The 14th Day by K.C. Frederick

Author:K.C. Frederick
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9781504023948
Publisher: The Permanent Press

Vaniok quickens his steps when he sees Royall on the loading dock. Coming to work on the bus this morning, he heard people discussing the student rampage, he saw some of the damage. Now he’s eager to talk to someone about this remarkable event. “What happened last night?” he says with a little laugh when he comes up to Royall. He makes a gesture in the direction of the rioting. “I guess I slept through it.” As he says it, he realizes how comic it sounds: he can see himself in the middle of the tumult, dozing tranquilly in the doorway of a bookstore while all around him the street boils with chaos and destruction. Pleased with this image, he adds, “It must have been something to see.”

Royall’s response surprises him. “God-damned punks. They should put the whole lot of them in jail.” His eyes are hard and stony, his words are bullets. Vaniok is at a loss for a reply, he’s not used to hearing this kind of language from his even-tempered supervisor. “Damned spoiled brats,” Royall spits out a postscript.

Vaniok gropes for something to say. When he speaks at last it’s more tentatively. “What happened to the team last night—they were disappointed, I suppose.”

“The team,” Royall snorts—the word sounds like an expletive—and Vaniok wishes he could think quickly enough to move to any other topic. Royall, though, isn’t interested in changing the subject. “Yeah,” he says, his eyes meeting Vaniok’s for a moment, “the team loses, go and wreck the town. That’s very intelligent.” His voice is full of scorn. “I suppose they call that higher education.”

Vaniok feels accused, as if Royall is lumping him in with the students. Didn’t the man hear him say he was asleep when all this happened? But his tongue is tied, the language baffles him.

Royall exhales loudly and looks into the distance, toward the center of town where the rioting took place. “Spoiled damned brats,” he repeats. “Who do you think is going to have to clean up after them?” He shakes his head. “I’ve got to get to work.” He turns away sharply and Vaniok watches his broad, stiff back. He feels as if he’s just been slapped in the face.

He stands on the loading dock, his clenched fists jammed into his pockets. Damn it, damn it, he’s not responsible for what the students did. He takes a deep swallow of the morning air, holds it in his lungs as if reluctant to give it back and at last expels it with a sigh as he stands there looking at the gentle curve of the railroad tracks disappearing into the weeds. Take it easy, he tells himself. He can’t let these things upset him. Maybe Royall is having trouble with his family, after all. Vaniok doesn’t know anything about the man’s home life. He knows very little about his supervisor, in fact.

The encounter leaves him wary, though, and he’s still on his guard when he goes to the room with the coffee machine.

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