Misery Loves Fantasy

by Matt Baker

He had told himself that he was moving on each morning for the past three weeks, but by eleven o'clock, just after his mid-morning coffee and Peanut M&M break, he was hopelessly embroiled in another fantasy plot to win her back. Often he envisioned the look upon her face as he waited outside her apartment on a warm evening after work. He grasped flowers - something thoughtful without being overdone, a mixed bouquet of wildflowers perhaps - in his left hand and a bottle of her favorite wine in his right. Perhaps the pale blue spring sky might cloud over suddenly and soak them both with a warm shower; neither of them would run for the cover of her apartment's lobby but would stand together and let the rain cleanse them - like two movie stars filming a scene for the gilded ages. Possessed in her eyes would be the glint, the spark, that delicious sparkle that had drawn him to her and she to him three years before. Always in these fantasies he felt content with her, satisfied and fulfilled; he never allowed the constrictive misery of reality to penetrate these moments.

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Matt Baker is a married father of two with a third on the way. He's been teaching for 13 years and has a Master's in Administration and Supervision. Currently, he's an 8th grade English teacher and an adjunct professor of reading at the local community college. In his spare time he enjoys hiking, kayaking, and camping with his family.