Chapter 19; The 'Shop
It was Monday again, and Humbert had to work. Well, no, he didn't. His boss had been very understanding about it all – his first experience of death, and it was his mother's. Nevertheless, Humbert got himself out of bed and pulled on his overalls for work.
Haru mewed at him a little, but Humbert was still a little numb from the funeral to do more than feed and pet the cat, not really noticing what she was trying to make him understand.
"See you at five," he said, closing and locking the door behind him.
Work happened. Work got done. His boss was indifferent at the sight of him, oh, there was always work for him to do, and he was the best, but the boss knew better than to let Humbert work all day so soon after a death in the family.
At lunch, he took Humbert aside. Sat the young man down in his office and, forcing a glass of water into his hand, started talking sense at his best engine man.
"Bert," no one in the shop called him Humbert. A name like Humbert didn't fit in among the grease, noise, and sweat, but Bert fit. "You can't do this to yourself. You can't work at your normal pace when you're missing sleep and suffering from delayed shock. You've got some leave racked up, take a holiday. You need it and you deserve it. I don't want to hear any arguments, we'll manage just fine, and your job will still be here when you get back," said the boss. He wasn't going to take no for an answer from his employee. Occupational Health and Safety was a big deal these days, and that included mental health.
"I've got to do something boss," Humbert said, taking a draught of the water. It was refreshing and cold.
"Take a holiday, take a cruise, drive across the country. Sleep in, stay out late, remind yourself how to have fun, but don't come back in tomorrow. I don't want to see you here for a month unless you need some work done on that car of yours."
Humbert walked through his front door at five, sharp. Haru was waiting for him, curled up on the bottom step, watching the door. She didn't rush at him, she gently hopped down and walked up to him, twining about his legs and rubbing her face against his shins.
"The boss ordered me to take a holiday," he told the cat as he stared into the freezer, not particularly interested in dinner, but picking one anyway – his stomach wanted food, even if he didn't. "Said that I have leave coming up anyway, so I should take it."
Haru sank to the floor and stretched out. The idea of a holiday seemed to appeal to her, whether she knew what it was or not.
He talked about what they might do as he ate, and, just when he was nearly ready for bed, decided that a caravan was the answer. Humbert declared as he fell into bed that the first thing he would do the next day was get a caravan that he could hitch to the back of his car.
