It was a Tuesday morning.
Daniel woke up at 7 o’clock, as always. He fed Biscuit. He made his coffee. He sat by the window.
Everything was normal.
Then he remembered. Today was different. Today he had a meeting.
Not an online meeting. A real one. In an office. Across the city.
Daniel did not go to the office very often. He worked from home. He liked working from home.
But this client was important, and they had asked him to come in person.
He checked the time.
The meeting was at 11 o’clock. He had three hours.
That was enough time. He was not worried.
At 9:30, he put on his good jacket. The dark blue one. He checked his bag. Laptop. Notebook. Pen. Everything was there.
He went to the hallway and took his bicycle.
He pressed the front tire. It was soft.
He pressed it again. Very soft.
He looked down. The tire was flat.
Daniel stood in the hallway for a moment. He looked at the bicycle. The bicycle looked back at him.
This was a problem.
He thought about his options.
He could fix the tire. But that would take too long. He did not have the right tools.
He could take the bus. But he did not know which bus to take.
He could call a taxi. But the traffic was bad in the mornings.
He could walk. But it was too far.
He opened his phone and looked at the map. There was a metro station ten minutes from his apartment.
The metro would take twenty-five minutes. Then a short walk.
He could still make it.
He put the bicycle back. He picked up his bag. He left the apartment.
Outside, the air was cold. Daniel walked quickly. He did not usually walk this fast. His neighbourhood looked different at this speed.
He noticed things he normally missed from his bicycle.
A small cat is sitting on a doorstep.
A bakery he had never seen before — not Anna’s bakery, a different one.
An old man was watering plants on a balcony, even though it was cold.
Daniel thought: I should walk more often.
He reached the metro station at 9:43. Good.
He bought a ticket from the machine. He went down the stairs.
The platform was busy. People stood close together. Nobody spoke. Everyone looked at their phones.
Daniel did not look at his phone. He watched the tunnel. He waited for the light.
The train arrived. He got on.
He found a small space near the door. He held the rail and watched the stations pass.
Three stops. Four stops. Five.
At the sixth stop, the train slowed down. Then it stopped completely. Not at a station. In the middle of the tunnel.
The lights flickered once.
A voice came over the speaker. It was fast and unclear. Daniel caught a few words. Delay. Technical problem.
Wait.
People sighed. Some looked up from their phones. One man said something under his breath.
Daniel checked the time. 10:11.
He had forty-nine minutes.
He was still okay. Probably.
He took out his notebook and wrote down the key points for his meeting. He always thought more clearly with a pen.
The train started moving again at 10:24.
Daniel got off at his stop and walked fast. The office was on a wide street with tall glass buildings. He found the right one. He went inside.
The receptionist looked at him. “Can I help you?”
“I have a meeting at eleven,” Daniel said. “With the product team. My name is Daniel.”
She checked her screen. “Of course. You can take a seat. They’ll be with you shortly.”
Daniel sat down. He looked around the lobby. It was clean and bright.
Soft music played from somewhere. A large plant stood in the corner. It looked very healthy.
He checked the time. 10:54.
He had made it.
He breathed out slowly.
The meeting went well.
The client had a complex system with several small errors. Daniel listened carefully. He asked three questions.
He took notes. At the end, he explained what he would do and how long it would take.
The client nodded. “That sounds exactly right,” she said.
On the way out, one of the team members stopped him.
“How did you get here today?” he asked. “The metro was delayed this morning.”
“I know,” said Daniel. “I was on it.”
The man laughed. “And you’re still on time?”
“Just,” said Daniel.
He took the metro home. This time, no delays.
He bought bread from the bakery near his apartment — Anna’s bakery — and cycled home.
The tire was still flat, of course. He pushed the bicycle instead.
Biscuit was waiting at the door.
“I had a meeting today,” Daniel told him.
Biscuit walked away.
Daniel put the bread on the table and sat down.
He opened his laptop. He had three new emails. One was from the client he had just met.
“Great to meet you today, Daniel. Looking forward to working with you.”
He smiled.
Then he looked up bicycle repair shops on his phone.
There was one nearby. It opened at 9 o’clock.
He will go tomorrow.
That’s the end of this bedtime story. Goodnight