Morning all. Sleep was quite elusive last night and so I am sniffing the air hoping the scent of brewing coffee carries caffeine with it. While I wait for an actual cup, lets jump into the morning prompt and see if that helps wake up the brain. Timers set for fifteen minutes please.
I’ve toyed with this idea before and I like it. There is something about a person being jettisoned from everything they planned that I like as a story start.
Wednesday, January 29th: The shock rendered him speechless.
The shock rendered him speechless. Michael stared at the page in his hand. The letter was short, if not sweet. He was being let go. From the family company. He was being fired by his grandfather. Micheal stared at it. He had never been a favorite of the old man’s. That much had always been clear. He was too quiet and occasionally even dared to question him. His brothers and cousins fell in line . They accepted his leadership without question and were rewarded for it. Michael was brought into the company because to have him work elsewhere was unthinkable. He had done his job well. His department always out performed expectations even if he did sometimes privately question his grandfather’s policies. He never brought those questions to the office.
Yet he was being let go.
Michael folded the letter. He slipped it back into the envelope and noted the internal time stamp. It was written earlier in the day. He was asked if he would stay late to finish the project he was working on and he did. The letter arrived at his desk after he sent in the final report. He could feel the quietness of the building around him and knew that all of his family were gone from the building. They wouldn’t have stayed around, not tonight.
‘Which means they knew.’
Michael set the paper down. He quickly filled out the form for his exiting the company and slipped the keys for his office off the key ring. He put them in an envelope, labeled the envelope and looked around the office for anything personal he might want to take. The shelf of awards, all for the company, but all with his name on them as he headed the department that won them were the only thing he could claim. He didn’t want them. He left them in place and stood.
Leaving was easy. He picked up the letter firing him. He picked up the envelope with his keys and made sure the exit information was e-mailed to HR. he left the office making sure the door locked behind him and on his way out of the building he dropped the envelope with the office keys off in HR.
Then he took the elevator down to the parking garage and got into his car. As he drove out of the garage, Michael searched his feelings. Inside he felt only relief. He supposed he should have felt some sort of sting at being let go from the family company but he didn’t. the last few months had been nothing but stress and late nights. Instead of sadness he felt release.
‘Like I finished a prison sentence,’ he thought. Michael smiled to himself as he drove. He was free of the company. Free of the family. ‘Except for the monthly dinners,’ he thought. Michael frowned. The monthly dinners. He would sit quietly and listen to a litany of all his faults. The others would praise their grandfather and be rewarded. It was a simple enough equation, but he could never bring himself to do it.
‘If I am going to be punished for something, that isn’t a bad thing to claim,’ he decided. He had money saved. God knew he never had time to spend what he earned. He saved it for the someday I will get to take a break fund. At this point he could live comfortable off the interest from his accounts if he chose. It meant that monetarily, he would be fine. He wondered if they expected him to be emotionally crushed.
‘I expect I will hear about it at dinner,’ he thought. As he drove he thought about skipping the family dinners, wondering if there would be any fall out.
Ten til Midnight 