That had been his parents’ biggest flaw. When it came to Teddy himself they spared no expense, but in every other aspect of their lives they always went with the lowest bidder.
At eighteen, broke and alone, he promised himself he would not be like his parents. That he would cherish those closest to him. From this desire he’d developed a simple plan. Spend the first ten years of his working life dedicated to only the job. No personal life, no emotional attachments outside of work, nothing but a worker drone programmed to serve. Save every penny he could with an eye towards an early retirement that would give him the means to build a real family.
But as the saying went. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Judy had proven to be the proverbial monkey wrench thrown into his works. They had been together for a little more than a year now, and even though they did everything they could to keep their relationship under wraps, word had leaked to their teammates.
“Sorry about that, Ted,” Marie said as she lumbered into her office. He pushed himself to his feet. Marie was a big woman, nearly six foot tall, thick, big-boned, what many would have referred to as farm-bred. The sheer weight of her responsibility was etched in the severe lines that creased her face. She handed him a slip of paper that contained fifteen names.
“We need contact information updated today for the people on that list.”
“If anyone else shows up, do you want me to send them home?” Teddy said.
“I’ve thought about that, but if they’re already here we might as well get some work out of them. In the future, though, I’d rather not open the center for such a small group. Just the cost of having the lights on can’t be offset by anything they accomplish. Not to mention the need to reroute a steady flow of work from our other centers.” That was Marie, all business.
“Will you be staying?”
“I’ve got a few reports to finish, then I’m going home. My husband will be here to pick me up shortly.”
Teddy was surprised to learn Marie had a husband. There had been speculation as to her sexual preference when she first arrived and she did nothing to dispel any of the rumors that had a tendency to circulate in such a situation.
“Then I’ll get with whoever is here to set up for the night,” Teddy said as he turned to leave.
“Not so fast. There’s one final matter we need to discuss.” Marie pulled out her chair and sat down, the chair creaking in protest.
Teddy’s heart sank. He knew what was coming and had been trying to avoid this topic for several days now. But he also knew they’d eventually catch up with him.
“What would that be?” he asked, purposefully playing dumb.
Marie shook her head with a slight smile that seemed out of place on her face. “Before I took my position here, I supervised a team at the Dallas center. Just like you, I worked my way up through the ranks and when I first assumed my duties as a supervisor, my boyfriend at the time worked on the same team that I was taking over.
I was in the same position you find yourself in right now. It’s no secret you and Judy are an item. I’m sure you are familiar with the company’s policy on fraternization. It used to be we could just transfer her to a different team and it wouldn’t be a problem, but corporate has been cracking down lately and to be perfectly honest I am not going to jeopardize my own career for anyone else.”
“I’ll talk to her today.”
“When I return to work I expect either yours or her resignation on my desk. I like you, Ted, I feel you’re going to make a great supervisor, but I will replace you with the next in line if you can’t do what needs to be done.”
Until this moment no one he had spoken to, or interviewed with, had been quite this blunt about what needed to be done. Everyone knew about him and Judy, and even though they had tried to keep their relationship under wraps, it had never been a real secret they were together. Even with all that in mind, his anger was stirred by Marie’s frank statement.
Of course I understand what has to be done. But would it hurt to give her a little more notice? His response remained unspoken. A part of him wanted to stand up right then and hand that cold bitch the keys to the building and walk out. Instead he nodded his understanding and pushed himself to his feet.
Sometimes you did what you had to, not what you wanted.
“I know how you feel, Ted. I had to go through the same thing.”
Ted simply nodded, thinking to himself that she couldn’t possibly know what he was going through right now.
“Will there be anything else?”
“That about covers it,” Marie said, dismissing Teddy by opening the file folder on her desk. He stood over her for a moment more, unacknowledged by Marie who focused on the papers lying in front of her, and then he spun around on his heel and left her office.
Chapter 3
As Teddy left Marie’s office, Walter, her husband, pulled into the call center parking lot. The wind screamed around the Ford F-350 super duty, rocking it from side to side, as he carefully guided the truck through the snow piling up around him. He didn’t really like driving this beast of a truck but was comforted by its ability to plow through even the highest snowdrifts he had so far encountered. He would have preferred his Altima, but knew it would never have gotten him as far as Marie’s truck had. And she was counting on him to pick her up so she wouldn’t be stuck at work.
They had been together for over ten years now, having met at a call center in Dallas where Walter had been a supervisor. But that job hadn’t lasted too long, not after he met Marie, who had been brought in to turn that particular center around and make it profitable once again. At the time he had been seeing a young girl who worked on a different team, but when Marie arrived, it was love at first sight.
Wrapped in the warm interior of the truck as the storm raged outside, with Metallica on the radio, he pulled up to the front door as Marie darted out and came around to the driver’s side.
“I’ll drive,” Marie said as she opened the door. Walter was more than willing to comply and slid from behind the wheel, climbing over the console between the seats to settle into the passenger seat as Marie got in behind the wheel.
“Did you have any trouble getting here?” Marie said.
“Are you kidding? With this tank?” Walter said as he leaned across the console to give Marie a small peck on the cheek. “I made lasagna this morning. I know how much you like it.”
“You’re too good for me,” Marie said as she dropped the shift lever into drive and eased away from the curb.
“And don’t you forget it, either,” Walter said as he settled back into his seat. Then he leaned forward. Was someone out there? He had only caught sight of them for an instant, and he hesitated, questioning if he had really seen what he thought he saw.
They started across the lot towards the entrance, the truck rocking back and forth as the wind swirled around it, the snow driven this way and that in patterns reminiscent of a flock of birds preparing for the long flight south. Like the curtains on a theater’s stage, the sheets of falling snow parted before them to reveal a lone figure standing in the center of the entrance.
“What the hell?” Marie said as she eased the truck to a stop not ten feet away from the figure.
Walter noted how the stranger was dressed, assuming it was a he, wearing a long canvas riding jacket that was sweat-stained and dirty, the hem ending well below the knee. Beneath the collar a filthy red scarf was wrapped around the lower portion of the stranger’s face. A battered leather hat completed the image. He, she, it? Looked like they had just ridden in from the range, back from a cattle drive, and as the stranger approached, Walter was suddenly overcome by the desire to flee.
“Don’t let them in the truck,” he said to Marie.
“What? Why? What’s wrong with you? It’s freezing out there. They’re probably lost and if we don’t help, who will?”
“I just have a bad feeling about this. Don’t let them in, please.”
“What co
uld they possibly do to us?” Marie said as she slipped the truck into park and the stranger came around to her side. She motioned for them to get into the back seat.
Chapter 4
Built into the side of a hill, the rear of the building occupied by Advanced Computer Services had an open dock with a short roof that extended to the edge. There was a raised concrete platform with a steel dock plate built in at a forty-five degree angle to conserve space, allowing a delivery truck to back in at a slant. The ground was higher in relation to the dock with a steep incline leading to a paved road that created a trough behind the building. The dock had become a smoking area for the employees of ACS and was currently occupied by two smokers who stood in the classic smoker’s stance, head down, shoulders bunched up while one hand occupied a pocket, and the other tended to their cigarette.
Norman dropped his cigarette butt into the sand-filled five-gallon bucket next to him and glanced at his watch. There was still time to catch another. He pulled the pack from his pocket and slipped the filtered end between his lips. As he bent his head to catch the flame of the lighter, sheltered in his cupped hands, he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye.
“Hey, who was that?” Norman said as he lifted his head, his lighter forgotten for the moment, as he searched the falling snow on his right.
“What was what?” Andrea said as she dropped her own butt into the bucket and pulled her key card from her pocket.
“Didn’t you see him?”
“See who?”
“That guy, in the storm,” Norman said. He was sure it had been a person standing at the edge of the overgrown field behind the building.
“I didn’t see anybody,” Andrea said as she turned to the door.
“Aren’t you gonna have another? We’ve still got a few minutes left.”
“Too damn cold,” Andrea answered as she swiped her badge and pulled the door open. “Are you coming?”
“Not yet, I gotta finish this.” Norman held up his unlit cigarette.
“Well, you better light it first,” Andrea said with a smile before she stepped into the building.
Norman glanced at his cigarette and reached into his pocket to retrieve his lighter. As he lowered his head to light, it an old memory surfaced.
Butterball. It was the nickname the kids in the neighborhood where he grew up used to call him. With the memory came the all too familiar feelings of self-loathing and worthlessness he’d suffered through his entire childhood as he waged a losing battle against obesity. Beneath that lay a smoldering rage and he imagined what it might have been like to grab his tormentors by the throats and squeeze until their faces turned purple and their tongues hung uselessly from their gaping mouths.
“Is that what you want to do, Norman?” a voice whispered from the curtain of falling snow beyond the edge of the roof.
A sudden chill washed away his rage.
“Who’s there?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. A primitive part of him did not want to draw any more attention to himself. He swiveled his head back and forth, searching for the owner of the voice, his gaze tracking across the solid curtain of falling snow that shrouded the world with a silence that inspired more fear than even the darkest night.
The falling snow parted like stage curtains pulled aside to reveal the waiting set to the audience. Less than twenty yards away a man stood, watching Norman from beneath the shadowy brim of a wide hat that shaded his eyes. He didn’t need to see the stranger’s eyes to know he was staring at him.
His cigarette slipped from fingers that had gone suddenly numb. It didn’t matter if they wrote him up for not putting his butts in the proper place. Suddenly nothing mattered but getting back inside where he was hidden from that stranger’s prying eyes.
He sidled to the left as his hand fumbled with his key card. The stranger approached through the swirling curtains of snow and it was then that Norman realized the wind had no effect on the stranger. The filthy red scarf wrapped around the stranger’s neck lay perfectly still against his chest. The collar of his heavy brown jacket stood unmoving. Even his wide-brimmed hat remained in place, untouched by the searching fingers of the wind that seemed to avoid him, as if to touch would be a mortal sin.
Norman’s heart slammed against his rib cage as he turned to the door and frantically swiped his card through the reader. He yanked on the door to no avail, realizing when he looked down that he had swiped the card upside down.
Behind him, he felt the stranger’s approach and he glanced over his shoulder to see the man climbing the stairs to the dock.
“Please,” he moaned as panic blossomed in the pit of his stomach.
He swiped his card again and the key lock beeped. Norman yanked the door open, hyperventilating as the panic overwhelmed him. He’d been caught in the open by the stranger, who was even now getting much closer than Norman cared for him to be.
Then he noticed the smell, a mixture of spicy sweetness with an almost undetectable undercurrent of decay. It was a dangerous scent, awakening primitive fears that had been subjugated by the conveniences of modern society and technology.
He saw the short hallway before him. Bathrooms to the right, break room to the left. Beyond the hall lay the industrial-grade gray carpet of the main floor, where a maze of cubicles housed small desks, each with its own computer and telephone. He was so close, yet so far away. Before he could step over the threshold, into the safety beyond, the stranger spoke to him.
“May I come in?” he asked.
Unable to speak, his throat tight with fear, Norman was only able to shake his head vigorously. He stumbled into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him, and stopped with his shoulder against the wall.
Chapter 5
With his heartbeat thundering in his ears, Norman leaned against the wall of the short hallway that led to the main floor. Behind him the wind rattled the door in its frame and he glanced back over his shoulder, half-expecting to find that shadowy stranger following him into the interior of the building. He didn’t know what he’d do if that happened. Even though he was no longer the fat kid, and outwardly he portrayed the image of a self-assured man, or at least tried to, he felt completely helpless in the presence of that stranger.
The door to the ladies’ room across the hall opened and Andrea stepped out into the hallway.
“Are you all right, Norman?” she said as she crossed to him. He felt her hand on his back, resting lightly between his shoulder blades as she bent over to check on him.
“I’ll be okay,” he said between gasps. He struggled against the panic attack. A familiar sensation he hadn’t experienced in quite a while. In fact it had been over ten years since his last attack. It happened the night of his graduation from the local community college with an associate degree in office management. He’d asked one of his classmates, a cute blonde named Jennifer, if she’d like to have dinner with him to celebrate their accomplishment. Her icy response had left him gasping for breath as he struggled against the panic washing through him, promising himself he would never allow himself to experience that feeling again.
“Are you sure?” Andrea said, concern evident in her voice.
“I’ll be okay, just give me a minute,” he said as he nodded. Andrea’s hand felt good on his back, reminding him of how his mom would rest her hand on his shoulder or arm when he was younger. It was a touch that said, I’m here for you.
He’d have to go see her this weekend. It had been nearly a month since he’d been by, but she didn’t know that. Alzheimer’s had robbed her of her ability to keep track of the passing time. In her mind she was a young woman once again and in that fantasy there was no room for a forty-year-old son. His father had left shortly after the Alzheimer’s had reared its ugly head. She’d always been a little absent-minded. In danger of forgetting her head if it weren’t so firmly attached, she was so fond of saying. But absentmindedness had quickly become disorientation that led to the early stages of dementia as the
disease robbed her mind of her identity.
The last straw had come when Norman stopped for a visit and his mother called the police to report a breaking and entering.
May I come in? That sinister voice whispered again, this time in his mind, and he pushed himself up from his knees.
“I’ll be all right,” he said as he took a deep breath and drew himself to his full height.
Andrea looked up at him with a worried expression and Norman got a really good look at her. With her head tilted up the light struck her face in a way that highlighted her plain beauty. She wouldn’t win any beauty pageants, but she didn’t look half bad. She was a little on the heavy side, but who wasn’t when the years started rolling by faster than anticipated.
“Are you sure?” There was genuine concern in her voice and he felt flushed with a sudden excitement. He’d been working here for nearly three years, Andrea even longer than that. During that time he’d never paid much attention to his co-workers. He preferred his own company to anything they might offer. He’d spoken to them in passing, responding to their questions, acknowledging their comments, but he had never perused the conversation beyond that.
“There you are,” Leslie said from the end of the hall. “We’ve been looking for you two, Ted has called a meeting. I think they’re going to let us go home.” She turned and vanished into the main room.
“Not much to go home to,” Norman said.
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