The Comfy Chair

Short Story

Gus told himself that he needed to stand up. 

The will was there. 

He could hear some commotion outside. People screaming. Sirens sounding in the distance. 

But, the flesh was weak, and his chair was so comfy.  

What if it was nothing? He would have wasted five minutes pushing up out of his chair. Another two getting his walker. Moving to the door or a window would take another five at t least. 

He set his book in his lap and grabbed the tv remote from the arm of his chair. He flipped through the channels but only found static. His cable was out again. Welcome to Tuesday. 

People sure were screaming outside. Car alarms were blaring. Gus pulled his reading glasses off his nose and looked around for his phone. He grabbed it from the side table and flipped it open. 

There was an alert there. It read, “Hostile Force Warning: Stay Inside Your Homes!” What the heck was a “Hostile Force?”

Did the Russians finally invade, like in that old movie? Were the aliens finally here? 

Gus ran through all the scenarios he had ever read about. The plot of every book he could remember that dealt with the end of the world. Those memories brought a smile to his lips.

He slowly typed out a text to his son asking what was going on. He then stared at his phone screen for three minutes, waiting for a reply. None came. He wished he had listened and let his kids buy him a smartphone. 

 He had never had a need before. But now. Now, something was going outside. Something “hostile.” 

Gus sat the phone back down and made up his mind. He was going to get up. He looked down at the book in his lap and remembered that he had just gotten to a great place. There were only another fifty pages or so until the end. 

Things had quieted down outside. The car alarms had died away. No one was screaming. He heard the softer drone of movement and some kind of crunching. Almost like his old dog, Russ, used to make when he was eating a rabbit he had caught in the fields. Gus smiled. “Russ and Gus.” He missed that old boy. 

Something moved at the front window, and a shadow crossed the wall, but no one came to the front door. Oh well, Gus thought as he picked up his book. Whoever it was could knock and come in.

 He was not leaving his chair.

Photo by Chris F from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/abandoned-chair-on-the-street-15163253/