Chapter 19

It was late in the afternoon. Craig could not believe it was almost time to go home. What happened to the day? Craig thought. After the morning meeting, Craig lost track of time. The meeting had been just less than an hour. It had been packed with new information and terminologies. Craig knew he had much to learn. There had been about a dozen people around the table. Craig had been introduced to each member as well as their titles and job descriptions. Although Craig was not very good at remembering names, he could not forget a face. The one thing he could remember clearly was Pamela sitting next to Rodger taking down minutes. He remembers how she wrote down just the necessary with those beautiful hands which had no wedding ring. He had noticed her black hair teasing the paper which she took minutes on while her head slightly tilted.

After the meeting, Craig had a time-consuming induction where he was given a security card. Apparently, the card meant he was allowed to enter all sites. A plant tour had been arranged where Craig was accompanied by colleagues of all different grades. He had seen strange machines that he had only seen on TV once. They were large machines which stacked and scooped up iron ore from high stockpiles. The iron ore was sent to large ships by means of conveyor belts. Craig also had a brief overview meeting with the two gentlemen that reported to him, Ferris and Clint. There were too many things happening in one day. Craig just touched on the general feel for what was happening on the plant as well as the status of the equipment and what exactly needed urgent attention.

Craig pushed the company laptop away from him. He never even had time to log onto it the entire day. He lifted one of the blue files from the stack and placed it in front of him. Inside he found specifications for the big machines he had seen earlier today. The heading read: Stacker Reclaimer with a large drawing of the machine including its large bucket wheel. He randomly paged through the file when he was interrupted by a faint knock on the door. When he looked up he was surprised to see Pamela standing in the doorway holding a small white box in her left hand.

'Sorry to bother you, Craig,' she said entering his office, 'here's your company phone.'

'Fantastic,' Craig said accepting the phone from Pamela. He forced himself to look at the box instead of her body.

'And here's your SIM card and number,' she said handing him a small yellow card almost completely enfolded in a piece of white paper. Inside the paper, his new cell phone number was written in neat handwriting.

'Thank you, Pam,' Craig said. He could not help to think there might have been a certain spark when he accepted the goods from her. Although she looked at his hand mostly when she handed him the phone and SIM card, there was a brief moment where she was looking into his eyes with a daring gesture. Craig was certain there was something hiding there, something sinister and wild.

'Don't work too late,' Pamela said. She turned around and headed for the door. Craig watched her walking away from him and noticed her every move. A young vibrant woman with so much life in her.

'I won't. Thank you,' Craig said.

Pamela disappeared from Craig's office, but the image of her had been hard-wired into Craig's dirty mind. He had to focus hard on something else to get her out of there, especially with the fresh feminine perfume she left behind.

Craig's brain was exhausted from taking in all the new concepts he had learned in one day. There was no point in trying to make sense of anything else. After all, the company was not built in one day. Craig pushed the blue file aside and pulled the company laptop closer. He logged in with the credentials that were given to him earlier by Timothy. The company logo appeared as a background. He looked for the outlook icon and clicked on it. The e-mail application launched. As he expected, he had no new e-mails. He looked at the computer clock and noticed it was getting late. His mind drifted back to Pamela again. Why was she working so late and why did she only bring his company phone after most of the people had left already? Since his SIM card was enclosed in a piece of paper containing his number, did she take note of his number and maybe stored it on her phone for later use? Craig rubbed his eyes. He had enough for one day. It was time to go home. He grabbed his keys and locked his office door. As he walked down the hall, he noticed all the lights have been switched off. He was probably the only one left in the building. He understood what Rodger had told him earlier. Things are at a far slower pace than in the cities.