Strikeout

Time: 6:57 exactly.  Papers flying, shoelaces untied, glasses askew, Jason McGuiness was running like fury for the office door far off in the distance.  The biggest meeting of his life was today, the one that would decide his fate.  The advertising pitch he had been working on for hour upon hour, day after day, was ready for takeoff.  He worked for Light Speed Sneakers, a company who placed an extreme amount of emphasis on math and fiscal computation.  Creativity was something that lurked in the shadows only to be brought out on occasion when the corporation was in a bind.  Nevertheless, they paid well.  In fact, the money was his only incentive for working there.  Hard work meant money and promotions, which could only mean more money.  And, although it sounded a tad selfish, money was something he needed more than anything else in the world.  Well, that wasn’t exactly correct.  They, not he, needed it the most…and they were his to protect. 

Hence, the reason he was trying to make a 7 am meeting in 3 minutes.  The wind seemed to propel him forward down the crowded city street, as if cheering him on in his quest.  Enormous steel skyscrapers towered all around, almost like trees in a rainforest.  When he left home early on his commute, he would wander about a ways, wondering this and that.  It was a good advertising technique, or at least he felt it was, but it couldn’t help him now.  “If the tax man had just come tomorrow instead…” he thought, gritting his teeth as he surged on.  He crossed 10^th Avenue, narrowly missing some idiot in a BMW.  “Watch it, punk!” yelled the driver, shaking his fist.  “Sorry!” Jason called back.  There was no time to apologize.  He could see the big white door in front of him.  Was he gonna make it in time? The pavement pounded underneath his beat up leather shoes as his hand stretched out to grab the cool door handle. He heaved it open and barreled through into the massive building.  The marble floors were harder to run on than the streets outside and he slid a little as he ran, knocking into an elderly lady with an ugly fur hat.  She hit the floor with a surprisingly loud thud, and her hat bounced off.  He stopped for a moment.  “I’m sorry!” She looked like she wanted to beat him up with a baseball bat.  “Young man,” she rasped, getting slowly to her feet and retrieving that awful expensive hat.  “You must learn to behave less like a wild antelope and more like a human being.  You will only cause trouble running about as you are.” He groaned aloud.  Now was not the time for a lecture.  He smiled “Sorry ma’am, nice chat, gotta run!” He took off at full speed, sights set on his arrival.  He skated around a crystal fountain and narrowly missed a bench.  “Good. Now if I can just get to the stairs!” He raced on helter skelter, trying to avoid hitting anybody else.  Just a little further, and it would all be over.  He could see it now.  He was going to march right into that meeting and show them what he was made of.  The boss would be so proud that maybe he’d get a new position and new office.  He could see the tears of joy on his wife’s face and hear his daughter’s voice saying “Hooray! Go Daddy!”  His lovely ladies would finally get the life that they deserve.  Stairs…stairs…there!  He grabbed the railing, and went on, practically flying up each flight.  He grinned.  “Once I get in there, I know that things are gonna change for us!  Soon…very soon…” Hand followed hand, foot thundered after foot and suddenly he was at the threshold. 

He ripped the door open and let out a triumphant “Ha!” Five pair of eyes stared blankly back at him.  “Someone didn’t get enough coffee this morning, I suppose.” He thought to himself as he collapsed into a chair. “Whoo! I haven’t run that much since my high school gym class!” The five pairs continued to stare.  Why did they keep doing that? He felt like they were boring into his very being, like a teacher scrutinizing a test paper.  It was almost unearthly.  He stared back, but that only made him feel stranger.  Had they never seen another coworker outside of their quintet? The silence pressed in, filling the board room and roaring in his ears.  Suddenly, the door opened and an intimidating man in a sharp gray suit walked in.  “Thank you for coming, gentleman.  I apologize that it’s such short notice, but let’s get right to it.  I want to discuss our position…” Something felt wrong here.  He took a quick glance around the room.  The cold expressions of the remaining workers… the intimidating project manager…even the chairs felt weird.  He drummed his fingers on the table. One of the five shot him a contained look of annoyance.  “Please stop that.  You’re disturbing our meeting.”  “Your meeting? Isn’t it our meeting?”  The worker blinked, then adjusted his glasses.  “Well, it certainly is my meeting, but it is most definitely not yours.” “What on Earth are you talking about?”  “I’m saying” the worker said icily.  “That this meeting is not yours.”  He let that sink in.  Not yours, not yours….what did that mean? Could he have…no, no he knew this building like the back of his hand… but if it was true… “Could you tell me what room this is?”  The worker looked up blankly.  He smirked.  “This is the Finance Office.” The words hit him full force.  So it was true.  He was in the wrong room.  He felt a panic beginning to rise in him, as his heart began to beat faster and his hands to sweat.  The biggest meeting of his life and he was in the wrong room.  “Wait!” he thought quickly.  “Maybe there’s still time!”  He glanced up at the clock hopefully.  His eyes widened.  It was 7:15.  He was too late.    What was he to do? He couldn’t afford to give up on this presentation.  He stood, then stopped.  He’d noticed that his shoelaces were still a mess.  He reached down, tying each with care.  He wasn’t going to allow for anymore slip-ups.  “Thank you.  Pardon my interruption.”  The worker gave a curt nod.  Jason turned and strolled out of the room.  Closing the door, he sighed.  Then he walked to the door directly to the left of the room that he left.  “Here we go.” He sucked in a breath and grasped the door handle.  He gently turned it.  “So with this advertising strategy, I am certain that we can reap numerous amounts of profit and push this company further into the black.”  Applause filled the room.  “Excellent, Mitchell! I think you’ve really got something with this pitch.” Said the boss.  His gaze shifted to Jason.  “Oh, you finally showed up, McGuiness.  I’m afraid that I can’t hear your pitch.  You see, we’ve already found a perfect match for our project.  If you’d been here just a little earlier…” “Yes sir.  I know.” Jason trudged to the table and sat down. “Sorry son.” Said the boss. “Now continue, Mitchell.” “Thank you sir.  Now, as I was saying, the amount of income we can make will go to…”

Jason trudged back down the street that he had dashed down with such fire two hours before.  He felt like a thousand bricks lay in the pit that was his stomach.  He slowly made his way down a dark alley towards home.  Wires laden with clean laundry crisscrossed overhead.  Dingy windows and trash lined the walkway.  He absentmindedly kicked a broken, battered beer bottle into a nearby gutter.  Soon he had reached the fire escape that led to his apartment.  His shoes made a dull clang on the metal steps as he climbed.  He wished they could go on forever.  He dreaded what was to come once he reached the top.  Next thing he knew, he was knocking on the cracked blue green door.  It creaked open.  His wife peeked out, whipping her hands on her stained apron.  His daughter bounded around her feet, twittering like a bird.  Both were smiling serenely up at him.  He watched as their smiles slowly melted into dismay.  He shook head.  “I guess it’s back to square one.”