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Tales of Akron
Chapter 19
by Dard Hansen
[In Chapter 18, Mike and Dan took a day off from work. They had
breakfast at Angel Falls, shopped at WestHill Hardware and saw
"Lips Together, Teeth Apart" at Weathervane Community
Playhouse.]
The alarm sounded, Mike adjusted the clock radio and WCLV
played quiet classical music. Mike and Dan hugged each other
into awareness, while Rebecca Fischer, the WCLV announcer
reported that the weather would again be unseasonably warm.
Gordon Thomas, the traffic reporter, said that nothing was
happening on the highways, yet.
Dan caressed Mike and, suddenly, both were aroused.
"Whoa," laughed Mike. "I can't make love this morning. I
have to be at work by 7:45. I have an 8 a.m. meeting. Can we put
this on hold until tonight?"
Dan pretended to be upset, "Tonight, after dinner, when
we're tired?"
"Ok, how about before dinner?"
"You got a date," said Dan, leaping from the bed.
Within an hour, each man was on his way to work. Mike walked
into his office on Main Street, looked at his watch and said to
himself, "7:44 a.m., one minute early. " He went to the break
room, poured a cup of coffee and walked to his office.
He looked out the window at the sunny day and could see the
trees bouncing around in the wind. He sat at his desk and found
on top of his in-box a memo from the president of the company,
Horace Hardstone, the memo simply said, "I want to see you when
you come in."
Mike was always tense around Horace Hardstone. "Hardstone is
tough, rough and tough," he told Dan when describing Hardstone.
"He intimidates me. I'm scared. It's like being called into the
principal's office. I feel guilty and I haven't done anything."
Mike called Hardstone's secretary and asked for an
appointment.
"Oh, Mr. Hardstone is in now. He can see you in fifteen
minutes," Penny said. Office gossip said that Hardstone divorced
his wife to marry Penny. He and Penny had never dated. Hardstone
made demands and for some reason everyone met his demands.
Except Penny. She laughed at Hardstone and said, "Get serious. I
don't date people at the place where I work. You're way out of
line."
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