Lounge of Tomorrow - Inspiration?

A short man carrying a briefcase walked down a busy street.

I'm going on vacation, thought Trey, a small smile on his lips.

He was dressed in an unremarkable business suit which fell limply on his small frame. The tie was too large, making his face look small in comparison. His walk was purposeful but unhurried.

Vacation. Finally. I deserve it by now. The smile broadened, but his eyes remained focused on some distant point.

His route brought him past a bank with a running LED display. It flashed "3:25pm". Trey's position at Hill Foods Inc. required that he work until 5pm sharp. Here he was, nearing the corner of Anderson and Flower streets, nearly a mile away.

His car was still parked at the office.

Sweat dampened the inside of Trey's white collared shirt. This outfit was worn to protect him from ridicule, not cold weather. Walking from an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned office was usually the only exposure it recieved. In direct sun and afternoon spring weather, the suit was a disadvantage.

Trey did not care about the sweat.

He'd been on vacation before, many times, thought Trey. He'd usually taken his allotted two weeks a year to visit family in another state. Sometimes he'd extended holiday weekends. These vacations included required dinners with distant cousins and their various spouses and step children. He'd listened to their doings and eaten at their tables and smelled the strange smells of strange houses filled with essentially strange people. He'd told himself many times that he needed to do this to keep the family together. Since Ma-Maw had passed, it was up to the new generation, wasn't it? It didn't matter if their stories involved little Kit's cheerleading practice or Max's engagement to a professional calligrapher or cousin Bob's layoff from the munitions plant....he'd hear them and tell his own story and eat the meal provided and that was what had to be done.

But now, now he was really going on vacation.

Take some time for myself, you know? Trey adjusted his grip on the briefcase. Talking to himself, even silently, was not working. The thoughts kept coming.

There was Patty. He had actually brought Patty a couple times to these family gatherings. She was better than he at the game. He could almost hide behind her as she tittered back to cousin Judy, "really? An A in Math? Well, that is something for you to be proud of. You just know he'll be a scientist or something. How is your househunting going?" and on and on and on. Patty was good at that. It was too bad he couldn't use her as a shield anymore.

Going on vacation, thought Trey forcefully. Not a care in the world.

He'd known that Patty was using him as a shield as well. No need to look around if you just settle down. Going to dinner every Saturday night and perhaps seeing a movie was easy. Meeting new people, trying new conversation, not so easy. He'd known, but he'd wanted to believe that they were in love, that he felt warm inside just looking at her, that she wanted nothing more than to be with him.

When she said that she was bored, he knew that he was bored too, and always had been. Patty had been gone for a while.

No weekend plans meant nothing but the work week to look forward to. Hill Foods had been steadily increasing its profit margin in the past year but things hadn't changed for Trey. Every workday for the past 5 years he'd sat at the same desk, running the same reports and giving the same presentations. More canned fruit needed in Lansing Park, less snack crackers and cookies should be sent to Mankato. He was reliable and accurate and everyone knew it so no one gave him any undue attention. Apparently, he'd hit the ceiling in the amount of resposibility he could acquire, or at least, the amount of responsibility anyone was willing to give him.

He went about his business without complaint, nor companionship. After a few months of showing up for company lunches and team building activities, he couldn't perform the awkward social rituals any longer and stopped attending. He'd felt far less required to do these things than to visit family, and bowed out whenever possible. These were supposed to be breaks from the grind, moments to relax outside of the pressures of work.

Nope, now I’m going to have a REAL vacation. The sweat was showing on his forehead now, and his smile was strained.

Without a reason to go out, his casual clothes had shuffled themselves to the back of his closet. Weekends were spent in an undershirt, reading a book or watching TV. Dust gathered on his formal shoes. Sure, he cared about how he looked. Every morning before work he checked the mirror for breakfast caught in his teeth. His collars were clean and his slacks were pressed. His appearance, his demeanor, his attention, all of these things were for work, and the perhaps-twice-a-year family visits.

Trey arrived at Hill Foods this morning and placed his briefcase on the desk. He had spent an hour or two reading reports and statistics and bar graphs. At some point he remembered to check his company email address.

Richard, a distribution deptartment coworker of Trey’s, had gotten a promotion. A spot had opened up in management and Richard had accepted their offer. Hill Foods Inc. was very proud to have such a wondeful workforce, including people like Richard that took intiative, got things done, etc etc etc.

Richard had been Trey’s subordinate. Now Trey would have to report to Richard. Richard had only worked with him for 8 months.

It was at this moment that it occurred to Trey that he might need a vacation.

Just leave it all behind, thought Trey, his pace quickening. Gotta get away, got to leave it all behind…

The suitcase slipped in his sweaty hands. He let it drop as he broke into a run.