A New Story: What Card?

As the clock neared 8:45, Marcus started to get up from his chair, intending to see Julie.  Instead, his supervisor came with a data problem for a presentation he would give later in the day.  Marcus needed to look over the numbers to find the problem.  He was disappointed he couldn’t visit Julie as planned. 

He saw she was online at 8:48.  Marcus sent an Instant Message simply stating he wanted to stop by for a visit but was tied up.  Julie started typing a reply but didn’t finish.  One of Marcus’s reports finally came up and he began printing it.  He found it easier to scrutinize numbers on paper than on screen.  When he returned from the printer, Julie had replied, “Sorry.  How was the rest of your weekend?”

“Nice.  Yours”

“Good”

“I’m so sore I can hardly walk lol”

“I’m a little sore too”

“Gotta go get stuff done for boss”

Why didn’t she mention the card he left?  Hadn’t she read it?  Could she have missed it?  Marcus’s supervisor stopped by and asked, “You have the report yet? 

“I just printed it off.  About to go through it with a fine tooth comb.  That’s what my mom always used to say anyway.”

“You need any help?”

“No, I think I know where they error is.  Based on there being a difference of nine in the third category, someone probably transposed a number.  I just need to go through and find it.”

“How long will that take, do you think?”

“Depends on how much of the ledger I have to go through.”

“Good point.  Ok, let me know.”

While Julie’s lack of acknowledgement of the card bothered him, Marcus needed to focus.  As luck would have it, the transposed number was entered near the end of the day.  Therefore, it was nearly two hours of painstaking labor, going line by line, before finding the error.  Once completed, Marcus reran the report and repopulated data into the table in the presentation.  

Marcus looked at his chat with Julie.  Her status showed she was away from her desk.  He sent a message saying, “Glad that’s done.  Wanna take a walk?”

After a few minutes, Julie sent, “Haha”

“No, seriously”

“Just spent the last 2 hours looking at every number in a day’s worth of number”

“I need a break”

“Ok”

Marcus walked to Julie’s cubicle and knocked.  She turned and smiled.  Her face beamed and warmed his heart.  He couldn’t help but smile back.  Marcus remembered reading Romeo and Juliet in high school.  “What light through yonder window breaks?  It is the east and Juliet is the sun.”  He asked, “How are you?”

Julie stood and stepped toward Marcus.  It was clear she was in pain.  She offered, “Oh, my thighs and calves hurt so much.  It wasn’t so bad yesterday but today.  God, it hurts.  I feel like I’m crippled.”

Marcus smiled.  “You want me to carry you?”  He knew he would carry her across the company campus.  He was in love and would do anything for her.

“No, no carrying.  I just need to take a few steps to get things moving.  Then I’ll be ok.”

After walking about for fifteen minutes, the two returned to Julie’s office.  She still had not mentioned the card he left for her.  It was beginning to drive him crazy.  She gave no hint of seeing it, let alone reading it.  Curiosity getting the best of him, Marcus asked, “Did you read the card I left for you this morning?”

“What card?”

“I came in early and left a card on your keyboard.”

“There was no card in my office when I arrived this morning.”