A Boy's Last Summer

With one last baleful glance, the bigger man strolled out the door, leaving David alone with the newcomer.

"Don't let Lyle bother you. He's all bark," she said.

"What was he talking about? White hats and blue?"

"It's how we designate the salaried office workers from the laborers around here. The guys in the office wear white hard hats, and the folks in the field wear blue. I'm afraid it also creates a bit of a class system, the laborers tend to turn their noses up at the guys in the offices. They see them as desk jockeys too afraid to get their hands dirty doing a days work."

"Working-class heroes, Huh?"

"Something like that. I'm Linda Newkirk by the way, and I'm betting you're Bill Cross's boy."

"David. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Newkirk," he said, holding out his hand.

"Likewise. Your dad told me you'd be coming in today. I got your paperwork processed already, so we just need to get you a badge and a hard hat. It'll be white since you'll be working in the office, so I guess you don't get to be a hero."

David laughed and followed Linda over to her desk in the corner where she had a camera set up against a white backdrop to take security photos.

"Looks like you'll be reporting to Roxy Doyle over in Office Services...Oh Boy! This will be a fun summer job for you."

"Something I should know?" asked David warily.

"Not really it's just...Well, Roxy is kind of a pistol as my momma use to say. She's good at her job, but she doesn't cotton to any nonsense, and she can have a bit of a temper if you get on her bad side."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Don't worry," offered Linda seeing his worried look, "she is kind of like Lyle her bark is worse than her bite."

"Thanks, so which way do I..."

"Hang on. I'll get someone to show you where the Office Services department is located. This plant is a bit hard to find your way around in until you get your bearings. Hey! Rebound! Get your ass in here!"

"Hold your horses, Linda. I'm coming..."

A moment later, another fellow joined them from an office in the back. This time it was a short black man who barely came to David's chest. He had graying hair and a huge friendly grin plastered on his face.

"Rebound?" asked David.

"It's an ironic nickname. You see that a lot around here. I love to play basketball, but trust me I can't rebound for shit," said Rebound with a hearty laugh that was so infectious David joined right in.

"Take David here over to Office Services he's reporting to Roxy," said Linda.

"O.K. Come on, Kid, times a wasting and it's only going to get hotter outside."

David pulled on the hard hat that Linda handed him as he stepped outside in Rebound's wake squinting into the glare of the sun. The shorter man led him over to a battered white pickup, and he climbed into the passenger side as the engine cranked over with a throaty growl.

David was looking at the badge Linda had handed him. The picture wasn't half bad. He might not have been a model, but he was still a good-looking kid with dark hazel eyes and a square jaw like a young Brad Pitt. He flipped the plastic square looking at a long list of safety instructions on the other side.

"It says here if I hear three loud whistles followed by a constant alarm I should report to evacuation area five. Where is that?"

"If you hear three loud whistles followed by a constant alarm that means there is a radiation leak and you should follow procedure S.Y.H.B.Y.L dash A.K.Y.A.G"

"What does all that mean?"

"It means 'Stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!'" said Rebound who cackled loudly at his own joke.

"You're kidding me, right?" asked David trying to laugh himself, but feeling apprehensive as they drove into the shadow of one of the big containment units.

"I'm just fucking with you. This place is plenty safe. I've been here since the first unit went online and other than losing my right testicle to cancer I'm fine."

Rebound burst out laughing again at the look on David's face, and eventually, David joined in though without nearly as much enthusiasm.

The parking area in front of the Office Services building was full, so Rebound swung around to the side, finding a shady spot next to a low concrete wall. They exited making their way toward the double glass doors that led inside.

"So let's go introduce you to the 'Nuclear Bomb'" said Rebound.

"Nuclear Bomb?"

"That's what the guys call Roxy, but don't ever say that to her face she hates it."

"Is it because of her temper?" asked David.

"Not exactly..." replied Rebound mysteriously.

They entered the building together, walking down a long hallway with offices on both sides before eventually arriving at a wood counter in front of a sliding glass window with a heavy steel door to one side. Rebound went up and pressed a button next to the window setting off a buzzing noise that was audible through the glass. A head popped up from beneath the counter belonging to a blond-haired young man not much older than David, who slid back the glass his face breaking into a smile.

"Mr. Rebound! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Thomas. I brought you some help. This here is David. He is going to be interning this summer like you. Is Roxy here?"

The young man that Rebound had identified as Thomas gave David a once over then nodded toward the room behind him.

"She's in her office. I'll buzz you in..."

Rebound threw open the door next to the glass window after Thomas gave them entrance and waved at David to follow. The room beyond was quite large and filled with seemingly endless rows of shelves covered with every kind of office supply imaginable from manila folders to notepads, bins of staplers, and pens to computer monitors and typewriters. David looked around at the amassed inventory as they made their way to the back where a single office stood in one corner. Rebound stopped and knocked politely on the door.

"What!" came the short reply from the other side.

"Roxy? It's Rebound. I got another intern here for you."

"Just what I needed another kid for me to babysit."

"She's thrilled to have you," whispered Rebound over his shoulder to David.

"Well..send him in."

"Go on!" prompted Rebound stepping back away from the door.

"By myself?" asked David not quite able to keep a trembling out of his voice.

"It's not the lion's den, Daniel. You'll be fine. That said I'm not going in there..." replied Rebound.

Swallowing slowly, David reached for the door handle and stepped into the office, shutting the door behind him.

The small room beyond contained just a desk with two chairs facing it and a bookshelf on one wall covered with all kinds of corporate manuals. It's occupant clearly liked her space to be immaculate and well organized since the desk itself was clutter-free. David took a step forward, clearing his throat to introduce himself as the sole occupant of the office turned around. In a day already full of quirky surprises, this one took the cake. Given what he had seen and heard so far, David was fully prepared to face what he had expected to be a gruff, middle-aged, chain-smoking woman with a face to match, what he got was one of the hottest women he had ever seen in his life.

Roxy Doyle rose up from her chair, sticking out her hand. A tall woman at close to five-foot-ten-inches she looked to be maybe thirty with strawberry-blond hair that fell in tight ringlets around her long, high cheek-boned face. She had piercing green eyes that seem to see right through David and made him feel instantly nervous.

He froze in place, finding it hard to breathe before finally realizing that she was still holding her hand out to him and he was gaping at her like an idiot.

"David Cross," he said, shaking her hand and trying not to stare at her well-endowed chest that looked like it was going to burst out of the flannel shirt she was wearing.

"Roxy Doyle," she growled just managing to put a hint of a smile on her face that made her full, generous lips twist ever so slightly upward.

"Have a seat," she said, gesturing at one of her guest chairs.

"Your dad's Bill Cross."

"That's right."

"Good man. Always fills out every blank on his requisitions."

"That's what I've always liked about him," confirmed David.

"You trying to be funny?"

David squirmed in his seat, "No...Ma'am. I was..."

"I take running this place very seriously, David. It's not a complicated job. People want office supplies, and we have them, but they better have their forms done right! Not one pen, pencil, or sticky note goes through that glass window if the forms aren't right and I don't care if Jesus H. Christ himself is looking for some toner he better have a correctly executed authorization form or he ain't getting shit! Do you catch my drift?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Don't call me ma'am it makes me feel like a grandmother. It's Roxy or Ms. Doyle if formality is more your thing."

"Yes, Ma...Roxy..."

"Thomas will show the lay of the land and help you get started. If you have any questions, ask him."

It took David a second to realize that was it, but he finally snapped when she stared at him for a good five seconds without saying anything. He rose tentatively from the chair and watched as she pivoted back to her computer. He put one hand on the door, but her voice stopped him before he could open it.

"Oh...and, David...Welcome aboard..." she said in a slightly softer tone looking at him over one shoulder. Her face in profile looked even more beautiful than dead-on, and David could only manage a nod before he darted out of her office.

Rebound was standing on the other side leaning up against a shelf. He grinned as David emerged, shutting the office door behind him.

"Well, you still have all your limbs, so I guess it went o.k."

"Yeah...I guess..." muttered David throwing a look back over his shoulder, "the Nuclear Bomb, huh..."

"Yep, but don't waste your time on that fantasy. Nearly every able-bodied man in the plant has tried to get her attention, but she wouldn't give them the time of day. Word on the street is she had a crap husband she divorced some years back, and he put her off men in general. Too bad if you ask me since she is a knockout, but what can you do?"

They returned to the front desk where Thomas starting showing David the various forms that were used for requisitions and how to check that they were filled out correctly. Rebound excused himself to return to his office, leaving with a wave.

It turned out Thomas was only a year older than David and back from his first year of college.

"My dad got me this job for the summer to make extra money for school. It beats flipping burgers, I guess," said Thomas.

"I have a similar story. My dad is in the accounting department."

"Bill Cross, I know. My dad works in the I.T. department."

"When did you get here?"

"The middle of last week, so I guess that makes me an old hand compared to you," laughed Thomas.

"What do you think of our boss?"

"Roxy? She's intimidating at first, but to be honest, I think a lot of her bluster is just for show. If you do your job and follow her rules, you'll be fine."

As if just speaking about her had summoned her like a ghost at a séance Roxy suddenly appeared right behind them carrying a hard hat in one hand.

"If you two ladies are done jawing I'm going to take David on a copier run and show him how we handle it," she said.

"Copier run?" asked David.

"Yep. In addition to handling office supplies, we are also responsible for maintaining all the copiers in the various offices and trailers. We check them once a week to see if they need toner, or are having any maintenance issues. We also get a page count on all of them. Their leased and the company pays for how much use they see, so grab that clipboard behind you so you can write down the numbers."

David snagged a clipboard off the wall that contained lists of all the copiers at the plant and their locations with a blank space to write page counts next to each one. He fell in behind Roxy who led him out the secure door and up the hallway through the double glass doors in front.

"You drive," she said, tossing him a set of keys, "might as well start getting to know your way around."

Roxy walked over to a company pickup that was just as dirty and battered as the one Rebound had driven. David climbed into the drivers side slipping the key in the ignition, but then stopped with a frown.

"What?" asked Roxy seeing the confused look on his face.

"Uh...It's a stick shift."

"Very observant. I can see you're as sharp as a tack. So what?"

"Well...the thing is I..."

"Don't know how to drive a stick?" she finished for him.

"No...I don't," admitted David feeling embarrassed at coming up short the first time his new boss asked him to do something.

"Wonderful. Every vehicle we have is manual so you're going to have to learn and it might as well be now. It's not that hard. The speed limit is no more than twenty inside the plant so you'll never get out of second gear anyway."

She ran over the basics with him showing him where the clutch was and how to shift gears then switched places long enough to back out and get them going in the right direction before stopping at a crossroads a few buildings away.

"Your turn, Sport. Impress me with how quick you learn," she said, getting out while David scooted across the seat and got back behind the wheel.

He took a deep breath and tried to emulate what he had seen Roxy doing. It was hard to concentrate with her staring at him, and the smell of her perfume in the small confines of the truck was equally distracting. Not surprisingly, his first attempt was a disaster as the gearbox howled at his effort to shift and he mistimed releasing the clutch causing the truck to lurch forward awkwardly.

"Jesus! You don't jerk the gearshift like it's your dick!" snapped Roxy.

"Sorry..." mumbled David trying to get back into neutral.

A loud horn sounded, and David's head snapped around to see a bulldozer headed right in their direction.

"I would just as soon not die in this intersection, Hot Shot. How's about you get this thing moving," said Roxy calmly.

David's face lit with panic, but he managed to get it close to right this time, and although the truck shuddered more than once he got them moving forward. He blew out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding as they pulled away headed down the dirt road.

"See that wasn't so hard. Maybe you won't turn out to be completely useless after all."

"Your confidence in me is overwhelming," quipped David.

"Don't let it go to your head," replied Roxy in such a deadpan voice he couldn't tell if she had caught his sarcasm or she was choosing to ignore it.

The pair spent the next several hours visiting various trailers and offices around the plant. David noted that people seemed to give Roxy a wide berth, and based on what he had seen so far he wasn't surprised. A few times he noticed some of the men checking her out, but the minute she looked in their direction they quickly turned away.

He tried a few times to engage her in conversation, but she relegated most of her answers to one or two words killing any opportunity to get to know her better.

"Why don't you concentrate on your driving," was about the longest statement she made all morning.

By the time they finished their rounds, it was lunchtime, and David ended up carrying the meal his mother had prepared for him to a large cafeteria building which appeared to be mostly populated by large men in blue hard hats. Feeling a little intimidated, he chose a table far away from the main crowd settling into a chair and pulling out a chicken sandwich wrapped in cellophane.

"Glad to see you're still alive," said Rebound dropping into a chair across from him.

"Oh...Hey. Yeah, Roxy hasn't eaten me yet. Maybe she saves that for dessert after lunch."

Rebound chuckled looking around the bustling room, "So what do you think of our plant so far?"

"I think it's freaking hot enough to melt lead outside, that I can't get phone service out here, and my boss is as warm as a stone statue."

"But other than that its awesome, right?"

David smiled and took a bite of his sandwich, "It's the job of my dreams. Why would I trade this for sitting in the shade watching bikini-clad girls at Wave World?"

"Why, indeed. Look, this place grows on you after a while, and besides you're getting paid way better am I right?"

"I suppose," conceded David.

"That's the spirit! Now...How about you let me have some of those chips? I do love me some sour cream and onion!"

David laughed, passing over the bag.

The rest of the day, he spent thankfully inside taking in and fulfilling requests for everything from paperweights to desk calendars. It was a surprisingly exhausting first day, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. His dad shook him awake when they arrived, and he walked into the house in a daze barely mustering the energy to eat dinner before he headed to his bedroom and collapsed on top of the covers. He was half dozing even though it was scarcely 8:00 P.M. when his phone rang.

"Yeah..." he grumbled into the receiver.

"David? You sound terrible, are you sick?"

David sat up in bed, wiping at his eyes, heart racing at the sound of Heather's voice on the other side of the call, " No...Just tired. My dad got me a summer job at High Rock."

"I heard. Chris told me. I guess that must be hard work."

"You got that right," he replied, trying to put some life in his voice. He wondered if she was calling to tell him the thing with Alex had been a colossal mistake, and beg him to take her back. Of course, he would be kind about it after a suitable period of groveling, but it turned out that wasn't why she had called.

"David...I wanted to apologize for how things went down at the graduation party. I meant to tell you beforehand, but it was harder than I thought."

"I can't imagine why we were only together three years," replied David, not able to keep the anger out of his tone.

"Don't be this way, David. I was hoping we could still be friends."

"Friends."

David let the word roll around in his mouth, finding it tasted particularly bitter.

"Yeah...I'm working at Farley's Ice Cream in the mall this summer if you want to come by some time. I might be able to sneak you a free chocolate chip cone," she added, mentioning his favorite ice cream flavor.

"You trying to bribe me into being your buddy?"

Heather grew quiet on the other end before, "I can see you're not ready to be mature about this, so I'll let you go. I hope you can forgive me someday. I do want to be friends."

"Doe's Alex want to be my friend too?"

"He's not as bad as you make him out. Maybe we could all hang out at Wave World sometime? Alex could get us in free."

"Alex is working at Wave World?" asked David, knowing employees could get two friends in free on off days.

"Yeah...He's the head lifeguard at the wave pool."

David felt a pang of jealous anger well up inside him. He had been the head lifeguard at the wave pool the last two summers. Alex had not only taken his girl but his cushy summer job as well.

"Son of a bitch! I can tell you it will be a cold day in Hell before I take charity from Alex fucking Romero!"

"I'm going to let you go, David. Maybe we can talk later..."

Heather broke the connection before he could say anything else, and as soon as her voice vanished, he felt instantly guilty for his outburst.

David dropped the phone onto the bed.

"Just perfect..." he thought, wondering how this summer could get any worse.

FIRST LESSON -

The following morning was even harder than the previous, and David wondered how anyone got used to waking up this early. He barely managed to make it into the car on time, and his dad gave him a dirty look as they pulled away from the curb. A lecture might have followed, something about accepting responsibility, but David was asleep before they hit the first stop sign at the end of the street. His dad roused him from his slumber when they got to the plant gate and dropped him off a short time later.