"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.
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Blue Line, Clark and Lark stop. Chicago. |
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