Morning all. I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday morning. I had a dream last night were I managed to outwit and defeat a very toothy monster. I woke up feeling victorious. It was a good way to start the day. Hopefully it will stay with me ass the day progresses. For now, let’s start the morning prompt.
No clue what the story is about, but I am going to use the Frederick character somewhere.
Thursday, September 12th: The vine twined through the fence, erupting in flower bursts.
The vine twined though the fence, erupting in flower bursts. The blooms ranged from the lightest pink to the deepest purple with nearly every shade of lilac between them. All of the different fines were wound together so it was difficult to tell which vine produced which blossom. Against the weathered gray wood of the fence and the backdrop of dark pines the floral explosions seemed almost garish.
Still I liked them and I drew in the scent as I walked past. The blooms were softly sweet rather than cloying and because of the dense pine and the breeze that seemed to draw their darker scent forward, there was an earthy under tone to the air.
‘Like a well mixed perfume,’ I thought. It was a scent I would be happy to purchase. I would be delighted in fact to have it in a bottle rather than to have it here. Delightful scents did not seem to blend well with my errand today. I tried not to frown, to let the dark thoughts consume me a I walked down the pleasant stretch of road.
The road itself was too narrow for the vehicle I was given to drive out here. It had never been a terribly wide road but disuse narrowed it significantly over time as nature ate away at the edges and reclaimed the space.
If I tried I could probably force the vehicle down the path, but such an act seemed overly aggressive. I would try starting out with polite.
‘Besides I was warned not to scratch the paint.’ I did frown now. Frederick was adamant about the car being protected. It was one of the fleet vehicles and not one of the newer ones either. Those were all kept for those sent into public places on more important meetings. The vehicles those like me got to use were the ones no longer deemed acceptable for use by others. With his warning echoing in my ears, I knew he would blame me for any scratch or mark on the vehicle, so I had Ian in the automotive department document every scratch and ding on the vehicle before I took it out of the lot.
I was not going to be blamed for anyone else’s issues.
I stopped, drank in a deep breath of the lovely air and let it out slowly. Frederick and his running of the department had been getting to me more and more lately. I didn’t know if he was becoming more of a despot or if I was no longer willing to put up with his ways. He considered his being sent to run our department instead of one of the more visible and important divisions as a demotion.
He considered working with us his punishment and he seemed determined to punish us for the insult. Even though all the cars were allowed to use were already scratched and dinged, he held us accountable for any scratch and ding he saw. When I asked Ian to document the condition of the vehicle before I left, he wasn’t surprised. It was becoming standard for everyone in our department. I knew when I got back I would again see Ian and have him go over the vehicle and issue a report of no additional damage before I turned the keys in and went back up to the office.
A new addition of Fredericks was the point system. If you got so many points your pay was docked by a percentage to make up for the damage. Each dig and scratch would count as one point. As no one in our division was highly paid, those points were painful to take. I took another deep breath. Now was not the time to think of Frederick. I had a job to do and arriving annoyed would only make it harder.
Ten til Midnight 