Making It Up As I Go Along #293

MONDAY...
— Craziness at work... I go in with a couple of slices of pizza for supper... put it in the fridge... and at supper time, I look and find one slice left. Who takes other people’s pizza?

TUESDAY...
— Crazy times at work. The day after someone steals a slice of my pizza, I go in today to hear that dozens of cars have tires punctured in the parking lot. Someone going around with a knife it seems.
— First snow for me to see this winter. Just a few minutes of it at shift change. I run in to Laura on my way to AFIS and she said “did you bring your snowmobile?” I didn’t know what she was talking about... ten minutes earlier, I walked in with no threat of snow. Nuts.
— Thai food for supper with Jon and Trevor tonight.

WEDNESDAY...
— Work is alright... nothing out of the ordinary really. It’s pretty cold though, hovering around zero today. I still do an hour a ten minute walk late... and come back pretty frosty.

THURSDAY...
— Work is fine... Ruby and Lee pop by the office in the evening to get my key to the house. I didn’t know they were coming tonight so it’s quite the surprise... but the weekend should be nice with them around.

FRIDAY...
— Lunch with Ruby and Lee. Some hanging around with them as well. Work is alright but a longish night.
— Lined up for my promotion interview... next Friday is the day.

SATURDAY...
— Some shopping with Ruby and Lee. Jan and Melissa come over with Melissa’s nephew and we have spaghetti for supper. Hockey and some movies in the night.


Surprise!
A week of surprises. Lots of things going on and popping up this week. It begins on Monday.

I bring in a couple of slices of pizza Monday for supper. Some of the good stuff from Louis’. I got a pizza there Sunday after doing some work.

Having a good supper waiting in the fridge is a nice thing. Too often, I go to work on evening shift and bring a crumby sandwich that I’d rather not eat. But not this time... this time, it’ll be a pleasure come six o’clock.

Six comes and so does a surprise. I open the fridge and take out my ziploc bag of pizza... and it looks smaller. I only see one slice. I flip the bag over in my hand a few times, trying to get the second slice to come out of hiding. Yes it’s a clear bag and it would be hard for one slice to disappear behind a second... but I’m desperate to find my pizza.

Alas, it is not there. Someone else came to the fridge, opened my ziploc, and took a slice of pizza. A high level of class is what it takes for this to occur. I picture James Bond on a top secret mission, pacing through a kitchen with much stealth, and his gun ready to fire. He stops, opens the fridge, and proceeds to grab an enemy spy’s pizza.

On Tuesday, another surprise awaits me. I come in and it’s cool outside, but nothing too bad. I discuss the pizza affair with Megan... we leave a sign for the thief on a bottle of mustard... and then I head in to AFIS to prepare for the day’s work.

On the way in, Laura is coming out... getting ready to head home for the day. “I hope you brought a snowmobile.” She says. I’m confused. I have no idea what she’s talking about. Until I get to the window.

In the fifteen minutes between my arrival and now, the heavens opened up and the ice it poured down.

It’s a very wet, icy snow. The concrete outside the lobby is coated in white and people scamper to get away to their cars, or into the sanctuary of the building. I stand in AFIS, stunned. Winter is here and I’m not prepared for it... not mentally anyway. It crushes my spirit.

Thursday comes with another shock. I’m working away in AFIS, it’s now dark outside so those people who come and go are mere shadows as they pass.

One of the shadows suddenly comes into focus as it raps on the window. I blink twice as I see the image of my uncle Lee.

Earlier in the week, I expect them to come. House guests for a few days in the middle of the week. But a few days ago, an e-mail tells me of their delay and I hear nothing more. I assume they’re bypassing Ottawa on their journey now.

But here they are, and house guests I will have after all.

The last surprise of the week comes on Friday. It’s sort of an expected surprise though. I get to work and check my e-mail, and there’s the message I’ve been looking for the last several weeks. My promotion interview is coming in a week. The messages glares up at me in my inbox, even before I open it. So when others will be gearing down next Friday, getting ready for the weekend, I’ve got to wind it up... slip on the tie... and sit under the hot lights of interrogation. Perhaps they’ll ask me about my pizza.