“Hey, you want to go another round?” Derek asked, his dimples reminding Jenna of some school boy about to do a devious act.
“Oh no, we better go back. You know how Mr. Clark is.” Jenna quickly shot up wondering what she would do now. Not only was she in love with a man she also loved a woman -- someone she has known since she was a kid.
Chapter 3
Barely making it to work on time, Kristy knew she would be under the ax of Ms. Coyle who had no idea what it was like to not have things given to her. Ms. Coyle was a distant cousin of the Parker Brothers and had the best luxuries money could buy. Owning a 4x4 that could get through any storm or hazard that mother nature dished out, the older woman with her fluffy print dresses and dazzling jewelry had no sympathy for a young twenty-three-year-old girl who was trying to get her bills paid and save for her first car. Such things didn’t matter to Ms. Coyle because she never had to go through it herself.
Kristy was hoping that Ms. Coyle would choose to be late or take off today which was as rare as it was for the postman to not show up with your mail during a blizzard. Practically sliding on a sheet of black ice in front of the store’s cerise brick building, she could clearly see the top of her beehive style silver hair. Those dangling glasses of hers hanging around her scrawny neck as she went over the day’s schedule probably wondering where in the hell Kristy was. Her heart stammering in her head with the steadfast pace of a marathon horse, she just wanted to walk away and go home.
“Hey Kristy, how is it going?” As luck would have it, right behind her as she still was gripping onto the side of the wall came Lisa, the young perky blonde who worked in the coffee shop. Her shrilling voice was enough to wake up any dead man from a long rest.
“Oh, hi! I am ok wish this weather would stop. Kind of treacherous out.” Kristy responded wishing miss perfect would just go her merry way and get into the shop where she belonged.
“I know. Ted dropped me off this morning. He said, sweetie, my girl isn’t going to travel in that yucky storm. He is such a gentleman.” Lisa said always putting her fiancé on a grand pedestal as if he was some icon.
Opening the door for Lisa, she secretly wished she would shush up and just go. Kristy thought maybe she could sneak behind the rack of new books that just arrived at the far end of the counter behind the chestnut book shelves and act like she was in the back room organizing the whole time. Just maybe Coyle wouldn’t notice something for a change.
“Kristy! You were due here twenty minutes ago!” All her hopes were shattered when she heard that thick Irish accent roar across the other end of the room.
“Oh, my, it looks like someone is in trouble. You better go see what the boss lady wants.” Smiling her sunburnt cheeks probably the result of one too many visits to the tanning salon Lisa chirped like some kid in the third grade whose classmate just got in trouble with the teacher.
“I am sorry, Ms. Coyle the weather is really bad outside and you know the buses aren’t run.”
“Nonsense! You are the opening clerk and you are due here at approximately 10:30 AM sharp preferably 9:40 AM to prepare for the day. I will have to notate this.” Ms. Coyle’s wrinkled hands grabbed her silver pen as she scribbled something down on a piece of paper.
All her life she had to deal with people like Ms. Coyle and never did a damn thing about it. She just took people’s stuff and trucked along her tail between her legs. She could feel that urge to just set that old bag straight to let her know what she really thought of her. At just the moment she was about to open her lips appeared her mother standing there right beside her. Still wearing her saffron dress and gold shoes they found her in when she passed away years ago it was as if she was frozen in time and never even passed.
“Hold your tongue, girl. You need this job. How will you pay the bills? Your father can’t help you, he can barely pay his own. You have no one else to turn to. Do as the woman says and move on with your day. And that vacation you wanted to take I think you better forget it.” Pushing Kristy along she hoped that Ms. Coyle didn’t see it -- it would make her appear intoxicated just something else for her to notate as she would say.
“Well, I am sorry Ms. Coyle. I will leave earlier next time.”
“You’d better. We have given you many chances. I want you to shelve those books in the back store room. We are behind on stocking. Get to it. Chop chop!” Slapping her hands together as if Kristy was some slave who was here to do anything the woman asked of her.
Still chilled from the gnawing winds outside, she could feel every bone in her body about to crack from the bitter cold. Still preoccupied with her own thoughts about the trip and the already bad morning she was having, she almost missed the handsome young man standing at the far end of the horror section. Dressed in a yellow and red Hawaiian shirt his burly pale blonde hairs peeking through the top, tight jeans that outlined every inch of his tight buttocks and a pair of sneakers he obviously wasn’t from these parts. Staring at him for nearly three minutes he looked up and smiled, his lean sun-tanned cheeks and intense dark eyes were like looking into the face of some mysterious person who has seen more things in one day than she did in one year.
If only she could go up to him and strike a conversation... say anything to let him know she was interested in him without sounding like some nonsensical school girl. But then all her awkwardness came out. Playing in the back of her mind she could hear the shrilling sounds of laughter her peers just poking and prodding her saying look how skinny and ugly she was. She could never get a date. Any guy, that would date her, would have to be crazy to go anywhere with her. There, standing in front of her, she could see the class president Molly Prince with her long flowing blonde hair and tight body that all the boys died to get into the sack with. Popping her gum between her teeth, her tiny lips just swishing around in a provocative way wanting Kristy to say anything to start more trouble. That is what she was about, after all, starting trouble and destroying any girls’ social future in a matter of seconds.
“Come on, you think you can get him? Please.” Putting her hand up as if she was doing some half-assed prayer chant she clip-clopped along in her dark brown high heels.
“Hey, you ok? Looks like you seen a ghost or something.” There he was standing in front of her the mystery man with his glowing smile reminding Kristy of some famous actor from a commercial.
“Oh no, just wondering if you needed any help. Seemed like you were looking for something over there. Anything, in particular, I could help you with?”Kristy knew that sounded like the cheesiest remark she has ever made but she had to do say something without sounding like a downright idiot which was probably closer to the truth.
“You know, I was looking for this book I saw advertised on TV on how to write a novel in thirty days or less.”
“Oh yes, I have heard of that title. Let me go see I am sure we have some in stock. So are you a writer?” Kristy inquired. One of her deepest passions was to write a novel someday herself -- partly the reasons she kept this job at Parker Brothers.
“Well, I am still a novice at it. I actually own my own publishing business and I thought it would be cool to get into the field and publish my own stuff, you know. I have been kicking a few ideas around here and there.” He was so downright personable, charming and an actual human being. Those three characteristics were rarely seen in people these days, let alone a young man such as he.
“What did I tell you! Get back to the stock room!” There she was like a tornado that just rode in from the farthest region of the sky -- Ms. Grumpy herself Coyle.
“I was just trying to help him find a title he was looking for Ms. Coyle.” Never before was Kristy so embarrassed, so wanting to just evaporate into dust then this moment here.
“I gave you a job to do. I will tend to this customer. Sir, I will check for you. I apologize for the inconvenience but she really isn’t knowledgeable on all our titles.” Ms. Coyle placed her hands which till now Kristy didn’t reali
ze looked like tree barks in front of her dress.
Shuffling back to the confines of the dingy stock room where the lighting was less than meager and an army of mice scattered about their furry gray bodies practically leaping over the boxes. The sight of this place nauseated Kristy. If there was anything she hated worse were rodents. That and that earth shattering squeal they made sent a chill through her skin. The rodents were compliments of Oscar that overweight grandson of Ms. Coyle’s who used this area as his personal lunchroom. Every day there were half eaten bags of chips, sandwiches, spilled soda left everywhere. She could still feel that sticky mess from his Dr. Pepper still leaving its mark on the dusty tiled floor.
Only here for a total of maybe less than thirty minutes and she already was ready to bolt out the door. How would she ever butter up the old bag to tell her about the trip that she won? Glancing at the weekly employee schedule that Coyle posted here for all to see she couldn’t help but notice her time was adjusted. Clearly, she remembered she was getting off at 5:00 PM. In bright red letters, the time was written over and said 10:00 PM. That was when the store closed. She was doomed -- she would never be able to get those tickets. Kristy thought of sending Jenna but they probably wouldn’t even give her the tickets. Besides, she wanted to get in that picture with Hank and John. What was she to do now?
Frantic she sent a text to Jenna from her phone hoping Ms. Coyle wouldn’t come in and demand she get to work again. Her stomach churning in one nauseous knot after another, she knew that her chances of going on this trip were probably next to void at this time. Sliding on a pile of magazines she didn’t see cluttered behind the metal shelf slamming the arch of her back into the metal beams she felt a stabbing pain reverberate through her entire body. She could claim workmen’s compensation as this was a safety hazard waiting to happen but that old evil woman with her doughy white skin would find a way to keep her or make it impossible for her to keep her job. She had more pull not only within the company but this entire city. She might as well be the mayor. Hopefully, Jenna would have an answer.
Chapter 4
This office was filled with such a bunch of old grouchy ladies Jenna thought disgustingly to herself as she sat at her oak desk in the center of the third-floor agency that serviced thousands of city residents. Recently transferred here when her hot stud Kyle Jones was fired for miss-managing city funds, she was grateful she still had the means of earning an income but my goodness -- these women with their tight cheekbones and pinched lips trying to doll themselves up to make them look like something they weren’t, was revolting to Jenna.
It wasn’t so much that as it was the constant backstabbing each of them did towards each other. On her left sat Bertha, a plump girl with wild blonde hair and an orchid dress that barely fit her right, on the right was Doris an anorexic looking woman who was already on marriage four and she was only thirty-five, behind her was Ruth the senior secretary with those suntanned cheek bones and silver hair Jenna imagined that in her hay day she must have been quite attractive in beauty, not personality though.
Each one had something to say about the other, the turmoil that went on in here was awful, Jenna thought. Only in this department for three months now, she barely could keep her cool. She clearly didn’t fit in here with her flashy clothes and promiscuous lifestyle and she was sure the bitches talked about her too.
Trying to concentrate on the series of tax returns she needed to enter into the system, she gazed at the black clock centered on the wall above her as the hour hand tediously moved toward four o’clock. Why was it when you wanted to be anywhere but where you were, that life seemed to move at such a snail’s pace Jenna wondered. Tapping away at her monitor she couldn’t help but hear the groans of Ruth behind her as if to say could you move any slower those forms were due hours ago. Frankly, she didn’t give a rat’s house about that old battle ax or her pathetic rigid lifestyle. Just for spite Jenna finger typed each line into the system glancing at each item as she put it in just to make it look as if she were being accurate.
On the far left-hand side of the desk, her cell phone lit up a neon blue indicating she must have a text message or a regular voicemail. Glancing over, she saw a white box in the center of the screen with Kristy’s number there. The tiny numbers on the screen said she had sent the message several hours ago. The poor reception in these old center city buildings with their tall steel beam construction were perfect blockers against cell phone signals. Nonchalantly sliding her finger across the screen, Kristy wrote in bold capital letters:
MS. COYLE GAVE ME A HARD TIME THIS MORNING FOR BEING LATE. SHE HAS ME CLEANING THE BACK STORAGE CLOSET AND I’M ON THE SCHEDULE UNTIL 10:00 P.M. HELP!! WE NEED TO BE AT THE STUDIO AT 6:00 PM SHARP. WHAT WILL WE DO? I DON’T THINK THEY WILL LET YOU GET THEM CAUSE THEY’RE IN MY NAME.
This would take a minute to think through the situation Jenna thought to herself.
As the clock edged closer to 4:30 pm, the first group of people who were part of the early shift, Ruth being one of them, quickly paraded to the office door and piled into the array of gray elevators down the hall. Looking into the business tax file system, Jenna was pretty sure that most companies didn’t report their quarterly taxes by the fifteenth which normally isn’t a big deal but if the revenue office wanted to they could use this and impose heavy fines on the business causing them to owe triple the taxes.
Glancing into the Parker Brothers profile sure enough in dark scarlet letters the words past due lit up the screen like a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. Not only were they just past due, they hadn’t reported anything in like three months. Dreaming up her plot against Ms. Coyle, she was pretty positive after her conversation tonight that Kristy wouldn’t have any more troubles out of her. Ms. Coyle probably thought since retirement was around the corner that passing the buck to Kristy would make it Kristy’s problem when she got the promotion. Coyle never liked Kristy that much Jenna was sure of as she glanced through the company’s screens. Leaving Kristy as the scapegoat after promoting her would give her the bad rap, however, Jenna knew that the statute of limitations would still hold good old Ms. Coyle liable. Smiling to herself as she hit print she couldn’t wait till she got to the store tonight. Five o’clock couldn’t come soon enough.
Chapter 5
“Kristy why do you keep looking at your phone? We have customers and I need your help up here now.” Ms. Coyle roared from behind the counter.
There were hardly any customers in the store at all. Just an elderly gentleman with a chocolate brown parka and baggy army green corduroys stood in the magazine aisle and a middle-aged woman with fluffy blonde hair, and dangling gold hoop earrings stood in the checkout lane just about to pay. Most businesses had already closed judging from the abandoned mall strip surrounding the bookstore. The sturdy windows of the store ricocheted back and forth almost ready to burst into thousands of pieces if the persistent gusts wouldn’t stop.
“I need you to ring this woman up. Then organize these shelves over here. After that, I need the floor by the coffee shop swept. Oh and don’t forget to bring out the new best sellers and line them up here in the front. If that is not enough work, you can start entering these new titles on this list into the computer. I must go. I have a dinner engagement tonight.” Handing Kristy the sheet of paper with her to do list and the new titles she made feel like Cinderella.
“Yes, ma’mm.” Kristy replied solemnly wondering how she ever got herself into such predicaments where she was always someone’s scapegoat.
“Oh, Ms. Coyle I am so glad I caught you before you left.” Standing there in a snow white rabbit skin jacket and high black heels was her best friend Jenna.
“Yes, ma’mm, how can I help you? Do I know you?” Ms. Coyle grimaced as if she just saw something revolting.
“Oh, yes ma’mm. I am Jenna Anderson I am with the City of Philadelphia revenue department.” Putting out her hand to Ms. Coyle’s her ivory skin hands reminded Kristy of that of a porcelain chi
na doll.
Kristy wondered what Jenna was up to. Whatever it was, it was sure to be outlandish that was the worrisome part for her. Jenna could be downright devious when challenged to come to someone’s aid. When Alex Jordan a football player in their high school took pictures of Kristy in the shower after gym class Jenna made it her personal project to seduce him act like she was interested in him only to take his clothes and have him parade across the football field. As if this wasn’t bad enough, his stocky build stampeding across the field on an early January morning with temperatures below 0 he had to yell and tell everyone what he did. Kristy could still see his limp penis swinging between his legs as members of the student council and other kids jeered at him making fun of his small size. Jenna was in many ways more of a sister and Kirsty appreciated that a lot.
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