Take The Day

Roger Thorne returned from a meeting and went straight to his office. His secretary, Hillary, was surprised when he told her to cancel the rest of his day. He had important business to attend to and then sequestered himself in his office. It wasn’t like Roger, but as the boss, nobody questioned a change like that.

Sitting at his desk, Roger combed through screen after screen, making notes as he studied each page with great interest. He wasn’t ready to tackle such a daunting prospect, but knew he had to learn everything he could to deal with it. It was going to require a special project and consideration for his staff. This would affect them as much as anybody in the executive offices or the board.

First, Roger called his wife and talked to her for a while. He was going to be coming home earlier than normal. Normally, in the middle of an important business deal, Roger would stay in one of the offices apartment suites. There were usually eight or nine unoccupied suites, with only a select few of the executives living in them. Today, Roger was planning on leaving the office and being home to have dinner with his family, he promised his wife.

“Kiss the kids for me, and I love you.”

Roger now had a decision to make. What to do with his staff. It could either be business as usual, or it could be his chance to do right by them. He knew what he should do, and in Roger’s mind, it had to be that way. It wasn’t only the best thing he could give his staff, but it was the right thing.

Roger started with Hillary. He thought about calling his thirty-year-old assistant into his office and sharing his idea with her. Instead, he went to her. Roger turned to the windows overlooking the city. He poured a drink, sat back in his chair, and enjoyed the view from the fortieth floor. It was as beautiful as ever.

He left his drink on his desk and went to see Hillary. Walking out of his office after being sequestered for hours, Roger approached Hillary and took a deep breath.

“What’s up, boss?”

“Hillary, you’re indispensable. You know that, right? I want you to know that I realize I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am without you in my corner,” admitted Roger.

“Thank you!” she replied, sort of excited by the praise.

He sat on the edge of her desk; much the way he’d seen older managers do when they were putting the moves on a young assistant or secretary. He wasn’t going to hit on her. He was about to give her the day off.

“Tomorrow, I want you to take the day. Go have some fun. Do something you want to do more than anything,” he told her, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a stack of cash.

“What’s this?” asked his assistant as he handed it to her.

“That’s a token of my appreciation. Call it a well earned bonus,” he said with a smile as she slowly took the ten thousand dollars from him.

Roger smiled as Hillary hugged him tightly. She thanked him repeatedly, admitting that she felt like she needed a vacation. Since tomorrow was Friday, she was going to take her son to Adventureland, and they were going to spend a couple of days there.

“That sounds great,” he told her. “You two should spend the entire weekend having the best time you can. Make a memory that will last.”

Roger excused himself and went back into his office. He grabbed his gym bag out of the closet, emptied it on his desk, and went over to the safe behind his liquor cabinet. After pressing a button, the cabinet slid to the side. Roger put his palm against the safe and then pressed a four-digit combination on the keypad. The safe popped open and revealed all the money he’d stashed there, his passport, an extra passport under an alias, and two identification cards that cost him fifty thousand dollars. He emptied half the cash into his gym bag, filling it with as much as it would carry.

Roger walked by Hillary as he left his office. He told her he was going to take care of a few more things and then head home. Roger smiled at her, telling her to go home and surprise her son.

“Take the day, Hillary. Starting today,” he ordered.

Well, that was easier than I thought, thought Roger as he left his office. He was off to see Hank Therman. Telling Hank that he wasn’t going to need to come to work tomorrow was going to be tough. Hank had been with the company for thirty years and had never missed a day of work and barely took vacations. He was their most dedicated employee and always remembered to say hello and wish Hank a happy birthday on his birthday. Old Hank even knew his birthday when it was on a weekend. He’d say it to Roger at the end of the day on the Friday before.

Finding Hank at work was an easy task. Roger needed to look Hank in the eye and tell him not to come to work, to go and have some fun. He didn’t know if Hank had it in him to have fun outside of doing his job and being around his wife. They were the cutest old couple, Hank and Doris. Roger had something special in mind for them.

When Roger entered the maintenance office, Hank was sitting and drinking a cup of coffee. Roger asked the two other gentlemen to let he and Hank have the room. As they got up to leave, he handed them both an envelope full of cash.

“You guys are doing a tremendous job. Take tomorrow off, go have some fun on me,” he told them.

Each man looked in the envelope and saw a stack of case. It was an amazing amount of money to be handed, and they were shocked by what Roger was saying.

“Are we getting fired?” one of them asked.

Roger thought of a response quickly. “No, we couldn’t keep this place going without you two and Hank. This is just a bonus I’m giving out to select members of our team.”

“Thank you. Thank you, sir,” the man said.

Roger looked at Hank, who sat quietly watching what was happening. He walked over and sat next to the older man. Roger had been with the company for a couple of decades. He was always around, and insanely dependable. Roger realized that was all he knew, other than he was married.

“Hank, I have one of these for you as well,” he told the old man as he handed him a hefty envelope with cash.

“What’s this for?” Hank asked.

Roger explained that it was a bonus, and that the company was handing them out to the most integral people. Hank didn’t feel integral to the company. He was a maintenance manager who liked to clean floors. He liked to see the floors shine bright, something that visitors would notice when they walked in the door.

“Hank, you’re one of the most dependable people in this organization. We want you to take the day and do something special. Take the wife on a weekend getaway. Hell, go to Disneyland.”

“Thanks, boss. I’m sure we can figure something out, if you’re sure,” relented Hank.

Roger shook hands with the old man, realizing what Hank was at heart. He was a committed old man with more of a work ethic than anyone he ever met. Roger walked away, regretting what he’d just done.

There were fifty more people that the company rewarded. There was more than enough, but the ones that were paid below 80,000 a year were the ones they wanted to make sure enjoyed the next couple of days. Cyberdyne employees that made more than that were being given a different benefit, except certain key people.

Roger went back to his office, glad to see Hillary had gone home. He walked into the office and poured a drink. Looking at his computer, the email about taking tomorrow had gone out to the remaining employees. Twenty employees, all executive levels, received the same email as the key members of the scientific teams. They were all to meet in the conference center in 48 hours.

Hank, Hillary, the rest of them, they weren’t invited. It made Roger wonder, did any of them have a chance. Were they doing them wrong? Roger slammed his drink and called his driver. He was going home to have the hardest discussion with his wife. In just 60 hours it would all come crumbling down.

On Sunday, the President would announce to the country that there was going to be an asteroid collision with Earth. It would strike the planet at 56,000 miles per hour. The asteroid is too big to stop or deflect, and there is little time to develop a mission to use nukes. At 6,700 feet in width, the asteroid impact would likely crack through the planet’s surface and leave a crater bigger than anything since the one that killed the dinosaurs.

An hour later, he sat at home with his wife and children as they ate dinner. He looked at his kids. Tomorrow, Roger will be at home.

“Hey, how about we keep the kids home tomorrow? Let’s go to the beach,” said Roger.

“Honey are you sure?” asked his wife.

Roger looked at his wife, and his two kids, and faked a smile. He’d talk to his wife after the kids went to bed. Right now, all he could think was they were taking the day to make one more great memory before having to hide during the end of the world.

“Yes, we’re taking the day,” he assured her. “You and the kids deserve it?”

Roger looked away from the table, a tear streaking down his cheek. How was he going to tell them that in just days their lives would never be the same?