Alpine

Null Gambit

We spent a couple of days in the hospital. Or I did. He needed an ankle brace and crutches but was otherwise fine. My hand needed minor surgery to clean out the dead tissue. They stapled what was left together. My one ear had mild frostbite. They bandaged it up and told me to take the over-the-counter painkiller of my choice. I got the same advice for my concussion. They asked me about all the other bruises. I said we were in a rough crash from the snow mobile.

I made it to the conference on the day of our presentation. He took off the brace and hid his crutches. I guess getting hurt does not look professional. Giving my half looking like an invalid was fine by me. Amazingly, Alpine booted. The demo went as planned. It even looked like the audience was receptive.

When all was said and done, and the room emptied, he gave me a solid thump on the back. "I think we did well." The first words he had spoken to me since the road.

He waited for a response. When none came, he continued. "I meant what I said before. About your raise. Only maybe it should be a promotion. How will that make you feel?"

I took off my conference badge and laid it on top of Alpine.

"Will it be too awkward for you if I make Dave your subordinate? You can both just be senior developers if you would prefer."

I made my way to the entrance of the room. He tried to hobble after, but without his crutches or brace, he had no chance of catching up.

"I could put Ryan under you instead. I know you'd like that. He'd have to be nice to you if you were his boss."

I turned the lights off and shut him in the darkness.

After I left the conference hall, I went to the hotel room, grabbed my duffle bag, and caught a taxi to the airport. By the next morning, I was back home and horrifically hung over. Even though I was not expected at work, I went in. I got a lot of stares. A few concerned questions. I shook my head in response. My goal was Boss's office. I knocked. He made the surprised small talk. Showed concern about my hand. Invited me inside. I told him in brief terms:

"I'm putting in my two weeks. If you want to avoid a lot of upset on the part of your rising protege, don't tell anyone I quit. He's going to be very upset. It'll disrupt work if he knows I'm leaving before I'm gone."

And then I sat through inevitable. Obligatory demands for explanation were rebuffed. Offers of better compensation to make me stay were turned down. Speeches about duty and loyalty were listened to and disregarded. Boss finally conceded. In two weeks, I would be gone. Boss had to get the order put through HR, but he would otherwise keep it under his hat. No goodbye gifts or parties.

I left his office. Most everyone had gone back to their tasks. No clusters of gossips discussing my entrance. No hushed whispers. Just working people doing work. When I got to my car, I heard steps hurrying behind me. I considered getting in and driving off, but being rude for no reason was unfair.

"John."

"Hey, Ryan."

He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to have lost the words. I waited. The best he could muster was, "Are you okay?"

I sighed. Without malice or revenge, with no desire to hurt him at all, I pulled up my left sleeve. Ryan's eyes fixed on the three band aids. "I'm not handling him. I wasn't before. I just thought I was."

Ryan said nothing.

"Whatever game we were playing, he won. I'm not sure he's happy about it though."

"What does that mean?"

I shrugged and got in my car.

In the next two weeks, I applied for jobs. I even struck it lucky and got my first interview lined up. It was in the same city, but that was okay. It was a big city. I would have to live in a less-than-ideal neighborhood further from downtown, but that was okay too. This was a stepping-stone.