She Never Knew (25 page)

One day, he had come home to find her
sitting in the living room, waiting for him. At first he thought she had lost
her job, but the diner closed early due to inclement weather. At the diner,
there was talk about the church being used as a shelter if needed and that was
when a patron mentioned to his mother he had seen her son there. When she
confronted Darryl with what she had learned, he admitted the truth to her. He
told her he found out about the job through the newspaper, how long he had been
working, and how badly he wanted to be able to earn his own money. As he
explained himself, his mother had simply sat there and listened to him. She
told him that he could keep his job under one condition—that Darryl be honest
about his age to his employer. She reminded him that he was in the Lord’s house
and honesty was always the best policy. In the end, she hugged him and told him
how proud of him she was. She even suggested that they go to the bank so he
could open up his very own savings account.

When Darryl was sixteen, he took the bus
after school to the mall where he worked in the kitchen of a pizza parlor. His
boss wasn’t a people-person and often questioned Darryl as to why the cash
register came up short on some nights. It came out that another employee was
stealing, but Darryl’s boss continued to remain suspicious of him. When Darryl
saved up enough money to buy a used car, he left the pizza parlor and landed a
new job in a downtown law firm as a file clerk. At seventeen, he was
responsible for filing bar applications and delivering packages to various
departments. He rarely asked questions but listened well and people liked that
about him. It was also where he met his wife, Michelle. She was a year older
than he and was an assistant in the payroll department. The two had immediately
hit it off as they both grew up in financially-strapped homes. After Darryl’s graduation
from high school, the two married and nine months later, Jared was born. They lived
in a trailer park and while their house was small, it was home. Michelle had resigned
from her job to remain at home to care for their son while Darryl continued to
work at the law firm.

During the next two years, Darryl
learned from the higher-ups that in order to be successful in the world, one
had to be aggressive and take risks. He worked with honest people and he worked
with ruthless people who felt they were entitled to fame and fortune. Darryl
never forgot the values his mother taught him and wanted no part of the dishonest
practices he had often witnessed. Besides, there was no room for advancement
without formal education. While the law firm offered partial reimbursement to
employees who completed continuing education courses, the plan did not apply to
entry level clerks.

Through a recommendation from a
co-worker, Darryl left the law firm and secured a junior level position in
telemarketing. The pay was slightly better and there was room for advancement.
He worked on the eighth floor of the Marketing department with twenty-five
other associates who competed for recognition and promotion.

When he first began, Vivian had been
working in the department for two years. In short, Darryl had taken her place
when she was promoted to a corner office on the same floor. Before she
relocated, she had provided him training as well as tips to help him become
successful.

Darryl respected Vivian, often
consulting her for advice and support. He liked the fact that she shared his
view on upholding professionalism in the work force. She took her work
seriously, offered sound advice, and appeared to be devoted to her husband of
eight years. She had two children, one of which was a boy, and often passed on
outgrown clothes to Darryl for Jared to use. While Michelle didn’t feel this
was appropriate and could harm her husband’s chances for promotion, Darryl was
grateful for the handouts.

For the next five years, Darryl worked
hard to meet his sales quotas each month, despite his irritation at customers
who strung him along on the phone or hung up on him. To complicate matters,
senior management had revamped their marketing strategies to compensate for
drastic budget cuts in his sixth year with the company. Darryl’s department
shrunk by half and while he was one of the fortunate ones to remain, he was
expected to double his sales quotas.

Darryl’s boss saw much potential in him
and selected him to complete a six-day online sales and marketing training
course that provided actions to help Darryl increase his sales revenue. If
Darryl could show significant improvement within six months, he would advance
to senior telemarketing status. The pay was marginally better but Darryl wanted
more. He continued to enlist support from both his boss and Vivian, but always
felt he was going nowhere in his job. The long hours, the low pay, and the
stress were taking their tolls on him. When Jared began elementary school, Michelle
had taken a job waitressing. However, her tiny income hardly put a dent in
their mounting bills.

Darryl often reflected on his childhood,
cursing the fact that his father couldn’t keep his act together and disappeared
from his life. He resented that Michelle seemed to be following in his mother’s
footsteps, working at a fast food joint for meager pay. He hated the fact he
had so little time to spend with his son due to his long work hours. Most of
all, he was desperate for a better life.

On a weekend where Michelle had taken
Jared to see her parents, Darryl decided to stop in the office to see Vivian. He
knew she worked on Saturdays and wanted to talk with her about ways to improve
his qualifications for advancement in the company before he approached his
boss. Since he was hired on the basis of her promotion, Darryl hoped she would
offer him some insight.

He called Vivian but got her voicemail.
Rather than leave a message, Darryl decided to head to the office. He had
brought with him a list of questions so that he would appear prepared and knowledgeable.
He prided himself for taking the initiative and was anxious to talk with her.

When he arrived, Vivian wasn’t in her
office, but it was obvious she was somewhere in the building. Her lights and
computer were on and her purse was on the floor next to her desk. Darryl
decided to wait and sat in the chair across from her desk. After fifteen
minutes had elapsed, he got up and walked down the hallway to where the senior
management offices were located.

As he advanced, he heard low moaning
sounds coming from the end of the hallway. All of the office doors were shut
except for one. Unable to decipher the sounds, he slowly approached the
partially opened door. When he peeked in, he choked back a gasp at what he saw.

The dim glow from the office’s computer
screen emitted just enough light to where Darryl could identify two people
lying on the floor in a passionate embrace. One of them was Vivian!

He jerked his head back and quickly
retreated back to the elevator of his department. It wasn’t until he reached
his car that his heart rate began to slow down. He was confident no one saw
him, but he was also very disgusted. Was this how Vivian was promoted? Is this
why senior management wanted Darryl and his crew to double their efforts in
meeting sales quotas so he and Vivian could play together?

Angry and defeated, Darryl drove home.
He crumpled the list of questions he had and threw it the trash. Was this what
professional people did at work? Was deceit part of the game in advancement?
Any respect Darryl had for Vivian went into the trash can as well. He felt used
and betrayed by the one person at work he trusted the most. That trust had been
shattered and Darryl didn’t know what to do about it.

His outlook on life changed that day. When
he called his wife that night, he shared with her what he had seen. Michelle
suggested that he find another job, but Darryl disagreed. It had finally sunk
in that no matter where he worked, there would always be things that people did
he wouldn’t agree with. Looking back at his former places of employment, he
wondered if there was such a thing as having a perfect job. Sure, he had lied
about his age when he worked for the church, but did that really count? He only
lied so he could save up some money and help his mother.

When he returned to work the following
week, he avoided Vivian like the plague. Every time she passed through his
department, Darryl made sure he was on the phone or pretended to be on the
phone with a client. He wanted nothing to do with her anymore and no longer
sought her advice. He knew he had to open the lines of communication with his
boss instead. It was difficult because he couldn’t be away from his station,
and the only time he could talk to his boss was when he was on his lunch break.
His boss also often traveled so that made it even harder.

It was a few weeks later when Darryl
decided to approach his boss. He waited until after hours and came prepared to
discuss his thoughts about his job. When he knocked on Matthew’s door, he was
invited in and the two had talked for over an hour. Darryl was pleasantly
surprised at how easygoing his boss was and became hopeful about his future at
that point. Darryl didn’t let on what he knew about Vivian’s indiscretion as he
knew Matthew thought very highly of her. In fact, that was the meeting in which
he had told Matthew how much he too admired and respected Vivian’s dedication
to the department. He was amazed at how easy it was to lie to his boss, but if
doing so would lead to a promotion, then Darryl had no choice. At least, that
is what he believed.

The following week was when his boss had
brought up the suggestion that Darryl attend online classes in order to qualify
for a significant promotion. Darryl really didn’t want to go back to school but
he learned quickly how to play the game from that day forward. He learned what
he would need to do to promote himself.

During the first few months when he was
enrolled in online classes through the University of Millstone, Michelle saw
subtle changes in her husband. While he was doing well in his courses, it was
Darryl’s job that affected him negatively as a person, as a husband, and as a
father. He became increasingly distant from her and Jared in his quest for
recognition at the corporate level. She didn’t know exactly what he was looking
for, but she didn’t like it. It got to the point where Darryl was no longer the
man she married, the man she loved. He barely made time for Jared and that
upset her more than anything. Her pleas for him to change fell on deaf ears. He
was on the path to self-destruction and Michelle felt helpless to do anything
about it. He would become angry with her when she brought up the fact his own
father was never around for him. Did he want to set that example for their son?

As Darryl stared at Tyler, he wondered where
the little boy’s father was. For the last three days, he had been hiding in
various places in the wooded development. He had almost gotten caught the first
day he camped out in the woods. His former instructor had just left her
neighbor’s house when Darryl was taken by surprise. He was amazed that neither
she nor her son saw him standing behind the house. He had run to the rear of
the property and dived to the ground. When he peeked through the bushes, he
could see her frowning, looking directly at where he was crouching. But
apparently she didn’t see him, for she went back into her house.

Darryl knew he had to be careful so he
brought his binoculars in order to see Kat up close. He noticed she wasn’t
wearing a wedding ring, so perhaps she wasn’t married. Heck, perhaps she was
divorced.
After all, who would want to marry someone like her?
Why
would anybody want her when she treats people like garbage?

An hour later, Darryl sat in his car, a
safe distance from where Kat, Daniel, and Tyler sat under a tree at the park.
He had followed her from the house but almost lost her because he had parked
his car on the other side of the development. He had managed to keep her in
sight, all the while keeping a safe distance. He didn’t want to confront her in
public. No, he wanted to wait for the perfect moment in which to make his
presence known.

Through his binoculars, Darryl presumed
that Daniel was not the boy’s father. He had seen the man pull up in a truck
and the little boy run up to him. If he had shared custody with Kat, why
wouldn’t he simply pick him up at the house? No, the man had to be her
boyfriend. Besides, he had heard the boy call out the man’s name and it didn’t
sound like Daddy.

Darryl was about to drive back to his motel
room when he observed what appeared to be an argument between Kat and her
boyfriend. The man appeared annoyed at something Kat had said and when he
abruptly stood up, Darryl couldn’t help but chuckle.
Way to go
, he mentally
praised the man.
That’s right, tell her how you really feel
. When he saw
the man leave in his truck, he watched the expression on Kat’s face with
amusement.
This is what happens when you alienate people. Not only do you
treat your students like garbage, you treat the men in your life the same way
.

Bored and hungry, Darryl decided to call
it a day. He had made a lot of progress since he arrived and he deserved a
treat for his efforts. Yes, a celebration was in order. Besides, it was hot and
humid outside and he was thirsty. As he drove back to the motel, he practically
salivated just thinking about the twelve-pack in the mini fridge waiting for
him. When he returned to his suite, his cell phone vibrated in his pants
pocket. He frowned when he saw the identity of the caller.