Can You Make Lunch?

by Bob Tippee

About the Author: Bob Tippee is a business-to-business magazine editor in Houston, Texas, whose stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and GUD Magazine.

Excerpt

“Can you make lunch, Robert?”

Bob Haas, who likes to be called “Bob,” not “Robert,” looks up from the Cardinals batting averages on his computer screen. “Make lunch?” he asks.

Clinton Barrymore, who likes to be called “Clinton,” not “Clint,” chuckles and says, “Actually, I didn’t mean literally to make lunch. I meant, ‘Can you join me for lunch?’ Or are you too busy.”

“You kidding? I’ve been here a week and haven’t had squat to do.”

Clinton chuckles. “And you’re doing that very well. Better than you realize, actually. I had in mind a little Italian place. Milano. Know it?”

“In Purchasing we never went out for lunch. Too busy.”

Clinton stands up from a leather swivel chair bigger than some recliners. His slate-topped, walnut desk, dominates the office to Bob’s right, facing the office door left of Bob’s gray-metal, corporate-issue table equipped with three squeaky drawers. Behind Clinton looms a cascade of shelves made of the same wood as his desk, bearing books and crystal figurines above a credenza, also matching the desk, on which sits a brown-tone globe in a walnut stand. Clinton spins the globe.

“Busy,” he says. “Ah.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Bob says, “what is it I’m supposed to be doing here?”

Story Comments