Business as usual

Sorry for the late post by me. This is for yesterday but wasn't finished till about a second ago.

Business as Usual

It started with a phone call that I could barely hear over the music. “Heloo this is Michael,” forming coherent sentences was hard as I tried to move to a quieter location. Which ended up being out the door and down the corridor of my apartment. There was the dance floor and my kitchen to cross, pushing past the bodies was a chore. “Excuse me,” I would say but did they really care?

“Michael!” I could hear faintly emanating from the phone. I had no idea who would be calling at such a late hour forgetting that caller-id even exists.

“Michael will be with you in a moment sir. He is currently indisposed.” I attempted to diffuse the tension of the angry man on the other side of the phone.

“Do you know who this is?” The voice asked it was familiar: strong, deep.

“Daddy?” I said reflexively, but I knew it couldn’t be. He had been gone for ages.

“No, this is Mr. Walker. Your boss.”

The color drained from my face and I throw up from the shots I had just ingested. This was bad. “Hey Mr. Walker, I didn’t expect you to call so late.”

“Obviously you have forgotten what happens in fifteen minutes.” He replied sternly. I checked the time it was 2:43a.m. but I couldn’t figure out what he wanted.

“Uh, they start serving breakfast at McDonalds?” I must have wanted food.

“No, Michael. In fifteen minutes if you are not on a computer logging in to the international executive meeting to give your presentation you will be fired.” With that he hung up and left me listening to dial tone.

“Three a.m. not p.m. you idiot” I say to myself realizing the weight of the problem. I had to give a presentation to the international executives while drunk off my ass. The room began to spin and my vision blurred. I slap myself across the cheek. “Pull yourself together.” I ran back to my apartment, I don’t have time to waste.

Entering the front door my first order of business was to disperse the party. I hook a left into my bedroom and into the closet where the breaker box for the apartment. I flip the breakers off. The music stopped and the lights went out. Some idiot screamed my cue to get them the hell out. I grabbed a flashlight walking back to the door of my room.

“Hey, everybody the power is out.” I yelled while turning on the flashlight. “That means the party is over.  Sorry to say it but you have to go.” Murmurs and abjections came from the void surrounding the flashlight but I could hear and see movement towards the door. I tried signaling like a police officer, “Keep it moving people.” but failed and looked stupid. With everyone gone I closed the door, in total it took two minutes, now it was time to try and sober up. What ever that means. Rushing to turn the power back on I formulated my plan. I had to make coffee, exercise and physically abuse myself to sober up as much as possible.

I turned on my treadmill that lay dormant in my room. Busting through to my kitchen I prepared the coffee: filter, grounds, water and bring the device to life. While I had time, I drank a glass of water to fight the deadly hangover tomorrow and splashed my face freshening it up. A fight ensued over which hand could slap the drunk out of me, both lost. With that the coffee was done, no time for cream and sugar, I had 8 minutes left. Pouring it into a sealable mug I brought the coffee with me back to the treadmill. Straddling the belt a brace myself with a swig the coffee burned my mouth and throat but I didn’t car. Jumping, I hit the ground running at 5.5 mph, “You got it Michael, steady… steady…” Attempting another swig I trip and fall the treadmill sends me flying back. With the mouth of the mug still open it dumps it hot contents all over me searing my skin. “For the love of god,” I screamed as struggled to pull off my now ruined clothes.

Four minutes left till my doom. I had nothing but boxers on but that was okay. I hopped over to my desk and found my computer wasn’t there. Where could it be? It is still connected to the sound system. I clamored over the furniture in my way, nothing could keep me from that laptop. I opened my MacBook and signed into to our meeting hosting software. One minute to spare, I had made it. Only I need to make sure my camera was turned off, they didn’t needed to see the mess I am in.

“Michael, it is good to see you have made it to the meeting. Are you ready to begin?” I could see Mr. Walker talking in one of the video screens.

“Let me just pull up the file… There we go. Can everyone see it?” I asked, responses in several different languages suggested it worked. “ Hello and welcome to the research division’s presenta--.”

The room goes black except for the glow emanating from my computer. I had lost connection with the meeting. The power was really out this time.