walking papers alone in a place like this

She dead-eyes the HR reps from her seat at the front, too pissed off to listen, then sends emails hours later requesting clarification about what the hell she’s supposed to do about her pension. After she gets her official letter, she has to go to meetings where counselors give out leaflets on grief. The people who are staying are, on average, angrier than those who will be leaving. The departmental mood swings adolescently from anger to depression and back, taking everyone with it. No one can be bothered to work, standing in wilted clumps around the office, turning heads like deer at passersby. It’s probably the union that’s responsible for that. He turned without a word and left the wheelhouse.Walking papers Honourable mention, creative writing contest (fiction)īy Violet Gartner 11 min read Share Illustration credit: padlaversusmoij via Flickrįor whatever reason, city hall gives Kelly’s department four months’ notice before the layoffs. Then slowly his hands relaxed as he realized any further argument with Worley was a waste of breath. The steaming light, suspended between the two forward masts that formed a support for the skeletal grid connecting the coaling derricks, cast a weird glow that was reflected by the eerie radiance of the approaching swells.Ĭhurch hesitated, his fists clenched. They made their way topside and walked along the runway leading from the aft deckhouses toward the forecastle, passing under the bridge superstructure awkwardly suspended on steel stiltlike stanchions. If Church thought the request unusual, he said nothing, simply nodded and started off toward the forward part of the ship with the fat little consul general huffing in his wake. He stepped from the cabin and closed the door behind him, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.Something I can help you with, Lieutenant. Gottschalk turned and noticed Church standing in the passageway. I hope to spend the rest of my State Department service in Washington. No, I sent her on ahead to our home in Maryland. Mother of God, muttered the helmsman, his voice edged with panic. I can never sleep more than a few hours at a stretch. Thank you, said Gottschalk.I need something from one of my trunks.Ī faint expression of relief passed over the consul general's face and he smiled.Might as well. He made his way aft and saw that the steam lines that ran the winches and auxiliary equipment were scraping against the bulwarks as the ship rose and fell with the long, slow swells.īefore we have coffee, would you be so kind, Lieutenant, as to escort me to the baggage cargo hold?ĭon't you see, she must have been struck by a giant, rogue wave. The waves had diminished to ten feet and no water was coming over the deck. He stepped onto the deck and stared out over the bow. His eyes darted up and down the passageway, and he constantly dabbed a linen handkerchief at his small mouth. Gottschalk appeared unduly nervous to Church. Almost immediately, the mooring lines were cast off and the ship got under way and was heading out to sea through the harbor entrance. Then he greeted Gottschalk and escorted him to his quarters. As if on cue, Worley appeared and personally supervised the battening down of the hatch. He gazed anxiously as a large oblong crate was hoisted in the air by one of the ship's loading booms and swung into the forward cargo compartment. I don't want to see your face until we reach port. I was just finishing an inspection of the ship and heading for the wardroom for a cup of coffee. His narrow eyebrows very nearly matched his clipped moustache.Ĭhurch, sir. He wore his silver-yellow hair cropped excessively short, Prussian style. Despite his short, rotund, and almost comical frame, he radiated that indefinable air of someone accustomed to the upper rungs of authority. Then he looked up, taking in every detail of the Cyclops from her ungainly straight-up-and-down bow to the graceful curve of her champagne-glass stern. The consul general had stepped out of a chauffeur-driven town car and directed the loading of his steamer trunks and suitcases. Though the person on the stretcher was obviously part of his entourage, Gottschalk took little notice, turning his attention instead to the chain-drive Mack truck that brought up the rear.Īs officer of the deck before the ship departed Rio de Janeiro, Church had observed a motor caravan arrive on the dock. Church watched as a figure on a stretcher was lifted out and carried on board, but he failed to discern any features because of heavy mosquito netting that covered the face. The second vehicle in the caravan was an ambulance.

Walking papers alone in a place like this