“Do you want something to drink,” Carter was fidgety. Wanting the awards to be announced so he could go into action “I want a soda, how’bout you?”
“Maybe you should hold off on the caffeine a little, you are totally wired,” Rita was a week out of surgery and enjoying the trip to Florida. Her cheer squad had gone to extremes to help raise funds to offset her mounting medical bills in lieu of using the money for travel expenses to this competition.
During the many car washes and community donations, Marion Wiseman, the head coach received an anonymous donation for the team so they could still go to their winter competition in Orlando.
Carter and Rita, long-time friends from high school, had reconnected shortly after her initial cancer diagnosis while he was visiting his family for his youngest sibling’s eighteenth birthday.
Over the last few months, they had grown closer and now Carter wanted to make it official.
“I’m going to get us some drinks,” Carter half stood, looking around to see if a concession vendor with cold sodas was close. Waving one over, he fished a few dollars out of his pocket, one an old bill stamped with red ink around the edges.
Taking the drinks, trying to not spill them, he handed one to Rita, then sat back down to watch the last cheerleading squad perform.
“Your gang is so much better,” Carter took a long drink, hoping the cool liquid will help his parched mouth. He wanted to be able to talk when it really mattered. “They are performing for you, you know that right?”
“I do,” Rita took her own sip, trying to hide the lump she had in her throat. “I can’t believe all that they did for me. The whole town really. I’m still stunned.”
Applauds for the last team drowned out his words before Carter could say anything more.
“It won’t be long before the judges make their announcements.” Rita reached over to take Carter’s free hand. “I’m glad you’re here. It means a lot to me that you’ve been so supportive, about everything.”
She leaned in close to kiss his cheek, rubbing off the pink lipstick as he brought her hand to his lips to kiss her fingers.
“Hey, you two,” Peter Campbell, cheer squad co-captain Lindsey Campbell’s dad, was making his way down the stand’s aisle, his own soda in hand. “The girls looked great didn’t they?”
He was cramming his concession change into his pocket, a few coins and an old bill with red ink stamped on the edges.
“I am so proud of them all, they did awesome,” Rita patted Peter’s hand where he laid it on her shoulder. He was taken a seat behind them in the stands,
“They were motivated to get this routine perfect,” Peter, reached down to shake Carter’s hand. “Thanks for coming down, man. You know, they’ve given you two their seal of approval.”
Rita blushed and Carter couldn’t stop smiling.
“I’m glad it’s going to make it easier,” Carter was interrupted by more audience applause as the judges made their way to the stage, ready to announce the winners.
Cheer squads, staying in their groups, pushed toward the edge of the stage, hoping to hear their school name called. Beginning with fifth place, the trophies were handed out.
As judges got to the last two places, Carter reached into his pocket, fingering a small box holding a platinum and diamond ring.
When the second place team was announced, Rita knew her girls had won. She, Carter and Peter all stood cheering as the squad was named Champion. The team raced on stage to accept the three-foot tall trophy, captains Lindsey and Danielle hoisting it above their heads. They scanned the bleachers until they saw their assistant coach.
“This one is for you Coach Price!”
Rita blew them all kisses, until she realized Carter had moved to the aisle, and had knelt down on one knew, holding a small sliver box up.
““This one is for you too Coach Price,” Carter echoed, taking her hand. “That is if you’ll have me.”
The girls on the stage could see what was happening. Carter on one knee, holding Rita’s hand.
They began to chant..
“Say yes! Say yes!” Soon the whole auditorium was joining in.
Peter had put down his drink to applaud for the squad’s win, and kept clapping when Carter made his proposal. He leaned over the seats so Rita could hear him above the din.
“Say yes, Rita.”
“Yes,” Rita barely whispered the word, then shouted, “Yes! Yes!”
The audience exploded in thunderous applause, the spectators, the cheer squads on the floor, even the judges on the stage were all cheering.
Carter struggled with trembling hands to place the ring on Rita’s finger, rising from his kneeling position to finally hug her. He had no other choice but to following the crowds direction when their chant changed to, “Kiss her! Kiss her!”
—
Monday morning Peter was telling his co-workers about the competition, and the proposal. Unlike the majority of their hometown, he knew exactly who Carter Rhodes was and the extend of his computer empire. The women in the office voiced their jealously of Peter’s friend and her good luck in catching a multi-millionaire.
As the women filtered out of the break room, most of the male staff stayed behind. Peter discreetly closed the door.
Taking out a large piece of paper with a list of female co-workers names on it, he laid it on the break room table.
“The party is in two weeks, it’s three dollars a chance to join in the pool,” Peter was explaining. “You pick a name, date and method.”
The men began crowding around the table, laying down their money and writing in their guesses.
“Whoever gets closest to the actual smack-down, wins the entire pot,” Peter threw in his own $3, including an old bill marked with red ink. “I’ll even add my own money, but won’t make a guess. I won’t be eligible to win.”
“What if no one gets how it’s done right,” one of the men asked, filling in his name and guesses.
“We just work down, to person and date,” Peter said. “We all know it’s coming soon, just not who or when, the how is going to be icing. And, remember guy! Not a word to the women, that would throw off the results.”
By the end of the day, the pool had move than $100 in it, many of the men making multiple guesses. The company owner’s son had been hired several months earlier and from his first day, had shown himself to be a misogynistic tool. If he wasn’t telling vile, sexist jokes, he was hitting on every woman in the office.
Complaints to the department heads were noted, but due to his parentage, little could be done. As a result, two women had resigned and several more were actively seeking other employment.
The two frontrunners in the smack-down pool were Kathy, the office receptionist and Judith, their lead engineer. Kathy, was young and sweet, and slightly dense. She was uncomfortable with Josh’s unwanted attention, but didn’t know how to tell him to stop.
Judith, who was a little older and extremely attractive, had been with the company since it’s inception. She had more than a job to lose should she press the issue. There was seniority that she’d lose if she went to another office, stock options that could be affected and her own reputation in a male-centric profession. She couldn’t afford to be labeled a troublemaker or a femin-nazi who could not take a joke.
The Old Man knew about his son’s bad behavior, but since none of the women had sought redress, he was inclined to ignore it. Peter, the division manager, had tried to help where he could. Josh was warned over and over that his jokes and attention were inappropriate and unwanted.
He had helped the two women who left find new jobs, writing glowing letters of recommendation, and offered the same to the other ones looking for other work.
He told each of them to keep explicitly detailed records of all of Josh’s actions toward them that could be considered sexually aggressive. He knew that at some point the Old Man couldn’t keep turning a blind eye, and the women would need documentation to back up their claims.
The pool was his idea. At first he worried it would appear unsympathetic, but then considered if the men in the office were aware of Josh’s harassment, and against who, it could only bolster any of his attempts to get the man fired. Rules of the pool stipulated that the other men could not encourage his behavior, but could warn him he should stop.
The tension in the office was at an all time high, but despite that everyone was looking forward to the office Christmas party. Peter felt sure that by then, something or someone would break and Josh would go too far. The Old Man would finally have to do something.
Even though he wasn’t eligible to win the pool, all of Peter’s money would be on Judith. He thought two weeks was too long to wait, Judith could snap at any time.
It was bad enough that Kathy didn’t fully understand that Josh’s actions didn’t mean he liked her, but that he saw her as little more than an object. She vacillated between being flattered and being scared. He was rich and handsome, but sometimes he frightened her. Judith and Peter both told her she didn’t have to put up with him putting his hands on her, but she was worried if she rejected him, he would get his father to fire her.
As a single mom, she needed this job. Her ill father lived with her and her toddler son. She paid for childcare and elderly care solely from her income. Kathy had checked. Any other jobs she would quality for, didn’t pay nearly as well. She felt trapped, and not sure how to save herself.
Judith wasn’t sure who she was more disgusted with – Josh or herself. She could find another job, maybe even at a higher salary, but would lose her years of seniority. Basically having to start over again. She told herself that she could put up with it, deal with the jerk for her job. Peter tried to make it better by keeping their work as separate as he could, but he had little control over what the owner did about his son.
She avoided Josh as much as she could, keeping any necessary interaction to a minimum, but on those occasions when she had to talk to him, he went out of his way to either touch her or say something overtly sexual. No matter how often she shunned his advances, he would find a way to insinuated himself to her.
Josh once told her she should consider it a compliment that he was paying her any attention, considering her age, but that he wasn’t opposed to hooking up with a cougar as hot as she was. She daydreamed about the many different ways she could hurt him, running through various scenarios in her head as a way to pass the time while he talked to her.
—
“Then, she says, ‘I’ve finally had enough’!”
He was laughing so hard by this time it was difficult to make out what he was saying. The only thing I could be sure of was that Josh thought his raunchy joke was hilarious, and that it truly wasn’t.
I was standing by the buffet table as far from him as I could be and he still managed to make eye contact right at the moment I looked his direction. He did that stupid frat boy chin wave, and winked as he made his way over to me. In my mind I was frantically trying to find an escape route, but Kathy, our receptionist had cornered me by the punch bowl and was holding my cup hostage while she told me about her latest OPI nail enamel obsession.
“It’s called Little Red Wagon,” she said, splaying her fingers so I could see how the light bounced off the hint of glimmer in the polish. “It’s part of the Holiday Toyland Collection.”
I maneuvered around so Kathy was between me and Josh, keeping an eye on his progress and trying to look interested in the Christmas-themed nails of my co-worker.
“It’s lovely.”
Kathy’s back was turned away from Josh as she wiggled her fingers at me. He stepped up behind her, a tumbler of Jack on ice in one hand, and her right ass cheek in his other.
“It really is lovely,” he growled in her ear.
She was at least coy enough to blush before moving away from his lascivious grasp, giggling like a school girl. Adjusting her skirt back into place, Kathy ran a trembling hand over her expertly coifed hair. Averting her eyes, she made some incoherent comment about having to check on getting more ‘ass’ for the drinks.
Realizing what she said, she giggled again and left me to the wolves, or rather the lone wolf.
Josh was now standing beside me, lightly running his fingertips along the back of my arm. I fought the urge to gag as I felt bile rise up in my throat, the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
“Did you hear my joke just now,” from the muffled tone of his voice, I could tell he had his head turned, his attention now on my ass. “If you didn’t, I can tell it to you in private.”
I had to swallow hard to keep from telling him what he could do to himself in private, but I knew that he’d turn that insult around on me.
“I did hear it,” inching away from him, twitching my arm slightly to make him stop touching me. I’ve never had much of a poker face, and I wondered if the total disgust I felt was evident in the sneer I knew was taking the place of my earlier smile.
“Effing hilarious, right? She says, ‘I’ve had enough’! Get it?”
Making obscene hand gestures and wagging his eyebrows at me, he was grinning like a 12-year-old caught with his father’s Playboys.
All I could do was close my eyes, and take a deep breath. Josh most assuredly took that as an indication that his vulgar story had the desired effect on me. His rancid breath was hot on my neck, his roaming hand found the small of my back and began to inch lower.
“Why don’t you come back to my office, I can retell the joke for you, just in case you missed the good parts.”
—
That Monday, the whole office staff was crammed into the break room. Peter, the division manager, was explaining how Josh broke his nose and lost two teeth at the company Christmas party over the weekend.
“She says, ‘I’ve finally had enough,’ and started throwing ‘bows. Caught him right across the face, twice. You could hear bone crack all the way to the stage. He was bleeding everywhere. Gawd, it was the funniest damn thing I’ve ever seen. Could not stop laughing!
“No, she’s not getting fired. If it were up to me I’d give her a promotion. He’s had that coming for years. Only reason he’s not been sacked is because he’s the owner’s son. I can guaran-damn-tee you, that’ll be the last time he says or does anything even remotely inappropriate around her.”
—
Peter handed the cash over to the winner, counting out the money, including a single bill with red ink stamped on the edges.
“How’d you know,” Peter wondered aloud. “I mean, I can understand how you would guess it would be Judith and at the party, but how in the world did you know she would break his nose with an elbow strike?”
Kevin, stuffed the money into his wallet, wasn’t surprised he won the pool. Judith was the most likely to act on her frustrations without fear of reprisal.
“In a way it was cheating,” he said, shrugging. “Guessing it would be Judith was the easy part. I thought Josh would probably be an obnoxious drunk, so the party was easy too.”
“Where does the cheating come in,” Peter, laughed again thinking about the look on his face when Judith’s elbow first made contact with his nose.
“I remember Judith once said something about training in martial arts when she was younger,” Kevin sat down in the chair in front of Peter’s desk. “I was watching her once when Josh walked up to her at the water cooler. I don’t think she did it consciously, but she planted her feet like a fighter would. I could tell she was setting herself for some sort of defensive move. She’s quick. I don’t think Josh ever saw it coming.”
Peter slapped the top of his desk and let out a loud snort.
“That’s amazing,” he said between waves of laughter.
“What happens now,” Kevin asked, once Peter stopped laughing. “I mean with Judith. Is the Old Man really going to let this go. She broke his son’s nose for God’s sake.”
Peter suddenly became serious, sitting back in his desk chair.
“I’ve had a long talk with Josh’s father,” he began. “I showed him reams of documentation from the women in this office concerning his harassing behavior. I told him either Josh was let go from here, and got professional help, or Judith and I both would quit. I also told him that I would find out where Josh was looking to be hired for any future jobs and would tell potential employers exactly why he was let go here.”
Both men remained silent for several minutes.
“I hope it does some good,” Kevin finally said.
“So do I, but I’m afraid it will take him actually physically hurting someone before he’s stopped.” Peter shook his head sadly. “Judith may have saved a few lives by standing up for herself.”
