Morning all and welcome to a frosty Wednesday. I hope you are having a fantastic one. I am going to try to get this done before we start packing up the holiday decorations for another year. So timer’s set and off we go.
This is one I think I might need to think about a bit before I decide if I like it or not.
Wednesday, December 28th: The shock nearly stopped his heart.
The shock nearly stopped his heart. There she was standing in his office as though not a day had gone by. “Well clearly more than a day,” he thought noting the lines fanning out from the sides of her eyes. He knew time stamped its own marks on his skin. He was told it made him look distinguished but when he looked in the mirror all he felt was old. The time though suited her. It softened her somehow. She always had a hard sharp edge to her. Now it seemed that time had worn down some of those points.
She was still dangerous,. He had no doubt about that. But she no longer looked it. She looked softer. He wondered if she changed or if the softness was just another tool in her arsenal. He moved around, keeping his distance, making sure he was out of arm’s reach. The gesture was habitual and one he used with everyone. No one noticed. Any who did thought he was being polite. She knew better.
She smiled. The softness remained but there was a sharp gleam of knowledge there. It peeked out like the edge of a shark fin in still waters.
“This is a surprise he said as he settled down in his chair.” In two days’ time he would retire. He had been exonerated long ago for anything anyone could prove and had lived a relatively blameless life since. He was considered a kind older gentleman. If anyone remembered he was ever anything else it had long been forgotten. The company was now ready to send him on his way as one of the last of the old guard. They wanted someone young and filled with new ideas to take his place. He met the person slated to take his position. He heard the new ideas. They weren’t as new as anyone thought but they were eager to get rid of him and offered him an nice incentive to make way for the new. He took it and made certain that he would get his extra incentives and kick clear of the company before the new ideas caused trouble with the company’s bottom line.
“I’ll bet,” she said.
“Is there a reason you are here two days before I retire?”
“Do you mean am I going to mess with the cushy little deal you’ve got to retire?”
“More or less,” he replied.
She nodded. “Fair enough. No I have no desire to disrupt your world. I just figured this was as public a place to find you as I could get and I didn’t want to seem invasive by stopping by your home.”
He nodded. That she knew where he lived wasn’t really a surprise. She would have looked up any details she wanted before arriving here. Before letting him see her.
“I don’t go out much,” he said. “Don’t really see the point in it. Work, Grocery, Home.”
“Hobbies at home,” she added. Her lips twitched. He wondered if she had seen inside his home, seen his secret project. He wondered if it mattered. “This didn’t seem like something that would be good at the grocery. Too many cameras.”
“And what is this?” he asked, putting aside the minor details for later.
“This,” she said. “I cleaned out one of my old safety deposit boxes and thought you’d want it. “
Ten til Midnight 