Murray's Gall

Murray was upset, but he had to admit there wasn’t much choice. Margins were slim, they were going to need to cut staff, & Corbin just wasn’t cutting it anymore. Mistakes on his reports, work not getting done, coming in late, leaving early, the number of sick days…. Murray liked the guy—everyone seemed to like the guy—& he’d done what he could to cover for him. But these past few months he’d been spiraling deeper & deeper into some dark place Murray just couldn’t understand.

And the owner/boss had finally noticed. He’d called Murray into his office uptown, ostensibly to talk about the current state of the business. But his focus had narrowed quickly on Corbin & the quality of his work. It hadn’t taken long for Murray to figure out where this was headed & he didn’t like the prospect of having to turn a friend out into the cold given the present economy.

But what really had him upset was how lightly his boss had treated the matter. “Oh, is Murray galled?” he had asked in a mocking tone, emphasizing the last bit to make it clear he was trying to make him sound like a summer flower. “If you’re too soft-hearted to break the news to him, perhaps Leah could do it. She’s been doing excellent work & is overdue for a promotion.”

Smarting from the biting sarcasm he had just endured, Murray headed back toward his office. “That’s okay,” he thought to himself. “Marigolds are tough hombres & good for what ails you.” Still, he didn’t relish what had to be done, so he didn’t exactly make haste in his returning.

He was a little relieved not to see Corbin when he first walked through the door. All the staff in the outer office were keeping their heads down, avoiding eye contact, & acting suspiciously busy, as though no one wanted to talk about whatever was going on.

“Where’s Corbin?” he asked anyway. “I need to see him in my office.”

“He headed out, I don’t know where,” Penny answered, still avoiding eye contact.

Corbin held a special place in her heart. When she first began working as their receptionist, a lot of the guys had given her a bad time over her name. “A penny for your thoughts?” gets real old after the gabillionth time hearing it, especially when they started calling the phone on her desk to ask it. Corbin was the one who had put a stop to it, reminding everyone that “Penny’s from heaven,” as he gave her a sly smile & returned to his desk.

It was corny, but she had appreciated it. And it worked. They began treating her more professionally & with respect, though she also didn’t get asked to join them for drinks after work very often. That was okay. She had a family waiting for her at home & wouldn’t have joined them anyway unless it was a special occasion.

Murray was relieved to find that he didn’t have to face Corbin right away. And with the storm that had been forecast, he might even be able to put it off another week or so. Maybe by that time the boss would have changed his mind.

Yeah, right. Not likely.

Looking around the office, he noticed another empty desk. “Where’s Leah?” he asked. Gerald gestured with his head toward the next room, then shook his head & waved his hand to indicate she shouldn’t be bothered.

“Okay then,” Murray said as he clapped his hands together & pursed his lips. “Well, since the rest of our fair community is pretty much shut down for tonight’s scheduled festivities (i.e., the blizzard), perhaps we should all go home before we find ourselves stuck here for the next week treating each other like the Donner Party.”

“What about Leah & Perry?” Penny asked.

“Oh, she’s in there with Perry,” Murray said, beginning to put a fuller picture together. As the others in the room cleared their desks & prepared to leave, Murray knelt next to Penny & asked, “Any idea what happened?”

Penny leaned in to speak more privately, “I don’t know. Corbin was talking with her, but I didn’t hear what they were saying. All of a sudden, I heard her laughing—though I swear she looked as though she was about to cry. She covered her mouth & bolted from the room. Corbin just stood there looking stunned, then turned around & left without saying a word.” Looking toward the door to the inner office, she continued, “None of us have dared go in there since.”

“How long ago did all this happen?”

“Twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago.” She turned back to Murray. “We can’t just leave them here. Shouldn’t we let them know that everyone else is going home?”

Murray thought for a moment, then said, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay until they’ve gone. I’ll make sure everything’s okay. I don’t live far from here. You go on home to your family.” Then he added a little white lie, “I’ve got some work I need to finish anyway. It’ll be okay.”

She looked him in the eye with some concern, then said, “Okay, but you’ll call if anything serious happens.” Penny had a soft spot in her heart for Murray, too. Sure, he was their boss, but he was also a human being with deep compassion & empathy. He truly cared about those who worked for him.

As others snuck by to slip out the door, she gathered her things, slid on her coat & gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Say hi to Marge for me…, & don’t stay too late. You know there’s a storm coming & it sounds like it’s going to be bad.”

“I won’t, I promise. And say high to Ralph for me. Oh, & tell little Timmy & Rose that I have my eye on them. Next time they see me I’ll have a surprise.”

She shot him a look. “Oh, sure I’ll tell them that. And then they’ll be hounding me all week while the blizzard is still raging, asking me when we can go to Uncle Murray’s. I think I’ll just hold onto that one for a while.”

He laughed, helped her with the door & said, “Be careful driving home. Be safe.”

“You, too,” she called back as she turned the corner of the hall toward the elevator.

Murray listened for the ding, the opening & closing of the doors, & the sound of the elevator descending before turning around & heading back through the door. Everyone else was gone. It was just the three of them. And he had no business butting into whatever was going on between the other two. He just wanted to make sure everything was okay.

He went inside his personal office, leaving the door open but the light off. He supposed he could find work to do if he really looked for it, but he wasn’t going to do that. He sat down in his chair in the dark & pondered what might have transpired there in his absence & what didn’t transpire because of it. He had gained a reprieve from having to fire an employee, but that just meant the weight of it still hung over his head & would probably remain there for another week or so.

At one point, he heard the door to the other room open. He could see Perry standing there scanning the outer office, though it didn’t appear Perry had seen him before returning to Leah & shutting the door.

He could hear the muffled sounds of their voices in the next room but couldn’t make out what they were saying, only that it sounded as though they were getting ready to leave. As they came through the door, he heard Leah say, “No point in both of us driving. Let’s just take my car.” She tossed a crumpled tissue in the wastebasket by Penny’s desk, then pulled another couple from the box just above it.

She had been crying.

He listened to the sound of Leah locking the door with her set of office keys, then waited for the noises of the elevator to confirm they were gone.

He picked up his jacket, slipped it on, went to the door, unlocked it, pulled it open &….

…just stood there for a bit, looking back into the three rooms: the outer office, inner office & his personal office. Why did he feel as though he was saying goodbye, as though by the time they would make it back everything would have changed?

He let out a sigh as he closed & locked the door behind him. Waiting for the elevator he thought about how Marge would be preparing a nice hot meal for the two of them. He considered the possibilities for the evening: watching tv, picking a movie from their collection, playing cards, or just sitting together watching the snow fall & the fire burn.

He thought about the impending storm.

He loved the snow. He always had. So why did this one make him feel so uneasy?

And his boss. “Is Murray galled?” What a stupid thing for him to say.