Grow Down

Chapter 2
Accidents Happen

Chapter Description: Why macho men will some day be extinct.

C2

“What’s left on my plate, Mosley?” Joseph was on the phone with his butler. The sun was now pouring in through the western window, and Joseph’s office was completely packed up for the night. Everything electronic was either off or turning off. After all, why bother with security when your office was on the highest room in the building?

“Well sir, you have an overseeing of a viral import at your Virus Labs this night at nine sharp,”

“Wonderful! My entire night taken up with babysitting!”

“Well sir, you are required to be present. You wrote it as part of the contract of receiving viral imports. After Jennings spilled the vat of highly contagious DNA rewriting viruses. Half our team mutated by animal DNA beyond help?” That was an ugly mess. Besides losing half of his union in the unloading department, the entire building was scrubbed down with anti-disinfected for weeks, with workers spontaneously transforming into lions and tigers and bears.

“Oh my! I had almost forgotten! It was only on the cover of EVERY printed media for three months!”

“Yes sir,”

“Anyway, I’m staying at the office then. Have Helga send over my dinner. The chef knows what to make. Good day,” The ring hung in the air and Robbery Mosley slowly reconnected the phone’s receiver.

“Ugh, ve makes me so mad!” Helga said, standing behind Robbert. Helga was of German decent, and she had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing to Joseph’s every whim. No one was more tormented by Joseph or for longer then Robbert.

Robbert had served the Barron family well. Butlering was a family tradition in the Mosley line, and Robbert unwillingly entered at the profession at eighteen. He was so wonderful at his hate, however, that the Baron family kept him around. Shortly after, however, Robbert was given the task of overseeing the Baron’s youngest of four children. Oh, how Robbert had wished that sweet Sophia, with her politeness and grace, beautiful Barbra and her overwhelming kindness, of even odd Edward, who was obsessed with robotics and science, who was still manageable. But instead, the youngest of the Barron children, who was 2 when Robbert was assigned to him, was Joseph. Robbert had been serving Joseph since he was in diapers, which Robbert had to change, and Robbert had no pleasant memories of Joseph. Except when he was sleeping. Therefore Robbert had come to treasure moments in which Joseph had been knocked down a few pegs, making the event at the loading dock a treasure in Robbert’s mind.

“If only Joseph was there,” Robbert chuckled as he carried out his servant duties.

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“Alright, keep’m comin’, keep’m comin’,” The loader said as he brought in canister after canister of viruses. Joseph could not be more bored if he tried.

“Why did I ever make this rule?” The truth was, there was a good chance that he only made the rule to keep a closer eye on his employees. Joseph did not plan to have his company overtaken by some Harvard want-to-be, so he kept a close eye on his employees, getting them fired if they showed too much promise. Because that was the kind of avaricious man Joseph was.

“No, no! You’re doing it wrong!” Whether or not the employee WAS doing it wrong or not was unmatterable. Joseph felt the need to feel like his was still above all of his employees. He jumped down onto the dock and grabbed a canister.

“THIS is how you do it!” Joseph couldn’t budge it. All of his dockers were big and bulky, whereas Joseph had the lanky look of a spoiled rich kid. mistakingly thinking his employees were laughing behind his back, Joseph pulled harder.

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“Lord, please keep Your children’s home in your heart. Help us to survive in today’s world. Please keep the children healthy,” Thinking about it, Emilia decided to add one last thing. “Lord, please teach Your children who have avarice how to behave.”

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Joseph continued to pull harder, but the canister would not budge an inch. He stopped for some air, but then gave the canister one last, violent tug. The canister came crashing down, and upon hitting the ground it burst, releasing an icy gust.

“Clear! Clear!” The contamination team raced to the scene, blasting everything with fire extinguishers. The door closed rapidly, and all of the workers looked uneasy. No one was wearing any contamination suits when the canister burst.

“What was inside the canister?” One asked.

“I dunno. The canister’s label was completely destroyed. We’ll have to check all the canisters to determine the one,” Another said.

“No good, we hadn’t cataloged them yet,” Still another replied.

“So we wait until something happens?” The first replied.

“Pretty much. Come in if you feel odd,” The third answered with a skeptic laugh.

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It wasn’t until midnight that Joseph and his team were able to leave. His chauffeur had the car running, just as he liked it. When he got home, he was not interrupted. Except for his butler and one of his maids, all of his staff left for their homes at ten O’clock sharp. Joseph crawled into bed without much fuss. He was feeling strangely tired and his bed sounded alluring. He put on his real-silk silky pajamas and turned off the light with a click.

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