Beautiful Teams

Epilogue, or "Nowhere Special…I Always Wanted to Go There"

Honestly, the end had come a few months earlier at a fateful lunch at Fat Head's. The team had already suffered a few high-profile losses by this point. Someone had the bright idea that we should all get together for lunch.

It was just like old times, like back at the SDC. The conversation was fast and furious. The witty comebacks, put-downs, and general filth still had the same crisp timing and delivery. Our lunch hour stretched into two because no one wanted to leave. But soon the table was cleaned, and the last drinks were emptied, and we reluctantly headed for the door. Outside the weather was perfect, the sun shining and the air crisp as we exchanged a few goodbyes. I stopped almost mid-stride on the way back to my car. It hit me, like I was shot—shot with a diamond bullet, a diamond bullet right through my forehead. "My god, I'm going back to work." BeatUntilCreamy, a friend I had only recently brought into the company in a desperate attempt to help us address process and quality issues, spotted the change the very moment it happened. It took the sharp contrast of the lunch and the prospect of another day at what was left of Rock Ridge to drive it home. What was keeping us going was a memory. The office wasn't fun anymore, and it probably stopped being fun a few years earlier. We just didn't notice it. Once we got back, we lingered long enough to confirm we all had similar realizations. We took off early. The next few ...