the harbour brings more than genital diseases

The post Christmas period is always a strange one. everybody back at work but nobody actually doing anything apart from complaining how cold it is and how bad their holiday was.

i entered the office seven minutes late as always, its always better to be late than early, that’s what the ambulance driver told me. time to re access the scene, what was over familiar two weeks ago is, for a few minutes at least, reminiscent but unnerving.

i check out all the grown hair and new clothes, and the girl who i keep telling myself i quite fancy, but really only when she’s not around and i’ve forgotten how dull as me she is. i make my way to my desk, smiling at everybody i pass, like being there is the best thing evar.

i look over my desk at all the old pens and notes that will never be used and my heart sinks, as i remember what i do and where i do it.

then in comes fat dennis, and every thing’s okay!

he waddles up to my desk as usual but this time with an even heftier waddle due to mince pies and a tight new shirt with slimming vertical stripes that make him look like a mountain map. he chuckles in a way only he can, like it’s the first time he’s seen my funny face, and we swap pleasantries in order to set up an in joke.

except the jokes don’t fly, it takes time to get back into the banter, and it’s too soon. i feel sorry for him as he tries too hard and the panic in his eyes sets in. then he breaks down. it turns out that just before christmas day he found out his wife has been having an affair, but this is not news to me.

i’ve been taking care of his business for three months now, i just hope he doesn’t know it’s me. judging by his confidence in me, it doesn’t seem so. i put on my sympathy face and let him unload, i’ll get him some biscuits in a minute, that will help.

Yours

Juliet Mills & Ken Boon