...paranoid.
Goddamn paranoid. Just look at the
freaks around
you. What the hell is that
sticky substance? What are those people
doing to these
lab computers?
There's that girl over there. The one with used tissues all around
her desk and computer, like a moat of mucous. She's coughing; that
awful hacking cough that makes you just want to whump
her on the back to get that great hunk'o'phlegm out of her throat.
And she doesn't always get that tissue to her mouth in time- oh no, my
friend, she's coughing all over the keyboard. And if you catch her in
the light, you can see droplets of spit, thick and green, exploding from
her mouth. Landing on the keyboard splat*splat seeping
between the keys hack*wheeze and settling in there for
the long haul. Nice and sticky. It could be TB, or some
horrible flu, or a new mutated virus they don't have a cure for yet.
The germs can, and will, live on forever between those n
and h keys. Or at least until you get that computer.
And then there's that guy that always sits in the corner. He's shifty
looking, and huddles over the keyboard as if it holds the secrets
to looking young forever, or earning a million dollars an hour, or
sudden sex appeal. Except after a while you get to notice what the
guy is doing; amid his sporatic mouse clicking his breathing is
getting faster, his eyes are glazing over, and although you can't see
his hands... wait, you don't want to see what his hands are
doing. He gets up to leave the room suddenly and avoids eye contact on
his hurried way out. Sometimes he carries a book in front of him,
all casual-like, but sometimes he just runs. You try to forget it, then he
returns to his computer, flushed and visibly relaxed. He starts
to type quickly; it sounds l ike an assignment or an email. Lots
of typing. Interaction with the keyboard. Sticky fingers? Any
surplus... stuff... leaking off his hand and melting into the computer,
onto the keys?
Maybe he's totally innocent. Maybe that's not semen sticking to his
fingers after his quick trips to the toilets. Maybe he's going outside
to call his mother, or get some fresh air, or get a bite to eat.
And maybe she's got asthma, and you can't get her germs. Maybe you're
imagining the whole phlegm thing. It could just be hayfever or
something.
Maybe you should just stop thinking about it. Get back to work.
What do you expect in a public computer lab, pristine keys and "normal
people" like you? Just clean the fucking keys, you paranoid fool.