RIDE DOWN WITH MUNSON

What do you suppose this is about?

What?

Why are we sitting here?

We were beckoned.

Exactly. So why must we come ?

Because you work for the man.

So I should just jump when he snaps?

You bet.

Why?

I dunno. Maybe…You expect a check…?

I earn every damn cent.

And so does the next man, and the next…and the next man, and so on…others standing in line just waiting to earn yours.

Your point being?

You work for the Bloody Bastard!

Mr. Munson?

Sir?

This Bastard is firing your ass on the spot.

It was Higbey…!

I heard what I heard, Munson. Insubordinate filth. It came from your mouth, not Higbey’s. In fact, he will be replacing you, as of now. Pack up, Get out. HR will be in touch. Higbey, contact Security and tell them Munson is checking out of the building. Munson? You know procedure, you’ve canned plenty before…and, oh, so well…so get it done, won’t you?

This is blatantly unfair! SIR! …Higbey, tell him!

Get your Ass OUT of my building…now, Munson !

(Slam)

Okay. I just got off the phone. Security will meet you in your office…on their way now.

You bastard, Higbey.

You’ve fired 243 people in the last four months. Do you know what they call you around here?

No. And I don’t care to know. Pricks…

The Boss’s Bung.  

Fuck you.

So, what-say?…let’s pull the plug and get ‘er done. Oh, Look. They came to fetch you. Isn’t that considerate? Show him some respect people. He’s made major contributions. We’re all professional, here. Good luck out there, Munson.

_ _ _ _

Well that was uncomfortable.

No, It was efficient, Higbey.You called him out and he snapped. It’s exactly what we expect from you from now on.

If that’s what you expect, I’m sure I can deliver.

It’s your Skill, Higbey. Use it.

I will, Sir.

Good. See you at lunch.

Sir?

‘The Pinnacle’... Twelve-thirty sharp. My table today, and you commandeer Munson’s from here on. Consider it your own. Now back to it.

Sir?

Ferret out the weasels.

I will, Sir,

And the Rats…

Yes, Sir.

All the vermin!

Indeed, Sir.

The snakes. The parasites, The sheep in wolf’s clothing….

Sir. ..ah…Wolf in sheep’s clothing…?

Are you questioning me?

Never.

Have you met my daughter?

Nooo…I…no, sir.

Well you shall!

What is your sexual preference? If you’re gay I have a nephew…

No. Sir. Straight as they come.

Not that I care. …only about my daughter…

Of course. I look forward to meeting her.

Have you seen her?

No, Sir, but I imagine…

Don’t. Don’t do that. No imagining…look her straight in the face.

I’m not following…

Have no illusions or delusions. She does not come with the job. Your performance comes first. That’s my bottom line. But if you happen to take notice…happen to entice…treat her with respect….treat her nice…there’s no telling what your future holds.

I look forward to meeting her sir.

In due time.

Yes, sir.

Like ‘Saturday’.

This Saturday, sir?

Yes

I’d be delighted. But…uh…I’ll just have to tell my wife.

I hear you two haven’t been getting on too well as of late.

Really? Who told you that?

Munson, of course… doing his job.

But Munson was a bachelor…surely he was a more likely candidate for your…

Oh, he gave it a go. Let’s just say he was not convincingly enthralled, and she sensed it.

Oh. Never met the young lady.

You shall.

I look forward to it.

You do that. For the good of the company…

Yes, Sir.

Is your wife going to be a problem?

Actually, we had Saturday set aside for a talk. She moved out last Tuesday…sir.

Excellent! Seems, Munson was not on top of ‘the Information’ after all.

No one knew.

Wonderful news. You two can talk anytime…We’ll see you Saturday!

Well…yes…certainly sir.

Ohhh…Higbey?

Sir?

Was your wife an attractive woman?…would you say?

I married her, sir. She’s a sweet soul. I must have found her attractive. Yes. I do…in her way, there are moments when she’s quite pretty.

Wonder if others would find her so…do you think?

She’s a classically simple girl, sir. But there are moments, in some light, the way she’ll tilt her head or cast her eyes. Bewitching….

So she is ‘plain’. Fair to say?

She is. But in her way…

I’ve heard there was some girth there.

Fucking Munson…sorry, sir.

Just accessing your boundaries, Bob. You know she inquired about you? …my daughter?

No. How is that possible? We’ve never met, I swear.

Oh, I know. Munson shared the Annual Report with her. Trying to impress her with his portrait alongside mine. Apparently she was more impressed, it seems, by you as she leafed through.

How so?

Must be your magnetism. She came to me afterward and said,

‘Daddy who’s Robert Higbey? He’s ‘cute’.

Cute?!?  Look at me, sir. I’m no prize pony.

Oh, she’ll require something much more substantial than a pony. I suspect that’s why she picked you…

Out of the Annual Report? She picked me out of a line-up?…like some catalogue?      (….fuck me.)

Hig - beeeeeee…???

If you don’t mind, Sir, I’d like to take my vacation time. I need some space…time to step back… to consider these rather major changes in my life. Happening today…right here….much too fast.

People in your position, Higbey, are paid very well to make these tough decisions under pressure, not to take Vacations from them! Do we move forward or do we not?

Like a chess pawn…a fucking chess pawn…that’s all we are.

Of course, you Idiot, it’s my board. You’re all my pawns.

This pawn passes.

There’ll be another.

Of course…an entire gallery full...

That’s right, Higbey. Did I tell you how much she loves to shop? It’s her favorite thing. 

If you hurry, you might catch the car down with Munson. Won’t that be a fun ride?

The Blank Corner

It became clear to her that this madness was hers to deal with alone. Adele stopped right there. Jim had gone, the girls avoid her, and Peter couldn’t get out of the house fast enough after high school. 

It wasn’t her fault Jim took the bullet, it was his gun, his hand, his mouth…sitting in the old desk chair, the two, worn down…facing the cellar corner…cold, gray, concrete, the last thing he’d see, and maybe that’s what he needed. Blankness. Now his blood splash like a Pollock swash, not something to wash. Sponge, but Leave it where it soaked. The trace…the stain, of it. Visit it. Not a shrine, but a sentence. The chair collapsed as the big man lurched sharply to the left with parts of his brain... The rickety legs stood not a chance, collapsed with his mass. The bullet's glance, once past his skull, took a chunk of block, as well. But, the block just ricocheted.

She’d heard it in the night, half awake…unaware…but thought the furnace flues might be buckling, 2 floors under. So dull the sound. She chose slumber.

She swore to herself she wasn’t the reason. The business went down, his fragile affair admitted and over...he pleaded…forgive me...and, she, now left as his sole support...the only one he really needed. ...but...She was not capable. She couldn’t carry him…she’d counted on him…and, now?...she couldn’t take him, wouldn’t cradle him, hear his pain, or his broken vows. Heal him, or hear him explain...it really didn't matter.  She'd shriek his name in anger, echoed in an empty space, with no trace of an excuse.  It was too much and not what she signed for. 
It had only been good when things were fine, and that was just fine with her. She required the stability…the routine…the simple chores, nothing laborious!...you hire out for that….or, you once did. But, this?!…how does one handle this? The shrinks, the meds, the blank canvas, her head - incapable of picking up a brush...never a plan...could not begin to choose a color…or even with a hint of a sketch..or, where to go from now on. She stared…and stared…and stared some more...(fuck you, Jim, for choosing this dank cold place, you selfish bastard) ...but months went..when, finally inspired, she meticulously painted those walls, blood stained, minor details...'chunk' and all. 
Her canvas. His brain. Her path. His splatter. Their Madness...hers alone...still hangs overhead.

THE EXTRA DEGREE

Adrian folded the sleeper sofa after Lenore left that morning. He sprayed it with a  disinfectant spray that smelled overtly clinical and proved to be quite effective in defuncting the funk from his bunk. Today, he’d leave the window open a crack, air the place out. By nightfall it would be ‘springtime fresh’ like it said, but for now, his eyes stung, sinuses swelled, as did his throat, and thickening his tongue. He held his breath the best he could, grabbed his coat, his satchel, and escaped quick out the door, finally gasping aloud in the hall, while locking up. Miss Newsome in ‘18’, popped out, head cocked.

“You okay, Adrian? Whew! What’s that odor? …never smelled it before. Is that you, Adrian? Is everything alright in there?”

“Sorry, yes, Miss Newsome. A touch of mold from an old wet rag…gave the place a stank from the sink, so I had to spray…threw the old rag away.”

“A bit overwhelming! Whew! ”

“I’ll say. I think I’m allergic, but we do what we need to do, in order to be sanitary. Better than mold spores, don’t you agree?”

“Indeed.”

“Okay, then, I must scurry or I’ll miss the bus again, and this time it could be big trouble!”

“Then scoot! Don’t be yacking with the likes of me!”

“Thank you Miss Newsome. See you soon. B’bye!”

“Goodbye, Adrian! Be careful!” she called down the hall as he descended the stairs.

He wondered what he should be careful of, but she was right, once on the street you had to be ready for anything in this neighborhood. It wasn’t the roughest, but it could, on occasion, be quite rude, and tussles were not uncommon. Most were only vocal, but some turned physical, and that’s a department where Adrian came up short. Oh, he was quite crafty with the verbal jab, but that particular skill often pissed others off, frustrated them, resulting in their outright rage, so Adrian learned the finer points of the quick escape. Today was smooth sailing, thank goodness, because he simply didn’t have the time to waste in getting to work on time. He wondered if Lenore would acknowledge him…embarrass him…tip off the crew to their dalliance. He wondered if they already knew. He knew that others had been there before, and two were excused…both good family men that Lenore had seduced, and caught red handed with no good excuse, on the streets they landed. He wondered how Lenore endured, but then he knew, too, that she had to have dirt on Mr. Durst and that could cripple the division and all their livelihoods, so the lid was firmly put on that simmering pot, so it won’t boil over, that way no one gets hurt. Let the old goat get off, who cared, as long as the checks cashed? But, if Durst caught wind of Adrian, he too, was a goner…a younger man, a junior, really, could not compete with The Big Cheese upstairs. Lenore, would almost contemptuously file her nails, looking bored, while Durst solemnly issued orders to staff, or addressed the Board.  He persistently denied any hint of the defiling, but he did it, we all knew. And it would seem from that point on, from our collective point of view, he was the one that was being screwed. She had ‘the goods’, and she used them to get the goods on the old geezer, alright. Oh, He enjoyed it, and at his age who wouldn’t? (Hell, at my age I did!) So he kept her close…odds are, (…and the office joke). there’s a quickie in the closet, if she’s not at her post. But, as good as she was at giving him ‘trim’ she was left wanting, this shark had to swim, so she worked the pool of office boys and yanked their junior staff members, just for fun and to make up for Him. She preferred them younger, she had come to learn, and would say so in memos, how much she yearned, but warned, “…once you read this, be sure it gets burned. … if not, you do.”

I got that message late one afternoon, then She got Me, “...after hours…mailroom”. Now, when she’s overcome with the Urge…that Need…I am obliged, if she buzzes me. And, so very thankful I received my degree, she assures me I'm so well equipped, that I'm bound to succeed.