“And what's the use of this?” Jack asked, appalled.
“You will get the money intended for painters!” She replied.
“Okay, there were supposed to be three of them, and there are eight of us and three of our female friends.” Jack continued, irritated with the tone of her voice and the smile on the boss's face. Who cares about that money? What she is talking about?’
“I'm not gonna fire you!” The chief editor announced with a stern expression on her face this time. “Enough?”
They didn't know how to react to it. Their assumptions that the witch was planning to kick out the entire team turned out to be correct. She was just looking for an excuse. Maybe they should take their feet by the waist and run where the pepper grows? They considered themselves as ‘racial intellectuals’, preferred to work with their brains’ grey cells than to exercise their muscles.
In the end, Adam began to defend his workplace and male honor. After yesterday's conversation with the chief editor he was captivated by her knowledge. And, like him, she loved the sea and was almost persuaded to go on another voyage with them.
“Gentlemen! We have a job to do!” Adam first crossed the editorial threshold with a smile on his face.
Jack came in behind him with an expression on his face as if he was just going to the scaffold. Simon and the rest looked alike, except for Michael, who was standing by the door and lingering. At least, that's how it looked from afar.
Alex watched him closely from the kitchen near the front door. He immediately decided to act. As the editor stepped away, he started toward his almost unconscious friend and pulled him inside forcibly.
He knew that Michael had greatly exaggerated. He was barely on his feet. Knowing the possibilities of a drunk friend, he had to hide him somewhere quickly. Without hesitating for a moment, he set off with Michael, who was just beginning to sing ‘The Marseillaise’, to the kitchen.
Then it occurred to him that this is where the most people will be, so maybe the toilet... Not a good idea either. After careful analysis of the situation, he took him to the editorial dormitory, as they called the newsroom.
He worked there with Jack Smith. It was the only room that had recently been painted, so he was sure that no one was going to come here or see his friend in that bad state. He pulled the blinds up to cover the glass wall separating them from the main editorial room.
Alex turned on the radio to drown out a friend who was singing louder and louder. Iron Maiden's "Blood Brothers" was on the radio. Immediately, Michael picked up the melody.
“In a moment the memories are all that remain, and all the wounds are reopening again!” He started screaming.
Terrified, Alex covered his mouth.
“I'll fuck you up if you don't shut up!” He said, looking him straight in the eyes.
“We're blood brothers, we're blood brothers...” Michael was still trying to scream.
“Shut up!” Alex said.
“Maybe all the things that you know, that are precious to you, could be swept away by fate’s own hand...” He sang.
Alex was fed up. He covered Michaels’ mouth and pressed him firmly against the wall.
“Do you understand? Shut up!”
Michael’s face turned red. Finally he fell silent.
Alex pulled one of the sleeping bags stored among archival documents from the closet. He placed Michael behind his desk on the floor so that no one entering could see him. He fell asleep almost immediately.
Alex returned to his colleagues, hoping his absence had gone unnoticed. However, the sight he saw amazed him. The female representatives bustled about in the same elegant work clothes as their boss.
He decided it was a real miracle that someone had finally ‘put’ them to work. Until now, they just kept hanging around for days. They were doing the grace of picking up the phone or accepting advertisers.
Besides, he saw Simon, Jack, Adam and Thomas standing together, who had already painted one wall of the largest room. For the first time since the departure of chief editor Leo Walker, he saw that his colleagues, instead of playing poker or bridge, were having fun painting.
He regretted that Nicolas Williams wasn’t here at that moment. He wouldn’t have believed he had lived to see such a moment.
The boss was his lecturer at the university. Students called him the Master. It was thanks to his persuasion and help that Alex went on a scholarship, and now worked here.
After returning from The States, he had no problems with finding a job, but he really wanted to work alongside his Master, and privately a great friend, about which no one in the editorial office knew. Such a contract was concluded, so Alex stayed on the sidelines, sitting in his newsroom, usually alone, because Jack was rarely there, who preferred card company and parties.
“Alex! Why are you slacking off?” Thomas was the first to notice him. “You should train your muscles with us, man!” He started to laugh.
“I'm coming! For clarification, I train my muscles in the gym, and I improve my condition and physical fitness by sailing in some warm sea or diving on coral reefs.” Alex replied in a serious, but a bit dreamy voice.
“Not a word more about warm seas and coral reefs!” Adam replied, who was looking forward to the holidays.
“I will join you in a moment, I need to change.” Alex said.
In fact, he had some clothes under his arm. After a while, he returned in short, sports shorts, a t-shirt and sneakers. He looked great. One could learn anatomy on his perfectly defined silhouette. Lush hair and a puppyish, mischievous smile added to his charm.
Both Adam and Thomas looked no worse, but women were crazy about Alex, not them, so they were happy to take him to parties as bait. They laughed that even after he hadn't shaved for several days, he couldn't hide the child's face under his stubble. Only then would they be very attractive for the opposite sex.
“Damn! We're straight, man!” Jack drawled through clenched teeth.“Do we need to watch your shapely butt, man?” Simon asked, laughing. He was the complete opposite of his younger friend: about thirty centimeters shorter, stocky build, but he didn't care at all.A long time ago, he had accepted the fact that he has no chance of becoming a model. However, that didn’t diminish his sense of great humor. Even in the most dramatic moments of the editorial office's life, he was able to summon a bit of optimism, reach for a piece of paper, a pencil and draw a caricature of one of his colleagues.“Get out, Simon! I'm in no mood for jokes!” Alex said, offended. He didn’t tolerate discussions about his appearance. He considered taking care of his body and soul as a completely natural thing and conversations about it were unnecessary.“Alex, please!” Adam was begging, terrified. “In a moment we will ha
“We'll count next time!” Alex threatened Jack. “I'm going to eat!” He added calmly. "I won't sit here with this hypocrite."“And you? Are you holy?” Jack began to laugh. “Look, here we have a picture of a flawless narcissist!”“I have a clear conscience, unlike you... Show off to your friends, corrupt traitor, what photos you gave to Leo Walker.” Alex said calmly."You don't have the right to give a shit about who I'm meeting and what I'm doing!" He almost shouted, upset.“With who? Leo Walker? Jack, what’s going on?” Thomas asked, concerned about what he heard. “Alex, could you explain what you are talking about?”“What pictures?&
The next day, just before nine o’clock, the chief editor came to the office. She was surprised to see the editorial team sitting at the collegiate table on a Friday morning.Alex and Adam came right behind her.“Good morning, gentlemen!” She greeted them.“Not good morning, but bad morning…” Michael began to complain about sleeplessness. In addition, regardless of the presence of the editor, he stretched as if he was still in bed in his bedroom, not at work.“Shut up, Michael!” Thomas sitting next to him, also sleepy, tried to bring him to order. "Dude, you barely got up, you're already complaining. You were supposed to change! Shave! Brush up!”"Shh..." Michael put a finger to his lips. “I have a headache! Don't yell behind my ears!”“Gentlemen, I have a surprise!” The chief editor announced. "There's a package on my desk in my office. Can one of you bring it in,
At twenty to ten, in complete silence, they began to leave the editorial office. They were waiting at the main exit of the building. It soon turned out that not only the chief editor and all the females were going to the event, but also Nicolas Williams, who had just parked his car in front of the building.The bosses cunningly waited for the male half of the team to leave, then followed right behind them so that one wouldn’t have the opportunity to get missing and disappear somewhere around the corner unnoticed.Journalists really wanted to get lost, but assumed that the consequences could be severe.When they entered the sports hall belonging to the Academy of Physical Education, they lost the rest of their good humor for the day.“Damn it! What are we doing here? There are journalists of all local mass media, and maybe even national ones.” Simon commented. “And there are even those damn spectators!”The huge sports
Soon, the journalists of the ‘Man’ began to clap. Their witch in a turquoise suit looked great, standing next to the competitors warming up their muscles before the start. But instead of warming up, Alice stood almost motionless, looking at the opposite edge of the pool.The boys, looking at her, had no doubts that she spent her free time not like them, in the Tavern, but working hard on her physical condition. However, they were aware that having a beautifully built body does not mean that it can swim well.They began to argue that the competition was controversial, not very fair, as there were two women and four men taking part in it, and the distance was as long as two lengths of the pool.For a moment they forgot about the hatred, anger, the fragile male honor and the painting she forced them to do. They really hoped that their chief editor not only looked great, but she could swim, and that'd be good enough.“And racing on electric
Alex didn’t object when someone called over a doctor who was watching over the players. The diagnosis managed to bring everyone down. The medic decided to take the injured to the hospital for observation and X-ray. Adam standing next to him, the culprit of all the fuss, looked no better than the injured Alex. He didn't want to knock out his friend, he just wanted to distract him. Now, he felt remorse and had a moral hangover. Faced with the requests and pleas of his colleagues, Alex ended up sitting on the stand with an ice pack on his head. It was the only thing he could do for his colleagues. Stay on the sidelines until the end of the tournament. Observe and support them in spirit. The last discipline of the competition turned out to be extremely dramatic. It was attended by the entire ‘Man’ team except for the injured Alex and Alice, who sat worriedly next to him. The injured person didn’t feel well, but kept a cool head and didn’t move from his se
The boys, tired of the murderous rivalry at the event, the previous night’s all-night party and climbing the stairs, decided that before they went down to get new equipment, they would first rest for a while. They hoped a miracle would happen and the elevators would repair themselves, or it would turn out that there was no breakdown at all, and they wouldn't have to climb up to the seventh floor again. They sat in silence, happy in the depths of their souls; there was a weekend ahead of them, two long days that they absolutely wanted to devote to rest. Only Michael, burgundy with rage, complained about the bad luck that haunted him: all the evil, injustice, meanness of the world in the hard life of an honest, conscientiously working, and underappreciated outstanding journalist. He muttered under his breath about the terrible headache that didn’t allow him to think rationally, the terrible pain in his back and nagging muscle soreness that made it diffi
Michael planned to share his problems with his friend, the only person he could trust and who always had unnecessary cash. Just tonight, he was going to talk to Alex about a small loan so he could settle the bills. He knew that when Alex hears the amount he urgently needs, he will at least sit down, if he has something on. Besides, he will have to patiently listen to his friend's critical opinions about his recent excessive and unnecessary expenditures at work and in the inn. He will once again be forced to make promises to Alex that he won’t keep. However, an unexpected problem occurred. Immediately after the competition, Nicolas had taken the knocked out Alex to the hospital, where, after the tests, the doctors decided to leave him under observation. Michael hoped it was just a preventative procedure, and not anything serious. He found himself in a trap, it was not proper to talk about money even with his best friend in the hospital. The deadline fo