Norris (part 3 of 3)

Norris

"If I fall, if I die/

Know I lived it to the fullest"

Kid Cudi from 'Pursuit of Happiness'

The man had stolen two computers, one sucker, and all were Norris’.  Though it was not

that loss that motivated her to hide behind the marble counter top of the secretary’s desk.  It was not confusion that gripped her when she reached over and pushed the gray analogue radio on.  But it was terror that sent her across the hall to hide behind four short cubicles attached to the main island of cubicles.

She heard Kid Cudi sound from the radio that she had turned on as a distraction to the intruder.  The American rapper’s music was about marijuana and his own troubled psychology.  His strained, low voice filled the dark of the office in a foreign ambiance -foreign to Norris but also her weapon and for that she liked it.

She crouched low again and the snappy cracks from her knees bending we muffled by the noise from the radio.  When she looked over to the other end she saw the dark suddenly glow with light from an office across from where she was crouched.  That’s my office, Norris realized.  She saw a dark profile of a tall man inside and she sagged back behind the flimsy cubical wall.  She felt soft thuds from the floor that indicated he was approaching the radio.

Stacy Pax makes the same sound but she has high heels on. She says she weighs 130 but she probably is 160.  Usman makes those loud sort of thuds too and he is at least 200 pounds.  So maybe this is a pretty big man.  Norris then had a thought that was as painful as it was obvious, How could you be so stupid? Once he turns off the radio he will have a clear view of you!  She did something wrong but surviving was more important than self-pity or creating a learning experience right now. 

Norris turned to look down the short alley of cubicles to where the radio sounded.  The thud of footsteps was closer now and she moved around the corner. Take what you need to survive, she thought, coaching herself into smooth confident movements. Nonetheless the low movements were slow and awkward sometimes.  She tripped on nothing. Sweat was collecting everywhere and a burst of body heat came up and out from her shirt when she quietly fell behind the next corner.  She moved up the row hoping to remain on the opposite side of her opponent. As she reached just outside of her office, where he had been, she heard Kid Cudi’s song abruptly end leaving the big office in silence.

Norris scanned her room for weapons.  She saw a small container of mace, a stapler, a lighter, pens, a metal ruler, a keyboard, and a number of small desk ornaments all of which could be thrown.  The mace would be the most effective but she risked being hurt by the spray in the enclosed area.  Then the thuds came again, growing louder. Norris’ eyes widened and she retreated.  When she got to her original alley of cubicles she turned left, away from the reception area and radio, instead of right and towards them.  She neared the emergency exit.  She slipped out hoping the alarm would sound.  When it did not she remembered that Usman disabled it so that the ground floor employees could slip out from the side entrance to smoke cigarettes.  She continued outside and around to the side facing the construction site. 

The large caterpillar trucks and machines were frozen in the dark Saturday morning.  The cold wrapped around her thin jacket.  The little warmth from the sun hit her face.  She turned finally, reaching the back and used her keys to get in through the rear emergency door.  Once the door shut she casually leaned back against it.  This door was true to its claim: ‘Emergency Exit Do not Block. Alarm will sound.’  The alarm cried out throughout the Cohort. Norris slouched, exhausted and waited for the police and fire department to arrive.

Blue Line, Clark and Lark stop. Chicago.