No one worried about Nancy, intact or not. Her disposition was among the glossiest, her eyes consistent in their glassy indifference and her skin always shining under the office lights.
“Have you lost weight, Nancy?” Bill asked. People recognized him as friendly, if they noticed him at all.
“Not weight, just my hand,” she answered.
“Ouch-looking good though.”
“Thanks Bill, you’re such a dear.”
She meant to get coffee, but Bill threw her off. So she stood in the aisle of rectangular desks, waiting to remember while her arm bled over the carpet.
After a few listless moments all she felt was weary, so she retired to her desk and took a Zookus tablet. She took one earlier already, but her arm was really hurting and the doctor told her to take the medicine for pain, physical or emotional.
“Nancy, good to see you. Have you stapled those sheets of paper together yet? Be sure to write symbols on them in ink. Afterwards, I need you to press a few buttons on the computer keyboard and click the mouse. If time permits before lunch, please go ahead and put some of these,” her boss paused to lift a stack of papers off her desk, “into the metal cabinets along the wall, in a prescribed and important order.”
Nancy looked ahead as her boss spoke to her, and then he was gone. The second Zookus tablet could not go to work soon enough.
“Okay, Nancy? Remember to put the papers in order. Order is very important.”
Apparently he was not gone.
“Okay Mr. Paxton. I’ll get to all of that right away. Forgive me, I’m just a bit fatigued this morning.”
Her boss looked at her with vague curiosity.
"Nancy..."
...
“Nancy!”
“Yes Mr. Paxton? Dear me, I feel like I could just fall asleep, my apologies.”
It dawned on her.
“Coffee!” she said aloud. She was slightly embarrassed, but it felt good to remember her previous goal, and better yet that any moment now she would be drinking it.
“We have coffee. Go to the lobby and pull the glass container from the black machine. Careful, it will be hot.”
“Yes Mr. Paxton,” she said and rose from her chair.
“But Nancy, before you do, is there something different about you today?”
Nancy considered. “I am a bit behind today, sorry Mr. Paxton.”
He tapped his chin. Then, “Nancy, what happened to your hand?”
“My hand...oh, this? Nothing, Mr. Paxton. I just ran it through the garbage disposal this morning. It was a bonehead thing to do, that’s all.”
“Okay, well did you take some Zookus? It’s done wonders for my migraines.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Paxton. Now I just think I need some coffee.”
Her boss smiled appreciatively. “Go get some coffee.”
He started towards his office, but was struck with sudden sympathy and turned to say, “Nancy, if you don’t get the chance to put the papers in the metal cabinets, don’t worry.”
She wouldn’t.
"No One Worried"
Copyright: © 2011 Sean Pravica
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