Timing by Ashley John

Author:Ashley John [John, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ashley John
Published: 2016-04-24T12:00:00+00:00

Blinking hard at the screen, Tom tried to concentrate on the words in front of him. He knew the rest of the office was empty and he and Colin were the only two people still behind and working. He could have gone home hours ago with the rest of them but after Ricky called him telling him that Cole had confirmed a date for the Barton Farm Summer Fete, he knew he had to get to work before print deadline on Friday.

“Colin, can I have a quick word?” Tom knocked on his editor’s door.

Colin looked up from the paper he was writing on and rubbed his tired eyes. He blinked heavily at Tom, as though confused to see him standing in his doorway.

“I thought everyone had gone home.” He coughed and straightened out his jacket, pushing the whiskey bottle behind his computer screen, “What do you want, Tim?”

Tom turned the paper around in his hands and looked down at the words, knowing that he was going out on a limb. Colin’s policy on unsolicited articles was known around the office.

“It’s Tom, and I was just wondering if this could make Friday’s edition of the Hebden Bridge Times? It’s a little piece about a summer fete at this farm. They’re trying to raise some money and they just need to get the word out so people turn up.”

“Tell them to take out an advert. We’re not a charity.”

Tom would usually have turned on his heels and walked straight back to his office to painfully delete every word but something compelled him to try again.

“Colin, it’s really important to me.” Tom paused for breath and inhaled deeply, as his thoughts scattered around his mind. “It’s really important to somebody very close to me.”

“Look, if you’re fucking somebody, good for you, but it doesn’t mean you can use the paper like a billboard in a university tavern. Now, if you’re quite finished, you should go home like the rest of them.”

Colin tipped back the whiskey tumbler and resumed his scribbling in what looked like a small diary. Tom’s fingers tightened around the paper but he stopped himself from screwing it up. The summer fete would go ahead with or without the article but making money and getting the word out hinged on it.

“I’ve worked here for six years.” Tom slapped the piece of paper down on Colin’s desk. “You still don’t have the decency to get my fucking name right. You overlook me at every possible turn and I don’t understand why. I work harder than anybody in this place and you don’t even notice and I’m sick of it. Print this, or don’t print this. You want to know something, Colin? I don’t think I care anymore. I don’t know where you get off thinking you can treat me like this. This is the first thing I have ever asked of you in six whole years.”

Tom suddenly closed his mouth, aware that he had said all of that out loud. The timing

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