tap…tap…tap…

Each strike of the notepad with his pen is filled with nervousness. The last five minutes have seemingly taken hours to pass. Looking at his black Movado for the 17th time it’s now two minutes past one.

“They said they would call at one” he tells himself reassuredly. It wouldn’t matter if he did say it aloud, he is alone. Sitting in his office chair he is looking around at three empty desks. “I should have done this months ago.”

His office used to be filled with life and activity. Phones ringing all day, the copier moving enough paper to fill a warehouse, fax machine spitting out document after document, and the people. That’s what he will miss the most, the people. He loved the people he worked with and knew almost everything about them. They were the moneymakers, the rainmen, the life. Now, they were all gone and alone he sits, waiting for the last phone call he will take in this once rambunctious office.

1:05

This call is make or break, his defining moment.

The phone rings.