The Last Stop

“EXCUSE ME SIR!” I yelled. “SIR!” “HEY! YOU WITH THE GREEN SWEATER!!” He must be in quite a rush or in his own world not to be able to hear me screaming as loud as I am. He’s in such haste; he dropped his small black notebook. Man, I really need to start working out. He’s going way too fast for me to catch up and I’m breaking a sweat. “SIR?????” I give up. I can’t catch him and I have to get to work before I’m late.

Train horn blares and the dinging of the doors closing

“Whew!” I just made my train. Good thing too. I do not want to hear Mr. Johnson’s mouth today. I’m just not in the mood. It feels good to sit. All that running wore me out. I pull out the small black notebook that Usain Bold dropped and begin to skim through it. There seems to be a name and some instructions. I could tell there were pages torn from the book. Interesting. I wonder if this is where he was going? Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have the book and it looks like he’s going to need it. If only I could do it, I would. It’s way better than having to deal with Mr. Johnson.

A voice booms over the intercom of the train

“Ladies and gentlemen….sorry for the inconvenience but we are experiencing a delay due to another train behind in their departure. We can’t get into the station until they move out. It shouldn’t take too long and we’ll be on our way shortly.” Oh, no! I’m going to be late getting to work now. Mr. Johnson is not going to be pleased and I can’t call him because my phone doesn’t have service since I’m on the train. Man, this day is already getting off to a rough start.

Thirty minutes goes by and we’re finally on our way. Yeah, I’m late for sure. As I step off the train, I make a run for it to my office. I make it in only to find Mr. Johnson standing next to the door of my office. It’s as if he didn’t want to miss catching me come in.

“Hello there Ms. Taylor. Glad you could join us today.”

“I’m so sor……”

“Uh uh! I don’t want to hear any excuses. You’ve been late twice now in the past two weeks.”

“That’s not really a lot Mr. Johnson and besides, it’s not my fault. The train was delayed and we were sitting for thirty minutes.”

“Well, that’s not my fault is it? Perhaps you need to invest in a car so that you don’t have to rely on public transportation. That way you can get here on time. We were waiting on you so that we could start our meeting. Conference room everyone….NOW!

“I CAN’T STAND HIM!!”

“Don’t let him get to you Nikki. Everyone knows he’s an ass.”

"I know, Lacy. I wish I could just tell him where to go and how fast to get there. Twice in two weeks is not a lot. He just wants to be difficult. Besides, I can’t control the train.”

“Of course you can’t. Why don’t you try talking to him after the meeting?”

“What good would that do? He doesn’t listen to anyone.”

“Well, then maybe you’ll have to go to HR and speak to them.”

“Yeah, that’s an idea. But it could backfire. Once they speak to him, he may make my existence in this office even more unbearable than it already is. Let’s get to this meeting before he really goes off the deep end.”

Mr. Johnson is rambling as he always does in these meetings. My mind is totally not here. I’m already looking forward to 4:30. He is boring me to death and my eyes are getting heavy. What am I going to eat for dinner? Did I turn my curling iron off? Oh goodness, I hope so! Yeah, I believe I did. Mmmm, I need to get those shoes I saw online the other day. I hope they have them in my si.....

“So, what are your thoughts on that plan Ms. Taylor?”

OH DAMN!! I have no idea what he was talking about!! “Ummmm, yeah, I think that is a fine plan Mr. Johnson. I wholeheartedly agree with you.”

“I’m glad to hear that. What do you think should be our first course of action?”

SHIT!!! I don’t know. Perhaps getting the stick out of his ass? That would be a wonderful first step.

“Ms. Taylor? Cat got your tongue?”

“No, Mr. Johnson. Actually, I don’t know what the first course of action should be.”

“I know you don’t because you weren’t listening. You show up late and then you don’t have the decency to be attentive in this meeting. Did you intend on working at all today?”

“Of course.”

“I can’t tell. Why don’t you just go home for the rest of the day since you’re not actually working?”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking? Good day Ms. Taylor. Why don’t you join us first thing on Monday morning with an intention to actually work? Oh and please don’t be late.”

I look at Lacy and before I can stop myself, the words jump out of my mouth as if they were being held hostage. “You know something Mr. Johnson? I don’t think I’ll want to work on Monday any more than I want to now. You’re an ass and I quit!"

“EXCUSE ME???”

“You heard me. You get pleasure out of disrespecting others and giving them a hard time. I’ve had enough. So, I’m out! Good day Mr. Johnson” I say sarcastically.

Lacy and everyone else’s eyes were wide and jaws dropped. No one had ever dared speak to him that way. Well, there’s a first for everything. It sure did feel amazing. I gather my things in a box and head to the train. Just as I look into my bag, I see that small black notebook. I open it and see the address. The deadline is midnight. I have more than enough time to drop my things off at home and then go from there. I wonder what is at the end of all this?

Reading the next set of instructions

“Go to Gerry’s at the corner of Fleet Street and Roland Avenue. Ask for Lynn and tell her “My eye is on the prize.” That’s weird to say. Well, Gerry’s it is! I make my way there still wondering what I’m getting myself into. I’m feeling a bit nervous at the thought of the unexpected. As I walk into Gerry’s, the place is filled with people drinking and having a good time. There’s someone singing, “I’m Your Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston. Well, I can’t say she’s really singing it, more like howling.

I make my way to the bar and there’s a short, blonde haired fellow serving drinks. I ask for Lynn and he yells for her to come over. Lynn is beautiful. She has tattoos and her hair in a pixie cut. She smiles as she walks over to me. I return the smile and say, “My eye is on the prize.” She replies, “Cool!” She hands me a shot of tequila and a list of songs. She then says, “In order to get that prize, pick one of these songs, go on stage and sing it. If the crowd loves you, you get the prize. If not, well, you don’t.” My heart just dropped into my stomach. “What? I have to sing? Up there?” “Yes ma’am you do! Make it good! She says with a laugh.

I check out the list and see a fave of mine “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith. I take that shot to the head and make my way to the stage. They cue the music and I start to sing. I feel like a deer in headlights. Everyone is just staring at me. I begin to sing and give it my all. The knots in my stomach are unreal and as I’m singing, no one is giving any indication that they like my performance. I close my eyes as if it protects me in some way.

I get to the end of the song and for a moment….nothing. Then, one applause turns into a few and then a roar of applause. It makes me feel good and I look over to Lynn. She’s even clapping and whistling. I hop down off the stage and go over to her. She takes me to her office in the back and says, “Well done. I wasn’t sure if you were going to pull it off.” She pulls out a box and tells me this is the prize. I open it up and it’s cash. I ask, “How much is it?” She says “$20,000.” I looked in utter surprise and say to her “$20,000 just for singing a song?” She replies, “What do you mean? This is the last stop of the race. I’d say going through all the things in the race was worth $20,000.” I give a nervous chuckle and agree with her. She looks at me with suspicion and says “Wait, you did complete all of the challenges didn’t you?”

At that point, I just come clean. “No, I didn’t.” I begin to tell her the story of how my day started. How the man dropped the book and me finding it. What I went through with my jerk of boss and me quitting my job. She just stares at me. At that moment I began to feel like I should have just taken the money and kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to lie though. Especially after her seeing my reaction. Lynn proceeds to tell me, “Hey, go on ahead and take it. The guy who lost the black book never showed and you completed the last task. You’ll need this especially since you’re now unemployed. "Thank you Lynn. By the way, I'm Nikki." "A pleasure to meet you Nikki" she says. She tells me to come back out, have another drink and celebrate my win. I do just that and even entertain the thought of doing another song. Hey, why not?