Blind Squirrels

by Jennifer Davis

  “Again, Brad, what’s the point? Do you want her to fire me?”

  “No, but I want to get her fired. She’s not aware of it, but Mr. Bigelow is coming to your office at 5 pm. He’s going to catch her jumping on you.” Brad had it all figured out, but I didn’t want to get Nancy fired for something like this.

  “Brad, I don’t like this idea. You could have shared your plan with me so I could have pointed out how petty and mean it is. I don’t like Nancy, but this isn’t fair to her.”

  “Too late. It’s already in motion. Unless you want to pretend that you and I are a couple for the next several years…”

  “Wait…Why is Mr. Bigelow coming to my office at five?” This part of Brad’s plan had finally reached my brain.

  “I’m not supposed to tell you that. But, okay, you’ve twisted my arm: he’s giving you a promotion. He’s making you a Senior Programmer, and he’s hired someone new to do your old job. I guess you’ve impressed him. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

  “That’s interesting. I’m still not fighting with Nancy though.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Brad said with a smirk, and he was gone. I saw him heading to Nancy’s office in a hurry.

  At five, I picked up my purse and headed out. Brad was gone already – or crying to Nancy. As I approached Nancy’s office, I tried to sneak by unseen. Too bad it didn’t work. She stuck her head out the doorway. “Could you step in for a minute?” she asked.

  “Nancy, I’m in a hurry, I don’t have time to talk to you right now. I’ll see you first thing in the morning…” I had to avoid this conversation in case Mr. Bigelow showed up. I still wasn’t convinced that Brad had told the truth. Besides, the last thing I wanted to discuss with Nancy was my personal life. I couldn’t believe Brad had thought this was a good idea. I was now wondering if all the time we’d been spending together lately had been part of this stupid plan.

  I moved towards the door, but Nancy positioned herself in front of it. “We have to talk about Brad. I’m concerned that his obsession with you is affecting his job. He’s not handling your rejection very well. I can’t have him running around acting like a lovesick teenager…”

  It looked like Brad had been wrong about Nancy. She didn’t seem very sympathetic to his situation. Well, his pretend situation.

  “I know the two of you have been spending a lot of time together outside of work. You may have led him on, even if you didn’t mean to. I may have encouraged Brad to move…let’s say…a little faster. I may have suggested that he send you the flowers.”

  “So what are you saying? Get to the point, Nancy.”

  “I’m asking you to try to like Brad. If it ever got out that I encouraged him…But that’s not going to happen, right? I’ve convinced Mr. Bigelow that you’re a valued employee, and he has plans to promote you and give you a raise. All thanks to me. So no one ever has to find out about the part I played in Brad’s pursuit of you – if you’ll just pretend to be interested in him for a few weeks. Once you have your promotion, you can tell Brad that things just aren’t working out…”

  “Are you actually trying to bribe me? You have a lot of nerve. Brad isn’t in love with me. He’s been playing you all along. He was hoping that you’d do something stupid and get fired over it. I’m trying my best to keep that from happening. Now get out of my way. I’m not listening to anymore of this.” I pushed Nancy out of the doorway and then I ran straight into Mr. Bigelow. He was standing just outside of Nancy’s office and he didn’t look happy.

  “Hello, Mr. Bigelow,” I stuttered.

  “Katrina,” he said and smiled. “Please step back into Nancy’s office. I have something to say concerning this department.”

  I was terrified that Mr. Bigelow was going to fire all of us if he had heard our conversation. He hadn’t heard any of it, or if he did, he never mentioned it.

  As it turned out, Mr. Bigelow had big plans for the department and for the entire company. He told us that he had been evaluating the company, and he’d realized that some people were in jobs that weren’t ideal for them. He wasn’t getting rid of anyone, just doing a massive reorganization. He felt that Nancy would be better utilized as a sales manager since she worked really well with clients and customers. He had hoped Brad would move into the IT manager position, but Brad had rejected it. Mr. Bigelow was bringing someone else in for that position, and he wanted to promote me to a senior programmer. He was hoping to bring on some other new people as well.

  Neither Nancy nor I was able to say anything more than thank you when he finished up by telling us that we’d both be getting a bump in our paychecks that he’d discuss with us privately in a few days.

  The next morning, Brad stuck his head into my office. He had a big smile on his face. He started laughing and joking about how he’d played Nancy. I felt like skinning him alive after what he put me through in the name of a good laugh, but I was too excited about being rid of Nancy and about my promotion. I gave him a pass this one time.

  The week slipped by amazingly fast. I found that I hardly had time to think about Max and Julie. I did wonder what Olivia was up to because she hadn’t called me since Monday. I made the decision to drop by her house on Saturday morning. I wanted to stop her from going on any more of her spying operations.

  I drove up into Olivia’s driveway. Olivia lived in a two-bedroom brick house that she had scrimped and saved to buy. The yard was green and plush, but it needed a trim. Flowers were blooming everywhere – roses, petunias, daffodils, and snap dragons – a fiesta of colors dancing across Olivia’s yard. Blue country style curtains were hanging in the windows, and a homey “welcome” wreath hung on the carved oak door. I followed the stepping stones up to the front door and pressed the doorbell. I heard Olivia’s footsteps, and then the door opened. Olivia was wearing a pair of jeans and a knit shirt.

  “Hey, Kat. Come on in. What are you doing here?”

  I stepped into Olivia’s cozy living room. A blue oversized couch was along one wall. The matching chair and loveseat – placed neatly on either side of the couch – helped form a tight little semicircle that gave the room a certain amount of intimacy. Opposite the couch was an oak entertainment center that housed a twenty inch television, an ancient VCR, and a meager stereo system. A coffee table in the middle of the room held several magazines and Olivia’s purse.

  “Were you going out?” I asked suspiciously.

  “No. I just got back.” I hated to doubt Olivia, but it was only nine o’clock in the morning. I wondered where she might have been.

  “You weren’t...” I began.

  “I wasn’t spying. Honest. But I do have a surprise for you.” She picked up her purse and took something out. She held her hand out to me. There were two tickets in her palm. I took the tickets and examined them.

  “I...I...I can’t believe this!” I stuttered from my excitement. “These are Elton John tickets! How did you get them, Olivia? That concert is sold out.”

  “I know. I know. Did you notice that they are for the front row?”

  “The front row? How? Tell me how!” I was frantic. I couldn’t believe Olivia had tickets for me.

  “Do you remember the guy who won the front row tickets and the limo ride and all that stuff? He called me last night and told me that two of his friends couldn’t make it to the concert. He wondered if I still wanted to buy some tickets. He wouldn’t sell the backstage passes – he only had two. But he sold me these two tickets. Can you believe it? In only two weeks, you’ll be sitting in the front row at Elton’s concert. You might even get an autograph. Oh, and by the way, you owe me seventy-five dollars.”

  “He sold you the tickets for seventy-five bucks each? Some of them are going for two hundred or more.”

  “No, he sold me both tickets for seventy-five bucks total. That’s less than we would have paid if we bought them at Ticket Master. Anyway, I’m letting you pay for my ticket because I went to so much trouble to get them. Besides, I don’t really like E
lton John anyway.”

  I didn’t care if I had to pay three times that amount or more. I was getting to go to an Elton concert and sit on the front row. This was a dream come true for me. I grabbed Olivia and gave her a big hug. “Thanks, Olivia. You can’t imagine how much this means to me.”

  “Well, it’s not Max, but it is close. Through the years it’s been hard to know if you loved Max or Elton more. I can’t wait to see you at that concert.” Olivia hugged me back. I felt guilty for ever doubting her. She was the best.

  I visited with Olivia for a while. I kept wondering how I could pay her back. I wanted to do something wonderful for her. I began to realize that I didn’t know one thing that I could do to make Olivia happy. I had been too busy chasing one dream or another – expecting Olivia to help me through every close call – and I had failed to listen to many of Olivia’s dreams. Oh, I knew she wanted to be a lawyer, and I knew she someday wanted a family. But what else did she want out of life? I was clueless.

  When I got up to leave, Olivia told me to hold on to the tickets. I held them tightly in my hand and promised to keep them safe. I hugged my friend again, and she seemed comforted by my show of affection. “Are you seeing Lee?” I asked as I walked out the door. “You two are getting close.”

  “We’re going out to dinner tonight. We are working on something; I’m just not sure what. I think we could become serious, but we both want to take it slowly. Hey, I’ve got to become a lawyer first.” It did seem that Olivia’s world was coming together. We were both happy for the moment.

  I spent most of the weekend alone. Max never called, Olivia was busy with Lee, and Brad was distancing himself. I drove over to my mother’s, and we had a decent conversation for once. My brother Rick was coming for a visit and Mom couldn’t conceal her enthusiasm. She hoped this meant that he would be coming for visits regularly. Just before I left her house, Mom took me by the arm and said, “Kat, I want you to know that I’m proud of you.”

  Mom had never said this before, and I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes.

  “That’s not all,” she continued. “I told you the last time you were over here that you were ordinary. That wasn’t true. You are very special, Katrina. I’ve always known that. I think in some ways that I’m envious of you. I spent most of my life married to a man that treated me worse than an animal. I know you loved your daddy, but he was a hard man to live with. Rick was born one year after we married, and I became a prisoner. I had to quit my job to stay home with the baby. I loved both of my children, but I felt robbed of my life. You were strong enough to leave your bad marriage behind, and you have a wonderful career. One day you’re going to meet the man of your dreams. Then you’ll have the kind of marriage I’ve only been able to dream about. Whatever you do, don’t waste this special life that you have. I don’t want you to miss out because you are waiting on a man that doesn’t have the good sense to realize what a prize you are.”

  My tears were flowing now. All I could manage to say at the moment was, “I love you, Mama.” But as we walked to my car, I turned to her and said, “I want you to know that I am happy. I have a good life. Even if I never find the right man, I’ve experienced love and I’ve been loved. My life is very complete. Somehow, you and Daddy brought me up to be strong and secure. I can never thank you enough for that. I’m just glad I have the chance to tell you.”

  I left Mom’s house not only with a carload of fresh vegetables from her garden, but also with a better understanding of my mother. She had lived a hard life, and she wanted better for her daughter. Until today, she hadn’t known how to tell me that. Or maybe I had never really listened before.

  On Sunday afternoon, I thought about visiting Hurricane Gardens, but I couldn’t. That place would forever remind me of Max, and the day we became friends. Friends for a while, anyway. I wondered if I would ever hear from him again. He and Julie were probably having a second honeymoon. I might never cross his mind again. He might never know about Julie’s indiscretions.

  Even if he knew, would he care?

  Monday morning I began to think I might find out the answer to that question.

  I dressed for work in my favorite black slacks and a gray blouse. My pants almost fell off me, so I glanced into my full-length mirror. I hadn’t realized before that I had dropped a few pounds, but suddenly my face didn’t seem so round and I actually had a waistline. I was still overweight, but there was definitely a change. I grabbed a black belt and marveled as the little holes slipped by and I was able to buckle it in the very last one.

  I was running a little late, so I zoomed off to work without breakfast. Just before I walked into the front door of Bigelow’s, Olivia came running up to me. She looked a little worried. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.

  “Maybe nothing. It depends on how you take this news.”

  My brain shifted into overdrive. I imagined that she was going to tell me that Max and Julie were back together. I didn’t want to break down here in front of the office, so I motioned for her to move around the corner. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”

  “It’s about Max,” she continued. “I did something you might not like.”

  “What did you do?” I asked quietly. I supposed that she had been spying again.

  “I called him. Wait, wait. Before you say anything, let me explain.”

  She all but covered my mouth with her hands to keep me from speaking, so I nodded that I would listen.

  “He had to know, Kat. I know they were living apart, but she was seeing someone else. He needs to know that...”

  I got ready to explode. I couldn’t believe Olivia had done this. “What...?!” I yelled.

  “Wait...I haven’t finished. I didn’t even mention you. I told him that I found out by accident. I used my name. I kept you out of it...” I knew Olivia was doing this for me, but it was really none of her business. It wasn’t any of my business either. This was between Max and Julie.

  I tried to remain calm. “You shouldn’t have done that, Olivia. What did he say?”

  Olivia swallowed hard. “He didn’t. I guess he’d already left for work. I left the message on his machine.”

  “When was this?”

  “Just a few minutes ago. I had second thoughts the minute I hung up.”

  At first, I felt helpless, but then I decided we had to do something. “We can’t let Max get that message. No matter what you think, you can’t tell him about this. You might ruin his life, Olivia. He really loves her. This is not the way he should find out.”

  Olivia agreed that she might have done the wrong thing. We stood on the sidewalk for a while and tried to come up with a strategy. Short of burning down his house, I couldn’t come up with anything. But Olivia had a plan. It was risky, but what alternative did we have?

  There was a pay phone on the corner, so I used it to call work. I spoke with the personnel manager who let me take off and use a vacation day. After taking my car home, Olivia and I rushed to Max’s house. We inconspicuously parked down the street. There were no cars in front of his house, but I had to be sure no one was home. Olivia handed me her cell phone, and I dialed Max’s number. After the tenth ring, I decided that no one was there. Now we had to put our plan into action.

  Olivia and I walked together towards Max’s house as though we were familiar guests. Just before we reached the white pickets that bordered the front porch, we scampered around behind his house like two scared jackrabbits. Fortunately, tall hedges surrounded Max’s backyard on all sides. It was unlikely that anyone would see us as we prepared to break in to Max’s house.

  Olivia began delving through her purse for a credit card. “Hurry up,” I whispered. “Max or Julie could come home at any time.”

  “Sorry, but I didn’t pack this thing with the intention of breaking and entering someone’s house.” Just then, Olivia pulled a Visa Platinum card out of her purse. “They say Visa can take you anywhere – let’s find out if it’s true!” With the skill of a seasoned burglar –
or maybe a professional shopper – Olivia made a swipe with the card and the door easily pushed open.

  Olivia and I tiptoed inside. I led the way because I had been here before. Still, the dark shades on the windows blocked out much of the light, and I was a little disoriented. Was it my imagination, or had Max changed things around? I thought there had been a dinette set in the middle of the kitchen, but now it was empty. As we moved into the living room, the rust colored couch was missing – replaced by a white futon – and the phone and the answering machine were sitting on a stack of phone books instead of the cute little corner shelves I remembered. I started wondering if Max was about to move.

  I stepped over towards the answering machine, and Olivia took a peek out the window. I heard someone blowing a car horn in the distance, and Olivia said, “Darn it! Some smart-aleck kid is messing around with my car. I’m gonna sneak out and stop him. I’ll be right back.”

  Before I could say, “Wait,” Olivia was leaving through the back door. I decided to make the best of it. I pressed the play button on the answering machine and listened as the tape rewound. Then I heard a woman’s voice coming from the speaker.

  “Hi, Max. This is Val at work. Mr. Dreyfuss is sick today, and he wanted me to tell you to take the day off – with pay, of course. It’s eight-twenty, and I think I might have missed you. I’ll wait around work until you call or show up. Bye.”

  The machine stopped. I pressed it again, but the only message that played was Val’s. I quickly realized that Max had already listened to Olivia’s message and erased it. A little slower I realized what Val’s message had said. Max had the day off. He would be coming back home. I glanced at my watch. It was almost nine o’clock. Max might be driving up at any second.

  I hurried to stand up, but it was too late. A key was turning in the door. Max was going to catch me red handed. How would I ever explain? And he already heard Olivia’s message. I had broken into his house for no reason. It dawned on me how stupid this whole stunt had been. I was a complete idiot, and I was about to be an arrested idiot. As the doorknob started to turn, I noticed an open closet door in the hallway. I jumped inside and pulled the door shut. Maybe I would get a chance to duck out before Max found me.