The Last Nukyi: Fear Cosmic Annihilation

  Chapter 6: BAD CORPORATE FUNDAMENTALS

  It was another mild autumn day. The clock face glowed: WEDNESDAY, 5:50 a.m. Tom slipped from beneath an entanglement of blankets and stretched the fresh soreness from his flush muscles and heard tubular bones snap back into aliment as he stood in bare feet.

  Last night’s dream lingered pungently in his cracked mind, a condition aggravated by the metamorphic virus that was growing wild in his unsettled body. He followed the wooden banister down the long staircase and entered the living room where the sun was peeping through the partially-closed curtains, and he tossed them open with a quick snap. The morning rays caressed his face like the tender touch of his wife’s sweet lips, but that sensation was of a broken memory. He felt desperately alone.

  The neighbourhood was usually quiet at this time of the hour, but today a city maintenance crew cleared road debris produced by a diesel guzzling hydraulic-powered bucket that clawed a hole into the pavement. Tom watched the laborious activity for a moment and straightened alertly when the phone rang.

  “Yeah, hello,” he said with a morning hoarseness in his throat.

  “I didn't wake you--did I?”

  He immediately recognized McBridle’s voice, “Am I late for work; what time you got?” as he pressed his swollen fingers over his inflamed eyes.

  She ignored his drowsy request. “Be waiting outside. I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty.”

  “Why so early?”

  “We’re going to Carravecky’s.”

  “So what’s going on there?”

  “Just be ready, and don’t make me wait.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he rubbed his droopy eyes, “I’ll be ready?”

  “Good,” she replied. “‘Cause, there’re a few important issues I want you familiar with before this meeting.”

  He tried to focus. “And what are they?”

  “I’ll explain the issues on our way to the complex then you’ll have a fresh understanding of what I’m talking about,” and abruptly ended the conversation and disconnected without saying another word.