Time was ticking away. Worryingly, we glanced at the timer of the nuclear reactor, our pulse beat increasing each second. The timer was showing 4:00, which indicated that there were only four hours before the bomb exploded and reduced the population of USA to nothing more than ashes. A few hours ago, Dan and I were normal government executives, leading the monotonous 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. lives. And now, we were two people who were trying to stop a nuclear bomb from causing the biggest catastrophe in the history of the U.S.A.
“Jennifer! This is no time to day dream,” Dan yelled at me. “Jen! Come along. We need to be very quick. The bomb will go off in four hours. We need to find a way to detonate it.” “Yeah I’m coming”, I replied. As I dawdled towards my certain death, I remembered how normal my life was some three hours ago, before….
Flashback: 3 Hours ago:
“Where are the damned reports? Miss Jennifer, do I look like a fool to you? You insist that you placed the file on my desk. So, where is it?” My boss yelled at me like a lunatic. I opened my mouth to speak but he interrupted me, yet again. I sighed. This was the usual routine. My boss just wanted an excuse to pick on me. “I don’t believe that I hired you, of all people, for my company. You are so hopeless. All of you are a bunch of idiots who always try to make a fool of me. But today, you have really exhausted my patience. You will not be excused today. I have had enough. Tell me where the reports are or I will fire you.” I stared at him open-mouthed, my temper rising.
“You are going to fire me? What nonsense! I myself kept the reports here on your table. I don’t know what happened to the file. Maybe you have misplaced it somewhere and are blaming me. As it is, you hate me a lot. Any mishap in this office, and I am suddenly the guilty one.” I blurted, realizing only a moment too late what I had just done. Well never mind, he was going to fire me anyway.
“Hey Boss! Here are Jen’s reports, you left them at my desk when you were taking a round.” We all turned around, only to find Dan standing at the door with a file. Dan was a friend cum colleague of mine, working under the same lunatic boss as me. He was tall, had a strong muscular built and a really sweet smile. I stared at Dan as he waltzed in. The look on my boss’s face clearly suggested that he wanted to devour Dan at that very moment. Ah! If only looks could kill.
“OK Mr. Dan Walters,” my boss had this sadistic smile on his face that clearly indicated trouble. “According to you, it’s my fault that the file was left on your table. Mr. Dan, unlike you, I am always busy, and can’t constantly pay attention to frivolous things like files and folders. So, what were you doing till now, while I was raising my blood pressure with this lady here. Why didn’t you bring the file to me earlier?” My boss shrieked. “You both have not only angered me, but also wasted my precious time. You both are fired immediately; you Dan, for your carelessness in the workplace. And you, Ms Jennifer, for being extremely insolent and rude with your boss. That’s the end of all discussions. You may leave now. My secretary would mail you both the termination letters.”
We kept on walking as a part of the busy crowd of the coolest city in U.S., New York. We were really upset by the way the day had started and by the way we both had lost our jobs. I felt very sorry for Dan as it really wasn’t his mistake. All he was trying to do was to save me from getting fired and now, he has been kicked out of the job himself. All of a sudden, it started drizzling and within seconds, the size of the raindrops increased and so did their speed. It was soon raining so hard that we had to run over to a lonely ‘under construction’ building for shelter.
The rain took several minutes to pass. It was about half an hour later that Dan left me near the entrance of the building and went deeper inside to explore. He came back after a few minutes looking excited.
