“And he’s gone again,” said Wally. “That was quick.”
“So,” Eddie started, “do we go back to our desks like he said or wait here because he said he’d be back?”
“I have no reason to stare at my useless screen just because it makes me look busier, so I’m going to wait here until he gets back.” Wally sat back down and picked up a magazine from the break room table.
“Works for me.” Eddie joined him. “Have you ever been so busy and so bored at the same time?”
“No,” Wally laughed
“That’s a great way to put it,” Kristy agreed. “It’s like sprinting between brick walls.”
“I always wanted to work in film. It looked so glamorous,” Eddie reminisced.
“Ha. Right. Me too.” Wally put on his best commercial voice. “On location shoots, meeting exciting people, being a part of something that will outlive you, working creatively—work in your art, hands-on, with a variety of different occupations to explore.”
“I was going to meet Oscar winners.” Kristy smiled sheepishly.
“Of course,” Wally over-emphasized. “And every one of them would immediately find you incredibly interesting and you’d become fast friends or tumble into a whirlwind romance, all set against some stereotypically exotic background, like Paris or Morocco.”
Kristy nodded, acknowledging her own naïveté. “If you’re gonna dream, right?”
Eddie sighed. “But the reality is endless hours working on tiny details that, if we really nail it, will be completely invisible.”
“I wish I could take all the time I waste in a day and use it at the end of the day instead,” Kristy mused.
“Right?” Eddie said. “If I could do that, instead of being here until 9:00 PM, I’d be leaving at 3:00.”
“And that’s if you based it on a 12 hour day,” Wally announced. “If we were working 8 hour days, I’d be going home by 1:00. And still getting the same amount done.”
“Whatever you’re talking about, no one is leaving at 1:00,” Caleb declared as he entered.
“You’re back.”
“Yes. Briefly,” Caleb answered. “What’s your suggestion.”
Kristy blurted it out so succinctly that it surprised even her. “That if we could do a tech upgrade that allows us to digest in the background we could get hours back every day.”
Caleb paused for three complete seconds, then spoke as he left. “Ok. Write it up and we’ll talk about it in two and a half weeks.”
“And, he’s gone,” Eddie joked.
“People come and go so quickly around here,” Kristy said in her best Judy Garland voice. It wasn’t great, but it was identifiable.
“Yeah, well follow the yellow brick road back to your desks, people. We’ve got work to do.” Eddie stood to leave.
Wally joined him. “And nothing to do it on until the computer says otherwise.”
Eddie clapped him on the back. “Maybe boredom will drive us to find something productive to do.”
“Thank you for the warning—I’ll look out for that,” Wally laughed.