The Tower
By Chris Owen
Jasper Starr and his carpool partner Matt Leto
strode into the tower as they did every workday morning. They
looked dead ahead, walked in time with each other, shot their
cuffs and each pushed one of the heavy glass doors open as they
made their grand entrance.
Then they cracked up.
"That never gets old," Matt said with
a grin as the pair veered through the lobby toward the bank
of elevators on the far right. "You had a bit of extra
oomph in your shove. Big day, huh?"
"Yep." Jasper tugged at his tie with
one hand, grinning at Mandy Smith from central accounting who
was rolling her eyes at them. "Do I look okay?"
Matt glanced at him and dodged a bit to get around
someone going against the flow of foot traffic. "You look
fine," he said. "New suit?"
"New position, new suit. I get a new one
every time I get promoted. It's a thing."
"It's a geek thing," Matt pointed out
as they made their way closer to the centerpiece of the lobby,
a rarely used glass elevator that only went to the top floor.
"Seriously, when I get promoted I buy electronics. Take
a vacation. Get drunk. You buy clothes for work?"
Jasper shrugged. "I got a new external hard
drive, too."
"You're such a geek."
"A geek with new threads and a massive amount
of storage. Not to mention, I'm now two floors above you and
my office has a door."
Matt snorted, but looked impressed. "Window?"
"Give me two years." Jasper grinned
and was about to say something about how fancy the car they'd
be coming to work in by that time would be, but his attention
was drawn to the glass elevator and the sudden quieting of voices
around them as Mr. Nero came into view, descending from the
level above them. The personal assistant to the President and
CEO stood in the middle of the circular platform, his hands
clasped in front of him, his gaze trained forward.
"Maybe after you get promoted six or seven
more times you'll be able to afford suits like his," Matt
said in a low voice.
"Ten or twelve times," Jasper corrected,
watching the elevator and its lone occupant come down. They
kept walking, as did the crowd around them, but the pace had
slowed as everyone waited to see what was going on. The elevator
was only used by Mr. Nero or the CEO, Mr. Ashwood and, other
than for rare exceptions, that always caused a buzz. Even clients
and corporate visitors used the regular elevators. "I wonder
what he's doing down here?"
"Don't know," Matt said with a shrug.
"Nothing to do with us, though. I'm sure the mail crew
will know."
Jasper nodded and looked over at the bank of elevators
they were supposed to already be at. "We're going to be
late," he pointed out. "The backlog is starting."
"Uh." Matt shook his head and peeled
himself off to the side. "I might be. Not you. Later, man."
"What?" Jasper watched him go, a little
confused, then started to follow. There was no way he was going
to be late to his desk on the first full day in his new job.
"Good morning, Mr. Starr," Mr. Nero
said, his voice cultured, smooth as caramel. He didn't even
seem to slow down as he deftly turned Jasper's direction from
the elevators and back toward the glass platform without so
much as touching him. "Please come with me." |
