The Taxi Ride
The table shook violently. It was suffering from the abuse of constant slamming of heavy files from its owner. The chair creaked from being sat at heavily. Nobody attempted to talk to the angry owner. The office was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
The papers were heard being sorted and everyone got back to work again. How dare he do that to me! She fumed as she typed her report. Joanne had been working for 5 years in the company and the recently appointed manager had set certain standards that all reports were to be of a certain format in order to meet the audit requirements.
The keyboard was being abused as she typed furiously. By the time the report was amended, Joanne had cooled down but she didn’t feel like submitting it when he was still in the office. She didn’t want to face a manager who just insulted her that she couldn’t get a man to notice her even if she had flashed her assets.
Thinking about it got her riled up again and she hate him more. She wished that the chairman had hired someone else who was more objective. Kelvin, the new manager, didn’t know how to handle people and just insult them whenever he deemed fit. Lisa was seen crying the other time she came out of his office. She was scolded for not covering her pimples.
Tired of waiting for him to leave his room, Joanne marched up to his door, knocked three times, opened the door and placed the report on his desk without a word. She didn’t wait for his response and left the room. He didn’t talk to her for the rest of the week either which was fine with her.
It was raining heavily on a Wednesday morning and Gerald was late for work. Looking at his watch, a taxi would get him to the office faster and he hailed a passing taxi. En route, he saw a figure at the side of the road. It was a lady and she seemed to be in pain.
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Gerald asked the driver to stop while he got out in the heavy rain to help her. “Lady? Are you alright?” he shouted against the rain. She shook her head. He helped her into the taxi and turned to her. It was Joanne. The silence was broken by the taxi driver, “Oi! Where you want to go now?”
“Hospital.” The both of them said at the same time. The driver started the car. Awkward, Joanne sat in silence nursing her injured ankle. Gerald fiddle his thumbs. It was mortifying that he had rescued his staff whom he had insulted last week. Her clothes were wet and he could now see her shapely assets that he had insulted. He was so wrong. She was hiding them as she wanted to be known for her skills instead of them.
He cursed himself. Why did he always say the wrong things at the wrong time? Joanne was cursing herself. Running in heels was a bad idea and spraining her ankle was the result. The worse was that she was in the same taxi as the person she hated the most. Her clothes were wet and she was showing off her body to the very man she didn’t want to see elsewhere besides the office.
“Joanne?” he was so soft what she didn’t notice at first. When she turned to look at him reluctantly, he was looking so worried that it threw her off guard. “I’m sorry about what I said that day.”
She stared at him.
“Words come out from my mouth when I am angry and I started sprouting nonsense.” He looked down to observe his shoes when she didn’t answer.
“You are telling me because of what just happened? That’s so typical.” He cringed at her tone. Knowing that this was the wrong time, he kept quiet till they reached the hospital. He helped her out of the taxi after paying the driver and accompanied her to the registration counter.
While she was in the doctor’s room, Gerald called his manager to inform him that he was on urgent leave while Joanne was on medical leave. He ended the call after updating the progress. Turning around, he saw Joanne was in new set of dry clothes. Her ankle was bandaged while she favoured it. He went over to help her to a chair.
After paying for her medical fees, he hailed a taxi to get her home. Worried about her safety, he decided to escort her home. In the taxi, they were both silent as Gerald didn’t know what to say after she had stated her destination. Joanne was trying to ignore his presence but he had been polite to her since they met in the morning that she felt comfortable.
“Thanks,” was all she mumbled midway through their ride. He smiled. They rode the rest of the way to her home in comfortable silence.
