Staring at the blinking light, he grimaced and rose with a groan that conveyed both weariness and a great sense of injustice at having to rise in the first place. He punched the play button on the answering machine and forced himself to listen.
BEEP. “Hey Jeff, it’s Shep. I heard you were taking a few days to drive out to Omaha to visit your mom. I hope everything’s okay. Call me when you get back to town.”
BEEP. “Hey Jeff, Shep again. I know you’re still away, but I wanted to let you know we’re hiring a new part-timer at the library. I’m counting on you to help train her when you get back. Heather something-or-other. Okay, hope your trip’s going well. Call me when you get back.”
BEEP. “Hi sweetie, it’s your mom. I know you won’t be home yet, but I wanted to thank you for coming out to see me. It means a lot, and I already feel better. Maybe next time we’ll have more time to talk. If I feel up to it, maybe I could come visit at Christmas. I feel like I hardly know anything about your life out there. Okay, have a safe trip. Love you, honey.”
BEEP. “Good evening Mr. Galway. This is Blanche with Capital One Mastercard. It is important that we speak with you regarding your account. Please contact us at your earliest convenience. Again, it is important that we speak with you immediately. Thank you and have a good night.”
BEEP. “Hey Jeff, it’s Shep. You back in town yet? No rush, just wanted to make sure all is well. Give me a call when you get in. Looking forward to having you back. Oh, and remember I told you about Heather? You can start training her on Monday, if you’re back.”
He had been back by Monday, but he hadn’t gone to work. It was now 11 o’clock Tuesday morning, so he supposed that Heather’s training must have begun without him. Ah, well. No doubt she would manage. He pressed the delete button on the answering machine and heard the satisfying beep indicating the consignment of the messages to digital oblivion. Blanche?! He thought to himself, who the fuck is named Blanche and works for a fucking collection agency? Good riddance to that pain in the ass.
Sour disposition aside, he did feel a bit guilty about not having called Shepard. He could still go in this afternoon, at least long enough to check in with Shep and make sure nothing had gone disastrously wrong in his absence. He plucked the phone from the charger and dialed the library. It rang three times before someone with a rather breathless voice answered.
“University libraries, this is the, uh, media lab. Heather speaking. Can I help you?”
So I guess the “training” consists of answering the phones. Aloud, he said, “Hi. This is Jeff Galway. I work at the library. Is Shepard Gill in today?”
“Um, yeah, he’s here somewhere. Can you hold for a minute? I’ll find him.”
“Sure,” he said. Expecting the bland University hold music to come on, he was surprised to hear a click and then silence. She had hung up on him. He dialed again. This time the phone rang once.
“University libraries, media lab. I’m sorry – did I just hang up on you?”
“Yes, you did,” said Jeff, stifling a yawn. “Just set the phone down while you get Shepard. I prefer the silence to the hold music, anyway.”
“Sure, sure,” she said, and then was gone. When someone picked up the phone again, it was Shepard Gill’s voice that came on the line.
“Jeff! Is everything okay? I thought you might be back in town this weekend, so when I didn’t hear from you yesterday I started to get worried.”
“Hey Shep. Yeah, everything’s fine, I just stayed a little longer so I could be sure my mom was feeling better,” this small lie rolled glibly off of his tongue. He had returned to town on Sunday afternoon, but there had been too much online activity to catch up on to make him feel sufficiently motivated to go to work the day before. Besides, Shep had known that his plans were flexible. “She’s doing better, though, and I wanted to get back to you as soon as I could.”
“Good, good, I’m glad to hear it. That’s a relief. So you talked to Heather already – you got my messages about her, yes?”
“Yeah, I heard. Extra help for weekends and evenings and whatnot?”
“That’s pretty much it,” Shepard paused for a moment, as if weighing whether or not to say more. He said more. “And, you know, if you need to leave to take care of your mom again, it’ll be a little easier to cover your shifts. You know, you can feel like you have the flexibility to leave if you need to.”
Jeff was silent for a moment. He preferred not to involve others, even Shep, who was a friend, in his family life. “Well, that’s kind of you,” he said at length, “I suppose you’ll want me to start training her?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind. I know you’ll be thorough about going through everything she needs to know. I had her working with Brad yesterday and this morning, but I’d prefer you take over since you’ve got more experience with some of the obscure stuff. Can you come in this afternoon?”
“Yeah, that’s no problem. I can start undoing whatever damage Brad did when I get there.”
Shep laughed tentatively. Jeff’s often deadpan delivery made it difficult to tell when he was joking and when he wasn’t. Shep suspected that in this case he wasn’t joking, but let the remark pass. “Right, that’s what I like to hear – good old Jeff. Okay, get here when you can and I’ll have the two of you start working together.”
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