Joshua

Chapter 2

"So then the son of a bitch..." Humphrey leaned back in his chair. He was regaling his fellow executives with one of his many long, boring, repetitive stories. Joshua sat there, a bemused look on his face. You could tell how much alcohol each person had consumed by the number of glasses in front of them. Mr. Smith had five glasses. Most of the others had four. Joshua had had three total and was beginning to feel the effects, in more ways than one. 

He began to fidget and Humphrey had finally noticed. "Well, go on then, son, but hurry back. You don't want to miss the Hutchinson story," he roared, "Am I right, boys?"

 Joshua didn't need coaxing. He practically leaped from the table. Mr. Smith winked at his coconspirators as he disappeared down the hall. Once he was out of sight they got up as a group and followed him to the men's room. 

Joshua didn't have time to be picky. The urge was too great. He took the nearest urinal and reached for his fly. "What the fuck!" he exclaimed. His fly had been sewn shut. He quickly pulled down his pants and repeated the exercise with his briefs, with the same results. He dropped both articles of clothing around his ankles and released a jet of urine. Just then the door burst open and Joshua was temporarily blinded by the flash of a camera. 

"Aha! Wet our pants, did..." Mr. Smith stopped in mid-sentence, obviously disappointed but he quickly regained his composure. "You drop your draws to go wee-wee?" he said in mock disgust, "What are you, three?"

Others in the group had their cameras out as well. Joshua stood in front of them, his pants around his ankles like a toddler. His lips were trembling and his eyes were moist. A few drops of urine fell from the tip of his flaccid penis, which he still held in his hand. A small detail that didn't go unnoticed by his employer. 

"Don't worry, Joshy," Humphrey consoled him, "that look becomes you. In fact...I think you should stay that way the rest of the day."

Joshua's jaw dropped, "What! You can't be serious!"

"Well, you can pull up your briefs...briefs!" he snorted in derision, "You can pull up your briefs, of course. We do have workplace standards, after all."

Mission accomplished, his colleagues filed out of the restroom single file, laughing and glad-handing each other as they went. Mr. Humphreys followed and Josh brought up the rear, shuffling along with his pants around his ankles. Just as miserable as could be. He was blushing crimson as he passed the stenography pool. Catcalls followed him down the hall. It was just the start of the many humiliations to come. 

"I quit!"

"I resign!"

"I'm leaving Stringgen!"

Joshua sat at his desk, typing those words into his phone and erasing each one.  He eventually settled on one message less final, "I'm leaving early. Going home to Joanne."

"LOL!" came the reply almost instantaneously, "Your wife is on her way to Rio with her new boyfriend, Howard Glossar. If you want to talk about it come to my office at the end of the day."

Joshua slammed his phone down in disgust. Howard had held his position before him and Joshua resented the man with every fiber of his being. A few seconds later the phone vibrated again. He hesitated before picking it up. 

"Better yet, come to my office whether you want to talk about it or not." 

Another message popped up as he was reading the first, "And your pants better be around your ankles when you do."