I put the phone on speaker. “You tell them. You’re on speaker, go ahead.”
“I got my job back,” Charlene said.
“Yes!” Bryce shouted. “I knew you would. Just like J.J.’s dream. Now I’m next.”
“The dream is bogus,” Leonard said.
“We’re really happy for you,” I said again.
“Make that a double,” Bryce said.
“Thank you. But I’m going to miss working with you all. I hate breaking up the Outasts.”
“We can still get together for Hearts,” I said. “Besides, you never belonged here.”
“None of us belong there,” she said. “Except Leonard.”
“How you mock me,” Leonard said.
“Joseph, would it be too much trouble to have you bring my things from my desk over to my new office? There’s not that much and the last assistant left things such a mess that I won’t be able to get out of here for at least a week.”
“Sure. No problem. What floor?”
“I’m on the eighteenth floor. If I’m not there, just leave the box at my desk.”
“You’ll have it before the day’s out.”
“I owe you,” she said. “When things let up, let’s all get together for lunch.”
“And Hearts,” Bryce added.
“Of course. I better go. Mr. Ferrell just finished his call.”
“Congratulations again,” I said.
“Oh, Joseph,” she said.
“Yes?”
“Don’t stop dreaming.”
CHAPTER
Twenty-five
We speak hopefully of the Phoenix rising from ashes, but forget that the fire was of the Phoenix’s own making.
Joseph Jacobson’s Diary
It was a lot quieter around the office without Charlene. Based on seniority, Leonard was promoted to office manager, which was a little frightening. Never in the recorded history of humanity had so little power gone to someone’s head. Still, Bryce and I pretty much ignored most of what he said.
Days crawled and the months flew. Summer passed. Then fall. I saw a news story about a polygamist leader in southern Utah being arrested, and I wondered about April. I missed her. I had missed Ashley, but now, in retrospect, I felt as if I’d dodged a bullet. With April, I felt nothing but regret. I was lonely. My money was dwindling. And there was nothing to look for on the horizon. It seemed to me that everyone’s ships had sailed but mine.
Two months later Bryce came running into my office.
“It happened! J.J., it happened!”
I looked up from my computer. “What happened?”
“They’re bringing me back. Benefits, salary, the whole package. And, bonus, Scott is getting the boot. There is a God in Heaven and He is smiling on me.”
Leonard walked up behind him, holding a half-eaten bagel. “You got your job back?”
“Just like J.J. dreamed,” Bryce said. He turned back to me. “You, my friend, have a gift.”
I was happy for him, but sad for me. At least I was better at hiding it than Leonard, who looked like he’d just been diagnosed with cancer.
“Congratulations,” I said. “When do you leave?”
“The train is at the station,” he said. “After lunch.”
“Just don’t forget your friends out here in Siberia.”
“Never.” He turned to Leonard. “Still think J.J.’s dreams are bogus?”
Leonard didn’t answer. I thought he might throw up.
We shared a celebratory lunch, then sent Bryce and his things off to Park Avenue South in a taxi. Leonard moped around the rest of the afternoon. Just before quitting time he came into my office and collapsed into a chair, his legs spread, his head down. “When does the ax fall?”
I looked up from the coupon I was writing. “What ax?”
“The one over my neck.”
“It was just a dream. You said so yourself.”
“You don’t really believe that,” he said.
“What does it matter what I believe? It’s your life. Besides, all I saw was broken pots. I have no idea what it means. Neither do you.”
“I know what it means,” he said. “Dead man walking.”
I sighed. “Sorry, man. I didn’t want to tell you.”
“You shouldn’t have,” he said. “You should keep things like that to yourself.”
“Yeah, I tried that.”
He looked down at the floor for a minute, then said, “There’s a news station in Reno that needs a copywriter. I put in an application.” He got up and walked out of my office.
Winter settled in, chilling the city to its concrete bones. I felt as dismal as the gray skies that hovered over the island. I supposed I was losing hope. Charlene and Bryce had got out, returning to where they started—something that wasn’t going to happen to Leonard or me. Chicago was barred and a promotion in New York seemed impossible. Career advancement is unlikely when you’re invisible, and that’s what I was. Invisible. I felt as if the world had forgotten I existed.