Better late

Better Late

By

Edward Hamilton

The universe was to blame. He was built this way. He had never been the type of guy to be anywhere at the time he should be. He was born under the sign of Tardy. The only time he wasn't tardy was when he was absent. Stanley had fought many years against the forces of promptness. He was a rebel, a renegade, he fought the power..at least in his mind he did. The rest of the world viewed him as a slacker. Stanley was neither reliable nor accountable. He always had an excuse why the universe kept him from being, where he was supposed to be, on time.

    This Monday was no exception. The alarm went off promptly at 5:15am. One of his deep, brown eyes popped open. He stared at the red numbers burning his night vision. Long, brown strands of unkempt hair hung down over his face. His boney hand snaked out from under the covers. It tracked toward the buzzing alarm clock like a python towards a bunny.

    "Get up or shut it off. I need a couple more hours." His wife whined from behind him. His hand lashed out and struck the large button on top of the clock. Silence filled the room once more. He slowly started fading back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later the alarm sounded again. This time he grabbed the clock and tossed it out his bedroom door. He heard it hit the wall, then bounce down the stairs. Slowly,

Stanle

y rolled over to his back. His wife lay on her back too. Her brunette hair surrounding her face like a large egg in a nest of brown. The comforter was pushed down to her waist and her spaghetti strap nightgown was loose, showing more of her bosom than she would approve of. He leaned over and gently kissed her neck. Then he kissed her on the cheek a little harder. He was on his way to her soft, red lips..

    "Goto work. You're going to be late." She grumbled half asleep then rolled over on her side.

    "Your loss." He groaned as he got out of bed. The cool fall air chilled his body as he walked toward the kitchen. He flipped on the light and waited for his eyes to adjust. Pushing the button on the coffee maker brought it to life. He pulled out his phone as he leaned on the counter. He scrolled through his notifications until he saw a new story on a conspiracy theory site. He turned it on speaker and listened as he waited for coffee. He listened to the conspiracies of the government as he drank his coffee. Then poured another. The conspiracy channel was soon interrupted by his alarm.

    He picked up his phone and peered at the screen. The alarm was labelled '15min warning'.

    "Ugh. Well damn." He moaned as he got up and hurriedly started throwing on clothes. Ten minutes later he was headed toward his beat up truck. After four attempts the engine fired and he was on his way. Making his way through the parking lot, getting through the security gate, cost him more time. He clocked in thirteen minutes late.

    "Well better late than never. I guess." Stanley mumbled as he walked away from the time clock.

    The rest of the maintenance crew had already started their daily work. Machines were being setup, parts repaired so they could be returned to the floor. Everyone was clicking as a unit like they had been awake for hours. Except Stanley who leaned on his toolbox, sipping his coffee, trying to wake up.

    "Going to join us today, princess?" His bearded supervisor asked as he passed him with tools in hand.

    "Yea. Gimme a minute." Stanley moaned.

    "Looks like you've had bout 20 minutes worth of seconds." Added another maintenance man.

    "My phone fell off the nightstand under the bed. Never heard my alarm. Bite me" Stanley countered.

    "Just like two days ago, you slept through your alarm. Last week, power went out and your phone shut off and earlier last week, you came across an accident and had to take a longer route to work. Not to mention the two days you missed three weeks ago for panic attacks." The boss offered. All the maintenance men laughed. "Now Stanley!" The supervisor commanded. Stanley got up, grabbed some wrenches from his toolbox, grumbling the whole time, then headed to the floor to work.

    The work day crawled like a wounded slug for Stanley. He took long breaks, longer bathroom breaks and even told the boss he needed to run home for an emergency. The emergency, which was actually going to Tim Horton's for fresh coffee, took twenty-five minutes. Still it seemed, around every corner, he found work he needed to do.

    The end of the day finally came. Stanley was first in line watching the time clock to turn to 3:23. He was supposed to be there til 3:30, but the system rounded everything up from 23 minutes after to the next half hour. The thought of that first beer touching his throat excited him. He felt after a hard day work he had earned the drink.

    "Stanley" Stanley looked and saw his supervisor. He looked serious.

    "Wassup?" Stanley asked.

    "We need to have a chat upstairs." His tone was menacing. Stanley wanted nothing to do with a meeting so close to quitting time.

    "Bout ready to head home. Text me later." Stanley offered.

    "No. Now." Scott wasn't playing. He knew his friends tone. Scott and

Stanley had been friends a long time. Scott got him hired at the plant, became his boss and now might be his executioner.

    "Aight" Stanley left the line and followed his boss upstairs to the offices. Soon they were in Scott's cubicle. The supervisor in his lumbar padded office chair and

Stanley on a hard metal fold out chair.

    "We need to talk about your attendance." He started.

    "I've just been having bad luck with my phone and.."

    "It's not just with the tardys. We need you here. We pay you to be here, to be part of the team." Scott cut him off. He was tired of the old excuses. If it wasn't this it was that.

    "I've got a family Scott. Family is number one in my book."

Stanley countered.

    "We all have family. We all have stuff we would rather be doing than being here..but we HAVE to be here so our family's can be healthy and happy. Everyone else's family understands that." Scott paused a moment. He ran his hand through his beard collecting his thoughts. "In two days Christmas vacation starts. You got seven days off. Get your shit together. When you come back after the first of the year, be a new man, or don't come back." Scott pointed his thick finger towards the cubicle exit.

Stanley started to say something but Scott just held up his hand for

Stanley to stop. Then pointed again to the exit.

Stanley left the plant deflated.

 He arrived at home after picking up his daily 6 pack. He plopped down in his chair and cracked open the first beer. He watched his wife play with his youngest two children on the floor. He had no idea what game they were playing, but it made both his wife and the children giggle and laugh. He looked around his home. His dog lay on the furnace vent. His older boy sprawled on the couch, like most teenage boys do. He was only missing his oldest two girls.

    "Where's the girls?" He asked his wife as he finished the first beer.

    "Im not supposed to say." She had a crooked smile on her face. "It could do something with December 28th."

    His birthday. They were out getting him a birthday present. He nodded acknowledgement to his wife. She went back to playing.He cracked open another. He looked around for the tv remote. He spied the remote on top of the tv beside a pile of mail. He walked over and picked up the remote. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the words in bold, red letters 'PAST DUE' on an envelope. He picked up the envelope. It was from the cable/internet company. The next envelope marked 'FIRST NOTICE' was from the electric company. Richie turned to his wife.

    "Hey baby?" He held up the letters. She saw them and told the kids she'd be back. She came over close to him and talked softly.

    "With your panic attacks and taking the weekends off, we got a little behind. It's no big deal. I sold some things and explained to the kids that it's going to be a slim Christmas because Santa got covid.." She giggled. He couldn't help but giggle too. "It'll work out after the first of the year." Richie put the envelopes back on the pile.

    "No. No slim Christmas. I've had a life changing epiphany. Everything will be okay real soon." He kissed her on the forehead. She resumed playing with the kids. He retired back to his chair. He felt like a heel. All this he had around him, a happy healthy family, a warm well fed dog, kids that loved him out buying gifts, he could lose it all by his tardiness and laziness. He texted Scott.

I've had an epiphany. You were right. Starting tomorrow I'm going to be a new and better employee

We will see. How long is that gonna last.

Forever my friend. I promise.

Stanley went to the store. He bought him a new alarm clock. He got home and took it to his bedroom. Instead of his nightstand, he put it across the room on his dresser, forcing himself to get out of his warm bed to shut it off. He set it for an hour early. Then he set his phone alarm an hour and one minute early. Then an alarm every five minutes until work. Each alarm with an inspiring note. "This is for your family", "Their happiness depends on you". He even convinced his wife to set her alarm for 45 minutes before his work, just in case, he missed his alarm and phone.

    That night

Stanley slept better than he had in years. He woke on the first alarm. He had two cups of coffee in him and a half hour before clock in when he parked his truck at the factory. The plant was building a new refrigerated building and cranes and crew were already busy moving beams and putting up walls.

Stanley saw Scott walking across the parking lot.

Stanley took off in a jog to catch him. He closed the distance to fifty feet.

    "Scott!" He yelled waving his hand above his head. He was excited for Scott to see him in his clean, pressed uniform, ready for work. Scott looked over his shoulder. He spotted Stanley coming across the lot. Scott's thick, peppered beard parted as a smile came across his face. This could be a start to a new day.

    BANG! the explosion seemed to echo all around

Stanley. Scott pointed above

Stanley.

    "Mooove!" He shouted. Stanley looked up and saw the huge, steel beam just before it pinned his head between the huge steel beam and the pavement. A huge squirt of crimson shot out from beneath the beam. Stanley body shivered a short moment then was forever still. Scott stood paralyzed by what he witnessed. He didn't know what to do. There's was no need for an ambulance. He saw a tarp folded neatly on the tailgate of a pickup. He walked over and got the tarp. He opened it as he approached Stanley's body.

    "I'm so sorry." He whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek. He threw the tarp over his dead friend.

    The ambulance was finishing up removing his remains from the site. The police was interviewing construction workers. After all was said and done, it seemed the accident happened because the usual crane operator was late and the new guy made an honest mistake.