White Walker

by Richard Schiver

  “Ever since my cat died last month, it’s been lonely in my apartment,” Andrea said as she nodded.

  He was surprised to learn Andrea once had a cat. Most cat people had a certain odor about them. A faint ammonia scent that heralded their arrival everywhere they went. He couldn’t recall ever smelling that odor when Andrea was around.

  “I didn’t know you had a cat.”

  “I called him Smokey, had him ever since he was a kitten. I miss him, but he had a good thirteen years with me.”

  “That’s longer than some marriages I’ve heard about.”

  “What about you?” Andrea said. “What do you have waiting at home for you?”

  “A frozen dinner, a good book, maybe some wine.”

  “There’s no Mrs. Norman?”

  Norman shrugged. “My mom has Alzheimer’s. I’ve spent most of my adult life taking care of her, never had much time for anything beyond that.”

  “Is she still with you?”

  Norman shook his head. “She became too much for even me to handle so I was forced to put her in a home last week. She no longer even knows where she is. In her mind it’s 1969 and she’s hitchhiking across the country to follow some band.”

  “We better get going,” Andrea said.

  “When are you off again?” Norman said as a familiar panic rose to the back of his throat, threatening to strangle him.

  “Saturday, what about you?”

  “Same here, would you like to go to lunch with me?” Norman bulled his way through the panic, the last of his question coming out at a near whisper.

  Andrea nodded. “I’d like that.” And she reached out with one hand to take his hand into her own. The contact was electrifying for Norman, who until this moment had never gotten beyond the initial meeting with a woman. His shirt collar, which had become three sizes too small for him when he was asking Andrea out, was now resting comfortably against his throat, and he was filled with a sense of confidence he’d seldom known before.

  Before they entered the main floor, he glanced back at the door leading to the smoking area at the opposite end of the short hallway. Through the small window he saw the swirling snow beyond, driven this way and that by the relentless wind. As it parted, he spotted that lone figure standing immobile on the bank opposite the dock.

  He looked away, suddenly very frightened, wanting nothing more than to get away from this place. For the first time in three years, he wanted to go home. He didn’t want to lose himself in the anonymity of being a faceless voice on the telephone. He sensed that tonight was not going to end well for any of them.

  Chapter 6

  By the time Norman and Andrea reached the main floor, a maze of cubicles with gray dividers sectioning off individual cubby holes, each containing a small desk upon which sat a computer and a telephone, the rest of those who had made it to work were standing around Teddy in a loose group. With the addition of Norman and Andrea, there were a total of ten people present, the group evenly divided between male and female.

  “It’s about time you two decided to join us,” Cody said and Norman’s face immediately flushed with embarrassment as the entire group turned to watch their approach. Self-consciously, he released his hold on Andrea’s hand, not wanting to draw any more undue attention to himself. He felt Andrea’s disappointment and realized that he had already jeopardized their budding relationship.

  But he’d make it up to her, he promised himself.

  “So were you two in the back making out?” Cody said. Several of the members of the small group laughed nervously in response. It was a knee-jerk reaction stemming more out of fear of Cody and a desire to not make waves. They might have known Norman better than Cody, but Cody had a reputation for being aggressive. At a little over six foot tall he looked like he was all arms and legs, skinny as a rail, but with a disposition that left many of his co-workers a little afraid of him.

  He was your typical twenty-two-year-old who had discovered that it was legal to drink, but had yet to figure out that getting drunk the night before he was scheduled to work was not conducive to a productive day. He had been caught several times napping at his desk, hung over from the night before, with an irate customer being ignored on his phone. It was said he was on his last warning. One more fuck up and he was out.

  Yet it wasn’t his fault, not according to Cody; it was always this guy, or that guy’s fault, old friends had shown up, someone had been mean to him on the phone that day, one of his co-workers had said something mean to him. He had not yet learned to take responsibility for his own actions, so it wasn’t any wonder he still hadn’t learned the art of discretionary behavior.

  “I spoke with corporate just a little bit ago,” Teddy said and the group tightened around him to hear what he had to say. “They attempted to contact everyone to cancel work. Those of you who are here missed the call for one reason or another.” Several members of the group checked their cell phones for missed calls.

  “I didn’t get a call,” Jasmine said, looking up from her cell phone.

  “You were busy,” Cody said, pantomiming a sexual act by moving his fist back and forth next to his mouth while he pushed out the opposite cheek with his tongue.

  “In your dreams, little boy,” Jasmine shot back.

  “Watch your mouth, asshole,” David said as he stepped forward.

  “Hold it,” Teddy shouted as he held up his hand and stepped between Cody and David. Turning to Cody, he said, “Remember what we talked about.”

  Cody immediately backed down, dropping his head and stuffing his hands into his pockets.

  “I didn’t get a call, either,” David said as he stepped back to stand next to Jasmine. They were opposites in every respect. Where Jasmine was dark and exotic, while David was blonde with a fair complexion, and an open face that screamed momma’s boy. They made an odd pair who were in an on and off relationship. Currently it was on, the position of Jasmine’s arm around David’s waist a strong indication of that fact. But that could change in an instant.

  Teddy shrugged. “Not much I can do about missed calls. I’m just relaying what they told me. If anybody wants to leave, you can without being charged a missed day, but since we’re here we might as well work, give the road crews a chance to clean up the mess outside. Corporate will route calls to us on an as needed basis. I’ll take care of assigning each call as it arrives.”

  “What if the electric goes out?” Leslie asked. Short and skinny with long brown hair, she had only been on the team for a month, so she hadn’t had enough time to get to know everyone.

  “We’ll deal with that when it happens,” Teddy said.

  All eyes looked up at the ceiling as thunder rumbled from the sky beyond and the lights flickered momentarily.

  “Good night to stay inside,” Kevin said. Several of the others nodded in agreement. He was the oldest member of the group, as well as the most dedicated, and had been working for the company the longest. He was the friendly type, always asking how everything was going as he exuded an aura of caring that went beyond being a mere acquaintance.

  A call center environment left little time for personal interaction while on the job, unlike a production setting where assembly line workers could communicate freely with one another while they worked. The nature of the call center’s business, interacting with assorted customers on the phone, left little time for the employees to get to know one another unless they did so outside of work.

  As everyone moved to their respective workstations in preparation for another day of work, the storm grew even stronger. The wind howled with a fierce voice, pushing the sheets of falling snow about like a swirling blanket, battering itself against the walls of the building that housed the small group as the depth of the snow on the roof increased with every passing hour.

  Chapter 7

  It never failed. Any time he had to work, someone always showed up the night before and got him to drinking. Last night it had been his cousin Stephanie and her new boyfriend,
Chuck. He’d promised himself after the last meeting he had with Teddy that he wouldn’t do that anymore, that he’d not go out and get drunk until he knew for sure he was off the following day. He’d tried to beg off but Stephanie had persisted. They only had a few more days before Chuck had to return to his unit and she wanted to show him a good time.

  As he made his way to his cubicle, the churning in the pit of his stomach intensified. He was gonna hurl. His breakfast was resting uneasily in the sea of vodka he’d dumped into his gut the night before. He immediately made a u-turn and raced from the main floor down the short hallway to the men’s room on the right. He didn’t see the figure through the window, standing in the snow on the bank behind the building, watching the building from beneath the shadowy brow of his hat.

  He saw nothing at all, focused as he was on the burning at the back of his throat that told him if he didn’t hurry, he was gonna make a mess. If he had updated his contact information like he should have, he’d be lying in bed right now, nursing his hangover instead of spending the morning digging out his truck so he could come to work. Being on your last warning sucked. Being hung over and on your last warning was even worse than that.

  Reaching the stall, he dropped to his knees in front of the toilet just as the first hot stream of vomit was ejected from his mouth. It felt like his fucking guts were being sucked out of him and he panted weakly between each bout.

  “Are you okay?” a familiar voice asked from the doorway. It was Judy.

  Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. A couple of months earlier he and Judy had spent the night together after she had gotten into an argument with Teddy. It was one of those drunken evenings; he’d had nothing better to do, so what more excuse did he need to go out and get drunk.

  Judy had come to his apartment crying about the argument she’d had with Teddy. Outwardly Cody had been sympathetic to her problem. But that was only an act. He’d discovered over the few short years he’d been living alone that girls on the rebound from a bad relationship, or those who had just stormed out of their boyfriend’s after an argument, were the easiest to get into bed. Judy had been no different.

  After a few I understands, and that bastard, mixed in with a healthy dose of vodka in a glass of orange juice, Judy’s defenses had come down and she spent the night.

  “I’ll be all right,” he said between dry heaves. He was pretty sure he’d just cleaned his system out. He’d recognized the two sausage biscuits he’d had that morning, as well as the chili he’d eaten the night before. His mom had stopped by for a visit, and that had primed him for a night of drinking. So it hadn’t been too hard for Stephanie to convince him to show them the nightlife.

  Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he crossed to the row of sinks on the opposite wall. After splashing some cold water on his face, he looked at Judy. “Does he know?”

  “I haven’t told him yet,” she said.

  “Why?” Cody splashed some more cold water on his face.

  “It just hasn’t come up yet.”

  “What? You have to wait for it to come up? You can’t just tell him?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “No shit. Does he know what happened?”

  “Are you still working here?”

  “Good point. But you need to tell him, the sooner the better.”

  “But what if he gets mad?”

  “Don’t tell him everything. You’ve been fucking him, right?” She nodded. “Then he doesn’t need to know what happened between us.”

  “But what if it looks like you?”

  “That doesn’t mean a damn thing. I don’t know how you women can tell the difference anyway. A baby is a baby.”

  “I’ll know.”

  “Then you’re gonna have to leave him.”

  “But I don’t want to. I love him.”

  “That’s not what you said two months ago.”

  “That was then, this is now.”

  Cody approached Judy and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I understand. I might be a drunken ass half the time.”

  “Only half the time?”

  “Funny. But I do know this. He’s the best thing in the world for you and your baby right now. He has a future. What do I have? I’m a drunk on his last warning. I seriously doubt I’ll make it past the end of this month.”

  “But what if he finds out?”

  “Who’s gonna tell him?”

  Judy shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “I’m not gonna say anything, so your secret is safe with me. The only other person who knows is you.”

  “Knows what?” Teddy asked from the doorway. “And what are you doing in the ladies’ room, Cody?”

  Cody looked around at the row of stalls along the wall, sinks opposite, each with a mirror above. There were no urinals. Of course not, dumb ass, this was the ladies room. In his haste to make it to the bathroom he’d gone through the wrong door.

  “I’m sorry, had to puke, couldn’t make it to the men’s room.”

  “Well, you better clear out. Calls are starting to come in so I’ll need you in the rotation.”

  “Right,” Cody said before exiting the bathroom.

  Teddy waited for the door to close before he turned to Judy. “We’ve gotta talk.”

  “I’ve been trying to talk to you for the past week.”

  The door swung open and Liz walked in. She was a tall redhead with a who gives a shit attitude.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize there was a meeting planned for in here. Do you mind if I use the facilities?”

  “Yeah, sorry, go ahead,” Teddy said before he turned to Judy. “Let’s talk in the break room.”

  Chapter 8

  Judy followed Teddy into the hall where he stopped and turned to confront her.

  “What was all that about back there?” he said.

  “What?”

  “You and Cody? What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” she said as she shook her head. “I had to go, he was in one of the stalls sick. I asked him if he was all right.”

  “You’re sure? He’s not bothering you or anything, is he?”

  “No, of course not. I just asked if he was okay.”

  Teddy looked at her for a moment, as if he were deciding whether he should believer her or pursue the issue further. “What did he mean by the only other person who knows is you?”

  Judy shrugged as she looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot. “He and Liz are seeing one another,” she whispered in a conspiratorial tone as she leaned in close. “They don’t want anyone else to know.”

  “Is that all?”

  “That’s everything. He doesn’t want Liz to get into any trouble because of his own problems.”

  “I thought it was something else.”

  “What? Did you think it had something to do between him and me?”

  “No, nothing like that.”

  “Are you jealous?”

  “No, not at all. I mean he’s a fun guy, right? Me, I’m an old stick in the mud.”

  “He’s fun only if you like waking up with a hangover every morning.”

  “Are you sure there’s nothing else?”

  “Absolutely,” she said with a smile, even though it pained her to lie to Teddy like she was. She wasn’t ready yet to share her news.

  “Come on, let’s sit down and talk,” Teddy said, motioning for her to follow him.

  As Judy followed Teddy into the break room she knew all too well what he wanted to talk to her about. She had known for quite some time that it would come to this. Changes were afoot, not only in her life, but in her body, and her emotions were like a roller coaster running at top speed, threatening to derail at the next turn.

  I will not cry, she promised herself, at least not in front of him.

  They had been together for a little more than a year and over that time she had come to love him. She honestly enjoyed having him in her life. In fact she had been looking
forward to spending the rest of her life at his side. Fantasizing about getting married and raising a family with him. A young boy and girl inhabited her dreams, brother and sister, the brother older, of course, to protect his younger sister.

  Like Teddy she had been an only child growing up and didn’t want to subject any child of her own to the life of loneliness an only child endured. Unlike Teddy, her parents had been a constant part of her life. They still lived in the house she grew up in and she promised herself she would visit them this weekend. Soon she would have to give them the news and she was worried about how they would react. At least they liked Teddy. Or they had the couple of times they’d had dinner with them.

  Teddy had told her about the succession of hired help that took the place of his parents while he was growing up. The lack of emotional attachment within his family. It was something he didn’t want to see happen with his own children, when he got around to having some. Which he figured wouldn’t be for another few years. Right now he wanted to focus on his career, on building a reserve to support them in the future when they decided to have children. It was the main reason she had remained silent about her condition. She didn’t know how Teddy would respond, and most importantly she didn’t want to be the proverbial monkey wrench in his plans.

  Yet the fantasy she had built for herself was tinged by a sense of sorrow, of loss, of some sorrowful act or occurrence she was not fully aware of. Something remained hidden from her view, a half forgotten secret that teased with a sensation that was not fully realized. Something was amiss in her ordered little fantasy, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

  As she slipped into the seat at the end of the table across from Teddy, she understood that what happened in the next few moments would have a lasting impact on both of their lives.

  Teddy took a deep breath. “You know the company has a policy on fraternization,” he started, and Judy nodded in agreement, “and we’ve worked hard to keep our relationship under wraps.”

  “Do we have a relationship?” Judy said.