A Spanner In The Works

Michael hoped the rest of his day would suffice to offset the morning he was greeted with. 

Talks of boredom, contentment… children…

They weren't unusual per se - each of the three their own separate conversations and jokes already long worn down from overuse. He had heard them all before. 

But never together, and never especially in that way. He didn't know what to make of it yet. He didn't know whether he even should. 

Under the blazing summer heat, the rattle of metal, and the screeches of drills, no doubt any semblance of abnormality would simply end up diluted by the sheer monotony of it all. 

Yet alas, the afternoon did not shape out to be as ordinarily grueling and mundane as he had hoped or expected.