13 The Man in Black
Jason was feeling very troubled Wednesday morning. It was another busy night at the Bums-Bums club. After he finally got home it was nearly two o'clock. He fell asleep almost instantly, but awoke once again soaked from his recurring nightmare just after four.
Even Robert could not lighten his spirit. He made an excuse of having a headache.
He had the weirdest feeling as if someone was watching him, even at work, he could not shake the strange feeling.
Jason was searching in the dimly lit shoes store room under the stairs for a pair of running shoes. There was a weird humming noise that made him look up. He frowned and listened closely. Silence filled the room. He shook his head and continued searching for the correct box.
The room was not very big but the tightly fitted shelves made it nearly impossible to see the whole room all at once.
Then he heard a rustle. Jason cast an eye through the opening on the shelves. In the shadow of the doorway, he saw a man with dark shoulder length hair dressed in black clothes. He could not see his face clearly. The man just stood there, hands behind his back.
"Hey buddy you're not allowed in here, staff only. If you give me a minute I'll be right out." He attempted to sound welcoming but failed miserably. The stranger made no attempt to leave. Jason sighed. He was not in the mood for difficult customers. He was tired. The lack of sleep and late hours at the club was beginning to show.
"Hey buddy, is there something I can help you with?" he asked the stranger, but he received no reply. He shook his head and walked around the packed shelve.
His glaze returned to where the stranger had stood but there was no sign of the man. He walked to the door and looked around.
"Where did he go?" he asked aloud.
"Who are you looking for Mr. Smith?" Jason visibly recoiled when he heard the voice behind him. He quickly pasted a smile on his face and turned to face Alice and Anne Philips standing right behind Alice busy taking notes as they were walking.
"No one."
She looked at him with her soul piercing eyes clearly not trusting a single word he was saying.
I just thought I saw someone at the door, but I must have been mistaken."
"Are you using drugs Mr. Smith?" she asked with a dull voice and her scrutinizing eyes watching his every move.
Jason pretended to look shocked. "Me Mrs Jones? O NO! I would never dream of doing anything so foolish, Mrs. Jones No never ever." Alice rolled her eyes at his clearly over exaggerated answer.
"Don't take me for a fool Jason Smith. I know what you young people get up too at night. And I have got my eye on you. You've been acting very strangely the last week or so."
"I'm fine Mrs. Jones? No strangeness here." Jason replied playfully.
She grunted "Say what you want, but know this, just because you are the best salesman on the floor doesn't mean that you cannot be replaced."
Jason jumped to attention saluting her "Yes madam! Thank you madam!"
Alice made another grunting noise and stormed off.
Jason chuckled to himself and then looked into a pair of disapproving eyes. Anne shook her head. "Jason, you could at least pretend to respect her." Anne's voice was very soft.
Jason pulled up his shoulders "Why? I know she can't stand the site of me. She is just looking for an excuse to get rid of me. It's just a question of time." He smiled "So why pretend?"
"Anne!" Alice's voice stopped Anne's from answering "I don't have all day!"
She gave Jason a worried look and then ran off to catch up to Alice.
- o 0 o -
Later the same day, while helping a young woman to decide what to buy her son for his camping trip, a dark figure in the corner of his eye at the end of the row stole Jason's attention.
He involuntarily turned in the direction of the man dressed in black stood. He recognized the man as the man from early that morning. The woman continued talking about how outrageous the idea was off having to buy all the equipment for just one weekend. She was sure that it was just a waste of money and that her son would never go camping again.
Jason was mesmerized by the stranger in black staring at him and without a word he started walking towards the man completely ignoring his client's monolog.
He did not even hear when she called after him. He just continued walking towards the man as if an invisible force was moving him. As he neared the man, Ben bumped into him caring a large box of golf balls. The balls went flying through the air. Jason lost his balance tripped and fell over the box.
He quickly jumped up and looked at the spot where the stranger had stood. The man had vanished as before. He turned back to Ben, his face livid, his teeth clenched together. "Can't you look where you're going?" He shouted at Ben, who was attempting to get up of the floor. "Look at this mess!" He continued shouting with an unjust anger raging inside him.
Ben looked shocked at Jason's reaction. "Sorry Jason I didn't see you." Ben replied with a look of dismay.
"Clean it up!" Jason boorishly continued as if Ben had not spoken.
He turned back to where the man in black had stood and ran down the aisle in search of the stranger. Ben could only stare after him as he disappeared around the corner.
Jason searched in vain, for the stranger had departed once again without a trace. Disappointed and reluctantly he returned to his client with a flimsy excuse about urgently having to report a suspicious character in the store to the security.
Jason continued to look for the stranger the rest of the day without any success.
He walked through the store seemingly in a daze ignoring people who spoke to him.
Jason was so preoccupied with who the stranger was and what his connection with this man was. As he walked into the tearoom slamming the door open with such force that its hinges cried out. He stopped and looked at the door for a moment before he realized that it was not the door that had cried out but Brian. He was lying on the floor clutching his face with both hands.
The stranger forgotten as he knelt down to ascertain the damage he had inflicted on the poor scrawny accountant.
"Shit man I'm sorry, didn't see you there. Are you alright?" He attempted to pull Brian's hands from his face. But Brian was still rolling around in agony.
"Hold still, let me see!" he finally said somewhat irritated with Brian. "Hold still; come on Brian it can't be that bad." He insisted.
Jason hardly notices the two cashier girls, the one cleaner and Walter in the tearoom that had rushed over. Finally Brian seized his squirming and released his face and looked up at his assailant.
Jason instantly felt remorse when he saw the already swollen blue bump the size of an egg on Brian's brow. He looked up at the bystanders. "Someone bring him an icepack or something." The one girl hurried off to find an icepack for Brian.
Jason got to his feet. "I'm really sorry Brian." and held a hand out to Brian to help him up. Brian hesitated for a second and then allowed his huge friend to pull him up.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's not like you did it on purpose." Brian said as he sat down at a table nearest to him. His legs still feeling shaky after the blow.
"What where you doing behind the door anyway?" Jason asked as the young girl returned and handed Brian an icepack. "Nothing. I was just …" Brian began but Walter interrupted. "He was hiding from Alice. That woman is on the warpath today." Walter informed him. "I would stay out of her way if I was you, Jason. Brian already run-in with her today, and got a written warning."
"What? What did you do?" Jason demanded from Brian.
"She said I messed up, I didn't pay one of the accounts on time, and now we have to pay a penalty fee." Brian reluctantly admitted giving Walter an accusing look.
"Well did you?"
"Does it matter? If Alice said you did something wrong, then you did." Brian replied still sitting with the ice pack pressed to his forehead.
"That spiteful old bitch."
"It could have been worse. She could have made me pay for it."
"Ok, but you should talk to Robert about it." Jason suggested.
Jason pulled out a chair and sat down next to Brian. He looked at Brian as if wanting to say something, stopped and turned his gaze to the bystanders.
"All right people the excitement is over. You can get back to whatever you were doing before. Scoot."
With that they quickly dispersed and Jason turned his attention back to Brian. "So bud I was thinking what you need is a night out on the town with me. That is if you feel up to it."
Brian's whole demeanor changed instantly.
