'Keeping the Minutes' By Raphael Uddin

24/06/23

ATTENDING: R.E, M.E, Y.N, P.R, N.O

R.E: Chair Discusses meeting of 17/06/23, “POA’s” (Points of Action).

M.E: I chuckle to myself about talking chairs, and how it should be PsOA.

Y.N: Proposal for excursion to Botanic Gardens.

M.E: (sighs)

N.O: Paperwork necessary: Br56, BO901

M.E: B0R1NG

R.E: Asks if I “got all that”? 

M.E: (grits teeth and nods)

M.E: I think about the meaning of “Keeping the Minutes”, and how there are so many other, more important minutes worth keeping. Yet I keep typing.

P.R: Staff BBQ Sat. Attending?

R.E, M.E, Y.N, N.O: All Confirm Attendance

M.E: Actually, the last thing I want to do is to spend my weekend stuck with these people.

Y.N: Holiday Plans?

M.E: “Oh, nothing much”

M.E: The guise of a meeting finally wears off to become the weekly staff-gossip-sesh it always is. I can’t take it anymore. I realise I NEED holiday plans. I need a beach far, far away from here.

In Fact –

M.E: (unexpectedly runs out of the room)

M.E: I feel free, finally, for the first time in a long, long time.