The Night Knights – Part 2
Lost several days this week to being a father towards a sick child. As is tradition, I have caught the illness that I was shepherding the child through, and as such, I too have lost time to my infirmity.
It’s a vicious cycle, but such as life. I’m a dad before anything else.
My editor happens to be in KC with us this week, and as such I’ve been granted a reprieve from having my work done. It’s a rare treat, when I’m not the one gumming up the works. As such, I want to get a lot of stuff accomplished over the next few days so I can surprise her when she returns home.
Not too many crazy things of late. Changes in diagnosis, eating habits, and what-not continue to bear fruit that is most pleasing. I have a potential job, and next week I head in for an interview and a drug test, followed by a few weeks of waiting for government clearance results. It’ll come back fine, as it’s not the first time I’ve had such clearance, but it always takes time. I’m okay with that. It’s a solid job, one that allows me to be way more active than your average day job, and in addition requires zero phone answering. I cannot stress just how much I am done answering phones in a professional environment. I hit my limit five years ago, and I had to keep on going. Oy.
Writing wise, I’ve given up any chance of living off Amazon Prime releases. It’s not happening. Amazon doesn’t give a flying wazoo about me, my work, or promoting either. All the resources I’ve tried are like shaking a magic eight ball, only each side of the cube just says try again later. So yeah, not gonna rely on that one. Streaming continues to go well, but I’m up against the zero watcher barrier. A loooooot of people cash out without finding a way through that wall, and I’m beginning to suspect it’s a lot like being an author. You have to be willing to put up with an insane amount of non-progress in order to get anywhere at all.
So! There’s that. On to the story!
The Night Knights – Part 2
Jed stood, hand on the doorknob, and chewed her lip ring. She didn’t want to pull the handle. She didn’t have to, either. She could quit and find other work. It wasn’t impossible. She had a lot of skills that were in peak demand. And yet…
He couldn’t win. If she quit, if she gave up, if she left the place she loved so much, then he would win. No one was going to punish him. That much was clear after six months of crickets. His smugly confident grins enraged her, depressed her. Yet they would haunt her every waking moment if she left.
“Don’t start thinking that you’ve got the best of me. I’ve got some news for you, you aint’ seen the last of me, no!”1
Courage gathered, she turned the handle and made her way through the service hallway into the kitchen on the tenth floor. A small bundle of fur and purr slammed into her chest as soon as she closed the door. She huffed out a laugh as she pet the tiny ball of muscle.
“Hey killer, catch any big ones while I was away?”
The vicious predator purred her ascent, and wriggled in Jed’s arms until she lay with belly exposed. Jed spent a few precious minutes petting the office cat, until she spied the clock above the refrigerator. It informed her that she had three minutes to be at her desk and logged in.
“Later fuzzbutt.”
She gave the cat a kiss, and set her down on the tile. She gave a plaintive, slightly hurt mewl, swished around her legs a few times, then scurried off into the office to find someone else to marvel at her. Jed grinned, removing her hoodie and hanging it on the coat rack hung just outside the kitchen entrance. She pulled her tie close, making sure the top button was undone as always. She had grudgingly agreed to the tie, but no one could make her slowly strangle herself all day.
“Hey J” “Morning Spike”
All forms of salutations were made as she wended her way into the semi-open office built for thirty employees. Her minions, each one hired with care not just for their skills, but for their personality. She’d taken more than one man or woman who wasn’t as qualified as they could be based on their ability to fit with her group. The camaraderie she saw every day in her small floor of the world made all the pain, all the doubt, and all the fears worth it. She beamed, and those who caught sight of it laughed at her for it.
“JERKS!” Her shouted condemnation lacked any sort of heat, and the simultaneous responding shout of “SCUMBAG” put to rest any thoughts of hurt feelings. Jed smiled more, hoarding these moments of pride and common purpose with an ardor that would make any doomsday prepper envious. She made her way to her office, which was really the same half-cubicle everyone else had, but with the classy addition of an old fashioned wooden sign with ‘Troll’ engraved on it.
A cup of black drip, no sugar, waited for her on the desk. Along with it was a fresh bowl of oatmeal that Billy must’ve had sent up before she arrived. Apples, bananas, and walnuts. No one pays that man enough money.
“Thank you for the coffee April.”
A raven haired five foot goddess set a huge stack of paperwork on her desk as Jed dug into the oatmeal with shameless abandon. The goddess laughed, a low and throaty affair wholly inappropriate for an office but all that April ever gave her. “You’re just as welcome this morning as you were yesterday morning, or the morning before that.”
Jed grinned and gave April a wink as she was pulling up a chair next to her. They spent a solid hour and a half going through all the memos and work orders which needed her approval and signature. In the end, Jed had needed two coffee refills before she and April were finished.
She was glad she had it. A bombshell was waiting for her when she checked her email. The CEO wanted a word, and Zack would be present. Along with the rest of the board.
“That bastard… he wouldn’t. He can’t!? WHAT THE HELL?!?!?”
“Judged, by a weak little man with a pen in his hand and just doesn’t fucking get it.”2
To be continued…
Scumfully,
Justin
1) “Back with a Vengeance” by DevilDriver
2) “Matter of time” by Hellyeah
