Get Your Glow On
Short fiction
Henry waited for Lyle at his cubicle while he locked his drawers. There had been a few petty thefts in the Statistics Canada building in the last month and no one was taking any chances.
They had started together twenty years ago in Data Collection. Henry went to IT in the eighties and Lyle pursued a path in Economic Research
Rhys found a table in the cafeteria next to Henry and Lyle and took his seat. He looked over until he got eye contact with both men.
“Guys, did I tell you I saw Frank Caldwell?” Rhys asked.
“Really! Where?!” Lyle asked with wide-eyed curiosity.
“He was at Greyhounds Pub. He had an entourage of seven or eight people.”
“Who was in this entourage?” asked Henry.
“I didn’t recognize anyone, but they were treating Frank like a VIP.”
“Really?”
“There was lots of hullabaloo around him. Everyone stopped talking when he walked in, trying to figure out who he was.
Henry took a sip of his juice. Lyle put some pepper in his soup.
“He was wearing a white suit with a white fedora. He ordered drinks for everyone in his entourage and then a round for the whole bar.”
“Wow. He must have been flush.”
“He was. We overheard him talking about a trifecta at three hundred to one odds. I guess he had a good day at the track.”
Rhys waited for a sign of interest before he continued.
“OK.”
“People were starting to gather around him … thanking him for their drinks and asking him who he was. So, he signals to someone in his entourage and asks him to call for a limo.”
“Sounds like Frank.”
“Then gets up on his chair and starts throwing bills around. People started going nuts after this money. He starts screaming “Who wants to really party around here!? I’m buyin’!” People start whooping and hollering.”
“Wild…then what?”
“The crowd around him kept getting bigger, feeding off his energy.
He stood up on his chair toasting everyone. Up there in his white suit, it was like he was radioactive. He had this glow about him.
The limo pulls up outside and he goes into the trunk and it’s filled with champagne.
Everyone follows him out on the sidewalk and he’s ranting and raving about painting the town.
He starts pouring champagne for everyone.
Then the women started coming out of the woodwork, flocking to him.
No one really knows who Frank is, only that they want to be around him.
So he fits as many people in to the limo as he can and off they go.”
“Where did they go?”
“We went back in the pub and someone called the bar tender from the limo. He took everyone to the casino.”
“Did you ever hear of him since then?”
The enthusiasm left Rhys’ voice suddenly. “I went by the landing near the liquor store on Albert and I saw him. He was sitting on the brick courtyard near the garden wall.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“I walked up to him. He was wearing the same suit except it looked like it had been slept in for a few days. I could tell that he had been crying. He didn’t look too good.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Honestly, I didn’t go up to him. I felt like I had walked in on something I wasn’t supposed to see.”
“Any word of him since then?”
“No.” Rhys looked at his watch and mumbled something about a meeting to go to then left.
Henry paused pensively then went back to his sandwich. Lyle looked away as he spooned his soup. They digested the story for a few minutes. The excitement had to die down before they could effectively return to their lunch.
“Frank actually worked in our call center once. Can you believe that?”
“No. That is something I cannot even visualize for a second.”
“I tried to help him get onto the government payroll. I thought it would give him some stability.”
“And?”
“It was a gross miscalculation on my part. As you might imagine, the cubicle farm was not made to hold people like him. He took to clowning soon after he got bored which took about a week.”
“Those people are pretty anal up on that floor.”
“He managed to find a free-spirited girl up there who gave way to his charms during lunch breaks.”
“Where did they consummate their relationship?”
“In the supply room.”
They both chuckled silently.
“He was a charmer. Never boring was he?”
“No. They loved him up there too. The guys took wagers to see how long he’d last. Everyone was amazed at how one guy could care so little.”
“Especially with everyone in this town clamoring to get into the government.”
“Did I tell you he and I were roommates once?”
“No!”
“It lasted about a month. It was all I could take.”
“I can only imagine.”
“He kept bring home these freaks…street people.”
“You were brave to even attempt that arrangement.”
“I told him I wasn’t comfortable with the company he kept. He didn’t like it. He put me up against the wall and said “these people are living every day likes it’s their last and you… you’re dead! You’re in denial…we’re all going to die one day.”
Lyle shook his head. “I’ll never forget that weekend in Montreal.”
“No. Me neither. When you travelled with him it was balls out. You were either going to take over the town or get killed.”
“But I have to admit it. Nothing else ever came close to topping that in my life.”
“No. I feel the same way. I didn’t want to come home, ever.”
Lyle and Henry gave each other a knowing look of resignation.
Frank’s aura hung in the air as if there was another chapter waiting to be told.
An unspoken shame quieted them. They hesitated as if resuming the predictability of their days was now suspect.
They looked at the elevator.
“I guess we have to go back up, don’t we?”
“I suppose so.”