
