Piece of the Season

"You're impossible.  This situation is totally impossible.  We have shit to do.  Get the crew in so we can get to work." "I gotta finish this first."  Twist turned his back on Jimmy and returned to his cubicle. Jimmy stood there, unsure what to say. "You might not get this done in time.  We do get a lot of requests.  Lots are in already." Twist got up and started walking.  "Come on," he said.  "We're going for a walk."   Jimmy followed him to the elevator down to the basement.  After walking through a long corridor, Twist took out a key and opened the very last door.  There before them was a room the size of a high school gym.  Covered in piles of letters.  Jimmy couldn't guess how many. "Just so you don't think I was putting this off until the last minute..."  Twist looked tired. Jimmy took a minute to take it all in.  He coughed from the smell of paper, dust, toner.  "So, when did you sta...

"I was at my real job.  I had to take a leave of absence to be here for...  this.  What are we doing?  Exactly?" "I'm going through all of last year's requests to see where we went wrong..." "Genius.  I can help put all this in the computer.  Let's get everyone in to help.  We can get this done lickety-split."  Jimmy couldn't believe his luck.  "I've been trying to get you guys to use the computers for ages.  This is fantastic!" "Not using the computer." These guys were supposed to be so happy all the time, but not Twist.  He had no sense of humour.  And no computer. "So, how are you going to..."  Jimmy waived at the sea of letters. Twist pointed at his almond-shaped head.  "It's all up here.  We missed something last year.  I'm just looking for that one request..." "One request?"  Jimmy was agape.  "You think it's about one request?" "I'm p...

"It's your dad's crew and one day it'll be yours.  You won't find another." "What are you doing?' "Trying to analyze last year's requests to see where we went wrong." "Hold on.  We didn't go wrong.  Dad went wrong."  Twist rubbed his nose again. "The guys think it's my fault."  Twist looked up.  His eyes were red.  "Your dad thinks so too." "He never said that."  Twist put a letter under the shoe pile by his chair.  "Hey, is that my shoe?  And my bowl?  Wait!  That's my picture of mom!" "You weren't here last year when the shit hit the fan.  The old man is blaming me for that and I'm going to be the first sucker in company history to get fired."  He looked over at the frame.  "It's a nice picture of your mother." "Did you just go help yourself to my stuff?" Jimmy kept walking and opened the door to his office.  The ...

Tuesday, November 2. Jimmy Lear walked through the office to the coffee pot.  "Where is everyone?" he called. Twist peeked out from behind his partition.  "Bit of a party last night.   The guys are nursing massive hangovers this morning." "Who gets hammered on a Monday night?  Month-end is Black Friday." "We all know Christmas is coming." "Who said anything about Christmas?  Two people in the office because everyone is hungover." "They'll make up for it tomorrow." "Seriously?  I should fire them all." "Your dad would never allow it." "Fuck."  Jimmy poured the coffee and added milk.  "Why are you here, then?" "Wasn't invited to the party."  Twist rubbed his nose and pulled his head back into his cubicle. "I thought you guys always party together." "Not last night." Jimmy took a sip.  The coffee was putrid.  He took another.  ...