By Allan Angel
August 9, 2022
Georgie stopped eating inside the building. He opted to go outside in the parking lot for his lunch at 8:30 pm. He worked swing shift from 5 pm to 1:30 the next morning. Since the pandemic hit, he was hesitant in removing his mask in the vicinity of his co-workers.
He has had the most horrendous experience working with people in the plant. The job in itself wasn’t the most arduous task of the work night, it was dealing with people whose behavior were at times erratic and cruel. He never knew when one would blow off. He never got used to it.
It was a night like any other night. He would walk to his car, a Chevy Cruze 2018, about 200 feet away parked under a tree, if he was lucky, and open his saran wrapped Tupperware to eat whatever meal he had, most likely cooked by his 85 year old mother.
A Squirrel times four
But something weird seemed to emanate, almost as if evil spirits were seeping its way to our world from the ground he walked on. Then in the corner of his eye he saw a creature. He hoped it would be a cat, but it was a fuzzy thing that seemed to resemble a squirrel times four.
It was as big, if not bigger than, the yellow fire hydrant next to it. Just as fast as his head pointed to the direction of the creature, it retracted back to the direction of the building. The canopy covered walkway on this night seemed like a welcome sight as he was always hesitant on entering past its doors.
There used to be a sign in front of the building that said “not all heroes wear capes.” Did he need one at that moment. The best way to escape the wrath of a predator was to ignore its gaze. He learned this when as a little boy in the Philippines he would have to go into the ritual of looking straight ahead, like nothing bothered him, as dogs barked nonstop in the background. Barking dogs while walking the neighborhood seems to be a problem for everyone, not just in the U.S.
Tinnitus
Twenty feet from the entrance of the door, which had both a revolving steel bar door and two doors that split open, he always opted for the steel bars. Using the door would sometimes trigger the alarm and the sound it made was loud. Not good for the tinnitus he developed; when a tech, of dubious intentions caused him ear trauma while squirting it with water at a medical facility. You think with the out-of-pocket expenses he pays for medical insurance, he would have better service. You go to your doctor to get well not get injured!
As he made past the door, he knew the creature could easily go through the openings between the row of steel bars. He was breathing heavily under his mask. He wished the pandemic was over. As a precaution he wore two masks.
He wouldn’t have been so vehemently overcautious, if not for his cousin dying of Covid little less than a year ago. It seemed everyone around him was dying. And perhaps today too, he would follow the same fate.
ⓒ Allan Angel 2022
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