Logging off

March 11 2011

Tom looked up from his desk, rubbed his eyes, and looked around the trading floor. It was unusually quiet, but Tom didn't notice.

His thoughts were focused on his family. It had been a long 36 hours, covering the Asian markets, cat-napping, alternating between caffeine and push-ups trying desperately to stay sharp during trading hours.

He'd last stormed out to work amid shouts, and promised Yuki that he'd get someone else to cover the Saturday shift, that they'd spend the weekend together, and promised a teddy bear to Lindsay. A few colleagues owed him favors and he'd been sure someone would step up.

But now, he faced the prospect of arriving home at six o'clock Sunday morning too tired to make anything out of the rest of the weekend but crash all day long, if he could.

Needless to say, he didn't have the bear and, feverish, leapt from his desk to find something, anything to substitute. A talking Spongebob five desks over wouldn't cut it. Neither would a python neck pillow.

Despondent, Tom logged out of the trading desk and walked to the vending machine. And there they were. Row A5 contained nothing but Cadbury creme eggs.

A marriage saved, a hero to his daughter, Tom left for home, a mighty Easter bunny.