Hit me with your rhythm stick

An office joke.

That’s what it was.

They thought I’d been working too hard. And I had been. This was their way of breaking the monotony, getting me out of the office.

Ha ha.

Jenny was too busy with her seatbelt to notice me staring at her. She turned into the road and accelerated smoothly, heading back the way I had come.

OK. I’d come this far. I started the car and nosed out from under the tree, turning slowly to follow Jenny’s BMW.

As it turned out, she wasn’t going far. Up on the rise, a side-road shot off to the left. Through a boom gate, then her car turned right and climbed to the foot of the water tower that watched over the bustling metropolis.

There were only a few other cars in the vicinity. I hung back till she got out and hiked towards the tower, a backpack slung over her shoulder. Then I parked as far away as possible and hurried after her.

The water tower was a popular landmark and tourist attraction. Some of the best views in the city. But not at this time of day, in the middle of the week. The views were still there. But not the tourists.

It seemed a strange reason to take time off work. Until I remembered my own reason for not being in the office.

Maybe it was some kind of surprise party organized by the firm’s partners. An elaborate hoax to inject a shot of adventure into our dull routines. Although “elaborate” wasn’t the word. This had been planned, and staged, better than most projects our firm had managed over the years.

There was Jenny up ahead, meeting one of her co-conspirators on a flat rock close to the edge of the cliff. I wondered who it might be. Helen, from bookkeeping? One of the partners?

Jenny stepped aside and I saw the familiar grey hoodie. Of course. No wonder he knew where I worked, where I hung out after work. The details of my ex. It all made sense. The brilliance of the scheme even made up for all the stress they’d put me through.

Jenny was taking something from her backpack. Two things. The first was a slip of paper she handed to my friend in the hoodie. He looked surprised. Even before he looked at the actual paper. He stared at Jenny for a long moment before he unfolded it. Then he glanced at the paper. Took a step back. Held it closer to his face, as if trying to see it better.

When he looked up again at Jenny, that’s when she hit him with the baseball bat.

I hope this little series helped to relieve some of the boredom associated with the Corona lockdowns. If you want to read the whole short story, it will be released across all online retailers (including Amazon) on the 1st of May. Available on preorder now, for only 99c.

It’s called Book of Faces.

Till next time.

Cheers.