Fred Up the Highway

The first thing Fred did upon arrival at his office was call the therapy unit of the Upton Community Hospital to make arrangements to exchange his brace during his lunch hour. They remembered Fred and had no problem accommodating him. The appointment made, he then settled down to the task of routing a small shipment of lathe machinery parts to the tiny hamlet of Willow Creek. The requisition was marked urgent, but the shipment just wasn’t large enough to justify sending even a small truck to Willow Creek with just that one order. He pulled out his routing log to search for a regular haul which might pass near enough to the tiny town to divert. He was relieved to find one he thought would do and began scrutinizing his routing code manual for the appropriate codes to get the job done. Finally satisfied that he had all the information he required to get the lathe parts to Willow Creek, he began filling out the shipping order, remembering to print hard so that neither the loading crew nor the driver could make a mistake.
He was concentrating so much on this task that he was quite unaware of the presence in his office of Mr. Grieves, the General Manager, until a large shadow fell across his desk. Even then, he was so engrossed that he gazed up only unconsciously into the big man’s face.

"How are you today, Fred?" rumbled Mr. Grieves benevolently.

Once Fred had slowly absorbed that he was no longer alone and he was being asked a question, he offered his boss a nervous smile. "I’m ok Mr. Grieves, thank you." He cringed only slightly. Fred was ordinarily so thorough in his work that he didn’t make errors. But his one recent mistake had blossomed into a full-blown incident which continued to be a source of embarrassment to him.

"Still wearing the brace," observed the manager.

"Oh, I’m exchanging that today.. on my lunch hour... for a soft collar," explained Fred. “And I’ve made arrangements for my hernia operation too. It’s a week Friday. I made it for a Friday so I’d miss as little work as possible, Mr. Grieves. I’m afraid I’ll still probably have to be away for a couple of weeks following." He offered an apologetic simper.

"That’s all right, my boy," boomed Mr. Grieves. "I know your mistake won’t be repeated."

"No sir," agreed Fred enthusiastically. "I’ve learned my lesson. I just felt so bad about the loading crew having to load that extra shipment because of my mistake... but I’ll never try to help them again, Mr. Grieves."

"Good boy!" nodded the manager approvingly.

Fred was actually very relieved and grateful for the way Mr. Grieves had taken the whole thing. Once the manager had determined the error wouldn’t cost much overtime for the loading crew and that the contents of the crate involved were just fine, he had been very understanding and helpful. Even before that, when two burly loading dock workers had returned a bent over, surprised and very stiff Fred to his office between them, it was Mr. Grieves who’d cleared off his desk so they could set him down.

"Well, I’m glad to hear you’re getting better, Fred," continued Mr. Grieves. "And I hope the operation comes off without a hitch for you." Then, with a perfunctory little wave the manager turned and strode from the office leaving a dazed Fred gaping at the doorway.

Until that moment he hadn’t been the slightest bit worried about the operation. The doctor had said it would be a breeze. It was a simple procedure. No problem. Fred sank deeper into his neck brace and stared at the door through glazed eyes. He would have to speak to the doctor again to find out what risks were really involved. But then he wasn’t at all sure he wanted to know. It wasn’t as if he was prepared to go through life with a hernia if he didn’t like the sound of the operation. He sighed deeply. Then he struggled to revert his attention to the shipping order, reminding himself that he didn’t want to make any more mistakes.

Having finally sifted through all the papers on her desk, Myrtle gleefully discarded one small stack and was about to delve into the matters of the most compelling urgency when she heard a tentative tapping at her office door. It was slightly ajar, but since her caller evidently wasn’t inclined to enter without an invitation, she got up from her chair and pulled it farther open. Fred was patiently waiting on the other side.

"Oh Fred.," she said with some surprise. "You’re sweet to come in for me. I guess I expected you’d just wait outside...."

"I did... for a little while. Are you ready to go? You look tired," he observed sympathetically, immediately wondering if he mightn’t have found a better way to put that.

Myrtle grabbed the clock from her desk and stared at it. "Oh Fred... I’m sorry! I had no idea it was so late. I guess I got kind of caught up in all this," she explained, pointing at her desk.

"That’s all right, Myrtle. I know how it is," he assured her. "But you must be about all in... I mean, it is just your first day back. You shouldn’t overdo."

"But mostly I shouldn’t have kept you waiting, Fred," she apologized again. "I’ll be right with you."

She pulled her purse from the desk drawer, replaced it with the freshly tidied stack of work, locked her desk and grabbed her sweater. "Ready," she puffed as she pulled the office door closed behind her.