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Winning Points |
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By: M. J. Cogburn and C. E. Krawiec |
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Max
started to brush it off again then an impish thought crossed his mind.
The elevator car stopped and the doors opened and the crowd of top
level workers pushed out. The
young Englishman's grin widened as he glanced over at his friend hurrying
beside him. "Tell you what,
Andy," he said wickedly as they reached the entrance to the Gardening
Department and pushed the door open. "If
you really want to pay me back..." Going
with the moment, Andy said promptly, "You name it." Grabbing
his time card and clocking in, Max returned it to its slot as he watched the
other man mimic his action. "If you wanna pay me back, make me a
promise." "To
what?" Andy said, now playfully suspicious. "To
be my best man when I marry that pretty redhead." Andy
laughed at his friend, gave him a playful push, then said, "Yeah, yeah,
sure, Max. Whatever you
say." For
a moment, the two of them rough-housed each other through the next door then
found a quick seat as they met the gaze of their supervisor.
Chuckling, the two men sat and elbowed each other for a moment before
they settled down and began to hear what they were going to be assigned for
the day. PART
ONE Ahead
of them, Bud Williams, their head supervisor, and Ralph Bauman, the
Department Head, stood at the podium, discussing the requirements for the
day and what each gardener was going
to have to perform inside because of the wintry mix of weather they were
receiving. As they discussed the
duties to be assigned, the supervisors looked down at the list of gardeners,
checking to see who had shown up on time.
Seeing Maxwell Robinson and Andrew Stockard horse playing slightly
they shook their heads and chuckled slightly before they stood up straight
at the voice that came through their implants.
Hearing what Lothos had to say, both nodded before Bud Williams
reached out and crossed off two names on the list then started calling out
the duty assignments for the day. As
the gardeners settled down, Bud Williams went down his sheet, calling out
names and telling them where they would be stationed for the day.
As he came down to Maxwell Robinson and Andrew Stockard, he skipped
their names as he had been told to and continued on assigning duties.
Max
turned his head slightly to Andy as he licked his lips.
"Why didn't he call our names?
Think we’re in trouble?" "Nah,
maybe he has something special for us to do today.
You never know. Maybe
he'll want to talk to us at the end of the announcements." Max
nodded his head slightly before he turned his full attention back to Mr.
Williams, frown slightly. Whatever
it was, he was certain that it wasn't going to be something special.
He had a distinct feeling that it was going to be something extremely
bad. As
their fellow gardeners steadily exited the assembly room, Max and Andy
slowly stood and made their way up to the podium.
Waiting until they were the only ones in the room except for Mr.
Williams and Mr. Bauman, Max nudged Andy in the arm and they moved in
closer. "Mr. Bauman?
Mr. Williams? What would
you like us to do today? You
didn't call our names." Bud
Williams was just picking up his clipboard when he heard Max Robinson's
question. Beside him, Ralph
Bauman glanced at him then looked at the two men waiting for an answer. "All
the day's assignments have been filled," the head of the gardening
department informed him. Andy
and Max looked at each other, and then back at their supervisors.
"Sir?" Andy spoke up. "What
does that mean?" "Well,"
Ralph replied, his tone having a suggestion of tartness to it. "Unless
I'm totally off the mark, it means that there's no assignment for the pair
of you. Do I need to tell you
what to do with a free day?" Unexpected
free days were a rarity for any job description in Lothos' complex, so when
they did occur, some recipients of them often didn't know how to respond to
it. Like now. The gardening
department, because of all the manual labor required to keep the many
gardens surrounding the complex in the immaculate order Lothos demanded,
were usually the last group of workers to encounter the rare unexpected free
day off. Andy
Stockard and Max Robinson couldn't say anything for almost a minute but then
speech returned to them. When it did, neither of them wasted anytime
grabbing the 'prize' with both hands.. "Thank
you, Mr. Bauman... Mr. Williams!" Andy exclaimed enthusiastically.
"This is... great!" Flicking
a glance at Max he said, "Come on! Let's get outta here." Max
Robinson didn't need a second invitation, pausing only long enough to add
his thanks to the supervisors. When that small courtesy was done, he was out
the door of the ready room before the sweep second hand on the clock on the
wall passed fifteen seconds; Andy was on his heels. When
he was at the far end of the hall from the ready room, Max turned the corner
and made a beeline for the bank of elevators.
Reaching them, he jabbed one of the call buttons.
"Can you believe the luck of it?" he said fervently.
He bounced on the balls of his feet a few seconds then let out a
whoop. "So what are we
gonna do?" he demanded of his friend.
"It's gotta take the whole day.
A day like this, you don't just fritter away." The
elevator arrived just then and Andy Stockard followed Max into the car. Andy
glanced at Max before he took a deep breath.
"I think that I'm going to make a day of it."
Seeing the frown that Max put on, Andy just grinned.
"First, I'm going to go back to my quarters and clean it up a
bit before I go to the gym and work out."
Seeing the look on Max's face, Andy continued to grin.
"Then maybe I'll get out later and meet up with you.
How's your head? I mean,
you did tie one on last night, didn't you?" "Its
better, thanks, but I think that I need more coffee.
Getting the day off to recoup from this damned hangover is going to
be nice. At least I don't have
to work like this. So, I guess
that I'll be going back to Java Joe's for more caffeine." As
the elevator doors opened to the men's quarters, Andy stepped off and looked
back at Maxwell. "Hey, you
have a good day whatever you decide to do.
OK?" Max
grinned back at his friend. "You got it, Andy.
You too!" The
elevator doors closing stopped the conversation between the two and Max
reached out and pressed the button to head back up to Level 2 so that he
could get some more coffee from Java Joe's. On
the brief ride back up to the second level, Max got a kick out the few odd
looks he got from a few of his acquaintances. He just grinned when a couple
of them even looked at their watches, saying point blank, "It's almost
8:30, man! Don't you start work at 8:00?" Max
nodded. "Sure do." The
grin on his face widened then he chuckled when Shelly said, "It's after
8:40!" then shook her head, her expression both sympathetic and
dubious. "I am SO GLAD I'm
not you when you show up late." Though
it would have been fun to string them along a bit, a glance at the panel
with the floor level indicators told the young Englishman that Level Two was
the next stop. He wasn't one to
drag a joke out. "Don't
worry, you guys... and lovely lady," he told the other occupants in the
elevator with him. "Andy
and I hit the jackpot this morning at assignments roll call." "Meaning?"
Jeff Stuart asked as the car slowed then stopped. "Meaning,"
Max said as he waited for the others to exit ahead of him. "That we got
the day off!" "Lucky
bums!" Hal Thatcher exclaimed. "Say,
Max," he said with a grin. "You wouldn't want to maybe... swap
with me and take my duty..." "Not
a snowball's chance, pal," Max laughed as he turned and headed the
opposite way from the others. "I'm not getting on Lothos' bad side
again -deliberately- for anybody!" With a quick wave of his hand, he
leisurely sauntered the rest of the way to Java Joe's. Entering
the establishment, he went straight to the counter and slid onto one of the
many empty stools. He was
studying the two menu boards affixed to the wall behind the counter when one
of the regular waitresses approached him. "Back
already?" Millie quipped as she took an order pad from the pocket of
her apron. "What's the occasion? You
get elected king or something and you decided to go mingle with the peasants
to see how your subjects live?" Max
laughed. "Nothing so grand, Mils," he responded. "But darn
near as good. When the boss got
to the bottom of the assignment list a little while ago, he already gave
them to everybody else. A buddy
of mine and I were the lucky ones with nothing for us to do today.
Work-wise, that is." "Well,
good for you, Max!" Millie exclaimed.
"I hope you do it up right. Now, what can I get for you, Mister
Man of Leisure?" Max
glanced up at the menu boards again. "Since
I now have the time to enjoy a proper breakfast," he began.
"I think I'll have a three cheese omelet with some sausages and
a couple of English muffins toasted." Millie
jotted the order down. "Anything to drink?" "Yeah,"
Max said, his grin taking on a hint of ruefulness. "A pot of your
strongest coffee." The
waitress laughed along with Max when he put a hand to one side of his head
and said, "I need at least a potful to make this darned headache leave
me alone." "Okay,
Max," Millie said. "Sit wherever you want, and I'll bring your
coffee out to you as soon as I give your order to the cook." Even
as Maxwell Robinson thanked the waitress, he heard laughter and turned his
head to the mob of women who were entering Java Joes.
He smiled at them, giving his own slight chuckle himself.
He knew the majority of them and tipping his head to them, he was
about to turn back to his table to wait for his coffee when a certain
redhead caught his attention. He
kept his head turned as he watched the group move toward the back of Joes
and take a seat. Turning
slightly back to settle back into his chair correctly, he heard his name
called and he saw Millie sitting his coffee down.
"There
you go, Max." "Thanks,
Millie. I do appreciate
it." "Not
a problem. I'll bring your
breakfast out in just a bit." He
nodded his head as he licked his lips before he picked up his coffee cup and
took a sip of the hot brew. Humming
softly, he heard another gale of laughter and he turned slightly in his
chair to look back at them as did other customers in Java Joe’s. "Max!
Maxwell Robinson, is that you?" one of the young women called
out to him. Putting
on his best charming grin, Max stood with his cup of coffee and turned
toward them before he made his way over to them.
He made sure that he went up to where he could look upon Tala without
too much trouble. "Who
called?" he asked carefully before his eyes dropped to Tala. Sharla
Davimen smiled warmly up at the young man.
"I called you, Max. I
haven't seen you in a long time. How
are you doing?" Max
looked at the blonde that just happened to be sitting beside Tala and
grinned at her. "I'm doing
just fine. How about yourself?
It sounds like you ladies are having a great time this morning." Sharla
laughed lightly. "Well, we
all have the day off, today and we are making sure that we live it up.
Aren't you supposed to be at work today?
I'm sure that I saw Harry Conovers mumbling something about working
inside today." Max
grinned. "Actually, I'm off
work today myself. I..." "Then
why don't you join us?" Sharla said with a grin as she scooted over
slightly away from Tala. "You
could pull up a chair beside me right here."
Sharla pointed between herself and Tala, motioning forhim to pull up
a chair. Max
turned an eye to Tala and saw her smile slightly falter before he conceded
to the invitation and join the group. He
was even more than happy to sit beside the woman that he wanted to get to
know better. "Good morning,
Tala," he said warmly as he sat down next to her. Like
any person holding down a 9-to-5 job, Tala Lothoman looked forward to her
day off with eagerness, and since the beginning of the work week just ended,
she had longed for her scheduled day off to hurry and arrive.
It wasn't that her job had been any more loaded or intense than
usual; it had. No, Tala's one and only reason for counting the days until
Saturday was purely personal - namely because she knew that Max Robinson and
Andy Stockard both would be working. At
first, as she had selected something to wear before getting into the shower,
Tala had felt a twinge of guilt...You're just glad because you know you
won't run into them if they're working. That imp held its sway only as
long as it took Tala to recall the more than several times in the week past
that she had bumped into one or the other of the two young men.
The last time, it had been both of them and at one point had wanted
knock their heads together... but she reined in her temper and managed to
get away from them while they were "one-upping" each other
about... something. That memory
was all it took for Tala to banish that imp. "Not
this morning," she had pronounced firmly as she toweled off and got
dressed. "Today is the
girls' day out. No men allowed.
Period!" She'd repeated the
last four words again to her reflection in the mirror beside her front door
as she headed out to meet up with Sharla, Karen and Amy at Java Joe's. By
the time the four friends arrived at the always busy little coffee cafe,
Tala had cleared her mind of everything except enjoying her friends and the
day. Everything was going so well as they found a table and placed their
orders as they chatted and laughed. It
was going to be a great day! Then,
as Tala took a sip of her favorite hazelnut-flavored coffee, she stopped in
mid-sip when she heard Sharla call out, "Max!
Maxwell Robinson, is that you?" "Oh
God... please,"
Tala pleaded silently. "Don't
come over here, Max. Just... stay away!" Without
turning her head to look, Tala knew by the sound of a chair scraping on the
floor as a certain young Englishman stood up, that her plea had gone
unnoticed. Glancing up, she saw
that Karen was giving her an odd look and so, returned a small grin and
shrugged lightly. Tala
made no attempt to join the conversation between Sharla and Max, but if it
wouldn't have spoiled their breakfast, she would have kicked her friend
under the table when Sharla invited Max to join them.
Instead, she pasted on what she hoped was a pleasant expression as
she looked at Max and smiled. "Morning,
Max," she responded politely then picked up her coffee again and took a
sip. "So,
what do you ladies have planned for the day?" Max inquired lightly as
he got comfortable between Tala and Sharla.
"A day at the salon?" Tala
turned her head toward Max with an eyebrow raised as his comment irritated
her to no end. "No,"
she said slowly as she met his eyes. "I'm
not sure exactly what we are going to do.
We were going to plan it out while we ate breakfast this morning.
However, I don't believe that it had anything to do with the salon.
I think that we all look great this morning, Max." "Oh,
most definitely," Max said quickly.
"I don't know exactly what you ladies do to make yourselves look
so dazzling," he said with a grin as he inwardly castigated himself,
"but whatever it is, all I can tell you is that the guys love it." The
other young ladies at the table seemed to beam at the compliment, but Tala
couldn't help herself as she rolled her eyes and settled her attention back
onto her coffee cup. Karen
licked her lips as she saw Tala's reaction and leaned forward onto the
table. "So, what are we
going to do today, ladies?" she asked carefully. Amy
beamed for a moment as she thought of something for the four of them to do.
"How about we..." Before
Tala could stop herself, she blurted, "Why don't we decide after
breakfast. Since this is our day
off, we could do just about anything. I
didn't mean to interrupt you, Amy, but," Tala slightly moved her head
toward Maxwell, "we could decide anything.
Right?" She hoped
that her friends would understand. The
three other women at the table shared a fleeting look; not one of them had
missed what Tala hadn't said. It
was, however, a toss up as to whether Max had read the double-meaning in the
comment. Karen started to
answer, but was interrupted when their waitress returned just then with a
tray laden with their breakfast orders. Still, as the waitress placed a
plate of French toast before her, Karen spoke up, backing up Tala's
suggestion with, "Works for me." As the others were served, she
reached for the small serving pitcher of warm maple syrup and poured a thin
stream over her French toast. Picking up her fork, she cut a generous bite
and, just before popping it into her mouth, added, "I always think
better after I eat." The
lone man at the table, though not a Lothario by nature or habit, had picked
up on something. Max's gaze
roved casually around the table, watching the women as they started to eat.
He noticed that of the four, only Tala hadn't said anything else.
Besides, and after glancing up at the ceiling, he decided that the
coolness he was beginning to notice wasn't from the air conditioning. "Well,
ladies," Max said, getting to his feet. "Just wanted to say,
"Hi" he said lightly. “Better
get back to my table so they won't think I left and give my breakfast to
somebody else." The comment
drew a couple of giggles, but before he moved away from the table, Max
turned to Tala. "Enjoy your
day off, Miss Tala," he said his voice as warm as when he'd greeted her
a few moments ago. "Maybe
we'll bump into each other later." "Not
if I see you coming first!" ...
"Thanks
Max," Tala replied, smiling up at him. "See you around the
complex." Not
until Max Robinson had returned to his table on the other side of the small
cafe, did any one of the four friends say anything. Then... "Hey,
would you mind telling me what's going on, Tala?" Sharla whispered as
she put her fork down and picked up her glass of orange juice.
"I thought you liked Max Robinson?" Tala
finished chewing her food then sighed. "I
do, Sharla. I was just looking
forward to today with the girls... and... I didn't honestly mean to be rude,
but I just wanted to have a day with just you guys." Sharla,
Amy and Karen all grinned then began giggling.
"Why didn't you just say something before we came into
Joe's?" Karen asked softly. "And
hey, aren't we going to the salon?" At
that question, all of the ladies began laughing and began the day seemingly
all over again before their breakfast had been interrupted by Maxwell
Robinson. After
their breakfast was over, the ladies had gone to the salon, all had
haircuts, had their nails done, learned the daily gossip and then headed up
to the second level to do some shopping.
By the time their three hour shopping spree was over, they headed to
The Barge for some hamburgers. By
the time that they had sat down and ordered, each talking about the other's
clothes and how jealous they were that they hadn't seen it before the other
one had, the four of them were more than surprised at who showed up at the
table beside them. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Andy
Stockard had been true to his off the cuff plans for at least the morning of
the free day that had dropped into his lap.
In his quarters, though not, as his mother used to say, a neat freak,
he did like a sense of order. He
had set to work picking up, vacuuming and even changed the sheets on his bed
then bundling his laundry for the laundry service to pick up while he was
out. About
eleven o'clock, Andy changed into work out gear and went to the gym. A brisk
cardio class and forty minutes with the weights had him feeling good.
A quick trip back to his quarters to shower and get into comfortable
slacks, a pale yellow pullover and loafers, and he was ready to kick back
and enjoy the rest of the day. "Lunch,"
he said softly to himself as he locked the door to his quarters and headed
off down the hall. Fifteen
minutes or so later, Andy was sauntering along the busy mall thoroughfare,
pausing to sniff the fragrant aromas wafting out of the doors of the various
establishments serving lunch. His
stomach rumbled as his mouth watered, but he was having a tough time making
up his mind what he wanted to eat. It
ALL smelled great! He
had just made the turn around the corner where four or five of the most
casual restaurants and lunch shops were located when yet another fragrance
tempted his olfactory senses. This time, however, the aromas beckoning to
his hunger wouldn't be ignored. Without thinking twice, Andy entered The
Barge and got in the short line for a table.
It was one of the most popular of the casual restaurants, and most
patrons didn't mind a brief wait for a table. Taking
the small numbered tab the hostess handed him, Andy nodded when she advised,
"You've got about a ten minute wait." "I
hope I can last that long," he teased as the woman went on about her
duties during the always crowded lunchtime crowd. For
a couple of minutes, Andy lingered near the front of the restaurant, idly
glancing at the patrons already enjoying their meals.
He had just scanned the comfortable-sized main dining room and was
turning to stroll back to the front door when luck stepped in and he caught
sight of a, by this time, familiar head of dark red hair. "This
*is* my lucky day," Andy murmured not a bit smugly to himself as he
straightened the collar of his shirt and deftly picked his way among the
occupied tables. Reaching his
destination, Andy, seeing Amy Carlton catch sight of him, put a finger to
his lips, grinning when he read the quirk of her eyebrows as
acknowledgement. Quietly,
a little grin on his face, Andy slipped quietly up behind Tala's chair and
smoothly and gently placed his hands over her eyes. He didn't even try to
disguise his voice as he leaned down a bit and stage whispered close to her
right ear, "Guess who." As
he waited for Tala to respond, Andy flashed a confidence if cheeky grin to
the other three women watching with various degrees of interest on their
faces. It might have been better
for him, however, if he'd been a mind reader. Oh
God, help me... now it's the other one! ... Can't I have just ONE day when I
don't have to deal with either of them?
Tala sighed a very controlled sigh.
So help me, if he... Andy,
still grinning like an imp, leaned down again, this time whispering,
"I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count."
What he got in response wasn't what he was expecting. Tala
licked her lips carefully, grinned slightly then answered, “Let me see.
Could it be an idiot who will pay dearly if he smears my new mascara
across my face? If that happens,
I know he won’t be around to play any more guessing games.” Andy
took his hands away from Tala’s eyes as carefully as he could.
He had no idea what had brought on the sudden change with Tala, but
he just knew he didn’t want to be on her bad side.
Stepping to the side, he stuck his hands in his pockets as she turned
to him. Before she could say
anything, Andy glanced at the other women around the table, nodded to them
in turn, then said to Tala, “My apologies.
I didn’t mean to upset you in any way, Ms. Tala.” “What
do you need, Mr. Stockard?” Tala asked rather formally. Andy
swallowed before he answered. “I
just had received the day off and spent the morning doing odd chores.
I came in here to eat, saw you and wanted to say hello, that’s
all.” Although
they had been informed earlier in the day about Andrew Stockard being
another pain in her side, the ladies grinned slightly at Tala’s
misfortune. Karen Matthews
couldn’t help herself. “Why
don’t you join us from lunch?” Tala’s
eyes immediately went to Karen and they narrowed slightly before they
closed. “Oh,
thank you for the invite, but I already have a number for a table, but if I
may, could I wait here until they call the number?” “Sure,”
Amy said with a grin as she watched Tala settle back into her seat. As the
minutes flew past, Andy talked with the ladies about the weather and other
non-essential this and that of the complex.
It was during this time that he noticed how Tala had sat back and
kept herself out of the conversation. He
knew that he had upset her somehow and promised himself that he would make
it up to her later. Hearing
his number being called, Andy stood, dismissed himself and left the ladies
alone after he had said goodbye to them all, especially Tala. “Goodbye,
Andy,” Tala remarked softly. Making
sure that he was away from them, Tala shook her head slightly before she
sighed. “Now, all I need is to
have Quinton Sylvane to show up and bug me.
That would just top off my day.” “You
have three guys after you? How’d
you get to be so damned lucky?” Sharla asked a bit awestruck at her
friend’s luck. “I
have no clue, Sharla, but if this is going to keep happening, this…
battling for attention – I’m ready to tell them to just leave me alone.
I can’t seem to go anywhere without one of them horning in.,, or
have all three of them show up at once!
This is just ridiculous.” “All
three of them? Together?
Wait… are these the guys that got into a fight over you?
The ones that hit you?” Amy
asked with a grin. Tala
nodded her head. “Yes.
Max and Quinton were fighting and I blundered in when I shouldn’t
have and got hit.” She sighed
heavily. “And Andy, well, Andy
was just the gallant one trying to get me to the infirmary.”
She shook her head. “I
swear, you guys, if Quinton shows up sometime today, just… shoot me.
At least then I’ll be out of my misery.” When
the other girls laughed, Tala couldn’t help but grin and join in.
She just hoped that she would miss the shot when it invariably did
happen.
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