Prompt Tuesday #22

Every Tuesday I post a writing prompt and my response. It gives me a chance to exercise my writing muscles outside of my WIP, and hopefully inspire you to write. So enjoy my flash fiction piece and post your own in the comments!

Prompt

Source: The Writer's Idea Book second prompt on page 174

Begin a story in which the first-person narrator is at work. She’ll use jargon and slang to describe what she’s doing.

Response

I drum my fingers gently on the keyboard. Why isn't this working! The if logic is sound, the loop correct. No missing semi colons. So why does it not compile. I stare blankly at the red line and error message. Great. I go back through the class, line by line. Scrutinizing every character in my search for the issue. Ah! Not a missing semi colon - a missing curly brace. Triumphantly I enter the curly brace. Suddenly the red covering the screen disappears. I let out a shout of glee. The others around me look up, annoyed by my outburst. I ignore them and return to work.

I hit the play button and watch as the output logs spew a series of messages. Once the jar gets deployed and the server comes up the browser window pops up on my screen.

I click the button.

Nothing happens.

I click the button, again.

Still nothing happens. I scream in frustration and bang my forehead on my desk. After a moment in which I try to control the urge to throw my computer across the room, I look back up at the screen. There in red letters on the output display are the words: Null Pointer Exception. Reluctantly, I return to the trouble class. I begin reading over the offending function, mumbling to myself as I go.

In a moment of weakness my eyes drift down to the clock on the task bar. A sense of relief flows over me. It's time to go. I will worry about this on Monday.