Commencement- Book Three
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Lawrence Cherry
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Thirty-Eight
November came in with gusty winds and left as quietly as falling autumn leaves. Then on came December with it’s dry cold, that gave no indication of the weather that waited. Some had even harbored a secret hope for an unseasonably mild winter. On this December morning, the forecasters had predicted a light rain that would clear out toward the end of the day. However, some time toward mid-morning, the rain began to change over to snow, creating slush on the streets below. Caught unaware, many commuters trudged through the slush with their canvas sneakers and ballerina flats, the cold freezing their feet and toes. Then the temperature dropped suddenly to 30 degrees, freezing the slush and creating icy conditions on the roads and resulting in traffic nightmares that unfolded all over the urban landscape. Storeowners and proprietors hustled to have sidewalks shoveled and salted, and people in offices worried about what their commute would be like when they started home.
It was upon such a scene that Allen found himself shoveling the sidewalks in front of the Sheraton. He and two other porters had started on the front walk, but it seemed their efforts were made futile by incessant snowfall. They had just spent the last twenty minutes or so cracking up the ice that was forming under the snow and shoveling it. When they had finally finished the long block that ran in front of the hotel, there was a new coat of snow waiting to be shoveled. So the second time around, Allen and another porter shoveled as the two others spread salt behind them. When they were done, Allen understood why people often died of cardiac arrest while shoveling their driveways. It was 30 degrees outside, yet Allen had worked up a sweat that had drenched his thermal underclothes. He knew he should head inside before the dampness of his clothes caused him to catch a cold, but he desperately needed time to catch his breath.
Allen leaned on his shovel and surveyed the city scene in front of him. Watching the people struggle with the unexpected turn in the weather, made him think about the past six weeks that he had been struggling at the Sheraton. The work was hard, and it seemed the winter months made it harder. The physical labor required to do his job was beyond back breaking. Since Thanksgiving weekend it seemed as if every room in the building was occupied with tourists who were in town for the Christmas season. With more guests there was always more to be done and it had to be done quickly. The only thing that made up for it was the fact that he had developed a physique that rivaled Tim’s during his heyday as a member of the Harvard lacrosse team. But the best development of all was Allen’s burgeoning friendship with Davis. For the past six weeks they had been working together and helping each other in various ways. Allen and Tamiko’s tutoring had helped Davis to improve in his English literature, history, and writing classes in night school. In return, Davis was helping Allen to learn more about buildings and how to make small repairs. Allen had learned all about how to detect mold, how to lay down tile and linoleum, and how to fix small plumbing problems. They also spent more time together off the job and were fast becoming good friends.
In addition to church, Davis had been hanging with Allen and his friends when they went out to dinner or to some event or show. As with the integration of new friends into an old set, there is always some conflict that arises. Tim, didn’t like him, but then he was the type of guy who jealously guarded any friends he had, mostly because he had very few real friends he could trust. Tamiko and Richard, however, were nuts about Davis. Allen thought Davis and Jim would hit it off, because of Davis’s blue-collar background, but strangely enough, Jim seemed very cool towards Davis. Not that Jim had spent much time with their set anyway. For the past week or so, it seemed as if Jim were avoiding them all, and Allen had a sinking suspicion as to why. The few times Jim did hang with them he seemed very sullen, moody, and worst of all, inebriated. It was ironic and almost prescient that Davis should enter Allen’s life just as Jim seemed to be leaving it. It made Allen suspect that maybe God knew that Davis was the kind of friend he needed right now in this particular time in his life. The only one Davis hadn’t met was Callie who seemed to be MIA since the night of Richard’s Election Night Party. Jim mentioned speaking to her a few times, but she never returned any of Allen’s e-mails or texts, and whenever he called her, he always got her voice mail. When it first started happening, he thought maybe she was just busy, but now it seemed that maybe she, too, was avoiding him. However Allen could not fathom why. He knew he would actually have to go to her house to visit her to find out, and he didn’t know if he was really looking forward to that.
Allen already knew, he had spent too much time outside and headed inside with his shovel. First he stopped off at the supply area to return the shovel, and had to wait for Kizzy to finish flirting with another porter who had joined the staff shortly before Allen. When he was done, he got on the service elevator and was going up to finish his rounds on the ninth floor when he heard Davis paging him on the radio.
“Copy” Allen murmured into his radio.
“We got a situation in 621 wit’ a toilet. Bring the bucket, a mop, and the wet vac.”
“Got it.”
“And make sure you got yo’ gloves man.”
“Hear ya. Over.”
Allen used his key to override the elevator and stop at the fifth floor to get the bucket, mop, and wet vac from the water closet. He also took some of the industrial cleaning rags as well. He almost forgot his gloves, but remembered when he was near the doorway. Allen ran back and grabbed them from the shelf above the sink where he left them and shoved them in his pocket. Then he headed back toward the elevator. In the past few weeks, Davis and Allen had been like the Batman and Robin of the Sheraton, extinguishing the small troubles in their wing of the building. They worked together so well that sometimes he could anticipate what Davis wanted before he even asked. And Allen was always in awe of the different things that Davis could do. He was not just some guy with a sketchy knowledge of repairs. Davis really could fix anything because he had a deep understanding of the science and engineering involved in his job. When he talked about fixing things, his persona would change. Davis would become more confident. His vocabulary seemed to expand as he spoke the jargon of plumbing repair. So it was no shock to Allen when he found out that Davis had excellent grades in math and science in Night School. Straight A’s to be exact. No wonder he didn’t want to settle for a
G.E.D. It would have totally undersold the brilliant mind that he had.
When Allen came to room 621 the door was ajar so he opened it and came in. Then he headed toward the bathroom where he found Davis who looked as if he had been working for some time. He had his toolbox with him and there were other sundry plumbing items lying around the bathroom.
“Whatever is clogging it must really be stuck. Are we going to have to take it up?” asked Allen.
“Maybe. I mean I plunged it, used the toilet augur on it…everything. Now we gotta get down and dirty. You got everything?”
“Yes, sir. What do we do first?”
“Bring the wet vac over here. We’ll try that first.”
Davis put the nozzle of the wet vac into the toilet drain and then turned it on. It sucked all of the water out of the toilet, and He hoped the obstruction would come out with it. When all the water was gone, Davis turned off the machine and took the hose out.
“Okay. Cross yo’ fingers.”
Davis flushed the toilet and he and Allen looked over in the bowl with anticipation. The water came in and eddied before rising to the top of the bowl without flowing back out.
“Dag. I was hopin’ but…looks like we’re gonna have to take it up. You ready?”
“Just let me put my gloves on.”
Allen quickly put on his gloves as Davis turned off the water supply to the toilet. Then Allen used the wet vac to get the remaining water out of the bowl. After this Davis deftly disconnected the water supply from the toilet.
“Here,” said Davis handing his putty knife to Allen, “you could use this to get the caps off the base.”
Allen took the knife and got to work. After taking the caps off, he then worked on unscrewing the bolts. He went through it easily as he had assisted Davis with installing a new toilet in one of the suites just a few days ago.
“Okay it’s done”, said Allen when he was finished.
“Good, now stand back a little cuz, I don’t want nothin’ left up in here to come down on you.”
“I hear you”, replied Allen as he stood up and moved back.
Davis lifted the porcelain stool and moved it to one side. A small trickle of water flowed out from the bottom onto the newspaper that Davis had spread around earlier. After that, there was nothing left except the forbidding looking hole in the bathroom floor.
“Are you going to have to put your hand in there?”
“You really shouldn’t ever, especially if you don’t have gloves. But I don’t think that’s where the problem is. You gotta rag or somethin’?”
Allen handed Davis one of the cleaning rags he brought up and Davis used it to cover the drain to keep the sewer gases from escaping.
Allen looked over and saw that Davis had leaned the toilet back against the tank, so that the base was facing them. Then Davis took the pocket flashlight from his belt to look up into the bottom of the toilet. Davis would have to put his hand into the base to pull whatever it was out. Thankfully he had on his work gloves as well. Allen merely gawked as Davis put his hand in. He would have not wanted to trade places with Davis at this moment for anything in the world.
“I really hope this isn’t what I think this is”, grunted Davis as he started to pull out the obstruction. Allen grimaced with disgust.
“Okay, I think I got it.”
Davis slowly pulled his hand from the toilet, but Allen’s view was obscured by the position of the toilet.
“Here, catch this”, said Davis unexpectedly making a pitching motion toward Allen.
“No way, man!” exclaimed Allen scrambling to get out of the way and falling into the bathtub.
Davis was laughing hysterically as Allen struggled back to his feet. Allen began to realize that Davis had not actually thrown anything at him.
“I’m sorry, man, but the look on yo’ face…I just had to.”
“Very funny. What was in there anyway?” said Allen half-laughing at himself.
“Just this”, said Davis still laughing. He opened his hand to reveal what looked like a building block from a child’s duplo set. “Not what you was expectin’, right.”
“Now how in the world…?”
“I don’t know man. Probly a kid not big enough to reach the sink decided to play in the toilet.”
“I’m just glad it wasn’t something…well, you know.”
“I hear ya. Now we gotta clean up. I’ll let you take the lead here if you think you could handle it.”
“Sure man.”
There was a lot of work involved in re-installing a toilet. All the old ceramic sealant had to be scraped away, and the wax ring would need to be replaced. Fortunately, Davis had foreseen all this and had brought all the necessary materials needed. Allen got right down to business. Allen liked the added responsibility that Davis allowed him. It showed that Davis trusted him and his newly acquired skills and that meant a lot to Allen. It was a relatively simple job, but it was one Allen knew he couldn’t do a few months ago. As Allen prepared for the toilet to be remounted
the two young men engaged in the chatter that usually surrounded their work.
“So how’s your new paper coming? Have you chosen your topic yet?”
“Yeah, I decided to go wit the one on Of Mice and Men since it’s somethin’ I’ma little more familiar wit, and they say that stuff like that is going to be on the test.”
“When is the exam anyway?”
“February.”
“That’s coming up soon.”
“I know. I got a handle on the multiple-choice questions. That’s no
sweat. It’s just the essays that I’m worried about. There’s three of them.”
“I think your writing has really grown a lot over the past couple of weeks.”
“Yeah, but that’s because you and Miko is there to spot me. These essays are gonna be cold. No drafts. No re-writes. You feel?” said Davis with some concern.
“I get it. But don’t be so hard on yourself. Your grammar has
improved a lot, as well as the clarity of your writing.”
“I just hope it’s enough to get a 75.”
“I thought you only needed a 55 to pass.”
“Yeah, but the program that I’m tryin’ to get into to get my license is requirin’ at least 75.”
“Oh.” Allen remembered Davis briefly mentioning the program before. “I believe you’ll make it man.”
“I hope so. I’m like sweatin’ it wit’ a sponge- no joke.”
“So, what’s next once you get your license?”
“I’m hopin’ that I can do some independent jobs and eventually start my own business. Then hopefully, I can help my mom get out of the mess she’s in.”
“What mess?”
“She got caught up in one of those bad loans they been talkin’ about. She got a house in Queens. The one I grew up in before I moved to the Bronx. See, my brother got locked up and she needed money to get him outta jail, and hire a lawyer and all that, so she went to the bank for a loan. The people at the bank told her to do somethin’ called a ‘refinance’ on the house and then the monthly payments wouldn’t be that much. Everything was good for the first year or so. Then one day she got a bill for like $6,000.00.”
“Sounds like the hidden balloon payment.”
“I don’t know what it was. All I know is my moms didn’t have no $6,000.00. I mean me and my sister are helping her out now, but once I get into this program, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to help out no more. I got my own bills to pay and soon I’m gonna have tuition to deal wit’ on top of that. There’s no way they gonna let her keep the house if she don’t pay. I’m just prayin’ to God about it.”
“I’m really sorry about what’s going down, man.”
“Then she might have to move in wit’ my sister, and they don’t really get along, at least when they in the same house. I want my mom to stay wit’ me, but I don’t have enough room. The worst part is that her credit is gonna be all messed up for good. At her age she don’t need that. How’s she gonna retire?”
“I wish there was something I could do to help you and your mom.”
“Don’t sweat it, man. You done more than enough for me already. You been better to me than people I knew way back in the day. Beside I’m looking to God to make a way. He’s brought us all this far. I’m sure he’s gonna work somethin’ out. If He doesn’t, it’s all good because He’s got His reasons, ya know? They can take the house but that’s all they can take. And who knows? One day maybe I’ll be able to buy my mom an even better house.”
“That’s one way of looking at it”, replied Allen, still mulling over something in his mind. At times it seemed that Davis had more faith than he did, despite Allen’s church upbringing.
“What you gonna do, son? I know you ain’t fixin’ to be no porter forever”, asked Davis. The question caught Allen off guard.
“I don’t know. Everyone’s been telling me that I need to develop a relationship with God and allow him to show me. So far, I haven’t heard anything.”
“You will, eventually.”
“Has God spoken to you in your life? Like did you hear God telling you to go for the program you’re trying to get into?”
“I don’t know if you could use my experience. I always thought God works for different people in different ways.”
“You’re probably right, but just for curiosity’s sake.”
“It was like, one night a couple of years ago, I was just layin’ in my bed thinkin’ about what I was gonna do wit’ my life. Then I started thinkin’ that I really should get my license ‘cause then I could get more jobs and maybe even start my own business. Only thing was I didn’t have any idea how to get started. I was thinkin’ and thinkin’ myself in circles. So then a couple of days later, Mr. Hardy told me about a program I could get into that they was offerin’ at the City College. So I went out and I got an application and everything, but you had to have a high school diploma, and I had dropped out a few years before. And you couldn’t get into the program wit’ a GED. I didn’t think they would ever let me back into school given my past and how old I was, so I just threw the application in a bunch of old papers and forgot about it. Then some more months passed and I was prayin’ about my situation when somethin’ spoke to me and told me to go get the paper. At first, I was like ‘why should I do that?’ I knew I didn’t qualify for it because I wasn’t a student. But then, I just went and got it. As soon as I got the paper in my hand it was like God started to show me how I could do it. He led me to a school that had a night school program where you could get a real diploma. So I got registered and God worked it out from there.”
“Really?” said Allen a little awestruck. “So he just spoke to you out of the blue?”
“Yeah, like he was speaking to my heart. But then I had been praying about it for a while. It wasn’t like I prayed and then ten minutes later I got the answer I needed.”
“One time I thought I heard God speaking to my heart, but that was over a month ago. I haven’t heard anything since. Sometimes I think maybe he’s angry me. After all, here I am having grown up in the church, but all my life I’ve just sort of taken Him for granted. I’ve even been ungrateful to God for all the great things He’s already done for me. I was like the children of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness. Maybe God is punishing me now for being such a jerk.”
“Don’t get so down on yourself. The Bible says that ‘God is slow to anger and plenteous of mercy. He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever,’ and then, ‘If we turn to him with our whole heart, he will forgive our sins.’1 God loves you Allen. He sees that you’re sorry about everything and that you really want to have a relationship with Him. He’s not gonna leave you hangin’. You just gotta keep seeking Him.”
“Now you sound like Pastor Bynum.”
“I don’t know if I got it like that.”
“I think you do.”
“All I do is just read the Word, pray, and trust God believing.”
“I guess it’s easy for you since He’s done so much in your life and He’s always speaking to you.”
“It’s not like he speaks to me everyday. Even in the silences you have to trust that when there’s a need he will speak. I’m not sayin’ it won’t be hard, but we have to keep on goin’ in spite of what everything seems like. That’s what keeps me goin’ at least.”
“I think you’re right. In fact, I know you’re right. You don’t know how good it is to have someone to talk to about these kinds of things.”
“But what about the Pastor and your friends. You don’t talk to them about stuff like this?”
“Not really. The Pastor’s a great guy, but sometimes I feel like he’s on a whole other level. It’s been a long time since he’s been where I’ve been. And as for my other friends, the only one who’s really workin’ on a relationship with God is Tamiko. She’s sweet, but sometimes you just need another guy to talk to.”
“I feel you. You know what. I was actually going to sign up for the Brotherhood Bible study group Daniel’s hostin’. I read about it in the church bulletin. Why don’t you join wit’ me?”
“Bible Study?”
“Why not? You said you wanted a deeper relationship wit’ God. What better way than to study his Word? Like the Bible says ‘study to show thyself approved unto God.’”
“But I already know about the Bible. I read it everyday.”
“But do you know what it means for yo’ life? Like how you suppost to live. I’ll admit that there are some things I need to learn.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it.”
“It’s at 2:00pm right after service on Sundays. But you probly already know that.”
Allen didn’t but wasn’t about to reveal this to Davis.
“Look at the time. We gotta finish up here so we can get through the rest of our rounds before quittin’ time.
Allen and Davis finished the preparations for remounting the toilet. Then Allen helped Davis to fit the toilet onto its base and they re-bolted it and replaced the caps.
“Nice work on the fixtures, Al. Now it’s time for the moment of truth.”
After reconnecting the water supply and turning on the water, Davis flushed the toilet. It flushed normally. The seat was on securely and there was no water leaking from the foot of the toilet.
“Guess we make a pretty good team, don’t we?” suggested Allen.
“Yeah, we do”, replied Davis.
Thirty-Nine
Tim wanted to put his head down to rest if not for just a minute however, this would be impossible in the tiny cubicle where he had recently been banished. He had just finished checking over intake orders and sent a bunch of receipts to accounting. Now he had to update Preston’s calendar. It was 1:30, and he still hadn’t had a lunch break, not that he was in any condition to eat anyway. He woke up this morning with an excruciating headache that only went away after throwing up what little breakfast he had eaten. Now his headache felt like it was coming back, and the nausea along with it. Tim desperately needed a break, some respite from the constant flow of work that came at him from the time he walked in the door. Tim thought that with Mr. Big Shot taking over the department, his workload would have been reduced. After all, Tim wasn’t in charge anymore, so why should all the responsibility fall on his shoulders? However, in the aftermath of the most devastating professional coup he had experienced so far, there seemed to be an endless stream of work for Tim, and working at Herns and Marshall had become like working at a forced labor camp.
As could be predicted, Preston’s triumph at that tell tale meeting changed him into a Stalinesque despot. In a short period of time he became well versed in how to employ bullying, intimidation, and threats to get what he wanted, no matter how big or how small. Preston fumed when files were lost, but raged when no one bothered to check to see if the chicken wings in his lunch order were fried hard enough. He was annoyed when he didn’t receive important messages, but was livid if you used staples instead of coated paper clips on his documents. Two weeks of his swaggering was enough to make Clara turn in her resignation and forego her severance pay. Since then, they would hire an administrative assistant only to lose them soon after an encounter with Preston’s vituperative ego. The longest they’d had an admin since Clara’s departure was two weeks. Vera hung around for as long as she could, but soon the stress of the environment caught up with her. Nearly a month into Preston’s reign of terror, Vera collapsed suddenly while photocopying documents for him. It was luck that Tim found her not long after she collapsed. She had to be taken out in an ambulance. Word got back to the office that she had developed hypertension and was on an indefinite medical leave. This meant that Tim was now the secretary, admin, and office manager for Preston. So now on top of his daily duties of keeping his department running under the interim organization he’d developed, Tim also had to answer phones and take messages, make copies, organize files, manage Preston’s appointment calendar as well as his own, and anything else that Preston dictated. There were times when Tim didn’t know if he would end up taking a ride in an ambulance or a hearse.
Tim’s health problems gradually worsened. He was at the point to where he was living off of a diet of seltzer water, soda crackers, soup, and Ensure, since he couldn’t keep down much else. However, he was determined to stick it out. After all, he had his vacation coming in two weeks and then he could finally work on getting some rest. This fact was the only thing that kept him going, and the fact that Preston’s behavior and work (or lack thereof) were slowly coming back to haunt him.
It had been more than a month since Preston presented his Big Idea of the All Powerful Website. There was supposed to be a presentation that was to have taken place several weeks ago in which Preston was to have expounded in detail just how his idea would take shape and manifest itself within the company. The problem was the Big Idea was easy, but trying to pinpoint and organize the details was much more complicated than Preston had anticipated. He just couldn’t put everything together. First, there was the problem of choosing and settling on a firm that would design the website. There were several that Preston had been in negotiations with, but he had not signed a deal with any one of them yet. Then there was the whole glitch with how the accounting department would interface with the website, the design of the website itself, possible changes in department policies and procedures, procedures for troubleshooting, all which had yet to be done. It was a big task, and after the departure of Clara and Vera, Preston pleaded for and got additional time to work on the project. However, that time was now running out. His final deadline was just before the two-day Christmas break, and he was no closer to finishing his final plan than he had been weeks earlier. At this point in time, even Standoff was becoming impatient. Sometimes it was even fun to watch Preston, squirm as he made excuses for why he had not met any of the timetabled goals for the project. He would try to blame Tim, but Standoff would always remind him that this website was his idea, and he was ultimately the one responsible for its taking shape. Yes, the Fall of Preston Scott was imminent. Tim was just hoping that he would be sitting in the front row when Preston came down.
Tim was halfway through the updates, when the Despot walked in a half-hour late from lunch for the umpteenth day in a row.
“Where’s Sarah?” Preston asked looking around the office in bewilderment. Sarah was an admin from the accounting department who had graciously lent her support after Tim practically begged her for help.
“She left. She said she could only stay for a couple of hours. She had to get back to accounting to work on a bigger project there.”
Preston ran his hand over his scalp in frustration.
“Get on the phone with that temp agency again: see if they can get someone over here for the afternoon. In the meantime, did you hear anything from HR about interviews for the admin position?”
“No.” Tim replied as he dialed the agency. “I called them this morning and they said they haven’t found anyone who wants a interim position.”
“And you let them get away with that?” Preston cried “Tim, you see how short-staffed we are! You should have lit a fire under their pants and told them to stop lollygagging and send some candidates for interviews! Hello! It is what you’re being paid for!”
Tim decided to try to be reasonable rather than let Preston goad him into an argument.
“With all due respect Preston, I can’t just go around making threats. It’s not like I’m their boss.”
“And at this rate you never will be. Just call the agency and get Joe on the line. I hope you can at least do that!” growled Preston before he stormed back into what used to be their office.
Tim was trying to call the temp agency for the second time when he heard the dictator’s blustering bellow.
“Tim!”
“Yes.” Tim replied in exasperation.
“Where the hell are those bids from the tech firms?!”
“On your desk, I suppose. I gave them to you before you left for lunch.”
“Oh, is that so? And do you think I would be standing here talking to your sorry butt if they were?”
Tim got up and went past Preston into the office.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? That’s my office!”
Ignoring Preston, Tim grabbed a bunch of files from Preston’s disaster of an ‘in-box’ and sifted through them.
“Do you want me to call security?”
“Do you want your precious bids?”
It didn’t take Tim much time at all. After flipping through some of the folders in the in box, he found what he was looking for.
“Your bids, sir”, said Tim slapping the papers against Preston’s chest as he walked past him back to his cubicle.
“Cute, very cute. You probably moved them from where I had them in the first place. I’ll have to remind myself to lock my office door when I go out for lunch.”
“You’re welcome”, sneered Tim.
“So what did the agency say?”
“With all of the interruptions, I haven’t had the chance to put the call through.”
“Get it done yesterday already!”
The dictator withdrew to his office and Tim dialed quickly hoping to finish his business before some new complaint brought Preston stamping out again like a terrible ogre in a fairy tale. Tim felt bad having to call Black Tie Staffing for what seemed like the thousandth time. As he sat listening to the phone ringing on the other end, Tim felt even worse for the poor victim who would be sent out for the position. When the receptionist answered the phone she recognized his voice immediately and Tim could sense her irritation.
“Hey, Maggie. It’s Tim From Herns and Marshall. We need another person who can fill an administrative position.”
“If this is for the Business Services Department, we don’t have anyone.”
“You can’t be serious! Let me speak to Joe!”
“Fine. I’ll transfer you.”
“Joe Tarantillo.”
“Hey, Joe, it’s Tim. What’s this I hear about you not sending any temps to our department at H&M? What’s going on?” said Tim trying to be diplomatic.
“I’m sorry, Tim, but the last kid I sent there went to the BBB to have me reported. I’ve got a reputation to uphold and a business to run. Standoff and I had a conversation and we decided in order to keep things good between us, I don’t have to send anymore temps to your department until further notice.”
“Standoff knows about it?”
“Yeah. It was his idea. I thought he would’ve let you guys know by now.”
“No, not yet. But I understand”, Tim said resignedly.
“You’re gonna have to try to borrow someone from another department. Sorry about this, Tim.”
“Not as sorry as I am.”
Now Tim would have to be the bearer of bad news. He went over to Preston’s office door, which was now locked, and knocked. I wasn’t long before he could hear Preston stomping toward the door.
“Yes?” he asked peevishly as he cracked the door open.
“I just got off the phone with the agency….”
“And? Don’t tell me they can’t get someone here until tomorrow.”
“No temps are going to be coming at all. They’re not sending temps to our department.”
“Why the hell not? What did you say to them? Don’t tell me you’ve managed to alienate us from one of our closest business associates?”
“Of course not! All I did was ask them to send another admin. It seems the admins who have been sent here have been complaining about
the work conditions…”
“Get Joe on the line!”
“It won’t do any good. He’s spoken with Standoff. They’ve made an agreement.”
Preston was crestfallen.
“That can’t be…why would he…I mean he knows I have a deadline. How could he expect me to…I’m going to call Joe myself. There has to be some mistake. You probably got the message wrong anyway”, stammered Preston before slamming the door in Tim’s face.
At that moment the phone began to ring at the front desk. As Tim went to answer it, he could hear the echoes of Preston’s conversation with Joe through the office door.
“Herns and Marshall, Business Services. Tim Russell, speaking”, Tim answered.
“Standoff here, Tim. Put me through to Scott. It’s urgent.”
“Of course, sir.”
Tim tried passing the call through to Preston’s office, but the line was still busy. So he got up and knocked on the door.
“I’m on the phone!” Preston screamed from behind the oak door.
“Standoff’s on the line! He says it’s urgent!”
There was a moment of silence.
“Pass him through.”
Tim went back to his cubicle and passed the call through successfully. As he tried to put his mind back on his own work, he couldn’t help but pause to wonder why Standoff had called. Tim knew it probably wasn’t to congratulate Preston for a job well done. Tim wished he could hear the conversation Preston and Standoff were having right now.
It wasn’t long before Preston appeared from his office. He had a very wild expression on his face that seemed to hint of fear.
“Standoff’s on his way for a status report. He’ll be here in an hour. I want all the preliminary files together. Don’t mess up. I’ve got a lot riding on this.”
“You have everything in your office.”
“I know that, genius”, Preston sneered. “I’m giving it to you to straighten out and create the status report.”
Tim felt he shouldn’t have been surprised by the outrageous nature of the request. Preston wanted him to complete a status report of their work in less than an hour. Under any other circumstances the task would have been impossible if not for the fact that Preston hadn’t done a thing since the last status report meeting with Standoff. Tim knew he would merely take the last report, add a few meaningless bullet points and reprint it. The bigger surprise would be Standoff’s reaction to the report.
****
“Afternoon, Tim”, greeted Standoff who had just arrived for the meeting with Preston.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Standoff. I’ll let Preston know you’re here.”
Before Tim could go over to Preston’s office, the man of the hour came out flashing his trademark grin.
“Mr. Standoff, sir. It’s so good to see you”, he gushed as he shook Standoff ‘s hand.
“Yes, but enough of the formalities. I’m anxious to see the status
report.”
“Of course, sir. Right this way.”
“What about Tim? He is a part of this department.”
“I thought this would be a private meeting, since this is my project, sir.”
“No, it’s a department meeting. And since Tim’s a part of this department, he should be at the meeting.”
“Right. Tim, would you mind? You can put the answering service on until the meeting is over.”
“Sure.”
Tim was curious as to what Standoff was getting at. After all, Tim
had not been invited to any of their previous meetings. They all entered into Preston’s office and sat down.
“What’s new, gentlemen? How is the website coming along?”
“Well, sir, we’ve gone through all of the bids, and so far we’ve settled on a short list of three companies that we’re in negotiations with…”
“You’re still looking through the bids!” exclaimed Standoff in shock.
“No, sir!” exclaimed Preston, who was surprised by Standoff’s choleric reaction. He wasn’t used to incurring the displeasure of his superiors. “As I’ve said, we’ve selected three…”
“According to the timetables we set at our last meeting, you should’ve settled on one already! I came expecting to see plans for the site at the very least”, Standoff fumed. “Now you have the gall to tell me your still at phase one. I have to say, this is way past disappointing.”
“Mr. Standoff, although it’s not readily apparent, much progress has been made. I felt that taking our time to find the right firm for this project would save us a substantial amount of money in the long run.”
“More than this waste of time is already costing us?”
“Sir, if I may explain…”
“Preston, you do realize that you have only two weeks left to bring this project to life. Do you really believe you will be able to do this if you haven’t even chosen the firm for the website!” Standoff said, his voice rising in a crescendo of fury. Tim and Preston were both taken aback by Standoff’s raw rebuke. Tim originally thought he would have been enjoying this moment, but for some reason, it made him feel very uncomfortable.
“More would have been done, sir, but you do realize that my department is greatly understaffed. Mrs. Williams is on medical leave, Mrs. Quinones has resigned, and now that we don’t have access to any temps…”
“And whose fault is that! I heard from Joe that your unprofessional behavior has caused some trouble for him and potentially this firm.”
“But Mr. Standoff…”
“But Mr. Standoff…” mocked Standoff “Is this going to be another excuse? Since the day after you took on this project it’s been one excuse after another and frankly I’m sick of it all. I’ve been practically holding your hand for the past several months and you still have yet to deliver. And what’s more is, I’m not sure if you can.”
“Mr. Standoff…please…I…” Preston stammered weakly.
“Mr. Standoff,” Tim cut in “we still have two weeks. Just give it two more weeks. I’m sure we can turn things around.” Although Tim had no idea why he seemed to be sticking up for Preston.
“Fine. Preston you have two weeks, at the end of which I will expect the finished product or your resignation. As there is nothing further to discuss, our meeting stands adjourned. Gentlemen.”
Standoff strode out of the room while Preston and Tim sat in silence for a moment.
“I’m going back to man the phones if you need me”, said Tim trying to provide himself with an escape from the tension in the room.
“Are you happy now, Tim?” asked Preston in resignation.
Tim returned to his cubicle without answering.
****
As Tim worked through the rest of the afternoon, he couldn’t help but be haunted by the images from the status report meeting with Standoff. Most vivid was the impression of Preston’s voice as he asked Tim if he was happy now. Tim felt that he should have been happy. After all, Preston got exactly what he deserved and Tim got a chance to see it. It was providential retribution, but Tim was more unsettled by it than anything else. It reminded him of what happened to him barely two months before, but not in the way that he had expected.
Tim now knew why Standoff wanted him there. He wanted to humiliate Preston in front of his subordinate as a way of punishing him for his failure. Hadn’t Standoff done something similar to him almost two months ago? Tim was angry with Standoff for manipulating them against one another. It made Tim lose respect for him. At the same time it made him feel bad for Preston. The pained look on Preston’s face said it all. It reminded him of his own pain and humiliation. No longer could he see Preston as simply “The Jerk”. He was just another brother with the same struggles and problems that he had. Maybe that’s why he spoke up for Preston at the meeting the way he did.
Just then, Tim was hit by a sudden wave of nausea, not as bad as the one he had this morning, but it unsettled him nonetheless. He needed some air and perhaps a drink of water. Tim went over to Preston’s office to let him know that he would be stepping out for a few minutes. He knocked but he heard no response. Then he tried the door, which was open. Tim stuck his head in. Preston was sitting at his desk with his head in his hands looks as dejected as ever.
“I’m going to take five, if that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah, that’s okay with me, Tim. You take five. In fact, I was thinking you take as much time as you want. I’m done” said Preston somberly.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about all this. The corner office and all that”, replied Preston whose manner became more peculiar with every word.
“Look man, maybe you should just take the rest of the day off. Get some rest. I’ll handle things while you’re gone.”
“Yeah, I think it’s best that you handle everything from now on. You win brotha! You win! It’s all yours!” exclaimed Preston.
Without warning Preston darted toward the window.
“What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?” yelled Tim trying to keep Preston from jumping more than 18 stories to his death. If this had been about six months earlier, Tim would have been able to take him without breaking a sweat, but in his current condition, it was taking everything he had.
“Get off me or you’re going with me!”
“Preston, don’t do this”, said Tim as he backed off.
“Now you want to be the hero, too! Not if I can help it.”
“Preston, this isn’t about me. It’s about you. Think about what you’re about to do to yourself. Once you go off that ledge there’s no turning back.”
“Don’t try to use psychology on me! You’re no saint! You don’t give a damn about me!”
“Preston, you may not be my favorite person in the world, but I do care about you. If I didn’t then I’d just walk out of here and let the police or whoever pick up your broken pieces, and try to take your place, but that’s not what I want to happen. I’m pretty sure your family and friends don’t want that to happen either.”
“My family doesn’t care about me. All they care about is money. And I don’t have any friends.”
“What about all your friends here at Herns and Marshall?”
“Since Standoff’s started to give me the business, all of my former associates have been acting as if I caught the plague. And you heard him today. In two weeks, he’s gonna put the word about me in the street. Then what am I going to do? What’s left for a black man once his reputation is marred.”
“Preston, H&M is not the center of the universe. This may be a powerful company but not powerful enough to determine the rest of your life. I have a friend, and she believes that there is more to this life than our jobs, or money, or anything else we can see. There are infinite possibilities, things that defy our sense of logic or what we can reason. You talk about the next two weeks as if you know you’re going to fail, but you don’t know that for sure. You won’t know until you go through it and come out on the other side.”
“There’s no way I’m going to get everything together in two weeks. It’s not humanly possible.”
“Still, we could try. I’ll help you. We’ll work it one task at a time until we’re done.”
“And what if it doesn’t get done?”
“Then there are other options. Preston, you’re not the only person on Standoff’s hit list. I’m on borrowed time here, too. Remember? So if you’re gone, that doesn’t mean they’ll automatically have me take your place. They’ll just hire someone else for your position and I’ll still be out in the cold.”
“Yeah, but a guy like you must have a lot of fancy connections. Don’t act like you don’t have someplace else you can run to.”
“To tell you the truth, Preston, I don’t. I’m in the same situation that you’re in. I can’t depend on my family, and my friends couldn’t help me find another job even if they wanted to. Truth be told, I might end up with my best friend as a janitor in the hotel downtown for all I know.”
“So what keeps you going?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the hope that there’s someone or something out there that’s bigger than me who can handle what I can’t.
Someone or something that can work things out in ways I could never expect.”
“What? You mean like God?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. All I’m saying is this project isn’t worth throwing your life away. This is just one moment in time and you don’t know what the future holds.”
“You mean like more misery.”
“Look, Preston, everyone has good and bad times, but if we don’t hold on through the tough times, we’ll never be able to reap the benefits when the good times come. C’mon, Preston. Come down from there and let me call someone who can help you.”
“I don’t want those doctors to come and take me to the loony bin.”
“You can check into a hospital yourself for a few days. Then you can see someone as an outpatient. No one’s going to lock you up, and no one here has to know. You could just say you had a medical emergency.”
“Why should I trust anything that you say?”
“O.K., Preston, I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve been a jerk in the past, but one thing we both know is that I’ve never lied to you. I always say what I mean and mean what I say.”
It took some time before Tim’s words were actually received by Preston. He had a pensive look on his face, as he thought about what Tim said.
“I’m still the boss though”, Preston remarked apprehensively.
“Fine, just come down.”
Preston began to come down from where he was at the window, looking almost as if he were coming out of a daze.
“I think I had too much to drink during lunch. I don’t feel so well.”
“If you want to go home, I’m sure everyone will understand.”
“Standoff wouldn’t. Just give me some space for a minute. I’ll be okay. I just had a little too much to drink at lunch.”
“Are you sure? I promise, I’m not going to do anything behind your back. If you need to go home or if you need to see a doctor…”
“I’m not crazy, Tim! I told you…I had too much to drink at lunch. I need some rest. Who knows, maybe this is some kind of hormone imbalance. Maybe I will see a doctor.”
“That’s a good idea. Is there anything that I can do for you in the meantime?”
“I need you to help me put together the final presentation. It’s all there. Somewhere. You’re a big boy. You can figure it all out.”
“Alright….just go and take some time for yourself.”
Preston grabbed his suit jacket, coat, and brief case and left leaving Tim still feeling a little weakened and shaken by the ordeal. The adrenaline rush was wearing off now, and Tim was dizzy from being emotionally spent. He just needed some time to process everything that had just happened. But before he could gather his composure, there was a knock on the outer office door. Tim didn’t want to answer it, but he knew there were probably some people in the other departments who heard all of the yelling (although they should have been used to it by now). Tim had to do damage control. He got up from his chair went out and closed the back office door to hide the mess that was inside. Then he went to the front office administrative area and opened the door.
“Hey, Tim. Is everything okay in here? Sounded like Preston was having another meltdown.”
“That shouldn’t be unusual.”
“True”, laughed Frank “That guy’s something else, isn’t he?”
“He’s just under a lot of pressure, trying to get his big presentation together before the deadline.”
“So it seems from the looks of the way he just stormed out of here. He taking yet another lunch break?”
“I don’t know. We really don’t talk much except for business.”
“I don’t blame you. Word has it, he’ll probably be gone after the end of the month.”
“Really?” sighed Tim who was tired and showed almost no interest. He really wished that Frank would just go away. Tim just wasn’t in the mood for the gossip right now.
“Yeah, everybody knows he’s not even close to finishing the presentation. Standoff’s already got his eye on his replacement. Everyone’s saying it’s going to be his niece who just got out of Yale.”
“Interesting. Well, I’d love to chat, but I’ve got a lot to do right now.”
“If it’s something for Preston, don’t sweat it too much. But take care of yourself. I don’t think that guy’s playing with a full deck if you ask me.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks for looking out.”
“See ya ‘round Tim.”
Tim closed the door and headed back to the back office. The wind coming through from the open window had blown papers everywhere. Tim went over and closed the widow, stooped down to the floor and tried to put everything together including his own sanity in the process.
Everything had happened so fast. Tim needed time to go over it all. If he was correct, Preston had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown of suicidal proportions, and he had just reached out to keep his worst enemy from a catastrophic end. How did this happen? How did he even know what to say? Where did it all come from?
Tim couldn’t help but see a lot of himself in Preston. There was a time in his life when he was Mr. Popular: confident and self-assured with lots of friends, or so it seemed. Yet on the inside he was nothing but an insecure mess always in need of constant reassurance and validation by others. So Tim was driven to perform; to be the best; to be ‘successful’. To be honest, he was still like this. Like himself, it seemed that Preston was always chasing the carrot of success. The problem was that with each accomplishment, more would be expected. You always had to keep working, keep striving. And what happened when you couldn’t keep up anymore? For Preston it seemed that life wasn’t worth living. Tim himself understood that feeling and had contemplated suicide himself on more than one occasion in the distant past. But he was thankful for friends like Tamiko and Allen who were some of the few people in his life who didn’t have expectations for him, or hoops for him to jump through. They taught him that there was more to life than accomplishments. Tim knew they would stick by him even if he were the biggest loser on the planet. Tim was now beginning to understand that who he was as a person was more important than any accomplishment. Most of all, he was beginning to see that there was indeed more to this life than just work, being successful, and accumulating wealth. After all, what if you didn’t have these things? Or what if one had all these things and then suddenly lost them all? What was this life all about then? Thinking back on all of those philosophy classes he took at Harvard, not one provided him with an answer to that question. That’s partly why he became an agnostic. For years, Tim had been satisfied to just believe that there was no reason for life and no need for God. However, now this theory bothered him. A lot.
There had to be some meaning to it all. There had to be some definite answer, otherwise, why not jump 18 stories to one’s death. If life is meaningless, then why hold it to be so sacred?
Perhaps there was something to the religion that Allen, Tamiko, and the Pastor believed in. Maybe that God was in work in him right now. How else could he explain it?
Looking through the folders, there was not much to be had. There was still so much that had to be done. It was already almost 3:30, and Tim didn’t even know where to begin. He had promised Preston that he would help him and he meant it. The present moment conjured memories of Pastor Bynum’s prophetic word for Tim a month earlier. He had said that Tim needed to love his enemies and to do good for them. If anyone had told Tim back then he would be in the situation he was in now, he would have laughed. He had just practically saved Preston’s life, and now he was going to save his job. The presentation was due in two weeks. It would take nothing short of a miracle to get even a half-baked presentation finished by then. Tim was just one man, and he couldn’t count on Preston to fill in the gaps especially given what happened just moments ago. Then Tim remembered what Tamiko said that night that he took her to Manna’s after work. She believed that God was there to do the things that she couldn’t “for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”1 This mess was way bigger than Tim. “If there is a God, I sure need him right now”, Tim thought to himself.
Forty
“Lord, help me to get through this day. Show me how to help these children learn what they need to know. Open our hearts and minds to your will and your wisdom. Help me to love my enemies. Keep my footsteps in a straight path and let not iniquity have dominion over me.”
Tamiko prayed quickly before the start of the morning bell. Just as she finished she heard a knock at her classroom door. When she looked up, she could see Rosalyn Steele peeking her head in.
“I hope I’m not interrupting you.”
“No, not at all. Is there something you needed?” Tamiko asked straining to be civil. She knew it wasn’t right as a Christian, but she absolutely despised Rosalyn Steele.
“No. There are some schedule changes you need to know about. I’m coming in to your class to see the literacy block during periods 2 and 3 and Miranda is going to cover you 4th period so we can debrief.”
“Okay. I just wish I had been told about this in advance. I thought I had a prep second period. I was hoping to use that time for assessments.” Tamiko tried not to sound as annoyed as she felt.
“I know it’s short notice, I didn’t even know until I got in this morning and read the daily bulletin.”
“But I read the daily bulletin when I got in. I didn’t see that on there.”
“They made changes on it. That’s why I came up to tell you before you went to pick the kids up.”
“Just what I need.” Tamiko thought to herself trying not to get angry. In the past few weeks it seemed that she and Steele had been working together so much it seemed like they were team teaching. For Tamiko, that wasn’t a good thing.
“I guess I’ll just have to make it work. Thanks for letting me know.”
“If it’s any consolation, I had things that I had planned for my own class that I have to scrap now.”
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