CHAPTER 8 - MISINFORMATION
* * *
This chapter is Rated: TEEN
The
rest of the morning passed uneventfully. More papers arrived on my desk
and I worked on them and dutifully turned them into Nancy. Trudy behind
me told me I could go to lunch, so I left, and it was quiet and
relaxing, with no further disturbance.
As I came back I saw Barbara hovering over my computer and she was going
through the papers I was supposed to type up. She saw me and gave a
slightly surprised look at seeing me. Was she going through my personal
effects as well ?
I looked at her and the expression on my face clearly showed I was confused why she was here ?
Finally she said, "David, the remainder of these pages need to be sent to office D-18 and set them on the desk in there. That's on the 2nd floor. Don't turn them into Nancy. Understand ?"
"Not to Nancy ?" I asked a little puzzled.
Barbara repeated in an angry voice, apparently surprised I would question her, "Not to Nancy. Do you know where office D-18 is ?"
I shook my head. "No, but I'm sure I can find it." I said, remembering she said it was on the floor above this one.
"Good boy. Then do what you're told." she said and then left to return back to her own cubicle.
I shrugged. It was about 9 pages. I finished typing them and then
thought about bringing them to Nancy to confirm that was where they
would go. But if Barbara was certain they needed to be put there,
wouldn't I be wasting Nancy's time asking ?
I quickly asked Trudy behind me if I went to the 2nd floor could I get
back to the 3rd without a key ? She assured me, yes, I could do that,
but if I went to the 1st floor I would need a key to get back to either
the 2nd or 3rd floor.
So be careful if I don't have a key or I'd have to speak with the receptionist and have someone escort me back down.
I sighed and hoped there wouldn't be any more circumvented orders and
stacked them in a neat pile before placing them in a manila folder and
left my cubicle to take the elevator to the next floor above. After only
a moment's searching, I found it.
There was room D-18 before me, just a few rooms past the elevator. I knocked on the door and it was silent.
I tried the door handle and it opened and the room was empty and the
lights were out and it smelled a little musty in here. I was eager to
leave this spooky room so I quickly set the pile of papers right in the
middle of the desk and left to return back to my own cubicle.
Barbara saw me coming from the elevator and gave me a thumbs up for a job well done. I smiled back at her.
I saw a few more pages were added to my INBOX from my trip to the
elevator so I was going to work on these but still a bit concerned I
would ask Nancy where these went so I would bring them to her rather
than D-18.
I hadn't gotten very far, about 5-minutes into typing when I heard some
whispering excitedly. Then it took on an angry tone. Somebody was in
trouble for something ! That much I knew !
I smiled, slightly curious myself. I heard Trudy's phone ring softly and
she answered and spoke into it. I was deep in thought until Trudy from
behind me said suddenly, "David ! You need to see Nancy, RIGHT NOW !"
She said it in such a severe tone that the angry whispering suddenly died out.
Oboy, I was in for it now ! I nodded meekly and got up to leave, my
fingers froze in their joints from fear. Seeing I was apparently
responsible for the problem, everyone glared at me as I got up to walk
down the hallway to her office.
I didn't even bother to knock but opened the door. If it was rude to do
that, Nancy didn't say anything but sharp-fingered me to sit in the seat
and not say a word.
I felt tears collect in the back of my eyes, "I'm sorry." I said pitifully, but it wasn't enough.
Nancy spoke in a tight and quiet voice, "David, you were not given
permission to speak. Now sit quietly until I find out what you did
wrong."
I nodded silently and stared down at the hands in my lap. Helpless to
even apologize for what I did which I didn't know what I did yet.
There was a soft knocking at the door and Nancy called out, "Come." It was clear she was still angry by the tone of her voice.
It was 5 other women, including Trudy and they all piled into her office
and Nancy motioned them closer. They talked quietly to each other a
moment. So quietly I couldn't make it out, but occasionally one or two
of them pointed to me with an accusational finger, all except for Nancy or Trudy I noticed.
After a minute I suddenly smelled all the perfumes mingled in one room
and fairly choked on it despite my feelings of guilt right now, and I
pretended not to notice and twiddled my fingers uncomfortably.
"David." Nancy called to me. At first I didn't answer.
"David !" she said louder. One of the women giggled seeing I was dazing
off. I jerked upright in my chair and looked at her and the expression
in her face had changed. She was not so mad now but looked concerned.
"David, when you got back from your lunch, where did you put those new forms after you typed them up ?"
I breathed a sigh of relief. I could answer this.
"Barbara told me to bring them to D-18, on the 2nd floor, so I set them on the desk in there, ma'am." I said truthfully.
Nancy's face changed from curiosity to rage, "Why the hell would she ... !?"
Nancy then reached across her phone with her right hand and picked up
the receiver and tapped 3 buttons with the same hand on her fingers
before speaking into the receiver, "Barbara, I need to see you - right
now, please." She then set down the receiver to regard me.
There was a busy whispering going on from the girls now and I was
obviously getting a little frightened at the frenzy, Trudy stepped over
to stand beside me, protectively to my right. For a moment I held out my
hand, hoping she might grasp it to comfort me, but she ignored it.
I quickly set it back down again in my lap and wondered if I was going to get fired for this.
* * *
Barbara then entered
the room and I felt it important to stand up right then for some reason,
so I did. Just then Trudy suddenly squeezed behind me and sat down
where I was earlier so she was sitting inches behind my back.
Barbara came in and had such a guilty smile on her face, it was
terrible. I scowled a bit myself but Nancy shot me a serious look for me
to behave as she asked her some questions.
I couldn't sit down
either because Trudy was already in my seat right behind me and there
was just one in Nancy's office at the moment. The other girls hovered
near the desk and looked on to see if she could solve this problem.
Barbara walked right up to Nancy and Nancy asked her if she told me to put my finished work in room B-18.
It was so curious. She could've lied to her, denied the whole thing, her
word against mine, and then I really would've caught it, but she
didn't.
Barbara said matter-of-factly, "I understand David is one of our new
employees here, a good worker to be sure, but I ALSO understand that he
doesn't always follow his orders."
She sniffed disdainfully, "So I merely gave him a test, as anyone would,
to see if he could get distracted from his original instructions. And
he was." Her voice took on a hard edge, "Therefore I think HE is the one
responsible for this mess since he can't seem to follow the simple
instructions that are given to him. Nor can he recognize the chain of
command !"
Clearly that wasn't her real intent as she was trying to get me in
trouble and possibly fired for no good reason. I think everyone in the
room saw that, so it was a weak ploy of hers that backfired as she got
found out about it.
But it apparently satisfied Nancy for her to confess and this and then
Trudy who was still sitting directly behind me suddenly and surprisingly
grabbed my legs in a kind of hug and pushed the side of her head up
against my butt like it was a pillow and said, "See ! David doesn't lie !
He does what he is told !"
She squeezed herself closer for a tighter hug and for a moment and I
felt a curious weakness in my chest and knees as my stomach flip-flopped
in her unusual embrace.
"Thank you, Trudy." Nancy said in a tired voice, unaware of my
discomfort, and touched her temple with two fingers before adding,
"David. You can go now."
Trudy let go of me at once and continued to sit in her seat watching my back. But then I was confused and said, "Go where ?"
"God ! Go on break, David !" Nancy said, her voice getting cross again.
I paused. I think I was going to get her upset again because I really did not know was not know where I needed to go.
"But I just got back from lunch, ma'am." I really was confused and I
think she saw this perplexed look in my face. Yes, I am this dense sometimes.
Apparently that was the last straw for her, especially with this situation.
"David," she said in a quiet voice that dripped severity now, "You need
to go right now and SIT on your BOTTOM in the little boy's room and
THINK about what we just talked about. And you will sit in that seat
mister until we leave for today, understand ?"
There was some mean giggling and hushed whispering when she said that.
Even Barbara smiled a bit out of the corner of her mouth for this
terrible punishment Nancy was issuing me with.
"No ma'am !" I said really frightened now. It didn't make any sense ! I
mean - I thought I - understood what she said, but then she was saying I
didn't so - so I was so confused right now ! And she wanted me to sit
in the bathroom till the end of the day ? Why !?
I quite honestly started to cry.
Nancy didn't let up one iota and leaned over her desk as if it would
make her meaning more plain to me.
"Now you listen to me David ! If you
are still confused as to what I just told you, you are to take one of
those special index cards I gave you and write up your question on it
with that special pen I gave you, then you are to place it in your
suggestion box, at the WOMEN'S RESTROOM. And THEN go sit on the toilet
until I call for you."
"Do you remember where you put your index cards ?" she asked in a nicer tone but it was still laced with obvious menace.
I nodded. I really didn't want to speak right now because I knew my voice would sound quite pathetic and miserable.
Angriness returned to her in my silence, "It is OUTSIDE the women's
restroom. Not INSIDE ! Don't you go inside there ! If I find you inside
the women's restroom you'll REALLY be in trouble ! Understand !?"
I nodded but it was crazy ! There was no way I'd be stupid enough to
enter a women's restroom. The soft giggling got louder as they all
apparently assumed I didn't know enough not to enter there, especially
from her chastising tone.
Nancy then stood from her seat to point to the door. "Then go and find
that seat that has been saved just for you and sit on it - right now !
Scoot !"
I felt so dejected and helpless right now. Even Trudy was silent and I
missed the comfortable hug she gave me earlier despite how odd it made
me feel inside.
I turned around to face the door. Barbara quipped to me on the way out,
"Yeah, go and soak your butt in it !" and then laughed cruelly. One of
the girls standing next to her gasped in surprise at what she said.
Nancy spoke in a quiet reply, this time her anger was directed to her,
"That's enough, Barbara. I think David knows where he needs to be right
now." and then glared at me to make sure I was leaving the room.
I started to look back at Barbara angrily but I knew she would say
something even nastier then so I didn't. I just nodded my head like a
whipped pup and left the room. The heavy door quietly closed behind me
on a spring at the top.
It was so unfair ! I wasn't the one responsible for the trouble here.
Barbara was ! With the door now closed, then it was a flurry of everyone
talking at once, but I ignored it.
I scuffed my foot angrily, hoping my shoe would unravel in my rage, and
of course, it didn't. I felt so miserable right then, and that pinprick
of suicide chirped in. I knew I was on meds for clinical depression so
it didn't get very far in my head. I just felt - tired.
That's what
anti-psychotics do to you when you feel suicidal. Your heart gets to
racing too fast and they just knock you out. Real medical technology,
right ?
I looked ahead and saw there was a row of 4 seats out in the hallway.
I thought about sitting on the one closest to Nancy's office so I could
try to eavesdrop what was going on, but decided on the next seat down,
maybe slightly frightened.
Maybe Barbara will get paddled for messing up the company this way ? I
could only hope ! I know they did that back in school and the way
authority seemed to run here, apparently everyone was being treated as children, it couldn't just be me.
Then I heard Barbara's
voice. I couldn't make out what she said, but she definitely had the
center floor at the time. And of all things she sounded confident and in
charge ! What the hell ?
After a moment all the girls broke into loud laughter with what she
said, all except Nancy. Then I heard Nancy's voice speak, trying to
regain composure, and a bunch of serious, 'yes ma'am's from everyone
else. And then suddenly they all piled out of her room !
I would be caught ! I tried to shrink up in my chair but it would do no
good. Nancy, the first one out of her office saw me and said, "Mm hmm !"
in a very tight and angry and crisp voice and bee-lined and clicked her
high heels noisily echoing in the empty hall to where I was sitting.
The other girls sidled past giving me goofy smiles, almost dancing and
cavorting their way around me and talking under their breath that I was
REALLY gonna catch it now and laughed about it and I felt the tears
start up again.
Then I saw Barbara. I did my absolute BEST not to look at her as she
walked slower than then rest, determined to catch my eye, but I wouldn't
give it to her. Not after the mean thing she said to me.
Nancy sat down right next to me in an adjacent chair and waited for the
other teasing women to leave. Then it was silent in the hallway. I felt
her eyes bore right through my skull. I don't know how anyone as pretty
as her could look so mad as she did right now.
Finally I jerked in feeling her finger touch my knee, to see if I was
awake. I thought she was going to give me a comfortable pat there to
show me everything was okay but when she knew I was aware of her, she
suddenly slapped it hard with the flat of her two fingers on the nail - sharply causing it to sting for a moment.
* * *
I reached up to rub my sore knee for a moment and looked up at her.
Then she spoke in a quiet and tight voice, "David, where do you need to be right now ?"
"Sitting." I said. At least I was right about this part.
"WHAT do you need to be sitting in right now ?" she said in an angrier voice.
I couldn't reply to this and I knew all too well where I was supposed to
be. The seat reserved just for me she called it. God ! It was bad
enough she was punishing me like that, but did she have to say it in
front of all the other workers there ?? I could die of humiliation !
Nancy persisted, "I told you to sit in the little boys room on your SEAT
until we're done for the day. You DO know where your seat is in there,
don't you David ?"
I was silent.
"You DO know what seat I'm talking about, don't you !?" she added, a bit louder not at all happy I wasn't saying anything.
I nodded and felt new tears well up in my eyes.
If she saw them, she ignored them. I saw her bite her lip as if deciding
something. She got up for a moment to return to her office. She
returned and had a lady's magazine, Vogue or something.
She tucked it under her arm and returning back to me said, "Come on
then." in that child-like tone of condescending I was so familiar with
her by now and started pulling on my arm.
For a moment I had a horrible sight of her dragging me by my hand to
where I was supposed to be, kicking open the bathroom door and sitting
me down hard on the toilet seat in there to stay until the workday was
done, while assigning someone outside the door to make sure I
stayed put. I didn't want that to happen !
She pulled harder and I cried louder and she let go suddenly. She looked
around for a moment, I think afraid that I was so upset, and I knew I
had to look completely pathetic right now.
Then I felt it, a comforting hand on my shoulder. I looked up at her
again and stopped crying. Feeling some of my sorrow drain away with this
act of kindness on her part.
Suddenly she let go of my shoulder to stoop down and slap my knee again,
harder than before. It stung, but I was more concerned with another
pain, disappointing Nancy right now.
She stood back up to face me and threatened, "If this ever happens again
I will take away ALL your bathroom privileges, and then you'll have to
hold your personal business till AFTER work each day, would you like
that to happen !?"
I didn't say anything except sniffle on my tears and shake my head.
She pointed a finger at me and spoke succinctly, "Don't - let - me -
catch you again - in my office - for breaking - company policy - EVER
AGAIN. Understand ?"
I nodded. That wasn't enough. She spoke angrier, "I can't hear you mister !"
"Yes ma'am !" I said loudly and realized my voice sounded just as bad as
I thought it would, all choked up with tears and in a horrible squeak.
Nancy relented a little of her anger but became moody and stepped up to
walk away for a moment in deep thought speaking to the wall and taking
the magazine from under her arm she rolled it in a cylinder in apparent
frustration, "David, you were doing so well. And then you broke company
policy. What AM I going to DO with you ?"
I shrugged. Honestly I had no idea and I felt a new wave of sorrow enter
my frame. I really did want us to get along. Nancy seemed to understand
my feelings so well, and then at times, like now, I - I just wasn't
certain.
I had a weird sight in my head of both me and her enjoying some ice
cream in a parlor - I just - wanted this day to be over with already. I
know my mind would wander when I was in a bad situation. I could almost taste the ice-cream I wanted to be away from here so bad right then.
She turned to face me and bargained facing the magazine cylinder at me,
"I'm disappointed in you, but I'm willing to overlook it, this time, but
NEVER disobey me again ! Clear !?"
"Yes ma'am." I said, knowing she wanted a verbal response from now on.
Her face softened and she walked up to me smiling softly, "David, just
what were you hoping to learn sitting outside my office anyways ?"
I was silent and wiggled my church shoes uncomfortably on the floor where they squeaked.
"Go on." she said in a kind voice. I sat down in the chair with my hands
in my lap and stared down at them. She sat down adjacent to me and
reaching over, raised my chin with the tip of her finger so I would look
in her face, "You can tell me, David."
I spoke and was surprised at how much better my voice sounded right now,
but it was still pretty quiet and meek but I tried to put anger in my
voice. A little of it came out, "I was hoping Barbara would get paddled
for messing me up !"
Nancy turned her pretty eyes to look into mine, "Is that what you really wanted to see ?"
I shrugged and nodded slightly. Well, yeah, really, I did.
Nancy then got tight-voiced again and lowered her tone angrily, "Maybe I
should call Barbara back to my office and let her watch YOU get paddled
! Would you like that instead !?"
I immediately reached my hands out and sat on them and shook my head
hard left and right to show I really didn't want that, and tried to
protect my bottom from her hand as I knew she could smack pretty hard
considering how my knee felt right now.
Nancy laughed politely which I wasn't expecting, "No worries there,
David. I think that covers everything. You just mind what I say and we
won't have problems like this again. Now go back to your desk and finish
your papers. We'll talk about this later, okay hun ?"
"Yes ma'am." I said with a bit more spirit in my voice and she reached
out a hand to raise me from my seat as she pushed me around her. I
paused, standing, and touched my face which was still pretty wet with
tears, looking at my fingers, fascinated at their wetness for a moment.
"Well go on then. Scoot !" she said a little impatiently and perhaps a little angry since I was trying to spy on Barbara and then smacked my bottom with the magazine roll as she was standing directly behind me now.
"Okaaay." I said, whining a little, and half-ran half-walked to get away
from her, covering the back of my pants with one hand to protect me,
but mostly I hurt deep inside because I felt so ashamed at the moment
for disappointing Nancy rather than the pain of what she just did.
END
OF CHAPTER 8
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