The Backpack

Chapter 4

Jon sat on the stool in the closet, still rubbing his spiked foot and his throbbing toe. “How in the heck did my backpack end up in the doorway of my closet?” In the planning last night, he was reasonably sure he had not put it there; though if he had, it would not be the first time he had forgotten he had done something in the midst of rushing around.

But that thought didn't last; his dominant brain pattern was how all of this was making him angry.

As Jon let his foot recover, he unlocked his phone to glance at his email; it was out of habit more than anything else. He was not surprised to see that a dozen new emails had shown up in his box overnight. However, he was surprised to see that one of them was from his boss.

“Finally,” Jon said in another muffled yell! His boss had sent the updated budget numbers to their entire team. More accurately, they were the updated reductions. Each department was being given a percentage they needed to cut from their budget because the company had failed to meet revenue forecasts for two quarters in a row. “He sure was working late last night,” Jon thought. He read through the numbers and then started banging out a quick response.

He wanted to make sure that his boss, along with the rest of the team, knew that he was working early.

Jon hit reply-all and started to type. But as his mingled emotions rolled on, he decided to send a quick email to his buddy, Alec, who had been on the distribution. “Wow! I didn't think PHB would ever ...