Sum of Life - The Worst Kind of Lies
by John Patrick Lamont
John shares an excerpt from his novel. Give it read and send John
your comments.
Our Office segment from "Sum of Life"
“Break time!” declared clerical assistant Debbie Wrightwel as she sped past Kat’s desk.
“Okay, I’ll be right with you,” smiled Kat, watching Debbie cruise past a few agent cubicles and enter the secretarial staff’s break room. “Make sure the tube’s warmed up!”
Kat felt the special tingling sensation that always formed inside her at this time of day. If she was buried with work and forgot, it would start on its own at the base of her spine and work its way up her back until she could no longer resist. Throwing down her pencil, she grabbed her purse and followed Debbie through an unmarked door next to the copy machine.
“Hurry and sit down. You almost missed the introduction!” remarked Debbie as Kat closed the door behind her. “If the networks hadn’t increased the amount of commercials before the shows, you’d have missed this part.”
Kat looked over Debbie’s shoulder at an old television barely supported on a rickety metal stand. The theme song had just ended and a landscape of desks and clocks was fading away.
“Would you scoot back a bit so I can sit next to you?” asked Kat, pulling a folding chair toward her.
“Oh, sorry,” replied Debbie, sliding sideways. “I got carried away.”
“What’s the show about today?” inquired Kat.
“Don’t know. Shush,” hissed Debbie as she leaned toward the set to hear the announcer.
“Today’s special presentation of Our Office is based on a suggestion from one of our avid viewers. We’d like to offer our thanks to a Ms. D. W. somewhere in the Midwest. Keep sending those letters and e-mails, ladies. You are special to us and we listen to you! And now, ‘The District Manager’s Secret Life’.”
“Ms. D. W. somewhere in the Midwest?” remarked Kat, noticing Debbie’s face turning red.
“Kat, I can’t hear,” she sighed as she turned up the volume.
Kat watched as a tall, very buxom blond glanced at her wristwatch and slithered out of her cubicle chair. The secretary’s stiletto heels made loud clicks on the gray slate floor as she walked toward a door labeled District Manager. All she carried was a little steno pad. There was a pencil tucked above one ear. The woman walked with smooth, unhurried movements, allowing her thin, close-fitting red dress to ripple across her body. Her low-cut neckline left little to the viewer’s imagination.
“That’s some augmentation! How do you suppose she can see her pad when she’s taking notes?” smirked Kat. “She must hold it off to the side or way out in front!”
“Kat, please,” grumbled Debbie. “You’re ruining the show.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll try to stay quiet.”
As the viewer followed the secretary through the door, a tall, stately, athletic-looking older gentleman stopped in mid swing, lowered his golf club and asked, “Yes, Ms. Dexter?”
“Mr. Morley, sir, it’s time for dictation,” she declared.
The two stared at each other for too long before the man replied.
“Yes, I’ve been waiting for you. Are you ready?”
“Always,” sighed the secretary, easing herself into a nearby chair.
Ms. Dexter pulled the pencil from above her ear and placed it between her full scarlet lips. With a toss of her golden tresses, she slowly crossed her legs and set the pad on her thigh. Retrieving her pencil, Ms. Dexter ran her tongue over her lips to smooth her lip gloss and waited for her manager’s command.
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“Dexter? That sounds familiar,” remarked Kat. “Didn’t there used to be a woman named Baxter who worked here before I started?”
Without replying, Debbie reached forward and turned the volume up higher.
“Ms. Dexter. You’ve seemed a bit pensive lately,” observed Mr. Morley as he sat on the edge of his large, heavy wooden desk.
“Oh, I suppose I’m just worried about you,” replied Ms. Dexter as she shifted in her seat, causing her skirt to reveal more thigh. “You’ve been working so hard lately and –”
“Yes?” asked the manager, leaning forward.
“Your wife hasn’t found out about us, has she?” blurted the secretary.
“Us?” sighed Mr. Morley, looking away. “No, it isn’t that. I’ve just discovered that my wife is. . . ”
“Yes, please go on,” pleaded Ms. Dexter. “I’m here for you.”
“She’s having a affair with the gardener,” groaned Mr. Morley. “I caught them together last weekend laying next to the privet hedge. She told me she’s pregnant with his child.”
“Serves him right!” laughed Kat loudly.
The TV’s volume went up another notch.
“Oh, you poor man!” cried Ms. Dexter, jumping from her seat and rushing into his arms. Pressing herself tightly against his chest, she tipped her head upwards and gazed into her manager’s eyes.
“Jack, I must tell you. I’m pregnant, too.”
“Doesn’t anyone there know about birth control–” began Kat, only to be interrupted by a loud pounding on the break room door.
“Ya know, SOME people have to work around here,” shouted Regina from the other side. “Turn that down or turn it off!”
Debbie’s hand thrust forward and switched off the TV with an angry click.
“Hey, all you had to do is turn it down,” complained Kat as she watched Debbie stand and glare at her.
“Never mind, I’m going back to work!” grumbled Debbie, walking to the door. “It’s a good thing I remembered to set my VCR to record at home!”
“Would you loan me the tape later so I can see how it ends?” begged Kat, following Debbie back to the clerical cubicles.
“Maybe,” was Debbie’s only reply as she roughly moved papers around on her desk.
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John drew upon fourteen years of experience working within the insurance industry to write Sum of Life - The Worst Kind of Lies. Inspired by both the generosity and selfishness of the people he encountered, Mr. Lamont attempts to create a window into a world of money and power driven by need and greed. Mr. Lamont hopes that his fictional corporate insurance world inspires his readers to avoid the poor choices and pitfalls made by the characters in the Sum of Life trilogy. |
Thanks John for the sneak preview... John Wolf
