Trackman by Catriona Child

Author:Catriona Child [Child, Catriona]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Luath Press Ltd
Published: 2012-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

14

Mulder and Scully

He shouted to be heard over the music.

Lewey, it's me, LEWEY LEWIS, come on, stop fucking about.

Let me in. I've got something to tell you.

Davie dropped the orange juice.

'YOU LOOK LIKE shite, Davie,' Stewart says as I head into the staffroom.

'Cheers,' I nod and hang my jacket up on one of the pegs.

'Heavy night?'

'Aye.'

Stewart's looking at me like he expects me to go on, tell him all the sordid details. I tap my watch to show him I'm already late, and leave the staffroom. I can't be arsed with this. My date with Astrid gets fucked-up. Jamesy's ignoring me. I'm fucking knackered too, it's like that cheese guy drained all my energy. There's only so much I can take.

'David, can I see you for a second?'

Crap. I knew I should have taken the long way round to the shop floor, instead of thinking that I could sneak past Laura's office without her noticing me. She's half-standing, half-hunched over her desk; must have sprung up from whatever she was doing as soon as she saw me pass. Having a break by the looks of it: there's a half eaten Twix and a mug of coffee sitting in front of her.

She gestures at a chair at the side of her desk as I turn left from the corridor into her office.

'Sorry, Laura, I slept in.'

'It's not just today I want to chat about. Shut the door over, will you.'

Shut the door? That's not a good sign. Laura's always going on about her 'open door' policy of management.

I take the seat next to her desk and wait for her to speak. I'm not really sure what she's going to say. Fair enough, I was late today, but people are allowed to be late once in a while, aren't they? It's not like I do it every week.

'Is everything okay, David?' she asks, sitting back down on her chair.

'Aye.'

'I'm a bit concerned about you. You've been acting out of character the last couple of weeks.'

'How do you mean?'

I start to read the upside down story in the Metro lying on Laura's desk. She notices me and folds up the paper, puts it out of sight.

'You must know what I'm talking about?'

'Sorry, I don't.'

'This, David. Your lack of concentration, turning up late for work, phoning in sick. You didn't even bother phoning in on Monday, just didn't turn up.'

'I can't help it if I'm sick, can I? And I didn't get the rota for Monday, I thought I was off.'

'I saw you in town, you didn't look sick to me, and the rota's been up on the wall out there since last Tuesday.'

I don't know what to say to this, so I don't bother replying. Jamesy is awake in my pocket, listening to everything that's going on. One eye open like a sleeping dog. I don't know what she wants me to say. Sorry for missing a couple of shifts at this shitehole. Obviously selling DVDs to people is much more important than trying to save someone from sadness.

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