Great Moments Are Far Between

"That is the real problem," Friday said, "There are too many moments."
"What?" Said Wednesday.
"Moments." Friday repeated, "There are too many of them."
"Well," Tuesday said, his head popping down from a concrete tunnel above them, that joined the larger storm-drain pipe where the weekdays were walking. "For an immortal weekday, that's sort of irrelevant." He swung himself down to land in a splash in the dirty water in front of the gathered weekdays. "Anyways," he continued, "Like we thought that tunnel just goes to a surface drain."

They continued walking - each had small headlamps which cast beams of light crazily about the tunnel. Occasional rats scurried out of their way. As they moved forward, the concrete tunnel joined a much older drain made of ancient moss covered brick.

Thursday noticed something. "Thank Gjod, a walkway. I'm glad the invitation suggested a change of shoes and socks!" He pulled himself up out of the shin-deep water, and was quickly followed by the others. There was a slightly amusing scene as five immortal weekdays took off their shoes, and socks, reached into packs and bags, and replaced them with fresh and dry footwear. Thursday had finished the act before the others, and picked up the original conversational thread. "I don't think the problem is too many moments. I'm pretty sure the problem is too many of those moments suck."

"Yeah." Said Tuesday, "And how long exactly is a moment?"
"No more than a half-hour." Said Wednesday.
"Half-hour!" Exclaimed Friday, putting the finishing touches on the bow of the laces on a stylish pair of Stacy Adams shoes.
"What? " Said Wednesday with some force, "That's the most common smallest time increment. Are you really saying people measure time in quarter-hours?"
"No." Friday said, standing up. "But moments are faster than time can measure."
"Or slower." Monday added.
"Or slower." Friday agreed.
"Pearl Harbor happened in a moment...I'd guess it was longer than 15 minutes." Thursday stated.
"Probly seemed a lot longer than that for the guys getting bombed and torpedoed."
"And the 9-11 attacks on the trade towers..." Quipped Tuesday, "Pretty fast. But was that a moment? I guess it probably was."
"Titanic sank in a moment..." Stated Monday.
"200,000 people died in the '05 Tsunami...in just a moment."

Wednesday began moving down the walkway, tired of the banter. "Come on, we've still got to get to find this party, and it could be miles from here."

"Not according to the flyer." Tuesday said hopefully, playing his headlamp onto a crumpled piece of paper in his hands. He read the text outloud. "Seven hundred meters from the drain opening at the river...it says."

They all began following.

Friday spoke. "See that's what I'm talking about."

"What? That we've travelled four hundred meters down a dirty stormdrain pipe in just moments?" Snapped Monday.
"No, all those moments you just brought up are bad moments!" The tunnel echoed with his voice and their footsteps as they continued their journey. "But what about all the good times? Those just lasted moments too - but nobody brings up the time we jumped the Pacific Ocean in rocket cars, wiped out a bunch of evil time controlling scientists, or met a talking rhinoceros in a bar!"

"Hang on." Said Wednesday in front of them. "There's a junction up here!"

The Weekdays all crowded around the end of the tunnel, which ended sharply at a huge chamber, where a number of huge tunnels converged, dumping trickles of water high above a massive pool of water twelve feet below. From across the room, on the water, a zodiac motored towards them, disturbing the water with crazy wakes, that sent a kaleidoscope of reflections across the chamber roof from their headlights. In a moment the zodiac was underneath them, and a man at the motor called up.

"Are you here for the party?"

"No." Spat Monday, "We just decided we'd walk down a stinky storm drain for fun and..."

He was cut off by Thursday.
"Yeah we are! Couldn't miss the Subterranean Catacomb Fiesta!"

"Okay then. Follow those steps down to water level - and I'll get you there." He pointed to a staircase carved into the wall, that disappeared into the water. They all began descending as the man moved his boat closer."

"I'm not knocking moments..." Friday said, finishing his thought before they got to the bottom step, "I'm just knocking the fact that the bad ones always seem so memorable."

Thursday stopped with a moment of realization. "And why are there so few...really good moments?!"

"Huh." Said Wednesday, getting into the boat. "It's almost like they hardly happen at all."

"That's what I'm saying," Said Friday, waiting for the rest to get into the boat. "Unless you're ready to live, expecting bad things to happen, you're going to be disappointed...a lot. That's pretty fjucked up."

"But..." Said Tuesday, sitting in the boat, "If you're always looking for a bad moment to happen, might that imply you're overlooking anything that happens that's good?"

"Yes." Said Friday, stepping onto the zodiac. "That's why I say there are too many moments. I choose to look for the good ones, and am constantly disappointed."

"You won't be disappointed." Said the man at the outboard engine of the zodiac. He turned the boat away from the brick wall, and sped across the chamber. He shouted more to be heard over the motor. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you'll find tonight...a moment to remember.



Happy Friday