Fred Goes Back to Work

“It’s at least a week early,” said Helen, “are you sure you’re up to it, Fred?”

“I’m ok, Helen. It’s not like I work on the docks... erm... I mean... I don’t, do I?” he asked uncertainly.

“Of course not, Fred,” she assured him, chuckling a little. “You’ll be sitting at a desk. I’ll tell you what ~ why don’t you come back for a few hours a day this week and we’ll see how it goes. As long as you’re up for it and you don’t overtire, I’m sure we can just sort of slowly work you back into a routine.”

“That sounds good, Helen,” he said enthusiastically. “Will this be all right with Mr. Grieves?” he asked, again uncertainly.

“Oh, it’ll be fine, Fred, no worries. So will you be coming in this afternoon, or will I look for you tomorrow?”

“I think I’ll come in after lunch, Helen, if that’s ok.”

“It’s fine, Fred. I’ll be waiting for you,” said Helen reassuringly.

So it was settled. It was Monday morning and Fred had to get ready to go back to work. He had already tidied up the apartment a bit and had done at least some of the dishes while waiting for it to be past 9 o’clock so he could call Helen. Now he had to get himself cleaned up. He headed for his bedroom to get his suit out of the closet. The bedroom didn’t smell too good. Some of the scraps of food on the dirty dishes on his floor were starting to grow things, so he decided to clean up a bit and change his bed before heading to the bathroom.

Myrtle was still thinking about her weekend at the farm as she pulled out her work folder. She no sooner got started at some typing when Dick walked into her office clearly fretful about something.

“Something?” she asked.

“Pelham is suing for wrongful dismissal, just as he threatened to do,” whined Dick.

Myrtle shrugged. “He doesn’t have a leg to stand on, Dick. Really, he wasn’t dismissed out of hand without a hearing, and you have a bunch of witnesses to his terrible behaviour in this office...”

“I know, I know, but he’s claiming his course is being taught by unqualified instructors. He may have something on us.”

“No, I don’t think so, Dick,” said Myrtle soothingly. “He’s the one who left us in the lurch by not showing up for his classes. The current arrangement was a way to deal with that emergency, and it’s temporary. Also, the young men are not ‘instructors.’ They were not hired as instructors, and are not being paid as such. They are ‘teaching assistants’ working under your direction. And you, Dick, are a tenured professor.” Myrtle smiled.

Dick stood a little taller and looked more resolute. “You’re right,” he said. “No one can question my qualifications. I’ve even taught that course before. It was a while back, but still....” Obviously satisfied with Myrtle’s argument, he nodded and headed back to his office.

A little while later, the Dean strolled by, giving Myrtle only a glance as he passed. He was in Dick’s office for about half an hour. When he walked by the other way, he didn’t even glance Myrtle’s way. She wondered how Dick was doing, but he didn’t come fretting back into her office, so she thought everything must be all right for now.

Fred was shaving. He had already showered and when he was done cleaning what was now a beard off his face, he took a critical look in the mirror. Better, he thought. Except for the dark circles under his eyes, he looked his old self. He wisely decided to have lunch in his skivvies before getting dressed for work. He found a can of tuna in his pantry and decided to have tuna salad on the last English muffin. While he ate, he made himself a shopping list for later. Milk, bread, peanut butter and eggs topped the list, and he also added English muffins, since it turned out they were not only good with peanut butter, but with tuna as well.

Fred really wasn’t sure what to expect at work. He felt better after talking with Helen, but still harboured a very disquieting feeling from Mr. Grieves’ visit in the hospital. At least he knew he wasn’t demoted to the docks. He wondered if he should go to his office, or report to Helen. He decided on the latter. After all, if there was someone else sitting at his desk, he wouldn’t have a clue what to say.

It was a good decision. Helen was expecting him and took him straight away to a conference room where there was a computer, a printer, a flip chart and some papers on the large table.

“Fred, we need someone to sort out some data for us and I wondered if maybe you weren’t the man for the job,” she said gently.

“I’m...I’m not a shipping clerk anymore,” stammered Fred.

“Well, we weren’t expecting you back yet, Fred, and there’s another fellow filling in for you. Anyway, as I said, we really need some help with this and wondered if you’d give it a try.”

“Sure... of course,” said Fred uncertainly.