Redemption
By
Greg Sparks
Chapter 1
Longing for adventure and excitement, yet she was afraid to achieve it again. Her head pounded from a long week of work. In the middle of EWS’s busy season, which meant she took nearly a 100 calls every day for eight hours. Exhaustion pounded against her body, craving sleep and rest, causing her mental fatigue to spiral downward.
Celeste waited in line at the grocery store. The uncomfortable eighty-five degree temperature of the store added to her uneasiness. The sole checker scanned groceries as fast as she could, but the scanner hiccupped on every other item, causing the line to grow longer. Celeste left her buggy—pizza for one, frozen dinners for one, beer for one, and several macaroni and cheese servings for one—to pick up her favorite tabloid and skimmed the opening pages. Later, she would submerge herself into it while eating her premade lasagna—for one.
The gentleman behind her, glared at his watch. He huffed and puffed at the slow speed of the cashier. He tapped his foot on the ground, making sure all heard. His body went into a full body pivot. Obvious he was irritable and ready to go. Celeste looked up from her magazine to him. Some people are so rude. The cashier never acknowledged him.
Trying to be nice, Celeste asked the man, “Why don’t you go in front of me? You only have a couple of items and I have this buggy of stuff.”
Without hesitation or a thank you he moved around Celeste. Well, you could have at least said thank you. He turned to the cashier and yelled. “Hurry up. I have places to be.” He cried out rude vulgarities for all to hear. “You aaaaarrrrrreeee soooooooo slow,” he spoke slow and deliberate.
“Go,” he said into his cell phone.
The checker gave his total. He removed the phone from his ear, “I can see the total. I’m looking at the screen.” The voice was harsh. He signed the automated credit card keypad, yanked up his grocery bags, and walked out, still on the phone.
“Jerk.” Celeste remarked as the checker ran her food items over the scanner.
“Yeah, I hate customers like that. I’m going as fast as I can and the stupid scanner is not working right. I don’t know why I always get this register when I’m the only one here. He makes me so mad.” She wiped away a small tear.
“Hey, don’t let him get to you. He certainly has issues.” Celeste turned her vision to the man as he walked out the door. “Don’t you wish just once you could do something or say something to jerks like that?”
“Yeah, but the ‘customer is always right.’” The cashier smirked.
The laughter from Celeste was real and understanding, “I think the person who came up with that saying needs to be shot.”
“Right.”
Celeste loaded the groceries into her car. Two large trucks surrounded her small compact car, with visibility low she backed out of the parking space. A loud crashing metallic sound resonated across the parking lot. Her head smashed hard against the steering wheel. “Ow.” A small whelp formed on her spinning head. She pulled her car forward back into its space and rubbed her head.
Pain ripped through her body. The angry, bitter man from inside now stood outside his Mercedes-Benz S600 screaming. Obscenities rained out of his mouth. Celeste wanted to cry but would not give him the satisfaction.
“You’re going to pay for this, you …,” shaking his right index finger several times at Celeste as she stepped out of the car. Celeste felt the onslaught of his hysterics.
He ranted for several minutes before Celeste spoke, “I think it was both of our faults.” She tried to back away from the tall slender man sharply dressed, but he stepped closer.
“Both of our faults, are you crazy?” More profanity. “I was already in the lane when you creamed my car. Look at the bumper and taillight. You stupid … Do you know this is a $140,000 vehicle and you smashed into it like it was some game or something?” Witnesses dialed the police.
Both parties waited for the non-emergency call to be answered by the police. The man paced around his car, his anger flaring. Meanwhile, Celeste waited in her car while her food thawed. The August Texas heat zapped her energy. Low on gas she turned off the car and rolled down the windows. Her rare treat of ice cream, her reward for the hard week, now melted. He held up traffic by refusing to move his luxury vehicle until he spoke with police. Even the store manager approached him and asked him to move his vehicle, yet he refused.
When the police arrived on the scene forty minutes later, the man was still in the middle of his tirade, making it quite clear that he had no intention to stop anytime soon. The policeman commanded the man to move his car, and grudgingly he did. After the officer took both statements he determined no one was at fault, and no tickets were issued. Celeste went home to eat her thawed un-tasty meal. Story of my life, as she took the first bite, even the microwave could not savage her meal.
The next morning at work she admired the early morning sky from her second story window; the sun flashed brilliant colors as it broke the horizon. This was her first chance to be near a window in nearly a year. At EWS the reps changed supervisors and seats every couple of months. Her mind fought for serenity after yesterday’s encounter at the grocery store. The phone jarred her back into reality.
“Hello, thank you for calling EWS your prime healthcare experience. This is Celeste, how may I help you?”
The familiar male voice pierced her soul. She hoped to God he did not recognize her.
“I need to find a doctor who deals with gynecomastia.” The man said boldly.
“Okay, may I have your account information, please?”
He gave it to her, yep it was him. It was a name she was sure not soon forget. Celeste quickly pulled up his information then turned her attention to looking up his disease on the Internet. Normally she did not care about peoples’ conditions, but she had to know. A small chuckle left her lips.
“What are you laughing at? Wait a minute, I know you, Celeste.” Profanity rained. “You’re the girl who hit my car yesterday. Aren’t you? Your voice is familiar.”
“Mr. Perkins, I assure you I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“What is your last name?” He demanded.
“Smith.” She lied. EWS did not require the representatives to give out their full names. Celeste McCallister knew his venous side and did not want to entangle with him again.
“Fine then, what are you laughing at, Celeste Smith?” The man’s bitter voice blasted.
“Nothing,” her voice betrayed her.
“You were laughing at my disease weren’t you?” He yelled.
“No, Mr. Perkins I’m not a doctor. I don’t have any knowledge or could care less what gynocomstia or whatever you call it is.” She mispronounced the name on purpose. “I assure you I was not laughing at your disease.” Her confidence returned. Years of experience taught her how to handle abrupt customers. She gave him doctors’ information with a smile of gratitude, knowing a secret about him he did not want the world to know.
“Thank you for calling EWS, your prime health care experience.” She almost hung up when Mr. Perkins caught her attention, “Oh I need something else” then he lit into her with name calling, obscenities, vulgar blasting, and racist remarks. For the next ten minutes she endured his outrage. EWS refused customer service representatives to disconnect a call, no matter how abrasive a customer became. Each call scrutinized for accuracy and valuable customer service, and hanging up was not valuable customer service. It was an inexcusable offense. EWS fired more people for hanging up on customers than anything else. Celeste listened to the man’s fury of hatred. Something unbelievable crossed her mind as his outpour continued.
The man irked her and she wanted to do something about it. I’d be angry all the time too, if I was a male with male breasts enlargements—gynecomastia. She laughed.
Chapter 2
Days later Celeste was overcome with a thought. Do I dare? Adventure knocked, but what could she do? The man’s repulsive demeanor tormented Celeste’s thoughts for days, and now irrationally crossed her mind.
No, I shouldn’t. But it would be fun. And besides what would it hurt. She hurried through her predictable Thursday evening Chinese meal, General Tsao’s chicken, fried rice, a spring roll, a large Coke and two fortune cookies. The sun crested the sky; she needed to hurry if she was going to accomplish her task before dark. Grabbing the police report from her accident and her worn-out Mapsco, she looked up the street name in the index. Within a minute she had outlined her route to her destination. Mapsco, a map of Dallas and surrounding areas, bound in a book for easy access. She carried Princess, a mutt from the animal shelter, who enveloped her life, and happily welcomed Celeste each night, to the car.
Red lights and stop signs did not slow her down. A few blocks from her destination she stopped next to the curb, what am I doing? High anticipation and wonderment surrounded her. Several times she looked up in her rearview mirror to see if anyone was watching. Her nerves engulfed her, causing her to shake. She gripped the steering wheel with both hands, than followed with her head on the wheel. Get it together, Celeste, you’re just going to drive by his house. Nothing more. Besides what would you do anyway? She checked for traffic and pulled away from the curb.
Keeping her car on the posted speed limit, she drove through the pricey neighborhood. A large light tan brick house on her left came into view. Large oak trees blocked the view of the house. Her eyes zoomed in on the house. There’s the car. Man, that was quick he already has gotten it repaired.
What am I doing, keep driving. She hit the gas and drove away. A hungry desire to get far away from this place tooled with her, but the voice in her head told her to go back and have another look. After turning around she entered the strange abyss again. Fear, excitement, and mental aghast accelerated the emotions through her frail mind. Torn between doing something to him, and not knowing what or how, she debated. “If only he could pay for his meanness. He has caused too much havoc on innocent customer service representatives. He must be stopped. But how?”
She crept the car along as slow as she dared, wondering what to do. Movement near the house caught her eye. The jerk came out of his house, startling her. Princess was jolted against the car seat and yelped as Celeste jumped the gas. Celeste’s breathe quicken and her heart picked up its pace. The rearview mirror stayed in her view of the extravagant sports car, which never showed.
Miles away her breathing finally slowed to its normal rate. What was I thinking? I must be outta my mind.
Later in the evening Celeste spoke to Princess, “You know, Princess, that was kind of fun. What a rush. What an adventure. I haven’t felt like this since California.” Talking to Princess helped her think. Pride lifted her heart and a small devious smile crossed her face.
Three weeks later, a man’s loud boisterous voice carried into the center of the mall and in between stores, shredding yet another sales representative to bits. Celeste moved to outside the store, hidden from the man, to watch the customer service representation trying to appease the man. Celeste was amazed at the man’s vocabulary he flung at the teenage woman. Mr. Perkins had no regard for his language nor who heard him. Now, I gotta do something. This guy needs to be taught a lesson. For all of us people who deal with customers.
That night, after dark, she drove back to his home; white knuckles gripped the steering wheel. It has to be tonight, people in his type of neighborhood will notice unfamiliar cars. Her anger blazed as his house approached, hoping he was home.
She slowly drove past the house, scanning for signs of life, seeing nothing but his car parked in the driveway. Good. She drove down the street, turned around, and parked a few houses from his. It had to be perfect and fast. Why is this guy bothering me? I’ve never cared about customers’ way of treating me. I just let it go and didn’t take it personal. But now I’m at his house again. Unbelievable. “But Princess, you should have seen the face on the sales rep today. She was broken and in tears. I’m doing this for her. I’m doing this for all customer service people who have to take his crap every day.” She believed her own words, and felt they had validity. Hooking Princess to her leash, she stepped out of the car, and walked her dog towards his house. Just another lady walking her dog. Just another lady walking her dog. Act normal. Her heart raced, gooseflesh covered her, and sweat dripped down her face even in the cold still night air. Don’t do it. The pulling of right and wrong within her mind began again. For years the debate of good and evil tore her apart. I’m doing it for all the people he has wronged. Are you? Yes. Don’t do it. But I must. Don’t do it. Poor little Princess was being drug towards the house, and her nerves were shattered. Calm down. Get it together. Act like you belong. Don’t do it. I must. Celeste pivoted her head around and around on the lookout for movement. I’m scared. At the house next to his she slowed her pace, took a deep breath, and looked for any signs of movement—all clear.
“Stay, Princess.” She gave the stay sign. “I’ll be right back,” taking another deep breath. “Okay, here goes.”
The ice pick from her coat pocket appeared in the dim light. The driver’s side rear was first side she approached because it was the closest to the house and her being caught. A hissing sound emitted out of the damaged sidewall of the tire. The vandal jumped around to the passenger’s side rear tire and jammed the pick again. Then she moved to the front passenger’s side tire jabbed at the expensive tire several times, making three tires irreparable. The front driver’s side tire the air was left in it. Go for it. She jammed the pick into the metal and dragged it the length of the car. A neighbor’s dog barked at the high pitch metal scraping metal sound. Time to go.