The Accident

The passenger door opened a second later, and out got Sally. She was twenty-eight, with dirty-blonde hair and a body that was big-boned but not fat. She’d gone out for gymnastics and track and field back in high school, and while not quite the athlete she was then, she still ran three miles every morning and could pitch in and help unload a flatbed of two-by-fours when needed. She stood an inch taller than me, and liked to joke that if she didn’t get a decent Christmas bonus, she could take me. I didn’t like to admit she had a sporting chance.

She had a pretty face and a winning smile, and had been working for me for the better part of a decade. When she was in her early twenties, and looking for extra cash, she often babysat Kelly. But before long she’d concluded she was too old for that sort of thing, and picked up the occasional shift at Applebee’s.

She and Theo had been going together for about a year, and even though it seemed soon to me, Sally had already been talking in the office about marriage. It wasn’t my place to talk her out of it, but I’d done nothing to encourage the idea. My opinion of Theo Stamos had taken a nosedive in recent weeks, even before the fire. While he had his charms, he was famous for not showing up when he said he would, and his work was often sloppy. I hadn’t used him on a job since the fire; I was sorry I hadn’t cut him loose sooner. The so-called truck nuts-molded rubber testicles that had inexplicably become popular in the last few years-that were hanging from the pickup’s rear bumper made me want to get out a pair of tin snips and perform a castration.

“Theo,” I said. “Hi, Sally.”

“I told him we shouldn’t do this,” she said, moving quickly so she could get between Theo and me.

“This is only going to take a sec,” Theo said. He loped toward me, his arms swinging lazily at his sides. “How’s it going there, Glen?”

“Okay,” I said, noncommittally.

“Sorry to be bugging you on a Saturday, but we were in the area, and it seemed like as good a time as any.”

“As good a time as any for what?”

“I notice you haven’t been calling on me in a while.”

I nodded. “Things are slowing down, Theo.”

“I know that,” he said. “But Sally here says you’ve still got some work lined up before things fall off.” Sally winced, clearly not happy Theo was using her this way. “So it’s not like things have dried up completely. You haven’t used me since that house burned down, and that’s not fair.”

“You wired it,” I said.

“With all due respect, Glen, do you have some kind of proof that says it was my fault?”

“I haven’t found anything that says it wasn’t.”

He glanced down, kicked a pebble with the toe of his work boot, then looked at me. “I don’t think that’s right,” he said evenly. “You’ve gone and convicted me without any evidence.”

I hated to tell Theo the truth in front of his girlfriend, especially when Sally was a friend of mine, but he wasn’t making it easy for me. “That’s my prerogative,” I told him. When Theo blinked, I realized he didn’t know what I meant. While I didn’t want to hire him anymore, it wasn’t my intention to insult him, so I added, “It’s my company. I get to choose who works for me and who doesn’t.”

“That’s just not right,” he insisted. “Give me one good reason why you won’t hire me anymore.”

Sally leaned up against the truck and closed her eyes. These were things she did not want to hear. But I think she knew what was coming.

“You’re not dependable,” I told Theo. “You say you’re going to show up, and you don’t. Even aside from this fire, your work isn’t up to snuff. You cut corners.”

“You know how it is,” he said defensively. “Some jobs get backed up, you can’t get to the next one right away. And I don’t know what you’re talking about, saying my work’s not good. That’s just horseshit.”

I shook my head. “When I promise a client you’re going to be there in the morning, and then you aren’t, it reflects badly on me and the company.”

“I told you not to do this, Theo,” Sally said.

“What did the fire department say?” Theo’s voice was starting to rise. “Did they say I wired it wrong?”

“I’m waiting on their final report, but they say the fire started in the area of the electrical panel.”

“The area,” he said. “So, somebody could have left some oily rags in that area, and that’s what caused the place to go up in smoke.”

“I do what my gut tells me,” I said.

“Yeah, well, your gut sucks.”

He was wasting my time. I’d made up my mind not to use him again and that was it. My eyes wandered down to the truck nuts hanging from his back bumper.

Theo saw me eyeing them. “Need a pair?” he asked.

“Another thing,” I said. “Anybody shows up at one of my jobs with those hanging off the back of the truck gets sent home. I won’t have my daughter walking past garbage like that.”

“It’s none of your business how I or anybody else dresses up his truck.”

“That’s right,” I agreed. “But I decide whose trucks come to my job sites and whose don’t.”

Theo’s hands fisted at his sides.