Chapter 1 - Minor Delays
Chapter 2 - Telephone Tag
Chapter 3 - Alex's Plan
Chapter 4 - Unexpected Surprises
Chapter 5 - Presenting the Proposal
Chapter 6 - Setting the Plan in Motion
Chapter 7 - On Your Marks, Get Set...
Chapter 8 - Prepare For Takeoff
Chapter 9 - On the Right Track?
Chapter 10 - Clue #2 is Found!
Chapter 11 - Railroad Warriors are right on track
Chapter 12 - A Few Bumps Along the Way
Chapter 13 - The Bittersweet End

Chapter 2  

Telephone Tag
Alex entered his boss’s office and took a seat. Every time he found himself sitting in this office, he would just look around at all the knick-knacks that filled the space. Of course there was also an abundant collection of awards for various accomplishments. Alex hoped one day he too could be worthy of such awards.

With the closing of the office door, the conference call began. The goal of this call was to create a new promotion. They had developed the idea of offering customers a complimentary dinner for each hotel stay they reserved online. They needed to go over the specifics and come up with a name for this campaign as well as a promotional calendar.

Though Alex really wanted to be paying attention to the discussion happening around him, he found himself thinking about Millie. He just wanted to call her up and hear her voice and make sure that she was okay.

With some plans in place for the promotion the meeting came to an end. Arrangements were made for a status check meeting next week. Alex hoped that someone had been taking notes and that minutes from this meeting would be sent so that he could learn what the plan was. He had jotted things down but wasn’t exactly sure what it all meant.

Giles, Alex’s boss, thanked Alex for his time and dismissed him from his office.

Eagerly, Alex walked back to his des. He still had a ton of email to answer but his first priority was the call to Millie.

Three attempts were made to dial the phone number, a number he knew by heart and had dialed a thousand times, but each attempt failed with the pressing of the wrong number. Finally on the fourth try, the phone began to ring. Alex’s anxiety level was building wanting to speak with her. With the passing of each ring, he began thinking of a message to leave. He didn’t want to let on in the message that he knew something was wrong, but he wanted to express a sense of urgency for her to call him back.

Alex hated leaving voice messages just about as much as he hated being stuck in traffic! He never knew what the acceptable length for a message was. Sure the name and phone number part took only seconds to convey, it was the “brief message” part that he had trouble with.

He didn’t get as picky and worried about leaving messages with Millie though. After all, he had once called her on his way home and left a message, he didn’t realize he never ended the call. He turned the radio up and sang along with ABBA to none other than Dancing Queen—yes, the entire song was prominently recorded on Millie’s voicemail. Once he realized what had happened, Alex wished he had been listening to a more “manly” song, but he didn’t worry too much, he knew it would provide a dose of comic relief for his friend!

Millie’s voicemail message finished and Alex began his message.

“Hi Mil, just calling to say hello. Haven’t talked to you in awhile so figured I’d give you a call.”

Alex finished up his message and hung the phone up. He focused his attention to his inbox now.

He got through most of his emails and looked at the clock. It was already 12:45pm; almost time to go to lunch. He took a walk to the break room to fill his water bottle up. After some chitchat with the receptionist, Alex returned to his desk.

He called Ruby to see if she was free for lunch. Ruby declined the lunch invite as her boyfriend was meeting her today. Alex then called Josh to see if he was free. Turned out that Josh’s lunch plans had fallen through and he was free.

The two met in the cafeteria and picked up their conversation from earlier in the morning.

“So have you heard anything about Millie?” asked Alex.

Josh replied, “no, but I did get an email from Ruby about her. Nothing specific, just “I assume you know” was all she said.”

“Yea, that’s all she wrote to me too. I can’t make any conclusive ideas about what’s going on with her,” Alex said.

He continued, “I tried calling Millie today but got her voicemail. Hopefully she’ll call back and fill me in on what’s up.”

Lunch came to an end and the men returned back to their office.

As Alex approached his desk he noticed he had a voicemail message. He quickly picked up the phone and retrieved it.

He was delighted to hear that it was from Mille. Alex listened intently as Millie’s message played.

“Hi Alex, its Millie. Things are okay and hopefully at some point we’ll actually get to talk rather than exchanging voicemails. Talk to you soon, bye.”

Alex sat at his desk trying to decipher the tone in Millie’s voice. He tried calling her again after noticing that her call had come in only ten minutes ago. He waited patiently through each ring, trying to figure out what he should say on his next message. As the fourth ring rang, the phone was answered.

“Millie Thompson, how can I help you?” the voice said.

Alex was excited to hear her voice but from the sound in her greeting, everything was not alright.

“Millie, hi! Its Alex, looks like our game of telephone tag is over!” he said.

“Its so good to hear your voice sweets, it has been quite some time since we last spoke” Millie replied.

Millie was a few years ahead of Alex age wise. Alex respected her immensely for her youthful attitude towards life. He always gained a dose of reality and insight into life from her. She would give him advice about everything from dating to banking. Their friendship worked because it was what it was, two people connecting on a personal and professional level. The mutual respect they shared created an appreciated level of comfort.

Alex continued the conversation. “So how is everything going with you, anything new and exciting to report?”

Alex heard a sigh on the other end of the phone and could not have prepared himself for what he was about to hear.

“Alex I’ve been wanting to call you and tell you personally before the story became the company’s newest rumor.”

Taking a breath, she continued, “I have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I found out two weeks ago and have been meeting with doctors discussing my options for treatment and the prognosis of each.”

The phone fell quiet with a deafening silence. Alex was in shock. He didn’t know what to say. For the first time, he found himself speechless. He took it all in and started to speak.

“Wow, cancer huh?” that was all he could come up with. Alex was one of the last people on Millie’s list to talk to. She knew he had been affected by cancer in his family life recently and knew that the whole cancer subject upset him greatly. When they would speak about the other three co-workers recently diagnosed with cancer, she noticed how quiet he would get. Millie knew that the call to Alex would be the hardest to get through.

“Listen Alex, I don’t want you to worry or get upset. I’m going to be okay. I have to undergo some surgery to remove the tumor and after that they’ll advise of the next step on my road to recovery." She told him.

Millie continued. "I will get through this and don’t you worry, should you ever find yourself a nice girl to marry, after the bride and your mother of course, I’m the next in line to spin you round the dance floor at the wedding!”

Millie’s humor helped ease the mood of their conversation. Alex made her promise that she’d keep him posted on her status and told her to take it easy.

The two said their goodbyes and hung the phone up. Alex sat starring out the window. He felt like crying but resisted. He got on with his work and hoped the afternoon would pass by quickly.

 
 by Amiee Koos