Page 6 of The Import Slot
“Assume you haven’t checked your emails yet?”
“No?” I glance around as if it’s a visual I’ve missed. Travis wheels over to me, using his legs to power himself to my desk. He leans in and lowers his voice.
“I think they’re announcing redundancies.” He glances around the office as if he’s just whispered the world’s mostsecretsecret. No one bats an eye.
I launch Outlook, and it takes a considerably long time to load, as if it knows it holds information I need to see. After what feels like an extended wait, but is probably only thirty seconds, it springs to life and my inbox updates. Travis points to a message near the top labelled ‘Private and Confidential‘, flagged with a red exclamation mark: ‘High Priority’. For fuck’s sake.
I open the email and skim read; it doesn’t look good, but all it mentions is that I’m in scope and that I’ll have a definitive answer later today. “I guess we’ll find out soon.”
I look at Travis; he’s chewing at his nails, and his forehead looks sweaty. He has a kid, and his wife is home looking after her poorly mother.
“No point in worrying about it now,” he says, shaking his head. “Fancy a brew?”
We lock our computers and go to the kitchenette at the end of the office. As we enter, we get a grunt from Bob, who works in Finance, but Travis brings the conversation back to our usual chit-chat as he flicks the kettle on.
“How was your run with Danny?” he takes our mugs out of the cupboard and throws a couple of tea bags in.
“He didn’t show,” I say.
“Isn’t he supposed to be a professional athlete?” he scoffs.
Bob leaves, and Travis pours water into the mugs while I grab the milk from the fridge.
“He’s a lazy twat. He’s not a morning person, so I can’t blame him for being lazy. But why suggest a run at six-thirty if you’re unwilling to do it?” Travis gives the milk a sniff before committing it to our tea.
Tea milked and de-bagged, we return to our desks, where I tell Travis about my evening date.
“I hope your date is not a weirdo, but I’m glad you’re getting back out there,” he says.
Travis experienced the crap Nathan put me through, too. He spent a few days, along with Danny, helping me move into a new place I was lucky to find at short notice.
“We’ll see.” Despite having the same feeling, my optimistic outlook keeps me hopeful.
I sit at my desk, mulling over my future. I can’t focus on work now, considering we’re waiting for the kiss of death, so I open up a web browser and key in the web address for the hockey team. The site is slow to load and doesn’t have much information.
I scroll through the roster, paying close attention to the names and mugshots, but no one stands out as new—all familiar faces who have re-signed.
I navigate to the news page and see that they’ve posted a teaser, saying an exciting announcement is coming soon. Fuck’s sake, that’s very unhelpful.
I jump out of my skin when Travis pops up behind me. “What are you doing?” he asks, smirking.
“Being nosey,” I say before deciding to tell him about the guy from earlier. “Did I mention he has nice shoulders?”
“No, but I thought you were strictly against hockey guys?”
“I am, but there’s no harm in looking,” I say, trying to justify my actions. This is for the team’s good, too. If this guy is decent, we might win something this year.
I pull my phone out and hover my thumbs over the keyboard in my WhatsApp chat with Danny but decide against asking him if he has any news.
I spend the rest of the morning wallowing in self-pity and browsing the internet; the possibility of being sacked can really put you off working.
“Shall we grab some lunch?” Travis asks, standing up from his desk just before noon. “All I’ve done is push windows about this morning.”
We head downstairs and walk a short distance to a sandwich shop, joining the queue.
“I’ve already started looking for new jobs,” Travis says.
“Fuck. I haven’t. Should I?” I feel anxious now that he’s mentioned it, so I order the cheapest thing off the menu when we get to the front. Every penny counts.
