I am following the list of themes created by TFME for their 30 Themes Drabble Challenge (Sorry, I couldn't get FF to let me post the link here!)
These drabbles are written for that-feminist-soprano (Tumblr)
1. Time
After a callout, the minutes spent loading up and launching the 'birds seemed to fly too fast. People were waiting on them and precious moments were slipping away with each diagnostic and launch sequence. But once they were off toward the danger zone, time swung back all the way in the other direction like a pendulum, each second passing aggravatingly slowly.
Jeff sat at his desk, tapping anxious fingers on the hard surface, and Tin-Tin predictably arrived with a fresh pot of coffee.
"Do not worry, Mr. Tracy," she said. "It shouldn't be too difficult to get the rockslide under control." But Jeff's mind was elsewhere, in another time when another woman had brought him coffee.
He pushed the memories of the avalanche away, looking up at Tin-Tin instead and focusing on her goodwill and good health.
"You're right, Tin-Tin," he said. "I shouldn't worry. I've trained those boys well and they'll do their job."
"Precisely," the girl replied, pouring him a cup of the hot, dark liquid. "Many people owe their lives to the work of International Rescue. So, do not fret, Mr. Tracy."
"Thank you, Tin-Tin," he said.
She took a seat near him in the lounge, picking up a magazine to pass the time. Her presence calmed him, as it always did, and he had to admit that although time had been an enemy, it had also been a friend. Because it had brought him his boys and his friends and this new life with International Rescue.