3:00AM Start Time by Morgan McKnight

2:09am.  BEEP!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!!  My ears want to explode, and I suddenly hate everything.  Yeah, that beep.

2:15am.  Breakfast.  Quietly eat a bowl of Cheerios, alone.

2:30am.  Brush my teeth and use the toilet.

2:45am.  Start the car and wait for the windshield to defrost.

2:48am.  And to think, less than an hour ago I was warm, comfy, happy, and asleep.  Now?  Traffic lights… with no traffic.

2:50am.  Ugh.  Why does this light always take so long???? (How many question marks can truly express this level of frustration?????)  There’s no one going north or south right now, come on and turn green already!

2:51am. *Expletives deleted.

2:52am.  The light turns green.  I turn left.  Finally.

 

There’s a subtly unnerving calm about the hushed, lonely predawn hours.  The headlights of the rare passing automobile make me wonder: what type of freak is out at this time of day… or is it still night?  I’ll let you decide that.

 

2:53am.  Trying to look at the bright side I remind myself, hey, at least there’s no traffic.

2:55am.  I arrive at my destination.

2:57am.  A sparse crowd of miserable faces file their way through a guard shack and into a warehouse.

2:59am.  I punch the clock to begin my shift… Shit, I’m a minute early… and to think, I could’ve slept in that extra minute.

I don’t think anyone ever gets used to working at three in the morning, they just keep doing it until they can’t anymore.  Ugh, same thing tomorrow.