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Short Fat Stubby Finger Stories PRESENTS:

Episode 12

“Joseph.   Joseph.   Are you alright?”

Inside Joseph’s darkened mind the sound of somebody calling his name swirled around and around.   The sound was thick; muffled – but it was there and it gave him hope.

He tried desperately to locate the source of it, but it kept breaking up with flashes of light exploding through the darkness like a strobe light at a sixties disco– then the sound of the voice appeared again – and disappeared, again – then the darkness returned, then the exploding flashes of light gave him a start and he felt his entire body quivering in reaction.   Over and over repetition of events occurred.

Joseph was becoming panicky through his ignorance of the situation.   He had no idea where he was or what was happening to him.   All he could remember was sitting at his desk, about to close the computer down before heading off for his lunch at the Café Di’ Mondo, when everything had exploded in his face.

“Joseph.   Joseph.   Can you hear me?”  Totally decipherable the voice came in louder and stronger this time … and so did the circle of light and dark that followed.

Frustration began to overtake the fear in Joseph’s mind.   ‘There is a way out of this,’ he reasoned with himself, ‘I just have to concentrate.”    And as his mind accepted his decision to fight whatever was attacking him, the elements that were attempting to drown him in the darkness attacked with all the force they could muster.

His head began to explode as a violent sequence of black and white bursts began exploding at such a speed of change they threatened to rupture his entire nervous system with the pain and confusion they were causing it.

In Mary’s cupped hand, where Joseph’s head rested as she soothingly stroked his forehead with the other in an attempt to calm his feverish mind, the body of water that unexpectedly exploded from the back of his head threatened her ability to safely support him during the violent spasms his body was constantly displaying , while on the inside Joseph was forcing every ounce of his subdued concentration to focus purely on the voice that seemed to offer a path to sanity … and to fend off the light and darkness which constantly threatened to send him to a world of madness.

Somebody handed Mary a pair of clean dry towels, one of which she placed between her hand and arm and the hot, slippery river of sweat exploding from the rear of Joseph’s head and regained her hold, before using the other to dab gently across his face, while others now held tightly on to his arms to prevent another violent contortion that he threatened to place his body into as he did battle with the demons inside his mind.

Somehow, Mary found the strength to remain calm, not only ignoring the panicky suggestions of her work colleagues as what to do, but to speak softly to them in order to also calm them down.

“He will be alright in a minute or two,” she said softly, “It’s just his mind reacting to the monitor blowing up the way it did.  He is probably suffering temporary blindness being so close to it when it exploded, and his mind is probably a wee bit confused.   What he needs is for us to be calm and patient until his mind clears a bit.”

Mary’s words had the desired result.   The small group of co-workers who had been attracted by the noise of the monitor’s unexpected demise and had rushed to Joseph’s aid settled down … and unexpectedly so did Joseph whose spasms ceased and his eyes began to open.

As Joseph’s eyes began to focus he was pleasantly surprised to find Mary kneeling on the floor beside him, her deep blue eyes staring concernedly at him, one hand resting behind his neck and the other holding a towel which she was using to gently remove the last of the sweat on his face.

“Thank god, you are back with us, Joseph,”   Mary said, the sincerity in the tone of her voice threw a soft shiver down his Joseph’s spine, “we had no idea what to do with you except to hope and pray for your recovery.   Do you feel alright … or would you like us to get you a doctor?   Perhaps you should see one anyway?”

Joseph was uncertain how he felt, outside of still being slightly confused as to why he was on the floor and in Mary’s lap.   But before he could attempt an answer, a strange voice attracted his attention.

“Take this, Joseph,” an extremely deep throated voice suggested, “it will work quickly.”

Joseph, still being cradled by Mary, began to turn his head towards the unfamiliar voice to find his eyes making contact with the biggest hands he had seen in life clutching a pill in one and a glass of water in the other.   Joseph’s eyes continued their march along two massive arms that finally led to possibly the biggest body he had ever seen outside of a basketball match on the evening news.

   ‘How tall is he?’  Joseph asked himself as his eyes, and his already befuddled brain, took in the stranger, ‘Seven foot, eight foot?  It is impossible to tell from the way that I am positioned on the floor at the moment.   But he is bloody tall.’

However, try as he may, Joseph could not move his head at the right angle to see the man’s full height or his face.   Conceding defeat to his attempts Joseph returned his attention to the pill that Mary was placing in his mouth.   Mary then took the glass from the stranger’s hands and gently placed it to Joseph’s lips.   Joseph somehow raised his hand to below the glass and between them the glass was tipped to the right angle and Joseph swallowed.

A second later, presumably in reaction to the pill, Joseph’s body jerked with such violence it caused his arms to fly upwards, dislodging the glass from Mary’s hand with so much force that it flew straight into the still smoking monitor, cracking the thin polarized glass screen , and the contents of the glass quickly leaked in.

Within less than a millisecond the water made contact with the still live appliance and the resulting explosion sent the monitor, now in a hundred lethal pieces, flying across the entire office floor making everybody in the room diving for cover.

Chaos ensued as several other computers scattered across the room were now also emitting smoke as a result of damage caused by the flying debris.

Mary, however, was only concerned for Joseph’s well-being and was pleasantly surprised to see him disentangle himself from her and begin to move upright looking sprightlier than she had ever seen him.

“The pill worked, then?”   Mary cried happily.

“It certainly did.   I feel absolutely wonderful” he grinned as he turned to thank the big man who had given him the pill, but he was surprised to find the man was nowhere in sight.   “Who was that man?” he asked, “The one that gave me the pill.   I don’t thing that I have ever seen him before.   I am sure that I would have remembered somebody that tall.”

“I’m sorry, Joseph, I really didn’t take much notice”, Mary replied, making sure her eyes weren’t making contact with his lest he noticed how real her concern had been, so real it had surprised her.   “I was far too worried about you to have a good look at him.    And he seemed to know you so I assumed the pill would be safe … and by the looks of you it seems that it was.   But you are right, he was tall.   I took a quick glance when he gave me the pill and the glass of water … his face seemed old, but kind, but that was all I really noticed about him, other than the size of his hands … they were huge.  They were the reason why I had looked up.

“A pity … I really would have liked to thank him.   Whatever was in that pill worked wonders.   I don’t think I have felt this good in years.”

“I’m glad you are alright.   Which is more than I can say for the monitor,” Mary said with a wry smile as she looked around the room, “or the office for that matter.    I think you will need a new monitor; perhaps even a new computer.   The room will need a clean up … and all the computers will need a thorough going over from the looks of them.  There was a lot of debris flying through the room.   It was a wonder nobody got hurt.    Do you feel like you need to see a doctor for a check over … you seemed pretty knocked around for a while there??

“No, honestly, I feel fine now, that pill worked wonders, but thank you for your concern.”

“You are more than welcome, Joseph.   Well if you feel alright, you may as well take an extended lunch.   I would love to join you on such an ominous occasion,” Mary offered, smiling, and quickly adding, “just to make certain that you are definitely alright, of course.   However, I will have my hands full getting everything back in order without losing too much time.   I don’t suppose you have any idea what happened?”

“Thanks, but I will be fine, and, no, I have no idea what happened.   I was in the process of redirecting an internal e-mail when it started spluttering – then it went ballistic.    After that I have no idea what happened – except … except I kept hearing you calling my name.  That also helped me regain focus and possibly pulled me out of the black hole I felt I was in, so I thank you for that.

Mary’s felt her face burning at Joseph’s words, faltering as she stumbled for the right words to reply with.   “You’re more than welcome,”  she finally said, turning her head away as she spoke, “Well, I had better get moving … lots to be done.  Enjoy your lunch, Joseph.    And with that Mary picked up the phone on Joseph’s desk and began dialing, barking out instructions the minute the call was answered and keeping her head turned away from Joseph.

Mary’s sudden ending to their conversation had surprised Joseph however he supposed that she did have a lot to attend to.    “Bye, Mary,” he called out as he began to leave, ‘Once again, thank you for looking after me.”

As Joseph passed through the entrance to the lifts he failed to realise Mary was watching him, a rather wistful look on her face.

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