“Do you want anything?”
The door to the break room was open and Kate stuck her head out into the hallway at a jaunty—she would say, although “cartoonish” would have come quicker to Liz’s mind—angle. ‘Though Liz attempted stealth, an errant drop of sweat had found a home under her insole and squeaked if she stepped too quickly on it. She’d been hopeful at the sight of the closed break room door and the exit beckoning and shimmering beyond, and had stepped just a hair too quickly. The wrenching creak had roused Kate’s terrible interest and here she stood, solid and undeniable.
Kate held six various bags and packages as well as Liz’s gaze. The saline and glucose crinkled and fumed in the containers. Kate blistered with anticipation. Liz froze in Kate’s halogen stare.
“Oh, I’m alright, thanks,” Liz attempted.
“Saw you didn’t make it to the party. Thought you might want to take home a bag!”
Liz gritted her teeth and smiled, sunshine oozing from her roots.
“Ha ha! Yeah. I did. I did miss that. I was going to swing by on my way out and grab something.” Liz tried to allow her gaze to dribble down to the offerings but Kate’s scrabbling eyes held her firm.
“We have salt pretzels. And Tommy over in business-leaks made jerkey—aged it a whole year packed in salt. There’s a trail mix here, peanuts, chocolates, banana, two little buttons, a couple of batteries…” Kate trailed off listing the available delights.
“I’m OK for now,” Liz tried again, dropping sugared words on Kate’s clouded ears.
“Something to get you over that hump, maybe. It’s hump day, and there’s still a couple of June’s Camel Cookies left over. Oh, and a couple of punnets of Sprite Cake casserole, but Judith made them, and she’s a little,” Kate made a gesture with her hand that Liz could not interpret.
“No, I’m fine. I just-“
“You know, O-Z-M-Pic, glug, glug, glug. But you got salt back at your desk you can add later. I got a fried mash that the Boss brought, but I think it’s just from Fry-Mash over on Community Street, because Tommy found a finger in one of the pockets, but you can have them if you want.”
“I don’t want anything, please!” Liz started to get warm under her collar.
“Well, then just a couple of these plates, Jethryn brought Jello Brickbats and bake tater bowl-soup – it’s tomato, If you got a towel you can grab one of them-“
“Nothing! I want to pass over the world and through it like a ghost, devoid of all material want and possession!” Liz immediately regretted the outburst, but Kate’s grisly smile only grew.
“Well, if you were a ghost, there’d be a little possession. Listen to me! Aren’t we kooky?!” Kate began handing pigs in packs to Liz and loaded her down completely.
When Kate dipped back into the break room, Liz seized her opportunity and shuffled away, defeated, to snack away the unproductive hours until she could perfect her escape.
| Ruth Gibbs | Reading |
| James | Production and Punchup |
| Iz | Pure Fabulous |
| Ben | &c. |