Start of a short story

"I thought you got fired!" Travis yelled toward Theresa as he saw her magenta, paisely coat speed through the junction of the corridor he was in and the corridor she was in.

Theresa continued racing toward the door that led to the dining room that would lead to two more sets of doors and then the parking lot, adding credibility to the rumor that had been circulating around Penny's Restaurant that day: she was being let go due to a "no call, no show." Travis raced behind her, but by the time he had reached the dining room, she was already out of the mall. He sat down.

"I think she gets what she derserves," said Kari as she sloppily at the Carribean Chicken she'd ordered for lunch. "I mean, we shouldn't have been so busy on New Year's Day, yet I walked in and had six table right off the bat. You know she got up right before she walked in her because her ass was up drinking."

"I don't know if you should be so harsh on her," said Emily, walking out of the beverage station to the booth where Kari and Travis were sitting, holding the Shrimp Pasta Travis had ordered. "She has a child, you know. Sometimes schedules get confused, you know. I don't think she's actually been terminated."

"Listen to you, Ms. English Teacher," said Kari, taking Emily's glasses off her face upon her arrival at the table and pretending to write something on an imaginary board. "She's been terminated, all right, and I'm not sad. I bet her daughter calls her 'Mother Theresa'"

"I don't really think that's fair," said Travis, not yet having touched his meal. "I've never had a problem with her."

"That's funny," said Emily as she scooted into Travis' side of the booth. "I remember you being the one who propagated this whole rumor about her being fired. You seemed kind of happy to be spreading it."

"Right," he said. "But I like gossiping, no matter who it's about. I mean, the White House Republicans talk all sorts of shit about each other individually but come together when we call them out on theirs."

"At least she's got her hairstyling job," said Emily.

"You two do make a good team, I guess, being that you're both late all the time," said Kari. "I mean, you did walk in at 11:17 today even though you were on the schedule at 11:15."

"Fuck off," said Travis. He grabbed his bowl and his apron and began to get out of the booth. "Can you please move, Emily?"

Helena, the manager, then came storming out of the kitchen. "Hold it right there, mister. That'll be two dollars," she said, holding the jar that had been designated a depository for charity money, fifty cents due for each curse word.

"I said one fucking word," he said, walking right past her.

"That was two!" she said, waving the jar in his face. "That's two-fifty now!"

"What?" he asked as he stopped and turned around to face her, his hands clamed on the counter under the expo window. "I thought Ms. Cleo got in jail. I'll give you a dollar, but this whole "cussing for charity" thing is scary. You know, you haven't even announced which charity the money will be going to. You seem so militant about getting money for it that I sometimes think you're keeping it for yourself." He stormed off down the corridor that led to the break room.

"I don't appreciate your insubordination," she said as she followed him, catching up to him as he walked and forcibly pulling him into the manager's office (the door before the break room). "I think you might be joining Theresa."

"But there's nothing in company policy that allows management to collect money from servers that didn't come from guests," he pointed out. "Actually, I think that might be illegal, along the lines of extortion."

"I could fire you right now for cursing in view of guests."

"There are no fucking guests!"

"I am sure they heard that," she said. "If you're going to be like this, you can go home now. Don't worry about working your last two shifts."

"Oh?" he said, sweating a little bit from the argument. "You think this is because I'm leaving town in a few days and I think I can behave however I want?"

"You could say that, yeah," she said, swiveling around in the fancy chair she'd earned the right to sit in after slaving away for this company for the better part of her youth and thereafter. "Don't take this the wrong way, but your attitude right now reminds me a little bit of Chucky."

"The possessed doll?"

"No, James that used to work here, you know, the one that got fired for cussing at the hostess? I'm just saying, this will be the last shift I work with you anyway; I am off on Monday and Tuesday. I just don't want to remember you like this," she said, the flush in her face gone as well as the anger in her voice.

"That's sweet, but I think I will take you up on your offer to go home," he said, leaving the office and continuing past the break room and then the stock room then out the back, employee entrance and eventually out of the mall itself. He was free, essentially.