Prompt 9 of 31

The Writer's Book of Matches pg. 98 "A traveling businessman throws his laptop out of the hotel room window."

Start time: 9:44

I'm really not ready for this today. I walk down the hall, on the fifth floor, of Hotel Hayworth trying to find the room of the person that had thrown a laptop out of their window. The mother of the child that had been hit, and subsequently knocked into the deep end of the pool (of course he couldn't swim), rushed into the lobby begging for my help. I bolt outside as fast as I can to find the child laying on his back. Luckily I have been trained in CPR and he was breathing in no time. Too bad the father didn't know anything. You would think having kids would prompt you to know life saving techniques but to each his own.

I found the black laptop broken in half at the side of the pool. An older model which lead me to believe it was an older person that owned it. Most people around my age tend to replace their electronics like tissues.

"Did you see where it came from?" I asked the woman.

She was near hysterical, like the kid.

I looked up at the hotel and tried to see if any of the windows had been opened. Of course they weren't. Obviously this person chucked their machinery and didn't want it to be returned.

The mother had been insistent that she was going to find the person with me but I told her it would probably be best if I went alone.

"I assure you, mam, that I will notify you when I find who threw this."

"Shouldn't we call the police?" The father had said.

I had to fight myself from rolling my eyes.

"No, there is no crime. It was a mistake and once I know you can speak with him."

end time: 9:56

I'm not digging that plot line. I'm going to try a different tack.

Start time: 9:57

Reggie Waltz hated the confounded thing. He was forced to take it even though he had insisted that it would do him little to no good.

"I don't even know how to work the thing," he had told his boss.

Regardless he was forced to take it.

End time: 10:00

I'm not enjoying that one either. Man. This is a strange prompt for me. I don't want to do the obvious... but in reality it's probably the best.

Start time: 10:01

Sam had had it with the job, with his boss, with the whole damn trip. He slammed the lid of the mac on his bosses face and stomped to the window where he opened it and threw the computer out into the wind and rain. He immediately shut the window and didn't look back.

He stood with his back to the view, his breath furious. The gravity of the actions in the situation became very aware to him. His initial emotion was regret and panic but as he felt the gaping hole that it's absence left in the room it was as if a giant weight had lifted from his shoulders. The tether was gone. And it didn't matter how he was going to get home or if he still had his job. He didn't care.

Pulling his shoulders back and smiling he headed for the door. Although right as his hand was about to touch the knob the phone rang. Not his personal phone. He had refused to bring that with him. It was still sitting in the arm chair back in his house, half a world away.

He turned to look at the ringing handset. It didn't take a psychic to tell him who it was. That was obvious. But as it stood right now he had had the last word of the conversation and he wanted it to stay that way. So, he let the phone ring and headed out onto the town.

Since he had arrived in Edinburgh he had yet to visit the local pubs or sites. It had all been business with some douches in a building downtown. It had been meeting after meeting after meeting. The past four days had been the same as the last, mundane.

He hadn't wanted to come anyway. He had protested but Julian had insisted that he take the trip.

"Only you could do it," he had told Sam.

"Only me," he whispered to himself as he walked down the street.

This trip was the first time he had ever been out of the country in his 45 years on the earth. He regretted it.