"He gave you how much?"
"It was $200. In twenties. In an envelope," Phyllis answered in her usual nervous manner.
"$200?" Toby didn't even try to hide his surprise. "Why would he…?"
"I don't think he'd want me to have told you. He wanted it to be a surprise. He said…"
"A surprise," Toby whispered to himself as he turned around. "A surprise for what?"
Toby returned to the annex, to his quiet desk, and his mind kept churning over what he was just told by Phyllis. Jim handed her an envelope of twenty dollar bills and asked her to quietly ramp-up Toby's going away party to include fireworks and who knows what else. But why?, Toby thought to himself like a man running over a practiced monologue. It's true, he and Jim had always gotten along, even with the most recent Pam incident.
"Pam," Toby said out loud to himself — hopefully only to himself.
Toby stopped and listened to what was going on in the cubicle next to him. Humming. Kelly must be listening to some awful pop music with headphones. Perfect. But Pam. This wasn't about him — this was about Pam! It's always about Pam with that guy.
"But how? What is he doing?" Toby whispered to himself, chewing on his thumbnail. Toby pictured Jim and Pam together. He shuttered. If he had had Jim's desk it would be he who was going to marry Pam. Toby suddenly sat-up sharply. Married?!, he thought. Where did that come from? He supposed that Pam and Jim would get married eventually but…
Jim is going to propose to Pam at my going away party!, Toby thought as hard as one can think of something but not actually say it.
"Can't I ever have my own thing?!", Toby said with the mired grumble of a cartoon tiger.