Outburst #11
Light Sensor Wiggle
Gary G. Hernandez

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Sometimes at work I sit in front of my computer with no movement, other than my fingers on the keyboard and my eyes scanning the screen, for so long that my office lights turn off. It seems they are equipped with energy efficient movement sensors. If there is no movement for x amount of time, the lights assume no one is in the office, and they turn off. Smart lights they are. Once a fellow employee walked by on his way home and peered into my dark but otherwise occupied office.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I looked guiltily, if not hopelessly, away from my screen. Light from the hall silhouetted him in my doorway. I wiggled my chair on its rollers to no avail--still no light.

"You have to push back a few feet," he said knowingly. "It happens to me all the time."

His words made me feel better. I rolled backwards a couple of feet and the lights clicked on.

He waved and left.

"Thanks," I said. And I really was thankful.

Since then I've noticed a lot of dark offices, the sound of wiggling chair-wheels and hollow sighs emanating from the darkness.

About the Author: Gary G. Hernandez is Manager of Retail Development for the West Coast Business Unit of BP. He is also an adjunct English instructor at Citrus College in Glendora, CA. He has an MA in English literature from George Mason University and is working on an MS in technical writing through Utah State University's online program. In his spare time Gary runs ultra-marathons. He resides in Claremont, CA.